WITH LAURI SJÖBLOM
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Lauri Sjöblom is co-owner of Symphony Seed Cards, a Santa Fe company that makes eco-friendly promotional materials (such as greeting cards implanted with cultivable seeds) for various corporations and organizations.
SFR: How did you get started in the seed paper business?
LS:
I actually started with a zippered coconut. My husband makes corporate packaging and so we'd go to these trade shows and he'd have all his fancy designs and I'd be sitting there with my coconut. But I ended up doing a project with CBS for
Survivor
and then we did one for MTV and another for that movie [
Cast Away
] with Tom Hanks. We'd just fill them with fun promotional stuff and I sold something like 100,000 coconuts that first year. Everybody wanted a coconut.
Where did you get the inspiration for zippered coconuts?
Actually, a man came into my office from India one day and said, 'Can you sell these?' So I did, but it wasn't really my love. That's when I started showing my homemade paper, and after the very first [trade] show I came back with an order for 10,000 cards and I knew I had something.
I take it things have gotten a little busier since then.
I've been doing this for 12 years, but the last couple of years it has just gone through the roof. We just sent out a Disney card for a 'party for the planet' promotion for Earth Day. They called me last week and wanted 7,000 cards. Lexus called and wanted 10,000 pieces and that's in addition to the people who actually planned ahead, so it's been a little crazy.
Are the seed cards still a major part of the business?
The cards aren't as much the forte anymore because we've started doing a lot of custom pieces. They're all great promotional giveaways, but you can still plant them afterward. We do a lot with companies that have recycling programs like Weyerhaeuser, but we've also done things like bookmarks for Liz Claiborne or 200,000 'keys' for Volvo. Some of the companies, like Chevron, aren't necessarily 'environmental,' but we still make them look good.
How did you end up making the envelopes Al Gore used to promote An Inconvenient Truth?
I wouldn't have been able to do any of this without my employees and my husband [Bud Felson] being a designer in the packaging industry and having all the machines from his company [Okina Sales] to make all our different designs and shapes. A year ago, I started working with my husband and doing these [envelopes] that you could send through the mail. One of my distributors in California brought it to Paramount Pictures and they brought it to Al Gore.
What were they used for?
The DVD went inside the packaging and there was a note telling people not to throw the package away but to plant it and they'd be able to grow flat-leaf Italian basil. Paramount wanted to get the DVD into the hands of every media person they could so they sent it to radio stations, newspapers and the Oprahs and Rachael Rays. Al Gore brought it on
Jay Leno
and then I saw it one day on
Rachael Ray
. But they never mentioned my name because I sell through distributors. This is just one of those industries where you can do a lot of work but never get recognized for it.
Is that frustrating?
It is kind of frustrating, but at the same time there's something really cool and satisfying about working with some of the biggest companies in the country. Since [
An Inconvenient Truth
], we've had a lot of orders. We just did a job for Philip Morris of a million seed shapes that looked like flowers for a Virginia Slims promotion.
Are you conflicted at all selling eco-friendly products to clients like Chevron or Philip Morris?
In general, these companies are sending these things out for free in order to make somebody happy. So I can't say I feel conflicted because I love the idea that I'm bringing people something that makes them happy. But I guess if it was something really bad I probably wouldn't do it.
Do you have any favorite projects that you've done?
Right now, Sylvania is doing an environmental light bulb and my husband made the box to put them in and I made a seed card that grows Johnny-jump-up flowers. I also like these little wine bottles we made for Arbor Mist to send out around Arbor Day. We've done a lot of fun stuff like that.
How many individual pieces do you think you've done in the last year?
I don't know how to put a number on that, but last year I did $700,000 in sales and this year I'll probably double that. Each piece is around 85 cents, so…that's a lot of pieces.
Are you concerned that in five years we'll all just give up on the environment and start clubbing baby seals and put seed card companies out of business?
I think people are genuinely concerned about global warming and the environment. Right now it might be a fad, but I think a lot of people are really serious about it. It's a valid concern and I'm really glad it's getting introduced to the world in such a massive, conscientious way.
