Handmade parcels and handwritten letters are always a little more special because of their personal touch.
Those extra details tell me the amount of effort that went into making these things look presentable to me, which I appreciate.
Kurukynki, a stamp producer in Malaysia, is a startup that helps with adding that personal touch to letters and parcels.
Its founder Kyn Goh started the brand Kurukynki in 2014, but only began producing stamps in 2017.
Kurukynki started out with her painting on postcards and art prints, later switched to making clay charms, and finally, it makes these rubber stamps today.
Moving Into The Business Full-Time
“I drew a lot during my working days, but it was just for fun. But one day, I had an idea of turning my drawings into rubber stamps, which was how I decided to change the direction of my business,” Kyn recalled in an interview with Vulcan Post.
Kyn currently runs Kurukynki full-time, since she noticed the demand for her rubber stamps growing.
When Kurukynki was still selling clay charms, she included some rubber stamps to sell with them until the requests for the latter grew larger than she would’ve imagined.
Soon enough, Kyn resigned from her day job to focus on Kurukynki full-time, selling her products online.
Although these stamps aren’t made completely from scratch by her alone, she is still quite hands-on with the production side of things.
Kyn designs all these rubber stamps, sands the wood, attaches the rubber on the wooden handles, stamps the designs on the wooden handles, packages these stamps and ships them out all by herself.
No Sifu To Learn From
When Kyn decided to start making rubber stamps, there weren’t a lot of resources available or people she could reach out to on where to start.
“The community was still small so I had to research everything on my own like sourcing for the right wooden handles, rubber suppliers and paper packaging,” shared Kyn.
She also shared with Vulcan Post that the Malaysian rubber market was very small, so it took her a while to find the most suitable one for her business.
Despite these challenges, Kyn was lucky enough to have the support of her family even though they were worried about her resigning and taking up this business full-time. Kyn’s friends and family were her go-to advisors on anything Kurukynki-related.
Was Quitting Her Job Worth This Hustle?
Currently, Kyn is earning enough from Kurukynki to cover her monthly expenses. But for her, profit isn’t the main thing when it comes to this business.
“I really enjoy what I do now, which is the most important thing. To know that there are people in many corners of the world using my stamps, makes everything worth it,” she highlighted.
Her stamps range from RM18 to RM90, depending on whether or not it’s a set of stamps or individual stamps. The lifespan of these stamps depends on how well the user takes care of them.
Using wet wipes to clean the rubber stamps after every use is a basic helpful way to prolong the stamps’ quality, as it prevents the ink residue from sticking to the rubber.
Kyn’s rubber stamps have not only been sold locally, but internationally as well. She’s had customers from China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, New York, the Netherlands, Germany and the Philippines. She even has resellers for her stamps in other countries.
While her business managed to reach customers in quite a few different countries, she couldn’t keep up with her momentum to continue growing internationally.
She created a website to consolidate all her products in one place this year, but was forced to close it down because of how many shipping delays she’d been facing from her supplier and to her customers.
Making It Personal
When I add a personal touch to a parcel or letter I’m giving someone, I would also expect them to value it a little more than if I were to just buy a gift wrap or cute envelopes from the store.
This same sentiment is what continuously drives Kyn to craft her stamps too, and she told Vulcan Post, “I hope anyone who buys my stamps can recognise the effort I put into every one of them.”
Despite the demand she’s getting internationally, Kyn actually doesn’t plan to make it very big in this business.
“As long as those who support me love my designs, it’s the happiest thing that can happen to me,” she concluded.
Featured Image Credit: Kyn Goh, founder of Kurukynki
