Hello World!

Monday, April 23rd, 2012

Hello world! We’re so happy to finally meet you. My name is Ryan, and I’m the creator of OMG Friends!™. This is a little story about us and how we got here. :)

OMG Friends!™ were created by a designer named Ryan, who lives in Portland, OR. Ryan is passionate about cute things, teaching, learning, craftsmanship, bringing delightful things into the world, and helping and supporting others. All of these things are fundamental parts of his company, and of the product line that began when he decided to make cute critters for his friends and family for Christmas in 2010. He had so much fun with the project that he kept refining and developing his little creations, and eventually the OMG Friends!™ were born.

OMG Friends!™ were initially planned as craft kits to help teach kids how to sew, and there was a big ol’ Kickstarter campaign to raise funds to manufacture those kits. A tremendous amount of work went into creating and launching the campaign, and it got the attention of angel investors who decided to invest in Ryan’s company. At that point, all attention was diverted from the Kickstarter campaign and put into this new direction.

From the outside it might have looked like the Kickstarter campaign wasn’t successful, but in reality it succeeded beyond Ryan’s wildest dreams. You can check out the campaign page here (there’s lot of cute videos and stuff): www.cutearmy.com

OMG Friends!™ are called ‘friends’ because they promote the qualities of friendship. Qualities like caring, compassion, kindness, integrity, honesty, loyalty, patience, and understanding. The goal of Ideas With Heart, LLC (Ryan’s company and the maker of OMG Friends!™) is to always grow a business that’s sustainable, charming, imaginative and absurdly delightful.

Ryan’s obsession with cute began at an early age, when he pretty much refused to eat anything that wasn’t cute. A strict diet of marshmallows, cupcakes, waffles and gummy bears was the fuel he needed to transmogrify himself into a cute-dispensing machine. When Ryan moved to Portland he knew the place could use some more cute (what place couldn’t?), so the OMG Friends! were born.

The first products we’re releasing are fully constructed little stuffed buddies, and we plan to produce our super awesome craft kits (and so many other awesome cute things) very soon.

A tremendous amount of love and hard work has been poured into the creation of this line of products, and we hope that you’ll love the OMG Friends!™ as much as we do.

Here’s to making new friends.