Seller Handbook

It all started with a pair of rudimentary side tables. When Kwadwo Som-Pimpong moved into a new home in 2015, he desperately needed furniture. Having trouble finding pieces that suited his needs, he decided to make his own – a project that not only met a practical need, but also sparked an enduring passion for woodworking. Since then, Kwadwo launched his Etsy shop Crafted Glory, based in Clyde, North Carolina, and built it into a flourishing business, with more than 1,000 sales of thoughtfully crafted tables, shelves, and chopping boards.

Kwadwo deeply considers the impact of his business, in terms of sustainability, design, and community, drawing on his background in mechanical and environmental engineering and putting his principles into action at every turn. “One of the things I’m most pleased with is having an employee,” he says. “Just to know that someone is getting their livelihood from Crafted Glory, that means so much.” An extension of this care is also reflected in how he makes space for young people to come and learn the craft in the bustling workshop. With Kwadwo guiding the way, the future for aspiring woodworkers shines bright.

Read on to learn how Kwadwo juggles working as a fabrication supervisor at a manufacturing plant with running his busy shop on Etsy, all while experimenting with new designs, collaborating with customers, and growing his business.

Since you’re working a full-time job and running your business, how do you divide your time? What does an average day look like?

I’m building furniture during the day for Crafted Glory, and working four nights a week for my employer of the past 10 years. My day typically starts at around 7:30am, when I head to my workshop in Clyde, North Carolina. It’s on a beautiful piece of property overlooking the mountains. Together my wife Faith and I will work on whatever’s on hand until 2pm. Then I’ll get ready for my evening job. I’m there until 2am, and then the day starts again. Fridays and Saturdays are our time to focus on Crafted Glory, so we’ll spend most of the day at the woodshop. We’ve worked to make those small amounts of time as efficient as possible.

How does your engineering background influence your craft?

I’m channelling the intuition I developed over my years of engineering education as I’m considering all aspects of the furniture, like how much weight it can hold and making sure the components are structurally sound.

My degree in environmental engineering came from my interest and concern for sustainability. Sustainability is a critical part of Crafted Glory: from sourcing timber, to managing waste, to our choice of finishes. I use four suppliers, and sustainability is central to their sourcing. They source wood from the East Coast and mill their own timber, which is great because it often has a story behind it. One supplier sometimes gets logs from a historical estate. It’s special to use pieces like that in my furniture. I give my wood scraps to a local barbecue food truck to cook with – or, if the scraps are big enough, I’ll use them for smaller projects.

Which Etsy tools or resources have been particularly helpful for running and growing your business?

I appreciate how Etsy leverages their reach and helps with marketing for sellers. I pay for Etsy Ads, and around 60% or 70% of our traffic for the past year came from Etsy Ads. The conversion rate from clicks to sales is around 3% or 4% percent for our shop, which can be significant. I also like to read and watch the resources Etsy provides to help us strategize and appeal to buyers; that’s been helpful for us.

What’s your system for brainstorming social media content and filming on a busy schedule? Or is it more spur-of-the-moment?

Faith and I try to do three posts per week based on three pillars. We have:

• Encouragement to inspire others
• Process to show the approach and what we’re creating
• Function to show how you can use our furniture in various contexts

If we aren’t able to keep the schedule, we just do something. That’s where the impromptu comes into play. Just today I realised that a piece we were working on would look great on camera, so I asked Faith to grab her phone and we filmed ourselves working in the moment.

How has being part of a community of woodworkers impacted you?

I’m grateful for the woodworkers I know who are willing to share and who aren’t overly protective of their knowledge. They have really helped me along the way. I want to be a resource for others as well. I’m not an expert, and there’s much that I need to learn. I think that an important part of craftsmanship is realising that we’re never fully an expert. Each of us is further along or a step behind on the journey, and we should help each other. We held an internship last year where we had four young people between 13 and 15 years old working in the shop. We’re excited to continue hosting classes and have more young people come and learn on a larger scale.

What’s your creative process? Any creative or technical challenges you’ve solved recently?

I like to design as I’m working with my hands, to see what comes to life in the wood as I work with it. It’s an organic process and I find that the best designs come from that. I just added a lathe to the shop, which lets me make table legs and cylindrical components. I’m trying to make more and more use of that new tool.

Separately, I’m working on a new design for a customer with my assistant. We recently had to cut part of a table back down and re-glue it to meet specifications. There’s always some new technical aspect to learn. It’s part of the journey, which makes it interesting, and it lets us demonstrate our commitment to deliver what the customer desires. We don’t want to cut corners.

What lessons have you learned when it comes to large items delivery?

I dispatch primarily with FedEx Freight. Initially I perceived them as a big corporation, but gradually I’ve gotten to know my delivery people and have some direct lines to call. I also have a second carrier for when I need white-glove delivery, and a third who can deliver to certain cities on the East Coast, but his schedule is limited. On a given week, he’s delivering to certain areas, and I need to match his schedule.

Along the way I’ve had challenges with properly packaging items, and I’ve had things damaged along the way. Now, I know the tricks to ensure that items get to the customer safely, and especially the importance of taking pictures and purchasing delivery insurance.

You’ve written that 2019 was a pivotal year for your shop. Looking back on that year, what are you most proud of?

Etsy featured us in 2019, and at the time I was doing smaller items and my lead times weren’t set up for doing that kind of volume. It was overwhelming, but I am grateful for that opportunity; it took my shop to a new level. As a result, I shifted my focus to larger items. It’s quite a blessing and I’m humbled that people would look at my work and want to spend their dollars on what I’m making. I want to make sure that I’m serving my customers well and honouring that trust that they put in me.

What are you looking forward to in the years to come?

Looking forward, I’d like to work with more interior designers, home builders, and commercial spaces. I want to build Crafted Glory into a business that can support other people, like my employees, and anyone else who may come along. We’re actively working on the strategy to focus solely on Crafted Glory. I believe that if we could focus more time and energy on the business, it would increase our impact and the growth tenfold. I can only imagine what we’ll be able to achieve.

Visit Crafted Glory to explore more of Kwadwo's designs.

Photography by Tia Ward.