RedBubble

People are inherently creative. Deep down, most of us love to come up with new ideas, express who we are, or take a different perspective on the world around us.

This is particularly true of children. Remember chalk on the footpath, crayon on the walls, or a painting stuck proudly to the fridge with a magnet. Kids love stories, they love learning about new things, they ask obvious yet somehow overlooked questions.

So why don’t many of us focus on our creative interests as adults? Is there something about the process of growing up that changes us, that convinces us to be serious and sensible? Do we lose the ability to be creative? Or does it just get buried amidst the responsibilities, worries and priorities of adult life?

Look closer, though, and you’ll see sparks of creativity in adults everywhere. Since starting our RedBubble journey, we’ve been amazed at how many of our close friends have “confessed” to a secret creative hobby, a little spark of creativity that few else know about.

Look at the statistics and the picture is clearer still. Over 2.5 million Australians regularly take part in some sort of creative or cultural activity. Almost 90% do this entirely for free, for the simple enjoyment of it. A fortunate few earn a living from it, but most keep their creative spark alive in their own time and without sharing it with the world.

RedBubble was founded with a burning desire to improve this situation. And there are some major social and technological trends helping us out.

New technology has placed the creative tools of professionals in the hands of amateurs. With digital cameras, editing software, low cost hardware and more, it is easier than ever to produce your own creative content. Truly, the line between professionals and talented amateurs is blurring. And the traditional distinction between producers on one side and consumers on the other fades away – now you can be both!

Another important trend is the way that the internet helps side-step the tyranny of distance and lower the cost of distribution. For a country as huge and remote as Australia, this is life-changing. No longer can you be held hostage by limited product ranges, poor information or high costs. If it’s available elsewhere on the globe, you can find it, read about it and buy it in no time at all.

Witness also the growth of MySpace and YouTube, riding an internet-powered wave of self-expression and connectedness. Not to mention the millions of blogs out there. For some it’s about fame and the chance of being discovered. But for many, it’s simply about expressing themselves or hanging out with others who share their interests.

Yet, plenty of people have held back from self-expression online. Creative talent does not necessarily go hand in hand with technical savvy. And many people don’t feel comfortable sharing their deeply personal creative work in existing online environments.

So we asked ourselves: why isn’t there an online home for creative people? A place where they can belong to a genuine creative community, express their thoughts, get inspired, and collaborate with others? And why shouldn’t they be able to turn their creative passion into real objects for themselves or others, without worrying about hassles like producing, marketing, selling, and shipping?

And so the concept for RedBubble was born. And the more we thought about it, the more excited we became about making it a reality. We wrote a business plan, left our jobs, scraped together funding, and built a talented team. Eight months later, here we are with the first version of RedBubble alive and kicking.

Where RedBubble goes from here is up to you…