Artterro Eco Art Kits Sustain Creativity

By Laura Vaillancourt

In 2006, Artterro founder and CEO Forrest Voedisch was shopping for a craft kit for her young sons. She noticed lots of uninspiring projects, cheap materials and wasteful packaging. She decided to make high-quality, eco-friendly, engaging art kits so that parents would have a convenient way to bring art into the home. Voedisch states, “With the help of my business partner, Jennifer Conn, and the rest of our team in Madison, Wisconsin, the Artterro line now includes 12 kits that make it easy to explore needle felting, decoupage, art journaling and more.” Popular kits include Wire & Bead Art, Bookmaking, Art Dolls, and Wool Felt Jewelry.

Voedisch says her clients value quality, sustainability, creativity, and an alternative to the typical arts and crafts kits you can buy at any big box store. Voedisch says, “I hear from parents, grandparents, art teachers and crafters who tell me that it’s a challenge to find gifts that don’t feel wasteful, ‘cookie-cutter’ or overly commercial.”

Voedisch credits the brand’s success to everyone’s desire to be creative and their love to access their creativity in different ways. Voedisch says, “Not everyone has an eco boutique in their neighborhood, so we’re pleased to be able to help people purchase quality gifts.” Artterro products include creative gift sets, quality crafting tools and gorgeous art materials.

Their products are assembled by hand in Madison. They source natural materials from the U.S. whenever possible (including felting needles, bubble wands and glass marbles), as well as handmade recycled paper and handmade wool felt pieces from family-owned businesses in India and Nepal.

The top sellers include the Wire & Bead Art Kit, Needle Felting Kit and Bookmaking Kit. Voedisch says her favorite is the Wool Felt Bug Kit, “because it’s so fun to invent your own colorful creatures.”

Currently in development is another paper-themed kit focusing on origami and another needle felting kit. Voedisch says, “We are also passionate about bringing more creativity into people’s lives by sharing DIY craft tutorials and writing about kids, art and sustainable business at our Spark blog and our social media pages. And we send out a monthly newsletter with a roundup of DIY projects and special coupon codes for our subscribers.”

For more information, visit www.artterro.com