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Today we’d like to introduce you to Giovanna Jaspid.
Giovanna, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
From a very young age, I knew I wanted to pursue a career in the design field. My childhood was surrounded by fabrics, threads and numbers as I am the daughter of a professional seamstress and a mathematician. I graduated with a master’s degree in architecture and also studied abroad in China and Italy as part of my professional development to learn about crafts and other cultures.
During my professional work experience, I had the opportunity to be part of the design team on luxury projects from residential to high rise office buildings. Among them is the Hess Tower in downtown Houston, the first LEED Platinum office building in the city. In South Florida on new construction apartment buildings, one of them the Atlantico at Alton a resort-style apartment community.
As my experience grew I started doing side jobs with a colleague doing interior renovations. The scope of work included furnishing and adding beautiful pillows to each area. Instead of buying pillows I selected fabrics and hired my mom to fabricate them for all my projects. By working on these side jobs I started to learn about textiles and its process and found myself constantly shopping and sourcing designer fabrics for future projects.
This is when I saw a business opportunity to endeavor in a custom pillow world. Once I became a mother having a full-time job and the daily commute while working for somebody else started to dim the light in me. I decided to pursue my dreams and work from home on my projects. I am currently working on interior renovations and continue to grow my online custom pillow brand.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Venturing out to work on your own brings its set of challenges. All of a sudden, you are in charge of the budget, marketing, payroll, customer service and taking calculated risks. There has been a learning curb as part of running my business with long hours, self-doubts and very hard work. I had to achieve a level of discipline and confidence and learn to become more efficient with each new project. But in the end, it pays off and this is all part of the process as with every challenge I become a stronger entrepreneur.
Please tell us about your business.
Jaspid Studio is a Miami based company specializing in interior renovations and custom pillows. At the moment we are focusing on increasing pillow inventory and growing our brand awareness while collaborating with interior designers and architects on custom pillow projects. Sustainability plays a big part in our work so we use reclaimed fabrics as much as possible to do our part in helping with the environmental impact of textile waste.
Everything is handmade by us, first I cut each pillow to the specified size and then it’s turned over to my mom to work her magic on fabrication. Our custom pillows are ready to ship in one to two weeks and our stock pillows are ready to ship in three to five business days.
What has been the proudest moment of your career so far?
There is not only one proud moment. I have been proud to prove myself that I can do anything I put my mind to. I am achieving personal and professional goals. I am always raising the bar high and when looking back, I am proud to have overachieved it.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.Jaspidstudio.com
- Email: giovanna@jaspidstudio.com
- Instagram: @jaspidstudio
Read more: Giovanna Jaspid Voyage Miami, November 2019