Welcome!!

Etchable Expressions is a student-run business at the Olin College of Engineering in Needham, MA. We - that is, Laura Firstenberg ’11 and Elizabeth Poindexter ’13 - design and produce customizable, photochemically etched earrings.

Objective #1: Etchable
Inspired by the high resolution and precision of photochemical etching, our earring designs are very intricate, clear and clean-cut. In part, this business began in order to show off the beauty of an amazing manufacturing process!

Objective #2: Expressions
Etchable Expressions was created in order to share our passion for design and our love of earrings with you. We carefully designed basic plate designs and universal patterns that will fit a range of personalities. So, write what you think and show your colors; take this opportunity to express yourself!

This blog exists to showcase our products and design process – we hope that you find it both interesting and inspiring! You can order earrings through this blog, through our Etsy shop, or by emailing etchableexpressions@gmail.com directly. Please see our post on product tiers and ordering for more information.

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Our Origin
In Fall 2010, we participated in an experimental course at Olin focused on designing new curriculum that integrated both product design and entrepreneurship. The purpose of the course was to:

1. Outline a month-long process for designing, prototyping, marketing, selling and terminating a product given limited resources (ultimately, this process would represent a viable option for students to start sustainable and profitable businesses within the time-frame of a semester and given limited resources available to them at school)
2. Figure out a way to effectively teach this process to other Olin students in subsequent semesters

During the second half of the course, Etchable Expressions was born as an exploration of how to run a business with designer-oriented and highly customizable products given a short-term startup period and limited resources. Within a one five-day selling period at the end of the semester, we collected approximately $550 in profit, based on only four weeks of prior designing and prototyping. For more information about our process, please see our final project poster (click to enlarge).

Given the restricted duration of our project, we were not able to implement many of our ideas about expanding our range and number of customers. Thus, Etchable Expressions reopened for business in Spring 2011 in order to further experiment with our earrings designs and business model. Any feedback about our designs and business model are most welcome! Please comment anywhere on this blog or email us directly at etchableexpressions@gmail.com.