Trendspotters may be talking about seeing more color in the marketplace, but this doesn’t affect Taylor Elliott and the jewelry, stationery and gift goods she creates for Taylor Elliott Designs. “In my world, color is always in style,” she explained. “My specialty is things that are really brightly colored and happy—things that bring joy to people.”
In 2010, Elliott graduated with a visual communications degree from the University of Oklahoma, hoping to work in design. When she couldn’t align that first job with a creative company, she started her own. Today, you can find Taylor Elliott Designs products at Paper + More in Oklahoma City, The Gift Shop in Edmond and taylorelliottdesigns.com. Her designs feature a rainbow of quotes, glitter, hearts and flowers—among other cheerful themes. We recently met up with Elliott to discuss her work and passion for giving.
EH: Tell us about the early days of Taylor Elliott Designs.
TE: “I opened up an Etsy store. I was selling customized stationery, and one of the guest bedrooms in my house was my little studio and shipping station. I had a plan to grow the wholesale side of the business … I would cold-call stores every day, and I had an email, a PDF catalog … for every 20 ‘nos’ I got like one ‘maybe’ or ‘yes,’ and that one ‘yes’ gave me the motivation to get to the next one.”
EH: How do you come up with designs?
TE: “A lot of it is my gut feeling and my intuition … I might be on a walk with my kids, and I see some flowers in a flower bed, and the colors just jump out to me, and I’m like, ‘I need to put that on a notebook.’ When I’m designing products, I often think about how this item is going to be gifted … I also think about how this product is going to sit on the shelf. A lot of our items are packaged where they’re gift-ready.”
EH: Do you like giving gifts?
TE: “My love language is giving and receiving gifts, so I feel like I have come to this job by no coincidence … I personally love finding the perfect gift for someone, something that would make them feel loved and spoiled, something that would truly make them feel seen. When my customer opens their box, my goal is that the quality exceeds their expectation, that the colors are even more vibrant in person and that they’re just excited to use the product.”
EH: What is your best seller?
TE: “Our bracelets have been incredibly popular. We have these really great sparkly, colorful, stretchy bracelets … You can be as subtle with them—or as sparkly and statement—as you want. You just add more. You can wear one, or you can wear five.”
EH: Your desk items often include motivational quotes. Do you have a favorite quote?
TE: “My favorite is actually a faith-based quote: ‘God wouldn’t have put a dream in your heart if he hadn’t already given you everything you need to fulfill it.’ I truly believe that if God puts a dream on your heart, he’s equipped you with what you need to fulfill it.”
EH: What do you think it takes for a small business owner to succeed?
TE: “The secret ingredient is not giving up. Like, when things get hard, you just have to power through … If you truly believe in your business and you see that there’s a demand for it, you just got to power through it.”
