What’s in a Name?: Shen & Sam Co.

One of the most frequently asked questions we get about our business is what is the significance of the name of the company, Shen & Sam Co.  Some people who come up to us at craft fairs think it is named after us – the Sam part I can understand, but the Shen part is a little odd.  :)

A lot of thought went into naming the business.  It is so interesting how things all come together without even planning it that way!  We went through many names when we were thinking of what we wanted it to be.  A few of the names were already taken, a few of them just sounded silly the more we said them.  We needed it to be something we would be proud of and that wouldn’t go out of style in a few years.  Then it came to us, we had two rescue kitties named Shenna and Sam (who are now in heaven) and we thought what a tribute it would be to name our company after them.   We shortened it to Shen & Sam and added Co. to it, and that was it!

Then it came time to design the logo.  I knew that I wanted to use typewriter keys for the name.  I have always had a love of typewriters from as far back as I can remember.  I wanted something classic and simple.  I have been a huge lover of hearts forever, and starting this company was definitely a passion of mine, and since we were naming it after our kitties that we loved, I knew the logo had to incorporate a heart.   We did a couple of mock-ups of what we wanted and asked one of our cousins, who happens to be a super designer, (thank you Vicki!) to take our idea and design a logo.  She did a fantastic job and we LOVE it!

We had always known since the beginning that we wanted to give back in some way.  Here comes the AHA moment… remember how I said that things come together without realizing it was headed there all along… we decided to donate a portion of the proceeds from the sales to local animal charities!  Hello, we named our company after our two rescue kitties!  It was in front of us all along, but it was a little bit of a process to make the connection (your brain gets a little foggy with all of the details that go into starting a business).

Stay tuned for more about Shen & Sam Co. and our adventures!

Jamie