Minnesota Carlson Student Crafts Big Success with Mini Paint Kits

Emily Teigland is a lifelong entrepreneur. At seven years old, she sold crafts at her local library. As a teenager, she created online art shops, eventually launching her successful paint kit business, Lavender Chai Co., which sells individually and wholesale to customers and boutiques all over the world.

Now a Marketing major at Minnesota Carlson, Teigland balances running a small business with a full course load. She says her classes have helped her grow her business, furthering her passion to create and sell a product that she loves.

“Carlson has held me accountable in terms of the professional standard by which I look at my business and run my business,” Teigland says. “At some point in my first year at Carlson, I was like, ‘OK, this is a job that I’m doing. It’s not a little hobby craft project anymore.’”

A Surprise Success

Teigland started Lavender Chai during the COVID-19 quarantine in 2020, while she was finishing her first year at Eagan High School in Minnesota.

“It was a pandemic project. I was making these painting kits and sending them to my friends in snail mail letters, and my mom encouraged me to sell them online through Etsy,” she says. “I only made 20, and they sold out in a day. So, I took that and ran with it.”

From there, Teigland began producing the mini paint kits made-to-order—and the orders kept coming. She built up the business during the summer before her sophomore year of high school, ending with 12 different paint kit designs and a steady online customer base.

“I was having a ton of fun with it,” she says. December brought a holiday rush, and Teigland invested in more painting supplies to keep her business going.

As quarantine restrictions loosened and more activities shifted from online to in person, Teigland expected to see a drop off in sales, but the demand held steady. Her friends and family chipped in to help her hand-make all the paint kits.

Each kit contains watercolor or gouache paint, paper, and instructions for creating a tiny painting approximately the size of a Polaroid photo. The designs include plants, nature scenes, animals, and more. “The idea is to make painting kits that are easy for anyone, including people who haven’t painted before, to make art more accessible and break down the barrier of entry into fine arts,” Teigland says. Most of the paint kits cost $5.

Expanding Her Business

By the end of 2021, Teigland expanded to her first in-person pop-up shop at a craft market in Andover, Minnesota.

“It went terribly,” she recalls. “It was a messy, messy day. I sold maybe five paint kits. It was a little bit demoralizing because it was the first time I’d ever sold these in person.”

Teigland realized she knew how to present her products online but struggled to sell to customers face-to-face. “That was a really pivotal moment for my small business marketing journey,” she says. “I learned so much.”

She tweaked her strategy, and the next in-person events went better, leading to selling out her inventory at the Edina Art Fair. “Over 2021 and 2022, I really got a better grasp of who my audience is and what they want,” she says. “In-person pop-ups are now one of my favorite things to do.”

By 2023, Teigland began selling her mini paint kits to brick-and-mortar retailers through Faire, an online wholesale marketplace.

“It really took off,” she says. “Now, my kits are in over a hundred retail stores around the U.S., Canada, and Europe. I’ve had the privilege to share my love for art with thousands of people around the world.”

Growing at Minnesota Carlson

Teigland’s experience with Lavender Chai inspired her to pursue a business degree at Minnesota Carlson.

“I wanted to be a Marketing major right off the bat because of the experience that I had running my business,” she says. “It was the main reason I went to business school and specifically Carlson. I found a passion for this business and decided that I was going to stick with it, and so far I haven’t lost that.”

Balancing life as a student and small business owner can be challenging. Most undergraduate students at Carlson, including Teigland, do not have classes on Fridays so they can work or pursue internships. Teigland says this schedule has helped her maintain a balance.

“Getting to devote my Fridays to working on my business and catching up on homework has been huge, because you can only do so much after classes,” she says. “And I know that I need to let myself rest so my creative muscles can keep working. The biggest thing I’ve learned from being a college student and running a business at the same time is how to prioritize rest.”

While studying at Minnesota Carlson has helped Teigland continue to grow Lavender Chai, it’s also opened doors for her to explore other potential career paths. Teigland, who is on track to graduate this spring after three years at Carlson, has completed marketing internships at Caponi Art Park in Eagan and at Mpls.St.Paul Magazine.

“Lavender Chai would be such a fun and fulfilling thing for me to scale up into a full-time career, but my time at Carlson and my internships have also been preparing me for a slightly more corporate career,” she says.

No matter what kind of career she chooses in the future, Teigland plans to continue sharing her love of art through Lavender Chai.

“I’m really passionate about art supplies and access to creative tools because I grew up in a house where creating and making stuff has always been strongly encouraged,” she says. “I’ve grown up surrounded by craft supplies, and I want to give other people access to that, too.”

All photos courtesy of Emily Teigland / Lavender Chai Co.