Dear Readers, 

As we approach the New Year, I wanted to take a moment to thank you for your support, encouragement, and feedback, whether you’ve been with us since the beginning or are just joining.  

Ellen and I created Artifcts to change the conversation around ‘stuff’ and lighten the financial and emotional burden that so often surrounds the stuff we keep and the stuff we let go. Our goal as founders is to enable you to not only to capture, preserve, and share the histories, stories, and memories behind your most cherished objects, but to also discover (or maybe even rediscover) the joy and human connection that go hand in hand with the items that make us, well, us! 

Heart value is just as important as financial value here at Artifcts. We’ve seen from our members over the past year that some of the most “valuable” Artifcts—postcards and letters, glass lamps, even a collection of old cookbooks—may have no financial value whatsoever, but are bursting with the histories, stories, and memories of us and our families. (Still stuck on the financial value piece? Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. We partnered with Heritage Auctions this past year to ensure our members can request and receive a free valuation for those Artifcts suspected to have financial AND heart value.) 

Speaking of partnerships, we’ve traveled the country during the past year on our quest to understand and transform the world of ‘stuff.’ We’ve partnered with positive aging and memory care organizations such as AgeWise Colorado and Insight Memory Care to give families a new way to spend quality time together, connecting and engaging around the objects of their lives. We’ve spoken with experts at Leading Age; presented at genealogy, AgeTech, and downsizing conferences; and learned from and shared with experts in the estate planning and insurance space who are eager to harness the power of Artifcts.  

As founders, we like to think big thoughts and dream of new and imaginative ways to build community and connection. Imagine one day being able to put on a pair of virtual reality goggles and “seeing” your childhood home and all your favorite Artifcts from years gone by. Or being able to say, “Siri, read me my Artifcts,” and have Siri take you on a trip down memory lane. These are all things we’re thinking about daily as we continue to design, build, and deploy Artifcts.  

As for the here and now, the Artifcts team is hard at work ensuring Artifcts is where you need it, when you need it. Stay tuned for a slew of new product features, publication of our spring webinar series schedule, and announcements of new partnerships spanning positive aging, end of life, moving and decluttering and beyond as we transform our relationships with ‘stuff’ together. 

With that, Ellen and I invite you to join us in a virtual toast as we say, “Cheers to 2023!” May it delight and surprise us in all that we do.  

Happy Artifcting,

Heather 

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© 2022 Artifcts, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Objects can not only have different names—flipflops vs. thongs; church key vs. bottle opener; bubbler vs. drinking fountain—but different hidden meanings.  

Maybe that’s not just a handbag. Instead, it’s a Christmas gift from your grandfather the year before he died, and you think of him every time you see it.  

Or that’s not an unused faucet part, but a token reminding you that hard problems need solutions and sometimes you have no choice but to be the one to solve them.  

And you don’t hold onto worthless trinkets like toy cameras. You just wish you’d made a better impression on the great Ansel Adams. 

Photos can’t talk. (We’ve discussed this before.) 

Objects can’t talk either. 

The meaning behind each could transform something from random object to family heirloom, thrift shop consignment to cherished keepsake, trash to life parable. Have you read about the solo sandal?

Share a hidden story, a piece of you, and consider making space in your life for the unexpected. Storysharing can be freeing, as one author will undoubtedly convince you tomorrow, Thursday, September 22, during part two of our free series Evenings with Artifcts. 

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© 2022 Artifcts, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

In honor of National Sticker Day (13 January) we decided to have a little fun and invite you, our Arti Community, to Artifct your favorite stickers and the stories behind them. We look forward to seeing what items go along with the stickers—water bottles, laptop covers, a ski helmet or two? 

Stickers may appear completely ordinary and playful at first glance, but they can tell a lot about us and where we’ve been or who (or what) we support. From a far-flung destination to a favorite brewery, indie bookstore or a beloved sports team. People use stickers to proudly display political and religious beliefs and even the make-up of their families. One of our favorite road trip games is guessing the story behind the stick figure family on the back of a passing car, so keep those stickers coming! 

Stickers are everywhere. We at Artifcts even have our own series of stickers, from our Artifct That! sticker to our super fun holiday plaid sticker.  

We invite you to Artifct your favorite sticker (and its backstory) and share it with friends, family, or even our Arti Community. Tag it #stickerhappy for a chance to be featured in our Arti Gallery. Happy Artifcting! 

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© 2022 Artifcts, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Making the career leap from enterprise to consumer brand was not just about a shift from defining a value proposition to appealing to the individual's needs. It's not about creating a brand guide either. For Heather and me it was the A to Z of how we would build our corporate values and policies to how we will reinforce the same through every part of Artifcts. "Okay, but what does that mean, Ellen?" Let me tell you!

Privacy First

Our prior lives were about "need to know." Out here in the private sector it's about delivering value to consumers with the least intrusion possible on their personal information and identity. At the very least, putting decisions about privacy in their hands, not ours. We defaulted all settings to private, created restrictions on what information is shareable to social media (to avoid spilling sensitive information), and ruled out commentary and view stats to avoid unwanted and sometimes demoralizing vibes.

Authenticity

A word often abused, I know, but it has permeated every daily meeting between myself and Heather as we've built Artifcts over the last year. Take our brand video, for example: Our decision to hide behind the camera was not about our CIA backgrounds (although that didn't help), but a reflection of the reality of Artifcts - it's about the objects of our lives and the humanity captured by them, not us as co-founders. It's about real people, memories, connections, and experiences, and, of course, stuff.

We've stayed true to our values and used our growth this past year to collaborate with other "underrepresented entrepreneurs" along the way. Did you catch our recent competition with Brooke Robinson's Goodtype lettering community? You will see this theme persist. In an upcoming ARTIcle we'll share our interview with a female entrepreneur out of Austin, Texas, who stepped out on her own during the COVID pandemic to offer workshops and services for archival preservation - what's old is new again!

Playfulness

Our logo taps as pages load, have you noticed? You can even view the original inspiration for it in this Artifct about the creation of our logo. We think it will flip its tiles, too, one day to the great discomfort of our creative director. Our primary brand color is a vibrant, life-reflecting green. We have a kid flying on our 404 error page. (We hope you haven't seen that yet!) We launched our company with teaser videos about how not to Artifct, starting with a dog digging frantically on a beach. Speaking of, one of our original product personas was pets! If we are going to become a "museum of humanity," in the words of one of our original community members, we can't take ourselves too seriously, and we must always reflect our community and be approachable. (HELLO! Did you catch our new year's day post on social media?)

Sustainability

Sustainability is another foundational element of our brand. We believe that Artifcts provides Arti Community members a forum to appreciate the stuff they have and impart the meaning of it to future generations. We are evaluating how we can bring sustainability into all parts of our business from expectations we have of our cloud services provider to the Artifcts we feature on our website and the content we publish, including pieces we have published about upcycled, custom textiles from a New York-based clothing designer and an Austin-based home goods artist. It also means that as we dream up Artifcts-branded swag for our team and ambassadors, we're seeking out individual illustrators and lettering artists, sustainable product materials, and Artifctable-goods. This holiday we even reminded our audience that you can gift the Artifct experience without so much as a bow wasted!

Singular (but Evolutionary) Focus

Parents, you've probably heard this expression, "Are your listening ears on?" It's product suicide if you do not have built-in mechanisms to collect information about your product. If you've checked out my LinkedIn profile you've seen this concept reflected another way: "When you argue with reality, you lose, but only 100% of the time." (Byron Katie)

At Artifcts we are loyal to our DNA and laser focused on the stuff in people's lives and the meaning behind those objects. But we're at the beginning of our consumer brand journey. We have a lot to learn from consumers and how Artifcts will serve them over the years to come. During the earliest days of Artifcts, we found, for example, that only by directly addressing, "What is an Artifct?" could we then help people over the hurdle of what to Artifct first. Now we tell people we're redefining 'artifacts' because Artifcts are not restricted to items of historical relevance, high dollar value, heirloom status, or parts of collections. Artifcts are objects that have meaning to you. That's it. This 'stuff' helps to define parts of you, your legacy, and your relationships with others.

On that note ... 

... What would you say are the defining elements of your company's brand? Or, you, dear consumer, what helps solidify in your mind what a brand is all about? Let us know at Hello@Artifcts.com. We'd love to learn from others who have tread this consumer brand path before us to help reshape the world around us.

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© 2022 Artifcts, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

It's Fall, y’all. That means college sports are in full swing and students across the country are celebrating Homecoming with their friends and families. Here at Artifcts that means class rings and letter jackets and sweaters along with other school spirit gems. What better way to showcase your school pride and preserve and share memories from ‘back in the day’? (Or maybe it wasn’t that long ago!) 

The Artifcts we are featuring today all have fascinating stories. Each represents a ‘piece of me’ for their respective owners and recalls fond memories of school pride and identity. All also offer a history lesson of sorts, although that was not intentional. The beauty of Artifcts is that you never know what you’ll discover! 

Want to show your school pride? Artifct your class ring, letter jacket, school sweater, or any other school swag and tag it #SchoolSpirit. Artifcts will donate $250 to the top Artifct'ed school as part of the Artifcts Homecoming Challenge! Check out the ones that @Wendy and @Matt have already Artifcted.  

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© 2021 Artifcts, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Yesterday was launch day. Today we turn to inspiring entrepreneurs. We’re sharing with you four Artifcts from four entrepreneurs. Meg Willis, Skip Mills, Teresa Smetzer, and Matt Ramsey live colorful lives filled in part by their entrepreneurial endeavors. Each has offered an object, an Artifct, that helps us learn more about their lives as entrepreneurs. 

• Meet Meg whose time on her bike allowed her mind to relax and her to create Good + Simple Wellness. View Artifct.
• Skip's Sky Pilot logo came from his passion for flying and now adorns his custom woodwork. The logo is also representative of many of his life and career choices, from mechanical engineering, piloting aircraft and commanding troops in the Air Force, to managing an applied university research lab. View Artifct.
• Teresa has spent a career addressing national security missions in one way or another from her positions as a civil servent and corporate executive. View Artifct.
• Meet Matt, whose father’s mortality crystalized for him the perils of waiting and the need to act now to change how he could give back to the world and simply be a cool dad. View Artifct.

Entrepreneurs as a group take risks, but to do so they themselves must first be inspired to set off into that world. Sometimes it is the people in their lives and other times events outside of them that provide that spark, but no matter the inspiration, we find there is also some physical representation of that choice – an Artifct. 

So, today, we celebrate all of you entrepreneurs! What objects in your lives speak to your entrepreneurial experiences and dreams? Start free or sign in to create your own Artifct and tag it #entrepreneursunite.

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© 2021 Artifcts, Inc. All Rights Reserved.