Rare Things Beta

Short-form video shopping from world-class artisans

1 follower

Short-form video shopping from world-class artisans

1 follower

Ecommerce platforms

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Shopping

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Video hosting platforms

Rare Things brings you short-form video shopping from world-class artisans. Shop limited collections and step into the studio workshops of expert ceramicists, metalsmiths, woodworkers, textile artists, leather crafters, and seamstresses from around the globe.

Free

Launch tags:Web App•User Experience•E-Commerce

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Rare Things Beta

Maker

Hi Product Hunt, I'm Alvin from Rare Things. We want to make online shopping fun again 🧙🏻‍♀️ ✨ A creative renaissance is underway, but shopping on the internet is stuck in 2005. Millions of small business owners around the world have spent tens of thousands of hours honing their craft, bringing delightful products into our daily lives and creating value in our economy – yet the odds are stacked against them when selling their goods online. The contemporary creative class does not have the storytelling tools to properly convey the deep craft that goes into their work, which leads to immediate price comparison shopping and reduces the value of their goods. We believe these individuals and collectives – who often produce their products in a more sustainable and ethical manner – should be celebrated and rewarded for their human talents in our culture and in our marketplaces. We also believe modern consumers want to shop more thoughtfully – by buying high quality items from real people with authentic stories. With the Rare Things Beta, you'll find limited collections from expert ceramicists, metalsmiths, woodworkers, textile artists, leather crafters, seamstresses, and more – with fun short-form video content of their creative process. We invite you to step into their studio workshops around the world and see for yourself why their work stands out from stuff produced by big-box brands. We have lots of exciting ideas on where this can go in the future, and would love to hear yours too. Please let us know what you think – we would receive your feedback as a gift. Enjoy your visit 😊 – Alvin, @emhsia , and @blake_tandowsky Special thanks to @lenny_rachitsky for hunting us! 🙏

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5yr ago

Rare Things Beta

Maker

@alvinhsia @blake_tandowsky 🥰 🥳

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5yr ago

Rare Things Beta

Maker

@alvinhsia @emhsia congrats team ✨🍾🥁!!

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5yr ago

BirdTab

Loved the collection on the website. The way online shopping is taking shape, it is getting more and more mechanical process and it is difficult to know the people and stories behind those products. I love the fact that you have highlighted those stories above everything else, I felt a connect while going through some of those products. It can't be an easy task to curate such high quality products. How do you go about it, and how do you plan to scale it up? I can see there is a huge scope for such a product. Something that Etsy doesn't fill ?makers

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5yr ago

Rare Things Beta

Maker

@jaipandya Thanks for the kind words Jai! 🤗 We totally agree online shopping is overly transactional today. We spent a lot of time painstakingly curating an amazing group of makers who produce truly world-class work, and also makers we've partnered with have referred other stellar artisans they know. We are very intentional with the folks we bring on – with the main criteria being (a) deep craftsmanship (b) authentic stories and (c) a unique style or approach to their work. Aren't the products amazing? 😍

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5yr ago

Rare Things Beta

Maker

@jaipandya Love to hear it! Thanks so much for the feedback. Like Alvin mentioned, we'll be adding more makers to the site, carefully vetting them to curate the best of the best. Let us know if there's anything you'd like to see on Rare Things. We can't wait to introduce you to more makers 😊

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5yr ago

Lenny’s Podcast

Hunter

Rare Things, created by my friends Alvin and Emily, is a really fun way to discover independent designers and makers who make high-quality home objects, clothing, and accessories. They've done an awesome job curating a group of expert craftspeople across all types of products, and I love how you can see videos of the creators actually working in their studio workshops when browsing the products. It's kind of like if the best sellers on Etsy and TikTok had a super cute baby! I'm definitely going to be using this to shop for a Mother's Day present this week.

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5yr ago

Rare Things Beta

Maker

@lenny_rachitsky Thanks for the support Lenny! 🙏 🤗

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5yr ago

Rare Things Beta

Maker

@lenny_rachitsky Really appreciate all the support you've given us, Lenny! 💛

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5yr ago

Cassette

I dig the whole concept. Feels like a new market that’s genuinely difficult to curate or even find from the consumer side. Keen to see where it goes 😊

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5yr ago

Rare Things Beta

Maker

@jakedoering Thanks Jake! We had to turn our bat radar up to 1000 to find some of these creatives. Happy hunting – there are definitely some gems 💎

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5yr ago

Rare Things Beta

Maker

@jakedoering Thanks a bunch Jake! We really appreciate it 💛

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5yr ago

Beautifully-designed site, and love the mission. Excited to see where this goes - the potential is enormous - looking forward to being able to purchase a hand-made bag straight from a crafts(wo)man from a remote village in Italy, or ceramics straight from an independent maker in Taiwan, and feeling like I've met them in person. :)

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5yr ago

Rare Things Beta

Maker

@vivsinym thank you Vivien! We're excited by the possibilities too. We sorely missed the ability to travel the world during the pandemic – bringing back keepsake objects like the ones you mentioned can really make those types of experiences more enduring in our memories. Hoping we can bring back a little bit of that magic for you 🧙🏻‍♀️✨

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5yr ago

Rare Things Beta

Maker

@vivsinym Thank you Vivien, we are excited to make both of those situations a reality in the not too distant future! Feeling like you met them in person is our north star ✨ and something we feel is missing from online commerce today.

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5yr ago

Cumul.io

Love the initiative, the philosophy of a next level of unique shopping with creatives, the fine craftwork, ... ! Instant fan! There are many small, artisanal businesses with unique, quality products in Europe as well, worth exploring in the future? Getting a ceramic spoon shipped from the US to Europe goes a bit against my philosophy :)

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5yr ago

Rare Things Beta

Maker

@liesbeth_bulte Thank you! We are still early but adding creatives in Europe and around the world is something we are excited about and have heard from other RT customers!

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5yr ago

Cumul.io

@blake_tandowsky looking forward to it!

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5yr ago

Hey, really nice concept. I like the website and the overall experience. I am curious if the profits are shared with artisans and how (i believe it would be really amazing if we can give back to these artists and help them make profits). Also, how does shipping work in this case- would you continue to ship from a centralized location or open the marketplace to sellers to ship themselves? would you be looking at delivering outside US as well? sorry, too many questions! :D

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5yr ago

Rare Things Beta

Maker

@vclickr Thanks Vipul! Great questions 😀. We only take a 15% commission on sales (artisans keep 85%) and there are ways for artisans to "earn" a lower take rate by partnering more deeply with us such as artisan referrals and content creation. Artisans ship out the products themselves. Many of our artisans do deliver outside of the US – but it is up to them. Most of them do deliver to US, Canada, and parts of Europe.

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5yr ago

@alvinhsia sounds great, thanks a lot for the reply :)

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5yr ago

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