What’s Otaat?

An excuse to play and learn. Through a line of minimalist whimsical accessories.

After years in architecture, I craved making things that were immediate, human-scaled, and expressive. Seasonal collections of bags, wallets, homewares, and party goods emerged. Otaat provided the perfect context to work with expert crafters, creatives, businesses, and friends and learn more about design, manufacturing, pricing, wholesale, marketing, and more.

What does Otaat mean?

Playing with curiosity, craft, and comedy. One thing at a time.

Otaat follows a practice of focus and rigor. “One thing at a time” has led to collections that play with conceptual conceits like exaggerated scale, flat pack, repetitive redundancy, party times, and crocheting the unexpected. It has forefronted attention to construction and minimalist details that look simple and obvious, but are the results of expert craft. All while keeping a humor to each design, whether it’s a puck-ish color pop of a wallet, a puffy pillow-ish pouch to nap on, an extra-long tote that takes two to carry, or our signature party hat and crown.

Otaat in the world

Learning by doing. From production to sales. UX, too!

Getting Otaat into the real world taught me about prototyping, manufacturing, costing, pricing, wholesale, retail, marketing, fulfillment, and customer relations. It also marked my entry into UX, with Otaat’s website, which iterated across metaphors, like blogs, pin-up boards, and photo contact sheets. A comment from a design blog: “This is far from a traditional e-commerce site. Not sure it’ll work, but kudos for trying something different!” More recent versions of the site follow standard e-commerce practices. Still learning!

Reception

Connecting with customers, in press and stores. And seeing how meaningful objects can be.

From the beginning, Otaat found a community of supporters and customers. They expanded the world and worldview of Otaat beyond what I imagined. Their feedback (direct and through retail partners) fine-tuned products and sparked new curiosities. They shared our story in publications around the world. They made Otaat rewarding, joining us at holiday markets and purchasing their favorite wallet for the third time. A researcher friend told me how he interviewed an unhoused LGBTQ youth who had an Otaat pouch; he shoplifted it from Anthropologie because it helped express himself. It was a pivotal moment, seeing how meaningful an object can be to someone.

Reflections

The gift that keeps on giving.

A couple years after I started Otaat, a mentor asked, “How’s it going?” fully expecting me to share the good and the bad. I said, “It’s interesting.” Pause. Then he laughed heartily. “I’m so happy to hear you say that because it means you’re still learning.” And I am! I still find myself gleaning new lessons from this formative experience, often years later and in radically different contexts. All from a weeknight distraction!