U RESIN Turns 8!

U RESIN Turns 8! Can you believe it? I know we certainly can’t. Today, the 1st of July in 2017, we began this “project” that very quickly turned into “U RESIN”. What we envisioned was so vastly different to what we have become now and we are so grateful for every part of it. This blog article, we will be taking a quick trip down memory lane, and sharing a few of our favourite moments over the years and maybe even share a few things that are yet to come.

On this day, 8 years ago we went to a “craft meet up” here in Perth. Where a few local artists and hobbyists’ got together to share their love for crafts and more specifically resin. We attended this meet up with 2 products, that we played around with ourselves and shared it with others. Not only did we get interest, we made our first ever sale on our very first day of starting! We were over the moon and so excited so see where this journey was going to take us.

(A bit of extra back story) These 2 products were something we had developed, tested and sold for some time but not to the “Arts Industry”. So when we found there was a new demand for it, we thought lets just give it a go and start a hobby selling “Art Resins” on the side. Little did we know, it would grow so rapidly and become what it is today.

After that very first day, we heard about a Craft Show in Perth that was coming up in August – The WA Craft & Wood Show. With less than 1 month until the show, we were able to get a last minute stall and the mad rush began to get set up for a show. This was something we had never done before, so our setup was basic and we only had 1 product to sell: a U RESIN Starter Kit. Getting these kits organised felt like a nightmare. Every way we turned we seemed to run into an issue. From boxes, to boards, to labels. BUT with the help of our family members and many late nights, we were able to pull it together and exhibit at the show. It ended up being a great success for us!

From then, we started joining facebook groups and sharing our products. Since we were so new, we didn’t have a website, only a facebook page and a dream. Our first time promoting our resins, we ended up with over 50 message enquiries, which we spent days replying back and forth too. We started gaining traction and more customers began trialing and promoting our products. If anyone has stuck around from the start, you’d know we were hand delivering local parcels after hours, not only to make introductions but also save on costs until we were more established.

About 6 months in, and we FINALLY have a website built. Was it great? (no) but it was a start and gave us an easier way to sell and promote our products around Australia. We started really picking up traction, when we introduced 4 new resin systems, making 6 in total, then introducing accessory items, boards and the first of our colours. We worked alongside QLD based artist, Sue from Artisue Creative, and became the first stockist of her pigment range. From there, our product range grew rapidly. We then started stocking 2 other pigment brands, along with Alcohol Inks and more.

In 2018, we participated in our first “BIG” exhibition at the Perth Convention Centre over 5 very long days. With this show, we wanted to bring something new and so we developed our first 18 pigments from the U RESIN Mousse range. Our pigments were well received and loved by many, so we continued to expand the range. Since then we have grown our Mousse Pigments to over 25, and introduced our Lustre Pastes and Epoxy Pastes. Between these two ranges we created over 230 pigments, which are now loved by many globally.

Fast forward now to 2019, we worked alongside a very talented artist, Nina from Shattered Shapes to introduce a range of workshops in Adelaide. We were originally going to hold 2 workshops, but due to the sell out of these classes in less than 2 days, we held a 3rd. This was such a great opportunity for us to meet so many of our existing customers as well as make a few new ones as well. With the success of these workshops, Nina also became our first ever Stockist. Something we originally did not plan on having but something that many people wanted so they could easily access our range of products.

2020 came around and we were ready for a HUGE year. We now had about 6-8 stockists Australia Wide and plans to visit Queensland for an exhibition and workshops along with 3 other exhibitions. But then COVID hit. Just 5 days before we were meant to fly to Queensland, the borders were closed and everything was cancelled. This is where uncertainty kicked in – what’s going to happen for us now? We did what we could to cancel our events and workshops, as well as ship back 2 crates of stock back to Perth. We took each day as it came and adjusted as necessary.

Whilst we dealt with the situation at hand, it also brought on some good experiences for us! We welcomed 10 new stockists in this time, including a stockist in Canada for our pigment range. We continued expanding our range of resin systems, welcoming our now best sellers U RESIN Liquid Glass and U RESIN Cast, whilst retiring some of our older systems. We also finally began building our first proper resin shop and studio. Up until now, we had hired studios around Perth, but since we were hostly weekly sold out workshops, we thought it was time to build our very own studio. Obviously covid changed workshops for us, but we were still excited to have a studio where we could film videos and tutorials as well as a proper storefront for the public to visit.

It’s now 2021 and our new studio and shop is ready to open! It started off small, and over the years, our shop has tripled in size as our range of products has continued to expand and grow! We’ve since introduced the incredible range of products from Art Tree Creations, as well as numerous locally made Art Boards, Cheeseboards, Alcohol Inks, Accessories, Silicone Moulds, Smooth-On and Jesmonite®.

The years to follow have been very much full of growth and change, adapting to the ever changing climate and bringing in new products that are frequently requested. In 2023 we introduced our Ambassador program, which now has over 10 ambassadors Australia Wide, as well as our 15+ stockists.

So what’s next? Well we don’t really know BUT we hope to continue growing and expanding. We’re always on the lookout for new stockists’ and ambassadors’ of our product range. We are finally returning to exhibitions this year with our first one being at the end of this month: CRAFT ALIVE at the Claremont Showgrounds. We also hope to bring back our travelling workshops and collaborating with our stockists’ and customers to bring more classes and demonstrations around Australia. We’ve recently introduced 2 more resin products, and will continue to develop and test new products for you all to love and enjoy.

From our humble beginnings to where we are today, we are so grateful for every order, comment, recommendation, creation, and kind word you’ve shared with us along the way. Thank you to each and every one of you that has joined us along this very creative journey. We look forward to sharing many more years with you all!