Today we’d like to introduce you to Shawn & Michael Ann Wilson.
Hi Shawn & Michael, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
Seven-year story? I left my full-time job to create and sell wooden bow ties after creating a design for a very special friend, Max L. Moser “The Bow Tie Guy”. Max was always ready with a smile and a quip and a skinny, strong handshake, and he always wore bow ties. Large, colorful, odd, sparkly bow ties. We made him his first wood bow tie. When Max passed away he had over 600 bow ties, including a couple of dozen wooden ones. He was laid to rest on August 28, 2020, on National Bow Tie Day.
We added moving gear bow tie designs, as well as other items, such as ornaments, 3-d puzzle rockers, and plaques.
During the pandemic, we created elaborate laser-cut plaques of the local LDS temples and were invited to be a part of a specialty store in Orem focused on temple products. In 2021 I went back to my former employer (Naag Tag) to ask for a production partnership. After much discussion, we offered to buy Naag Tag and add the production of our wooden creations to the production of name tags and office signs. After about 16 months the sale was finally official and we started putting the two companies and 14 employees together. The week of March 6-10, 2023 we are having our first official Open House to show off to our Naag Tag customers the cool designs from W.K. Wilson, and show our bow tie customers the products and capabilities of Naag Tag Engraving.
We are still figuring out how, when, and if, we completely combine the two companies or if they live in tandem.
Naag Tag ships hundreds of name tags and office signs every day, and specializes in custom-shaped, full-color name tags. At W.K. Wilson we have hundreds of wooden bow tie designs, including moving wood gear ties (3 designs are copyrighted), we have about 4 dozen temple plaque designs as well as plaque designs for other historic buildings and landmarks.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Smooth roads are boring. It took a lot of learning to take our very niche product and get it out in front of customers.
We grew by running to fairs and festivals from Las Vegas to Portland and finding resellers from Oregon to North Carolina. But, finding the right fairs and right resellers has been quite a learning curve. We started out with one 25-year-old laser cutter in the back room of our house, and later bought 2 more laser cutters and took over the basement of our house.
It wasn’t until we were part of Temple in Mind in the Orem Mall that we started growing enough to look for bigger production capabilities. While we were in talks to acquire Naag Tag the Temple in Mind store closed, which meant that the sales channel was gone, but we now knew that there is a good market for our creations. Right now, my wife and I are full-time learning and running Naag Tag Engraving and still creating new designs and finding ways to promote W.K. Wilson.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I have been a graphic artist for almost 35 years, with my first job as a production artist at O.C. Taner Co. in Salt Lake City. I have done some illustration and cartooning and even had a stint as an animator for a small educational software company. Always doing small jobs and creating logos, graphics, and animations on the side of a full-time job and full-time parent of 5 wonderful kids. I started working as a graphic artist for Naag Tag in 2007 in the Lindeman’s house and helped the company grow through 2 expansions to the current production space it lives at now. During that time I help create many of their best-selling standard products and helped create cutting-edge processes.
I love drawing on the computer. Most designs still go through the sketching process, then those sketches get to be lined and refined on the computer. Because of the computer, I can create designs that can be recreated many times on the laser. My designs go from paper to computer to laser, with most designs having to go back and forth many times before the final product is ready. My first wooden bow tie design was simple paisley created out of three pieces.
Now some of the gear ties have almost 20 pieces. My current Salt Lake Temple plaque took about 3 years to design and redesign. I use a lot of 1/8 birch wood, and the designs are layered to create depth. The Salt Lake Temple plaque has 8 layers of different woods and designs to create the final product. Some of the plaques have 12 layers of designs and wood.
We are working on other landmark and historic building designs including worldwide cathedrals and statues. We hope our creations will keep getting better and bigger.
We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up.
Getting married.
Pricing:
- Puzzle Rockers $5.00
- Wood Bow Ties $15 – $45
- Gear Bow Ties $30 – $75
- Plaques $45 – $325
Contact Info:
- Website: wk-wilson.com
- Instagram: @wkwilsonbowties
- Facebook: WoodKnotWilson
