In the event that Project Vessel is not fully feasible (we don’t get a space with a storefront, we don’t have the budget etc), what is the least we can do to advance the overall goals and vision of the project?
We can still serve clients and prospects tea. All that requires is a (good) kettle, some teaware and tea. We can create a small reception or lounge area with some nice (even second-hand!) furniture and set the tone for some tea chilling Obviously, it’s a design studio, so we could make up some “menus” (just whatever we had) and posters etc. Maybe some books/zines to thumb through We could also stock a few Monocles/Wallpapers/Phaidon books/whatever We could also have a “tea with XYZ studio” meetup kind of like Normative’s
MVT Startup Cost Ballpark
*For convenience, furniture prices from Article, tea from Genuine Tea, teaware from Forlife and CB2, Kettle is a Fellow Stagg. These are retail prices—possibility of business account/discount even as MVT.
Going sofaless would cut this budget in half. Some purchases could be spread out over time to reduce absolute upfront cost and more teas can be added gradually.