I think we’re missing a business category.
If you try to search for creative industries or companies, you’re probably going to find a list of marketing firms. Try looking for arts-based businesses, and you’ll find yourself on the South Carolina Arts Commission website full of individual painters, sculptors, and theater performers.
But if you’re looking for companies where the founders’ creativity fuels and defines the business, that’s harder to find. Instead, it’s usually something you encounter, something you sense while you’re doing business withthem. How do you Google that?
More importantly, how do you build that?
You can start by taking notes from Nell Fuller, founder of femme x COLUMBIA social club and cowork space. This women-focused community isn’t specifically for creatives, but featuring artistic pieces from floor to ceiling is integral to creating space for its mission.
There’s no defined category for that: companies where creativity is not just what they do, but how they do it.