Industry Interview: Dual Wield Studio

Welcome to another Writing Desk Blog interview! Today I am talking with Adrienne & Rowan, the creative team behind Dual Wield Studio.

Art by Jayd Aït-Kaci

I first learned about Dual Wield Studio last fall when author Tamora Pierce announced their partnership to produce official merchandise based on her Tortall Universe. Those of you who have been with me for a while will know of my love for Tamora Pierce, and there have been very few products (that I'm aware of) on the market based on her books/characters. 

So, it seemed only right to reach out to the studio team who put this amazing collection together and ask them to join me for an interview!

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Writing Desk Blog: Hi Adrienne & Rowan! Thank you for joining me here on the blog! For my readers who are unfamiliar with your business, please tell me a little bit about yourselves and Dual Wield Studio.

ROWAN: I’ve been involved in fandom for as long as I can recall. It started with participating in round robins over on Y!Groups for Inuyasha and gradually grew into writing fanfiction, along with a job managing a merchandising company. That time spent in fandom from such a young age means that rather than a strictly bureaucratic view of fandom and merchandising, we try to create projects where we can work with fandom and try to improve it which is how you get Dual Wield Studio! 

ADRIENNE: I also grew up on fandom, starting on message boards and deviantART before moving onto LiveJournal and eventually Tumblr/Twitter. I met Rowan at Emerald City Comic Con, a few months before I moved to Seattle and started working at the same company. At the moment, Dual Wield Studio is just the two of us (one of several meanings behind “dual”), and it gives us the freedom to work with creators we admire for properties we’re fans of.

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WDB: What made you decide to partner together to start this independent studio?

A & R: We want to use it as an opportunity to help our communities. Our partnership was formed out of a shared desire to bridge gaps between IP holders, fans, and independent artists. During our years in merchandising, we’ve seen the industry grow and evolve over time. Our goal was to build on three main tenets that we hope will become standard practice:

    Brand recognition is improved by fandom creations, not diminished. If managed properly, IP holders and artists can work together to benefit from fandom while giving back to it. Developing an easier process for fans to make merchandise benefits everyone.

    Merchandise shouldn't be made solely with monetization in mind. Any IP with a fan following was crafted with love, care, and dedication. Why should its merchandise be any different?

    We have a moral obligation to support marginalized voices and pay a fair wage. We firmly believe that companies are in a unique position to promote marginalized voices and will take every opportunity to do so.

Unfortunately, a lot of merchandise is not created in a way that’s respectful, fair, or sustainable. Instead of a “churn and burn” approach of only focusing on what’s new and pumping out the quickest turnaround items, we work on developing projects we’re truly interested in. We want to ensure our creators get paid and are properly credited, and we also want to support independent artists and small businesses by sharing our resources wherever possible, whether it’s through collaborating on projects, offering a platform, or teaching aspects of the merchandising process.

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WDB: One of Dual Wield Studio’s recent projects is your collaboration with fantasy author Tamora Pierce. What led to the opportunity to form this partnership?

ROWAN: I have always been a fan of Tamora Pierce's work. During my time in fandom, I met Julie Holderman (co-author on A Spy's Guide) who facilitated the introduction. It's always been a dream to get to work on an IP that means so much to us as well as so many other people so a few years ago when this was brought up we knew it had to happen.

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WDB: How did you decide which books and characters to feature in the initial product line? Did you work closely with the author on these choices?

A & R: There are several images that instantly come to mind when thinking about the world of Tortall. For The Lioness Quartet, the ember necklace, Lightning, and the shield Thom gives his sister were ones that consistently came up when we talked about what we vividly remember. For Protector of the Small, Keladry's shield was consistently mentioned. With Wild Magic, Badger features so heavily in so much of Daine's story that it seemed obvious to figure out a way to work in the silver claw necklace. We wanted to draw on those same memories and nostalgia with our first products, but more than anything else we thought about what we wished we had as children when reading the books.

We work very closely with Tamora on every piece of merchandise created, from initial pencil sketches all the way to the final version which we ship over to her to ensure her approval. We have been very lucky in that we've been able to suggest items and push them forward with her blessing. Tamora is a dream client; she is quick to respond to questions and is extremely supportive and genuinely excited about the merch we are able to make!

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WDB: Which item(s) would you say have been the most popular since launching the collection?

A & R: Since we only launched with a small, carefully curated number of items at varying price points, there's no 100% definitive way to say what was the most popular. For example, shirts sold out first, but that was mainly due to low stock (with shirts costing the most to make, we were very cautious with how many we ordered initially). After a year of new products and sales data, we will have a better idea of what sells best and resonates most with the fanbase.

That being said, the response to ALL of the products we’ve released so far has been overwhelmingly positive and exceeded our wildest expectations! We are so incredibly grateful and can’t wait to announce new releases.

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WDB: Were you already familiar with Tamora Pierce’s work before beginning this collaboration? If you’ve read any of her books, which are your favorites and did they influence your designs?

ROWAN: The main three Tortall book series (Lioness Quartet, Protector of the Small, Wild Magic) were my favorites growing up all for different reasons, though I’ve read almost everything Tamora Pierce has put out. They absolutely influence the designs; I reread the books for the first line of merchandise and specifically outlined all of the areas where certain items were mentioned so we had every amount of detail about them that we could find. Those excerpts were then provided to the artists as well (if they were not familiar with the source material) so we could make items as true to the source material as possible.

ADRIENNE: I have to admit that I am not nearly as familiar with the Tortall books as Rowan is! I read The Song of the Lioness books when I was very young. At the time, I was a self-described tomboy, obsessed with horses (still am, to be honest!) and adored animals, so everything about the books were right up my alley. Over the years, the cover illustrations were what stuck with me most vividly, so when we began thinking of Tortall merchandise I knew we had to echo the original covers in our packaging and website banners. Fortunately, we worked with an amazing artist named Jewels Lei who was able to capture the look we were going for perfectly!

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WDB: What’s next for the Tamora Pierce line by Dual Wield Studio? Will you have new items added to the collection this year?

A & R: We recently released our second wave of apparel, including a modified reprint of the original limited edition Keladry t-shirt and tank, as well as a brand new Keladry hoodie and Jump t-shirt. All apparel has been restocked in higher quantities, and we have also expanded the sizing for shirts from XS to 4XL. In the coming year, we hope to release more accessories, including jewelry and enamel pins.

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WDB: Would you be interested in partnering with other authors in the future? If so, is there a particular genre that inspires you more than others?

A & R: We absolutely hope to partner with more authors in the future, and plan to work hard to make that happen! When it comes to genres, there is a visual element that lends itself to merchandising more often found in YA and sci-fi/fantasy fiction (this is pretty self-evident when we see what’s most often adapted for film and TV), but that’s not to say other types of books are out of the question! A great deal of merchandising goes hand in hand with fandom, as well; any book that has a large following is more likely to inspire merchandise. We have a very long list of dream authors we’d love to work with; just to name a few: C.S. Pacat (Captive Prince), Holly Black (Spiderwick Chronicles), Naomi Novik (Temeraire), Garth Nix (Sabriel), and Leigh Bardugo (Six of Crows).

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Want to know more? Of course you do! 

Links to Dual Wield Studio's official website, shop, and social media platforms can be found on yesterday's Get to Know the Founders post!