In early 2002 Chris
and Keith of fred flare and Wendy
from Built by Wendy,
the creators of the ultra-hot Birthday Book, had a chat fest on the phone
about birthdays, boys and business.
chris: Hey
Wendy, when's your birthday again? And how are you planning on spending
it this year?
wendy: My
birthday is March 15th. I'm a Pisces. (My mom's an astrologer!) I
want to do
something fun cause last year I just did nothing. Maybe
go to Barcode in Times Square
and play video games. When are your
birthdays?
keith: Chris's
is November 14th - total Scorpio!!! - and mine is August 24th. I'm
turning
30 this year so I want to do something special and I want
TONS of gifts!!!! What's the
ultimate best birthday you've ever had?
w:My
30th was totally the best because my friend told me AC/DC was filming
a music
video down the street so we went over there and got in the
video. Then we went up to
Malcolm and talked to him and he told me
Happy Birthday and I invited him to my party
and he said he "might
come if he's not too tired." Then Andrew WK played at my birthday
party at Parkside Lounge that night. It was the best ever!!! I felt
like the coolest girl ever!!
What was yours?
k: Chris
actually planned my best birthday ever the year we first met. It
was this whole
elaborate surprise with coded messages that I almost
cracked with the help of my Nancy
Drew Sleuthbook... It ended up
that he and our friend Lulu had planned this whole party
at Magic
Waters, a water park in Rockford, Illinois. When we showed up I remember
thinking to myself, Wow this guy really doesn't know me at all. I
haven't even worn a
bathing suit in years! But I said nothing and
just went along with it and totally had the
best time ever! That's
the cool thing I think about being in a relationship. You totally
get
exposed to new things and pushed in directions you would never
go.
c: Working
on fred flare together has been like that too... Wendy, now how old
is your
company? And how did you get it started?
w: It's
about 10 years old. I have taken things really gradually. I started
my line when I
was in college in Kansas then I moved to New York
and eventually started doing it full
time. It's been a full time
job for about 6 years now. How old is fred flare? Is fred flare
a
toddler?
c: Fred's
four years old now. Pretty soon he'll be off to kindergarten.
k: I
loved kindergarten!
c: It's
totally where all our design inspiration comes from...
k: I
never had a birthday during the school year. Did your parents ever
bring cupcakes
to school? What would you say is like your favorite
birthday cake motif?
w: Um,
I think my total fantasy cake would be one with a waterfall and giant
butterflies
and flowers that all taste as good as they look...
c: Yes!!
Decorations are super important! Actually, that's what I remember
about the
school cupcakes... Since my birthday was in the first semester
of the school year it was
super competitive - you had to make the
biggest splash with your birthday treat to insure
your spot on the
popularity ladder - and decorations were key. You'd plan at least
a
month in advance.
k: Yeah,
birthday's were real rites of passage in a young kid's social status.
Oh, and so
painful! I never got invited to the right ones... How
about you, Wendy? Which boy's
birthday party were you dying to be
invited to back in junior high?
w: I
can't really name names but there was this one guy that I loved all
of Junior high
that I carved his initials in a tree by my house.
When I got to high school I realized what
a loser he was and totally
not cute. He never ever noticed me but that's ok. I have moved
on......
I think... just kidding. Chris, did you go to any hottie junior high
birthday parties?
c: No
way! I only got invited to the parties where the parents made the
kid invite the
whole class. I'd get invited by default.
k: My
friend threw a small birthday party for her Cabbage Patch doll. I
got invited to
that one...
c: Wendy,
one more question... Which one of your products do you think makes
the best
birthday gift?
w: I
think clothes are sort of hard to buy for people - I would buy hand
cream or
something. People like buying my guitar straps for gifts
though. Those are good. What
about you guys?
c: I
think the construction pad is a nice little gift. It's this notepad
we have that really lasts
and lasts. It's got like 300 sheets of
construction paper, all different colors. It's very fred:
something
for adults using nostalgic kid materials.
k: Our
stuff makes really good gifts I think and as a designer I really
treasure that. We
sold this live tree seedling over the Holidays
called the fred fir and we got so many calls
and orders for it and
I loved hearing people's stories about it... Some were buying it
for
friends that just bought a new home, or this woman bought one
for her brother to honor
the anniversary of their father's death.
I know Chris and I both feel so honored to be a
small part of people's
milestones like that.
c: Yeah,
the birthday book is totally like that for us, too. We had such a
great time
working on it with you and it turned out so great! Wendy,
thanks for everything and
thanks for chatting! Have a great day and
we'll talk to you soon!
