NYLP: So what’s interesting about you guys is you didn’t set up to start a neon company. It just kind of happened.
Sas: Yes, definitely. It was something that happened sort of by chance and snowballed a little bit.
NYLP: What does that mean?
Sas: Well, the story was that I wanted a neon for my nephew when he was born. I thought it would be a really cool gift to give him and I thought he could grow with it. It could be in his nursery, it could be in his bedroom, he could take it into his teenage years. I had a whole vision for like his life with his neon, but I didn’t know where to get neon. So I Googled neon New York City thinking it would yield a thousand results. I was kind of surprised with the lack of search results that I found. So then I would call the places, the few places that came up when I Googled it. And it was always a little bit hard to get in touch with anybody. It seemed like leave a voicemail here. Nobody would call me back when I was lucky to speak to somebody. I always spoke to somebody who spoke to me as if I already had the knowledge of neon. So there seemed to be a disconnect of how the consumer could get the product or like the consumer, whoever was buying it, knew about the product, which I didn’t. And I remember my friend from high school, Lena Imamura, had neon in her home. And so I wrote her an email and I was like, could you make this for me? And she did. And she quoted me at a price that was like a fourth of what everybody else was quoting me. And I had no reason to go back to those other quotes to be like, that’s outrageous. Cause I had no idea of what it was. So I wasn’t being walked through the process at all. And when she made it for me, she gave me these great sketches. She showed me what it would look like in a nursery so I could start to envision how this would work. And we got to play around, like change the W make it a different color. And at the time I was, working in a children’s theater company and I, when I picked it up from her, I was like, this is a business, you should do something with this. And she was like, maybe, I don’t know. And then a few weeks later she was like, I could do it, but there’s a few things I don’t, I’m not sure of who would buy it, why they would buy it, how to market to those people. And so she’s like, would you want to partner with me? And so I said yes. And we thought it was kind of going to be just like a little side hustle for both of us. We both had other full time jobs at the time.
NYLP: What year was this?
Sas: 2014.
NYLP: So I’m surprised by that because neon in New York City, I have to imagine New York City’s the neon capitol of the world.
Sas: Yeah. I mean I think it’s a little, if you Google now, I think more places come up. It was like we were right before
Lena: Neon everywhere. Like neon in cute coffee shops. It was not, that was not the case in 2014.
NYLP: Right. It’s certainly a trend now because when I first looked up NAME GLO, I was like, oh, this is the ultimate personification of social media and Instagram and neon. But that wasn’t part of your story?
Sas: Not at all no.
Lena: No. It really was born out of a genuine need and an interest and..
Sas: A hole in the market.
NYLP: And Lena, you had neon in your home at the time. I guess we could call you a trendsetter. Why did you have neon in your home?
Sas: She is definitely a trendsetter.
Lena: I am an artist. And I had always made sculptures and pieces with light. And so neon was kind of a natural medium to explore. So I had been making neon pieces since like 2008 or something like that.
NYLP: Well, it’s very interesting because I wanted to talk about that there are artists that were using neon, I think before all these trends. Did that inspire your aesthetic and your company? I’m thinking about like Dan Flavin, Keith Sonier, Bruce Nauman. I mean there are a lot of big names who are playing with neon or experimenting with neon.
Lena: Yeah. I mean, as an artist those are definitely like light artists that have inspired me over the years. But, I think and, and so much of what differentiates our brand, I think and NAME GLO is that it is made by artists and there’s a lot of artistry behind the designs that we create and like the imagery that we create. And so art is definitely a driver of our business.
Sas: At the same time, accessibility is as well. And so I think sometimes with these major artists somebody doesn’t know how to get something even in that realm, in their home or their business. And we were trying to close that gap.
NYLP: So I want to talk about that because now there’s been a proliferation of neon companies since 2014 I searched on Google. There’s a lot more, I searched on Amazon. There’s just a lot more premade things. What differentiates what you’re doing from what those people are doing?
Sas: Well, first of all, we’re not mass produced. So I would say like 95% of what we do is custom and we really walk the client through the experience. So it’s not like you buy it on Amazon and week later it’s Amazon Primed to your door, which is awesome for several products. I think with neon and the price point that we are at many clients want to be a part of the experience. So it’s kind of putting them in the driver’s seat and really walk. We take every single client, it’s a boutique experience. You come in, you could see the colors, you could feel them, you could watch what’s going on, you could see the experience happen. And so we really want to kind of bring the experience of neon and creating it and designing it into one sort of whole piece, which I don’t think a lot of places are doing. A lot of neon right now is often behind closed doors. It happens and it arrives and then you plug it in. We’re trying to show what happens in between those processes.
Lena: Yeah. Cause there’s so much that goes into creating a piece. I mean it’s glass, a straight glass tube that gets bent into this like incredible shape. And I think we, maybe on like a bigger level, a lot of people are used to like with Amazon Prime, getting things fast, getting things the cheapest possible. But like that’s definitely not what we want to do.
NYLP: And neon isn’t new. I mean, I feel like it also had a moment maybe decades ago and is making a comeback. Why are you attracted to neon? I mean, I get it. It’s bright and colors, but why you?
Sas: I mean there’s so many reasons. When I set out to make one for my nephew Wiley at the time, the real goal was to give him and his family something that would make them happy. And I know that sounds so sort of cheesy on like the base level, but that was truly it. Something that lights up and you’re like, wow, that’s really cool. And that is what neon does every single time we light it up. There is a magic factor. And so we were like, oh, we want to bring this to more people. So we’re really looking to celebrate milestones and moments in people’s lives. And so that was that. That was like the goal of what we were doing. And it feels bigger than just kind of shipping something out and getting it. We care. There’s a lot of follow-up. We keep in touch with our clients. I would say many of our clients are return clients. Like you know they got the neon, they got a piece for their wedding and then they got pregnant and they want us to make something for the baby’s room and then they opened a business and now they want something for their office. So we find these people kind of coming back. It’s not a onetime person so we have relationships with them.
Lena: But that whole like milestone thing is like really kind of key to the discovery that I feel like we made with this. Like why neon and like why that shining like celebratory moment is like such a moment of joy for everybody and it is the same thing that started the whole thing. It’s like you want to celebrate Wiley your nephew and you want him to be proud and you want everyone to be.
NYLP: And what do you think is behind the resurgence? I mean, Sas, you’ve talked about that you kind of wanted this, but you hit on something and if you search on social media now neon is everywhere and it’s in a lot of offices and it’s in a lot of stores. What’s behind this resurgence?
Sas: I mean, I don’t know why other people started the resurgence, I have to say honestly, I think we were part of it. We were sort of, we were certainly part of, I don’t know about like stores and businesses, but we were certainly part of bringing, accessibility and neon into your home. I think that was part of us.
Lena: And of bringing a feminine touch, I mean, when we started there, it was all, male businesses. There were definitely other like neon studios run by neon artists that were women, but it was mostly them as artists that made neon, that had a practice. But as far as like a sign provider for custom neon, it was a very, and it still is a very male dominated space, but we really made it..
Sas: Brought a feminine touch.
Lena: Yeah. Brought a feminine touch to it.
NYLP: Okay. So you bring the feminine touch. You have this original design. How were you able to grow the customer base? Because we talked about how it happened by accident.
Sas: I mean once again, I have to say it was pretty organic and it’s still really organic. So we Lena approached me, she said, would you want to partner? We did. This was 2014 we didn’t really launch it. And by launch it, I mean we sent a newsletter out to like family and friends in 2016. Really because it was something exciting for both of us, but we both had lives outside of it. We both had full time jobs outside of it. So we kind of snuck in hours wherever we could. And then when we launched it, it was like, oh, this is such a cute idea. I think my friend has a business. She might want this and forwarded the email and they bought it. And then that person weirdly worked at Revlon and they wanted to do it. And like it really has been a very organic process. We have yet to really do any sort of outbound process, which is interesting, and I imagine at some point we will want to, but everything is pretty inbound.
Lena: Just to add to that, I also think so much of the circumstance that we were in, which is like we both had full time jobs. We didn’t know where this was going, we just knew people would want it. And so a lot of that circumstance created a business model where we really were like web first and like we created a website and that was like how we launched our business which I think in another world, if you’re a neon studio, you’re building a studio first and then you think about the website later. And I really feel like that allowed us to innovate in a way that is for like 2016.
Sas: And we, I think as we still are growing in this way, like when a new problem is brought to us, we try to find a solution to it rather than like, oh no, that’s not going to work there. We’re like, oh, but this could work. And somehow we’ve now launched a new product that we didn’t even know we were planning on doing, but like it’s come out of circumstance, which has kind of been the entire thing of NAME GLO.
NYLP: And why do people want neon in their homes, their offices? Why do they want these things now?
Lena: Cause it’s a statement piece. It’s like bright. It’s art. You had a hand in it. I mean it’s, you know, if you were like making a neon, it’s not cheap. So you’re kind of investing in something that’s meaningful to you. And so it’s something that’s kind of shining in your home or office or that you had a hand with.
NYLP: And what is the price point?
Sas: The two main products that people usually come to us with are either neon, which is a glass that’s in basic terms filled with gas. It makes it light up. And then we have another product LED neon, which came after neon for us. And a LED neon are flexible, LED lights that are encased in like a rubbery shell. So it’s an alternative to neon. It’s much more durable as it’s not glass. It’s usually a little bit more cost effective. So there’s different reasons that you would want LED neon verse regular neon.
NYLP: And what’s the process of creating, let’s say a traditional neon?
Sas: The process for both of them is the same. Usually someone comes to us either, we’ve all different clients, either somebody comes to us exactly with what they want. I want this text, I want it in this color, I want it to go here. Or then sometimes people are like, I have an eight foot wall in my office and I want a wow piece when you walk out to the lobby and we’re like, okay, let us take it from there. So there’s two different kinds of people that come to us or someone in the middle. And it could be either, it could be this is my logo and it’s as simple as that. Or it could be, hey, what could I do that’s really cool and eye-catching, but I also have this issue where there’s a light bulb right there and I don’t want it to conflict with that. And we have to sort of take in different circumstances to make that problem solved.
NYLP: So people come in with a design and then how do you manufacture it or you come up with a design and then how do you manufacture it?
Lena: Well, for the neon part, we have a studio in house that we produce the neons with. You take the glass, you map, there’s a whole process with like mapping out the actual design into scale to create a pattern. And then you bend the glass according to the pattern. And throughout that process the glass could break. It often does. Then after the glass is actually bent into the shape, you have to fill it with gas and electrify it and it’s called the bombarding process. And you enclose the entire tube and all the contents in it into a vacuum. And then after that you have to paint it and like block out certain areas with that paint and then you wire it all together. So there’s a lot of steps. Yeah. It could be anywhere from one week to two weeks.
Sas: It depends how big the piece is, what the text is, what type of glass. Like there are some glasses that are easier to bend than others. So there’s a lot of circumstances involved with it.
NYLP: And part of the podcast, we talk about what it’s like doing business in New York and at the outset I mentioned that New York seems like the neon capitol of the world even before things started. But now in this new iteration, it seems like neon is everywhere now with more of a feminine touch. What’s been your experience growing your business in New York?
Sas: I would say a lot of our clients aren’t in New York. So we do have some clients in New York and for those people that’s really great. They can come visit our shop and they can visit our studio and see us in person. And there are those people that want to be involved. There’s other people that just like want it sent to them and don’t want to have a lot of back and forth. So we deal with all those sort of people. But I wouldn’t say that our business is completely New York based. It’s kind of not only around the country but very much around the world.
Lena: But I do think we’ve been helped by like the hustle of New York, the like pace everything. I mean from growing up in New York. And I think the innovative like mentality I think that you get from being in New York and also our network. I feel like the way we’ve grown organically has to do with the people that have supported us over the last few years as well.
NYLP: So when I walk around or I’m going a lot of different places, you’ll see, I’ll see neon in different restaurants and stores and we talked about offices, homes. Are you concerned at all that that there’ll be too much neon in the world?
Lena: There’s not enough.
Sas: Yeah, I don’t even think we’ve even reached like the, even anywhere near the tip of the iceberg of too much neon. And I also think we don’t just do neon. So a big part of what we do is innovate. So always are trying to find like the next thing that maybe you haven’t seen yet and how to bring that to the surface as well. Like we’re coming out with a whole, we’re launching our brand new store and with it there’ll be a brand new collection that I don’t think people have seen yet or experienced yet or seen anything like it yet. So we’re always trying to kind of just push, there’s going to be copycats. We created a piece for my wedding that then has now been replicated. We’ve seen a lot of places, but so rather than be like, oh God, that stinks at somebody else’s making it, we’re like, well, let’s make the next thing and keep on kind of pushing it forward.
Lena: That really pushed the neons at weddings trend.
NYLP: Right. So what is the next thing?
Lena: Do we want to say?
Sas: I don’t know.
NYLP: You have to say you’re on the podcast.
Sas: Well, one thing that we’re going to be doing is this, for lack of a better term, this light bar collection. So the idea is to create a piece of art or a mantle or something that could add a few different shapes. And so, in our studio, you’ll see all the shapes. You’ll see all the plexicolors. You’ll see all the items you could use and then you can sort of move things as you want to create your own piece. And there will be a digital sort of way to mock it up in the store that you could move shapes, you can move colors and you could try to mix it up and be like, oh, that’s what it looks like beforehand. So that’s one thing. We have, we’re doing a line of mirrors that are really great and there’s a light element to it and we’re starting to push more into like just the interior space in general.
NYLP: And I think that social media is probably a double edged sword for you guys because with social you’re very visual and you’re able to get exposure. But if you’re overexposed, I think that people are like, oh, I’ve seen that, or I saw it at a wedding or I saw that in someone’s house or I saw, you know, this influencer do that sort of thing and I want to do something different. How do you think about that in terms of your business?
Sas: It’s interesting. I think the influencer thing of the opposite, I think people see the influencer thing and are like, I want what the influencer had. Less than like, oh, they already had it at their wedding. There’s two different types of people that are like, I’ve seen it. Or the people who are like, I saw it and I want that exact thing. So there’s two different types of things.
Lena: I feel like we satisfy both of those because that’s actually kind of where our original ideas and our original pieces and kind of the way we are like artistically led in our brand allows even the people that don’t want the thing that the influencer wants to feel like, oh they get it.
Sas: Yeah. Just to use an example of like a pretty big company reached out last week. I sound like Donald Trump like not saying who it is, but a bigger company reached out to us last week.
NYLP: A huge company.
Sas: Huge, huge, the biggest, they came to us last week and they thought that they wanted just to kind of deliver us these designs and we would make them, but they didn’t realize that the specific colors they wanted really don’t come in neon things like silver neon, there’s colors that are in the realm of silver, but like there’s not exactly a silver exact match to this. And I solved the problem by pitching an idea that they didn’t even have any clue about that kind of inverted their experience. And since then we’re now on like a totally different page because of that. That suggestion I made. So often there is like the people that think they want something and then we’re like, but what about this? And they’re like, oh I didn’t even know that was a possibility. So we love both clients, clients that have very specifically what they want and we can make it happen. Or clients that have a problem that need to be solved. It can’t be solved exactly how they think it can be solved. But we have a solution.
NYLP: And what do you think is the future of your business?
Lena: I mean, I think we’re just as Sas mentioned earlier, really pushing more into just like the creative space. So wherever those like challenges take us, I feel like we’re just answering the call as it comes.
NYLP: Well, that is a wonderful note to end things on. How do people find out more about you and NAME GLO?
Sas: Well, definitely check out our website, www.name-glo.com and our Instagram @nameglo. And also come visit us at our brand new storefront that we are opening in two weeks. That’s 133 Norfolk Street. That’s where we’ll be the Lower East Side. Come and say hi. And also if you’re listening to this podcast, we’re offering 10% off to all the listeners. So please mention the code NYLAUNCH. So you can redeem that and we can get you glowing.
NYLP: And if you want to learn more about the New York Launch Pod, you can follow us on social media @nylaunchpod or visit nylaunchpod.com for transcripts of every episode. And if you are a super fan, Sas and Lena, are you super fans of the New York Launch Pod?
Lena: Obviously.
Sas: Absolutely.
NYLP: If you’re a super fan like Sas and Lena, please leave a review on Apple Podcasts. It is greatly appreciated and does help people discover the show.
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