Our Story

Junk.this.universe is an artists collective that was founded and is ran by Emily Vumeyer (aka @emily_made_universe). Emily founded this small business in February 2026 after noticing that AI slop has been increasingly taking over the craft supply market and that there wasn't a wide variety of patterned paper that credits their artists. Crafters, such as junk journalers, scrapbookers, and paper lovers of all kinds, just want access to cute supplies that match the love and care that they put into their own crafts. At the same time small artists want to be able to focus on making art and less on the business side of things. Our goal is to solve these two problems at once with an artist collective marketplace. Treat artists fairly and give crafters access to diverse supplies. Your one stop shop for artwork made by real people!

It starts with a zine.

Junk.this.zine (pronounced "zeen" as in small independent magazine) is a monthly 20 page journal sized (5.5 x 8.5 inch) magazine that is intended to be ripped up after reading and used in your crafting. Each month we feature new artists and give you diverse, themed craft supplies to augment your journaling and/or scrapbooking practice. Every month the junk.this.zine community votes on a theme and we find diverse artists whose art styles complement that theme and produce scrapbook paper, cut out ephemera, articles, quotes, layout challenges, puzzles, and more. Each page of the zine has an activity side and a crafty side - think scrapbook paper with activities on the backside of each. What's more, the junk.this.zine community functions as an online junk journal club with monthly layout challenges, a community chat, and a feedback & voting driven zine. Open it. Read it. Rip it. Craft it. Share it. Vote on it.

Junk.this.universe is located in the beautiful, foggy, and weird city of San Francisco, California. Check out our linktree for an up to date list of local events. 

linktr.ee/emily_made_universe

Mission Statement: 

Junk.this.universe aims to bring light to this universe by reflecting the light of small artists out to the crafters who want their innermost thoughts and cherished memories crafted with things that were made with care and love.

Values:

• We are open and accepting of people from all walks of life. Accomplished artists, new artists, hobby artists, and young artists are celebrated regardless of ability level or background.
• Artists deserve to get paid. We pay our collective of artists fairly for their work. Every artist earns a high percentage of each item sold. The price somewhat reflects this reality, but is still competitive and comparable to other artist networks.
• No Generative AI Art is sold. Artists are not replaceable with robots because the purpose of art is to communicate, connect, and empathize with others. Therefore no generative AI art is sold and we celebrate the imperfections that come with the human experience.
• Community is created by those who participate in them. This community is a global one and we welcome all voices to be heard in our community spaces.
• We support small businesses and the USPS whenever possible.
  

Interested in connecting? 

We are always looking for: 

• Wholesale or Consignment Partners
• Diverse artists to join our artist collective
• Affiliates, Brand Representatives, & Content Creators
• Small Business & Artist Collaborations
• Markets and Events

Careers

We will soon be looking for employees for a variety of roles, if you are available on site in San Francisco and understand and believe in our mission and want to help us scale, drop your resume or linkedin and a description of your dream role here in the contact form. 

**I respond more quickly via Instagram DM either @junk.this.universe or @emily_made_universe