Stolar Studios Redesigns Website and Pivots to Montessori Furniture for Kids
Stolar Studios is a custom woodworking business run by Sarah and Mike, a husband and wife team out of Burlington, Ontario. Mike has been a craftsman all his life. Ever since he first stepped into shop class, he’s had an instinctive knack for woodworking and custom design.
In the past he’s found success as a metalworker, building custom poker tables, and most recently making exotic hardwood beard combs that got noticed by UFC fighter Travis Browne.
Stolar Studios is the third reincarnation of what Mike has always wanted to do with his woodworking business. Instead of generic furniture or mass produced home goods, Stolar Studios has evolved to provide innovative custom furniture; top-quality, authentic conversation pieces for your home.
Initially, Mike was teaching classes and building decks and fences to get the word out about his
new business. When the pandemic hit, he found that there wasn’t much interest in online carpentry classes and building simple decks wasn’t creatively fulfilling or introducing him to clients that could meet the price point for his custom furniture. So he cleverly pivoted into making Montessori furniture for kids as well. Products like his Balance Board were selling well, fostering his creative side, and finding him customers who were excited in what he was selling.
However, Mike needed some assistance in marketing his new product line on social media,
making Stolar Studios visible online, and gaining new customers. The Transformation Team was more than up for the challenge and excited to help set Mike up for future success. The first thing the team did was redesign Stolar Studios’ website to put the spotlight on the things he was truly
proud of – the Montessori Line and his custom made Signature Collection. Even though Mike’s classes are cancelled for the time being, it was important that his website was flexible for the future.
The Transformation Team also set out to help Stolar Studios establish a digital marketing strategy. Their Facebook and Instagram profiles were refreshed with refined logos, banner photos, brand colours, highlight graphics, and mission statements. During Stolar Studio’s time in the program, the team was also able to help launch one of their new products, the Kids Cube Chair, with great success.
At the end of Stolar Studio’s contract with the Future Proof Program Mike felt far more positive about the future and ready to move forward. His customers have been giving him great feedback about his website redesign and the new Montessori products had been selling well. Armed with the guidance documents, brand book, templates, and content calendars our transformation team gave him, Mike is ready to start marketing on social media with confidence.
Stolar Studios is open and ready for business!
Our Digital Main Street innovation partner in the Halton region is Haltech Regional Innovation Centre. See how they can help.
Written by Sophie Dallaire
Digital Main Street a été créé par la Toronto Association of Business Improvement Areas (TABIA) avec le soutien direct de la Ville de Toronto. DMS est également soutenu par un groupe de partenaires commerciaux stratégiques, dont Google, Mastercard, Shopify, Meta, Intuit QuickBooks, Square, Lightspeed, Ebay et Postes Canada.
A $42.5-million investment from FedDev Ontario brought together the Toronto Association of Business Improvement Areas, Communitech, Invest Ottawa and the Ontario Business Improvement Area Association to expand the Digital Main Street Platform in order to support more businesses going digital as a response to the impacts of COVID-19 in Southern Ontario.