Originally created for fishing, Thread Cutterz found a passionate following among sewists and quilters.
One universal truth about artists and crafters: they see new possibilities in everything around them. Sometimes, they latch onto a product meant for a different market and make it their own. For companies such as Valari, Thread Cutterz, and OttLite this meant a new market for their products that they hadn’t initially planned for.
From gaming to knitting and crochet
Pillow producer Valari started out by focusing on pillows for gamers before the founders discovered the potential in crafters.The original concept came to co-founder Nadim Makarem during the Covid lockdown.
“I’m a gamer and I’m getting slightly older so I was starting to have like aches and pains in my shoulders and my arms my back my neck and I would try and mitigate that by collecting as many pillows around me as I could cushions right from the couch and so you know I’d have one on my lap one on my left one on my right under my armpits yeah behind my head and etc.
“And it was very annoying – every time I wanted to get up to get a glass of water go to the bathroom come back sit down and just like put these pillows take them off put them on.”
He saw his wife’s breastfeeding pillow — and saw it could be molded into any shape.
“So, I took it and I molded it into the shape of what the Villari is today. I put it on top of the other pillows because it wasn’t very thick on its own. It was great, so much more comfortable. And I thought why don’t I just make one. Why isn’t there one pillow that can replace these seven pillows I’m using. Essentially, that’s where the idea came from.
“I went online and found lots of different breastfeeding pillows, but nothing that was thick enough, big enough or long enough to work for what I needed. I went about making a prototype sent it to my friend Hilal Kanafani —who’s my cofounder now.
“He loved it and suggested we turn it into a business and that’s where it all started.”
Makarem saw the earliest sigs of the craft potential in 2022 when seeking funding for his business through a Kickstarter campaign.
Valari‘s gamer-inspired pillow gained unexpected popularity with knitters, crocheters, and other crafters.
“We had some comments on Kickstarter — ‘Ohh this could work for my crafting’ — but we didn’t really think much of it until six months after we launched so it’s probably about a year and a half ago that the idea gelled.
We started getting more and more comments from customers on our Facebook ads and on our website saying ‘Ohh I use this for crochet, I use it for knitting — it’s changed my life, it’s amazing.’ You know, all the same things that the gamers were saying,” Makarem said.
“So that’s when we decided to lean into it essentially and we started making covers that we thought would appeal to a predominantly more female audience. We started using this velvet material instead of the suede we had before. We went away from like kind of cartoonish embroideries toward more kind of sophisticated look. Now we’re also working on very exciting new covers for crafters so they’re going to have like pockets places for their hooks, etc.”
In fact, according to Makarem, Valari has been adjusting their designs from the beginning.
“We’re constantly changing small things that improve the quality. You only really get a sense of how something is performing when thousands of people are using it,” he said.
“We’ve also gotten more and more emails from people, and they say they’ve had this disability or that problem and they couldn’t do the crafts they love for more than 10 minutes without it hurting. But now, thanks to the pillow, they can. It’s real and it’s wonderful and that’s what kind of keeps us going.”
From fly fishing to thread cutting
Vance Zahorski, founder of Line Cutterz and Pro Fish Gear, had a similar experience in accidentally finding product market fit among crafters.
He started his business to cater to outdoor gamers — anglers to be specific – before Thread Cutterz found its craft market. He designed the Line Cutterz ring to allow fishermen to make quick, easy line cuts. Today, Line Cutterz holds 6 U.S. patents with two more pending.
“Not long after Line Cutterz made its first sale in 2015, I started getting emails from women saying they were borrowing—or outright stealing—their husbands’ Line Cutterz rings to use for hand sewing, knitting, crocheting and cross stitching,” Zahorski said. “That’s when the light bulb went off and I realized there was an incredible opportunity to serve the craft and quilting industries.
“I officially launched Thread Cutterz as a DBA shortly before we aired on Shark Tank. During my pitch, I used a Line Cutterz ring to slice through pink yarn that was tying up a Thread Cutterz sign. When the thread was cut, the sign unrolled and I told the Sharks that Line Cutterz was expanding into the craft market under the name Thread Cutterz.”
The wearable Thread Cutterz ring, now available in Swarovski-bedazzled styles, cuts thread with ease and flair.
Thread Cutterz has also reacted to customer feedback.
“The craft market has inspired us to tailor several of our Thread Cutterz products specifically for the sewing and quilting community,” said Zahorski. “One of the most exciting adjustments we made was creating exclusive, ultra low-profile Peel & Stick cutters. These were designed to seamlessly adhere to vintage Featherweight sewing machines without interfering with the foot plate or preventing the machine from fitting into its travel case—a big deal for crafters on the go.”
And crafters being crafters – they are making their Thread Cutterz their own.
“At my very first Quilt Market, I noticed women buying our Thread Cutterz rings and immediately heading to a nearby booth to bedazzle them with Swarovski crystals. They returned to show off these dazzling, sparkly versions of our rings that not only looked like fine jewelry, but also sliced through thread, yarn, and embroidery floss with precision,” Zahorski said.
“I loved the idea so much. I reached out to Swarovski after the show. Their team connected me with a sales rep who generously sent us a variety of crystal samples.
Today, we offer several limited-edition bedazzled Thread Cutterz rings featuring elegant floral designs, festive holiday themes, and even edgy Swarovski skulls for Halloween. It’s been an exciting blend of fashion, function, and personal expression—something that really resonates with the creative energy of the crafting world.”
OttLite‘s daylight-mimicking lamps, like the 3-in-1 Craft Lamp, help crafters see clearly and work longer without eye strain.
Bringing daylight indoors
Photobioligist Dr. John Nash Ott founded OttLite in 1989 to bring the benefits of natural daylight indoors. His research focused on how natural light affects living organisms and the OttLite was intended to mimic daylight in order to reduce eyestrain and improve visual clarity.
While the original intent was broader, encompassing general wellness and productivity, OttLite’s products found a passionate audience among crafters. The precise, color-accurate lighting proved invaluable for detailed tasks like sewing, knitting, and painting. Recognizing this, OttLite expanded its product line to cater specifically to the crafting community. Products like the Ultimate 3-in-1 Craft Lamp, which functions as a floor, table, or clamp-on lamp, and the 13W Craft Space Organizer Lamp, combining lighting with storage solutions, are examples of this pivot.
The success of OttLite in the crafting market underscores how understanding and responding to user needs can lead to new market opportunities.
Crafters know that the outcomes you don’t plan can be the best – these companies and others have discovered the same happy lesson.
Cathy Jakicic
contributor
Cathryn Jakicic has been writing about all things creative since working the late shift at Milwaukee’s morning newspaper right after college.She has worked at number of newspapers and magazines since, including Bead Style magazine; the Milwaukee Sentinel, where she wrote book, concert, theatre and film reviews for a number of years; and Trusted Media Brands, where she edited crafty and culinary creations for a number of titles. But her heart has always been with the crafter.