Prior pit stops of RedCamper

We have changed our course several times over the history of RedCamper.

Inspired by inheriting my grandparents life collection of their snapshots and a bottle top purse I bought on a trip to Africa I designed the world's first handbag made of 35mm amateur travel slides.

Working with a water bed manufacturer I had sheets of slides radio frequency welded into panels that I then hand sewed on a vintage sew making machine. Handles were concocted of window washer fluid lines and stainless steel hardware.

Our first, an only fashion shoot, was shot in one of my favorite places, an orange orchard in Mesa, Arizona.

From there we evolved into a soft goods company that made Laptop bags from Vintage dead stock automotive upholstery, slides, and reclaimed airplane seat belt buckles.

As I was buying slides by the pound the BFA Photo graduate and artist I am fell in love with so many of the amazing images captured by strangers and I began making greeting cards with the images from these gems. Images paired with my homage to my grandfathers sense of humor. Perhaps the world's first memes.

The line caught on quickly and in the first year we secured licensing deals with Recycle Greetings and a wall art company. It was fun to see our cards in Target, Walmart and every car wash I went to.

I expanded the line to Calendars, Postcards and Camping and Blank Journals.

And then on a whim I entered my hobby jam, Whiskey Peach Deliciousness into the County Fair. And won first (& second) place.

And then..everything changed. At this juncture I didn't realize how drastically my life would change, and how deeply I would commit myself to making the highest quality, most ethically sourced food product I could. Working with local orchards and distillers and distant ethically sourcing spice importers I threw myself wholly into crafting the world's best preserve. Then Mostarda. Then Cocktail Cherries. My homesteading international road tripping, home cooking childhood merged into my creatively trained adulthood. I immersed myself into honing my craft while partnering with small farms and critically analyzing every facet of the business. In the course of 13 years we have gone on to win 5 Good Food Awards with 3 additional semi-finalists, our jams have been used in James Beard dinners and embraced by award winning chefs to use in their own creative concoctions. We can be found in the most discerning specialty retailers and still hand craft every single jar ourselves despite the expectations in the food industry to homogenize and standardize. I refuse to compromise what I've built. It's been quite a journey. We'll see what's next.