Black Rainbow Project needs your help!
Donation protected
Black Rainbow Project is a bag company specialising in making messenger bags, pouches, and accessories aimed predominantly at cyclists, working cycle couriers, and anyone who is looking for heavy duty bags that do their intended job as well as they possibly can, for as long as possible.
The full story is a true tale of blood, sweat, and tears, filled with a few ups, and a few more downs, which culminated in both the company, and my dreams going into storage, and the doors closing behind them 4 years ago.
However, I am hoping that with your support I can finally make Black Rainbow Project into the success I always hoped it would be.
I am trying to raise the funds necessary to build a new workshop, order the custom specced fabrics, and custom made pieces of hardware I need to be able to turn the amazing new designs I've been working on into some of the best bags you will ever use.
With enough funding I will be able to enlist the help of other people to allow a higher volume of bags to be made, while still maintaining the level of quality I demand.
Your support would mean everything to me, as it will allow me to do what I am truly passionate about, and at the same time finally prove to both myself, and those who never believed in me, that I'm not a complete failure, and do have the ability to rectify all the mistakes I made in the past and finally make this company a success.
If you would like to know the full story which led to this gofundme campaign, please read on....
"Scott has the ability, but could try harder"
That sentence seems to have followed me my whole life, since it first appeared in my school reports as a child, and continued to do so until I left school at the age of 18.
The truth is, I could have tried harder... I could have done exactly what my teachers expected me to. I could have achieved top grades, and made people proud of me. But something inside me wasn't interested in toeing the line. Something inside me had no interest in spending time learning about things that didn't move or inspire me in some way.
What my teachers had failed to notice however, was that I was trying harder.
I was trying harder to break out of the mould. To distance myself from the things that killed my motivation and failed to cultivate passion for the things I enjoyed the most... Which in my case was creating.
"Scott is a very solitary person. This is evident in both his personality, and his choice of hobbies"
Another inspiring opinion from another uninspiring 'teacher'.
The hobby in question was cycling.
Something I was lucky enough to be introduced to from an early age by my father, something I have been proud to continue doing my whole life, and something which has been instrumental in shaping the creative path I chose to follow many years later.
Yes I was a solitary child, and as such I grew into a fairly solitary adult. Inheriting the many problems often associated with people who spend too much time alone. (Especially the creative ones) Depression, self hatred, self harming, and lack of self confidence.
What does any of this have to do with Black Rainbow Project, or this particular gofundme campaign you may ask?
Well, in order to fully understand why a person has made mistakes, and in order to decide whether or not you think that person has learned from them, it is important to fully understand who that person is...
And that person is me, Scott Black, owner and sole employee of Black Rainbow Project... And I have made mistakes... Lots of them.
Black Rainbow Project was originally started about 10 years ago in East London.
Right from the start I refused to compromise on either the build quality or the materials simply to meet a particular price point. Instead I set out to find what I considered to be the absolute best fabrics, webbing, and hardware for each particular part of every single product.
I then put all my thought and time into making the bags as comfortable and functional to use as they could possibly be. Spending months creating prototype after prototype. Testing, remaking, and testing again, until each and every part was exactly the way I wanted it to be.
The result was something I felt truly proud of.
The response to what I was doing was fantastic, with those lucky enough to have the bags praising their supreme comfort, load carrying capability, and highly functional details.
As soon as pictures and information about the bags appeared online I was inundated with emails and messages from all over the world, from both people who knew me, and complete strangers, all asking how they could get hold of one.
Individuals, bike shops, and boutique fashion outlets were all interested in purchasing my products.
However, it quickly became evident that because of the very high cost of the materials and hardware I was using, and because of the amount of time it was taking me to actually cut and sew such highly technical and intricate bags, the profit margin was just too low to be able to sustain the business.
The other drawback of this was that it wasn't leaving me enough time to work on new products, and not enough time to keep on top of the amount of emails I was receiving. This led to potential customers becoming frustrated, annoyed, and losing their faith in me. It was no longer enough to have great products, because I simply couldn't make enough of them to meet the demand.
I became trapped in a vicious circle, and as the pressure to meet people's expectations started to increase my old demons began to return and the foundations of Black Rainbow Project started to crumble beneath me.
This had a negative effect on both the business, and my mental wellbeing. I became overwhelmed with feelings of negativity, and expectations of failure, which soon became a self fulfilling prophecy.
Without the necessary funds to meet the material and hardware suppliers minimum order quantities I was unable to make more bags, and without more bags to sell I was unable to keep the company afloat.
Black Rainbow Project had sunk... And my hope went down with the ship.
An unexpected change in my personal life saw almost all of my possessions, except for a few clothes and my bikes having to be put into storage. This included the entire contents of my workshop.
I moved into a regular flat, and started working as a cycle courier.
Four years later my possessions were still in storage, and I was still a cycle courier, but despite being unable to sew a single stitch I never stopped working on designs for new bags. My passion for Black Rainbow Project never left me, and it became harder and harder to ignore.
Another drastic change in my personal life left me needing to find another place to live.
I made the decision to push myself to my financial limits in order to rent another warehouse conversion that would be just large enough to fit a small workshop inside, and allow me to start turning my new ideas into reality.
I sold bikes, I sold music equipment, I sold whatever I could live without, in order to renovate a literal flea pit of a space in East London into what I hope will be the new home of Black Rainbow Project.
I honestly feel that this is my last chance to make this business a success, so if you truly believe in both myself, and Black Rainbow Project please help me reach my goal by donating to my fund.
Yours sincerely,
Scott Black
Obligatory social media presence can be found here.
The full story is a true tale of blood, sweat, and tears, filled with a few ups, and a few more downs, which culminated in both the company, and my dreams going into storage, and the doors closing behind them 4 years ago.
However, I am hoping that with your support I can finally make Black Rainbow Project into the success I always hoped it would be.
I am trying to raise the funds necessary to build a new workshop, order the custom specced fabrics, and custom made pieces of hardware I need to be able to turn the amazing new designs I've been working on into some of the best bags you will ever use.
With enough funding I will be able to enlist the help of other people to allow a higher volume of bags to be made, while still maintaining the level of quality I demand.
Your support would mean everything to me, as it will allow me to do what I am truly passionate about, and at the same time finally prove to both myself, and those who never believed in me, that I'm not a complete failure, and do have the ability to rectify all the mistakes I made in the past and finally make this company a success.
If you would like to know the full story which led to this gofundme campaign, please read on....
"Scott has the ability, but could try harder"
That sentence seems to have followed me my whole life, since it first appeared in my school reports as a child, and continued to do so until I left school at the age of 18.
The truth is, I could have tried harder... I could have done exactly what my teachers expected me to. I could have achieved top grades, and made people proud of me. But something inside me wasn't interested in toeing the line. Something inside me had no interest in spending time learning about things that didn't move or inspire me in some way.
What my teachers had failed to notice however, was that I was trying harder.
I was trying harder to break out of the mould. To distance myself from the things that killed my motivation and failed to cultivate passion for the things I enjoyed the most... Which in my case was creating.
"Scott is a very solitary person. This is evident in both his personality, and his choice of hobbies"
Another inspiring opinion from another uninspiring 'teacher'.
The hobby in question was cycling.
Something I was lucky enough to be introduced to from an early age by my father, something I have been proud to continue doing my whole life, and something which has been instrumental in shaping the creative path I chose to follow many years later.
Yes I was a solitary child, and as such I grew into a fairly solitary adult. Inheriting the many problems often associated with people who spend too much time alone. (Especially the creative ones) Depression, self hatred, self harming, and lack of self confidence.
What does any of this have to do with Black Rainbow Project, or this particular gofundme campaign you may ask?
Well, in order to fully understand why a person has made mistakes, and in order to decide whether or not you think that person has learned from them, it is important to fully understand who that person is...
And that person is me, Scott Black, owner and sole employee of Black Rainbow Project... And I have made mistakes... Lots of them.
Black Rainbow Project was originally started about 10 years ago in East London.
Right from the start I refused to compromise on either the build quality or the materials simply to meet a particular price point. Instead I set out to find what I considered to be the absolute best fabrics, webbing, and hardware for each particular part of every single product.
I then put all my thought and time into making the bags as comfortable and functional to use as they could possibly be. Spending months creating prototype after prototype. Testing, remaking, and testing again, until each and every part was exactly the way I wanted it to be.
The result was something I felt truly proud of.
The response to what I was doing was fantastic, with those lucky enough to have the bags praising their supreme comfort, load carrying capability, and highly functional details.
As soon as pictures and information about the bags appeared online I was inundated with emails and messages from all over the world, from both people who knew me, and complete strangers, all asking how they could get hold of one.
Individuals, bike shops, and boutique fashion outlets were all interested in purchasing my products.
However, it quickly became evident that because of the very high cost of the materials and hardware I was using, and because of the amount of time it was taking me to actually cut and sew such highly technical and intricate bags, the profit margin was just too low to be able to sustain the business.
The other drawback of this was that it wasn't leaving me enough time to work on new products, and not enough time to keep on top of the amount of emails I was receiving. This led to potential customers becoming frustrated, annoyed, and losing their faith in me. It was no longer enough to have great products, because I simply couldn't make enough of them to meet the demand.
I became trapped in a vicious circle, and as the pressure to meet people's expectations started to increase my old demons began to return and the foundations of Black Rainbow Project started to crumble beneath me.
This had a negative effect on both the business, and my mental wellbeing. I became overwhelmed with feelings of negativity, and expectations of failure, which soon became a self fulfilling prophecy.
Without the necessary funds to meet the material and hardware suppliers minimum order quantities I was unable to make more bags, and without more bags to sell I was unable to keep the company afloat.
Black Rainbow Project had sunk... And my hope went down with the ship.
An unexpected change in my personal life saw almost all of my possessions, except for a few clothes and my bikes having to be put into storage. This included the entire contents of my workshop.
I moved into a regular flat, and started working as a cycle courier.
Four years later my possessions were still in storage, and I was still a cycle courier, but despite being unable to sew a single stitch I never stopped working on designs for new bags. My passion for Black Rainbow Project never left me, and it became harder and harder to ignore.
Another drastic change in my personal life left me needing to find another place to live.
I made the decision to push myself to my financial limits in order to rent another warehouse conversion that would be just large enough to fit a small workshop inside, and allow me to start turning my new ideas into reality.
I sold bikes, I sold music equipment, I sold whatever I could live without, in order to renovate a literal flea pit of a space in East London into what I hope will be the new home of Black Rainbow Project.
I honestly feel that this is my last chance to make this business a success, so if you truly believe in both myself, and Black Rainbow Project please help me reach my goal by donating to my fund.
Yours sincerely,
Scott Black
Obligatory social media presence can be found here.
Organizer
Scott Black
Organizer
England