Artist Spotlight | Esembly Baby Founders

Navigating the journey of parenthood is not easy, but thanks to a trio of women with their practical solutions and warm support it just got a little easier and a whole lot more enjoyable. We are turning the artist spotlight on the three women who started Esembly Baby.

Esembly Baby is a company that commits to creating eco-friendly baby products without compromising on quality. From their innovative cloth diapering system to their thoughtfully designed accessories, every product is crafted with care and consideration for both babies and the planet. Esembly Baby isn’t just a brand; it’s a community of like-minded parents striving to make a positive impact. We sit down with one of the company founders, Liz Turrigiano.

(Esembly Baby Owners: Sarah Edwards, Liz Turrigiano, Marta Baumann )

How did you start your business?

My two partners and I were running a cloth diaper service in Brooklyn, New York, and just trying to figure out how we can sort of expand beyond just servicing  eco-minded families in New York City and so the idea to create a product line that enabled families to cloth diaper and wash and reuse all on their own is how Esembly Baby came to be. 

Sarah and I actually were both producers at the same ad agency. She had toddler twins, and I had just had my first baby and she was starting the diaper service, and I joined her to help with that and it all sort of evolved from there. 

(12 x 12 Fabric Cover Photo Book with a cut out by Printique)

How has Esembly Baby changed over the years?

The three of us have been working together for 14 years now so our roles have evolved over time. In the beginning, we all did everything and then we realized different skill sets were better with different people.  And so we started to divide it up based on where our passions were and where we were best suited

We officially hard launched the company about three months before the pandemic. So that was an unexpected curveball.  Supply chain has its hardships, especially around the pandemic time, 2020, 2021. Keeping up with demand and forecasting, and then just always staying  \relevant in terms of trends for style, for new parents. That’s a fun challenge. 

(12×9 Hardcover Photo Book by Printique)

What are the core values of the company?

Sustainability is at the heart of it. We wanted to build a brand that enabled people to live less disposably, to produce less waste and to do it with ease and confidence. Making those eco-minded choices shouldn’t have to be a big sacrifice, especially for busy new parents that are sleep deprived and juggling different things. So we really wanted to make sustainability and access to eco-friendly products both affordable and easy to embrace.

(8×6 Hardcover Photo Book by Printique)

When did you know you were on the right track?

Given that we had an advertising background, we knew how important creating sort of a sleek aesthetic for the brand and having it look professional and high-end. We knew how important that was, but we had no budget in the beginning to do that.  And so we ended up connecting through a friend of Marta with an ad agency in Minneapolis  and we met with them and they were really interested in what we were doing and they  decided to come on as a strategic partner and do a huge chunk of that initial branding  web and packaging work for us. And they did it for a percentage of the company.  And so it enabled us to like really sort of get the brand aesthetically to where we wanted it to be without having that money. And I remember after, you know, having dinner after they sort of agreed to partner up with us and I remember thinking like, okay, like this might actually happen.

(6×6 Softcover Photo Books by Printique)

What’s next for Esembly Baby?

Sustainability will always be at the core.bSo any product that we create, we hope to always be creating products that will replace single use disposable items. In terms of categories that we expand into, again, I think baby and family will always be the main area,  but we do intend to expand into some home goods for families.

(12 x9 Hardcover Photo Books by Printique)

Where do you draw your inspiration for your whimsical designs?

All over the place. I used to be an art buyer, art producer and so I have a background in photography and illustration. I’ve gotten to work with different artists that I’ve admired and brought them on, you know, whether I found them on Pinterest or Instagram or, you know, just randomly on the internet. Being able to bring them on and have them design, you know, prints and things for us has been so much fun. That’s like my favorite part of my job.  Anything that is creative, especially just like coming up with ideas and concepting out new products is really probably my favorite thing.

(6×6 Softcover Photo Book, 12×9 Hardcover Photo Book, 12 x12 Fabric Covered Photo Book by Printique)

Any advice for those wanting to start their own creative business?

The advice I would give is really have partners or a solid team.It’s a very lonely, very scary, very overwhelming process at times. And I think having people with you that, you know, share the same weight and can understand, you know, have the same passion, share the same weight, really helps me. I don’t think I could have done any of it alone. When the unexpected pops up, it’s, you know, you need to have other people there to help you through it.

(6×6 Softcover Photo Books by Printique)

We want to thank the women of Esembly Baby for spending the day with us. If you would like to see more of those we featured in the Artist Spotlight, feel free to click on them below.

Artist Spotlight | Sarah Oliphant

Artist Spotlight | Christine Alcalay

Artist Spotlight | Sheetal Sheth

Artist Spotlight | Lillian LaSalle