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About A.T. Bostic
About the owner/artist A.T. Bostic
In May of 2007 Bostic found that he was abruptly unemployed for whistle blowing just two days after being conferred with a Master of Social Science Administration with a Community Development concentration from Case Western Reserve University and just after a third promotion in 18 months. Bostic sent his resume far and wide in search of a viable position within his field. What followed was an onslaught of sheer quiet and the nothingness brought on by a lack of responses; yet, he waited and waited to hear back from the various agencies. This silence was filled with worry about employment prospects as the economy began its downward spiral; maintaining his quality of life; and his responsibilities as a single father to his newly adopted teenage son. To escape this deafening sound of silence Bostic began working as an independent consultant in Adoption Social Work and more pertinently began to invest more time and energy into his new found hobby – crafting cufflinks.
Bostic has always held an appreciation for the timeless and elegant look of the French Cuffed shirt with functional and at times fashionable cufflinks. In 2006, Bostic decided to step up his personal collection of cufflinks with links that would really make a statement and demand attention. After an intense search that included over 30 jewelry stores, he stumbled across his own creativity by deciding to make the awe-striking cufflinks he could not find affordably during his search.
As his collection of cufflinks grew, so did support and encouragement from family and friends. Bostic relied heavily on feedback from early customers to perfect his craft. He experimented with various materials and techniques until he discovered those that reinforced his confidence in his product. In December of 2007, a week before Christmas, his entire collection of over 300 cufflinks was stolen from his car. Bostic was outraged, frustrated and discouraged at the stolen product, effort and energy. His best friend reminded him of a passage from a favorite poem “If” by Kipling:
[If you can] watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn out tools;
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;… you’ll be a man my son!
With this passage for encouragement, Bostic recognized that the best way to recover from this loss was to find inner strength to rebuild the collection and that’s just what he did. With this new serge of energy resulting from his refusal to be broken, he recreated his collection with superior craftsmanship and seriously committed himself to Uniquely Cuffed as his enterprise. Bostic pulled from his collegiate years as a pshychology major at Morehouse College where in partnership with his best friend who was a philosophy major, they operated two businesses on compass, Snack-R-Us with dorm room based franchises throughout Morehouse and Spelman Colleges and Clark Atlanta University; and HOUSEwares, a custom design paraphernalia business that served organizations on the aforementioned campuses. Bostic’s first business venture was actually during high school following the receipt of a button making machine which was a gift from his mother. He began making a selling buttons, primary faith based, and selling them at school, church and on consignment at a local Christian Book Store. However, despite his business endeavors in High School and College, Bostic never self-identified as an entrepreneur nor did he believe that his primary source of income would derive from an entrepreneurial venture, much less one making and selling jewelry.
Eventually Bostic created a grassroots retail website and marketed his collection of cufflinks at local arts festivals and open air markets. Interest and support beyond that of family and friends was immediate as many cufflink connoisseurs were excited to find a venue for unique and striking, yet affordable cufflinks. Even patrons who were not into cufflinks were compelled to stop and admire the styles and ways he fashioned the various materials into uncommon works of art. Several patrons expressed regret for not owning French cuffed shirts. Surprisingly, there have been some who were so intrigued with the cufflinks that they purchased them with subsequent plans to procure a French Cuffed shirt. Before long, Bostic realized that he had commenced on an entrepreneurial venture that was amazingly sustainable, engaging and downright satisfying.
Bostic soon became inundated with requests to produce other jewelry items. Having now created a collection of cufflinks that exceeded 500 designs, Bostic began testing other jewelry and accessory lines. He found another niche with women who fancied fashion rings (“the bigger the better”) that served as conversational pieces and beacons to their freshly done nails. On a smaller scale, Bostic’s collection features bracelets, wine bottle stoppers, earrings, and Tuxedo stud sets. In 2010 Bostic added his twist on the tradition Pandora style bangle/bracelet and introduced his hugely popular Pendent Bracelet. The 2010 ten collection also included beaded Fine Point and Fountain Pens which has intrigued patrons for personal gifts, wedding gifts and corporate gifts.
The successes of the new lines of accessories lead Bostic to change his brand to The A.T. Bostic Collection with Unique Cuffed as one of the primary sub-collections. While this endeavor is certainly not on the Non-Profit – Community Development path that he worked for 15+ years, The A.T. Bostic Collection has proven to be a worthy venture to propel Bostic successfully in the future, yet provide enough flexibility to still pursue his social work interest which includes working in the areas of adoption; facilitation and training; and youth development work. He considers it a blessing that this enterprise has served him and his family well thus far and looks forward to aggressively growing it in a responsible and deliberate manner. True to his passion for community development, Bostic finds himself constantly encouraging and advising others to turn their skills, hobbies, interests, and experiences into entrepreneurial opportunities.
His message is that “We don’t have to be victims of the economy unless we choose to be--we all have something of value and interest that can be leveraged into fruitful endeavors. We simply have to be willing to think outside of the box, take some calculated risks, and trust that success is obtainable. Of course, it’s easier said than done, but we’ve got to find the wherewithal to take a deep breath and go for it. At the end of day we’ll have much success or many lessons learned and ideally we’ll have both.”
For more information on the A.T. Bostic Collection visit the web site at: www.theatbosticcollection.com or call 1-888-926-7842.
