In celebration of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month, Comcast honors David Lee, founder of Poetic Pillow, an Oakland-based business focused on incorporating art into home décor by leveraging innovations in fabric printing in pillows, throws and accessories. Inspired by great works of art in museums, libraries, and arboretums, Poetic Pillow desires to create meaningful space.
David was born in Taipei, Taiwan and grew up in the suburbs of Los Angeles in a little city called Hacienda Heights. He had a traditional, conservative upbringing and felt lucky to have such easy access to the arts, such as museums in the Los Angeles area. He recalls visiting the J. Paul Getty Museum in Malibu when he was nine years old, where he saw an original Van Gogh painting, noting his intrigue in just listening to the docent talk about the stories behind each of the paintings. Each artwork became a window to the art history of the artists, and he viewed it as another world that he could escape to and learn about. He shared that art transported him away from where he was because it allowed him to be in the time, place, and perspective of the artist. This upbringing shaped how Poetic Pillow came to be.
Although David didn’t go to school for the visual arts, studying Economics and Social Welfare in college, he always had that continued appreciation for it. Instead, he taught himself ways to get his hands dirty in graphical art through his own self-exploration and hobbies. David doesn’t consider himself an artist, but he has always had fun playing with and manipulating art on digital canvases. With the progression and evolution of graphical software, these digital tools quickly became the paintbrushes that allowed him to create patterns, colors, and compositions that spoke to him. He created images that were inspired by art and art history. The melding between old works of art and the tools we have today was mesmerizing to him, and he wondered about ways that he could translate it into something malleable. He wanted to evolve it into a fabric form that he could touch and have in his own home.
From here, David went online and did research, talking to different vendors abroad in Asia, Canada, and Los Angeles. He knew that he didn’t want to be the one printing and sewing, so he had to find a way to reach out to partner with printers that could help him print fabric and sewers to sew things for him. He took inspiration from Asian art and culture to create product designs. He never took lessons in Asian history, but any opportunity he had to learn more about it resonated with him because it is a part of his heritage, and it is something he wants to share with the greater public. These works were important to him because they represented another striation and fabric of what makes America so diverse and rich. For example, the Midnight Dragon pillow was a detailed embroidery on a Qing dynasty emperor’s robe in its original form. He recalls visiting the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, where he saw a similar robe in person, noticing its artistry and craft of embroidery. Using digital graphics, he was able to reinterpret the design into print and pattern on a silky satin fabric.
Poetic Pillow primarily sells through wholesale and trade. The products cater to interior designers, museum gift stores, boutique retailers, and department stores that come to the trade shows. Outside of this, they also sell directly to other businesses and have a small collection that is available for retail sale. Poetic Pillow is looking to trial into the retail space as their overall goal is to make their products more available for those interested.
Previously, David worked in a corporate environment. His background was much more geared toward operations, finance, and project management. Although this doesn’t directly correlate with the work he does with Poetic Pillow, this experience gave him a good foundation for all the components of a business. It taught him about the different departments of a business, including back-office operations, customer service, fulfillment, and sales and marketing, which lets people know about the product and helps them share its story. His knowledge of these components helped build Poetic Pillows to where it is now. His approach to building his business was much more conservative. Rather than taking out loans to get the business going, he started small and took the skills from his corporate life to make cold calls and create presentations to share with buyers. Coming from an Asian heritage, this did not come naturally to him. Cold calling, making introductions, and talking to strangers were out of his comfort zone, and he had to get over it to make it work to get the word out about Poetic Pillow. To other entrepreneurs, David shares that having skills in communication, discipline, and perseverance are important to build businesses.
In 2021, David received the Comcast RISE award. Comcast RISE stands for Representation, Investment, and Empowerment. It was created in 2020 to help small businesses recover and thrive after being hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. David’s friend introduced him to this program and encouraged him to apply.
“I’m so grateful that he introduced me to the Comcast Rise community. I say that it is a community because it truly is. There are organized events, whether online or in person that help connect small business owners, develop a network, learn from specialists, and find resources to better our businesses. Sometimes, starting a business is a lonely journey, but we all must reach out, and find one another and support one another, and that’s the spirit and culture that I have found through Comcast RISE. Recently, at the last Oakstop event on 14th Street, I met another entrepreneur Viviana Rodriguez-Smith, the curator and owner of E14 Gallery in old Oakland. Through speaking with her and hearing her story and the journey of E14, it opened to me the possibilities of a retail business. These interactions illuminate the trials and tribulations of entrepreneurship. We can expand our horizons and begin to envision where our business could be,” said David.
To David, it’s important to have representation in media that showcases Asian entrepreneurs in our community. He hopes to be an example of this, showing that there is room for AAPI communities in the industries that they dream of being in. When he first started Poetic Pillow, there wasn’t as much diversity then as there is now, but he believes there is still room for more today.
“There’s progress, and we can see that more and more, especially with social media and people sharing their stories. I think it’s important that we continue to share more of our stories and experiences. The landscape is not monochromatic, and there’s room for eccentricity. There’s room for niche marketplaces, even in the world of home furnishing and in our category and industry […] When we create an environment that showcases and embraces diversity through various lenses, it elevates our game because we are challenged to think about and include different communities. It challenges us to make a better product and service so that it is more inclusive, and it is a better product and service overall,” said David.
Poetic Pillow’s motto is to “Live Poetically.” To David, it is a reminder for people to take a moment to appreciate their surroundings. Whether it is a work of art that inspires you or a poem that resonates with you, taking a moment to deeply appreciate your day creates mindfulness that will allow for a more optimistic viewpoint and controlled attitude. While they are just selling pillows, throws, and bedding, David hopes that the motto can translate into so much more and create a greater appreciation for our surroundings, art, and poetry.
To learn more about Poetic Pillow, please visit: https://www.poeticpillow.com/
