Our Story

Junk.this.universe is an artists collective that was founded and ran by Emily Vumeyer (aka @emily_made_universe). Emily founded this small business after noticing that AI slop was increasingly taking over the craft supply market and that there isn't a wide variety of patterned paper that credits their artists. ACrafters, such as junk journalers, scrapbookers, and paper lovers of all kinds, want access to cute supplies. 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. 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.

Mission Statement: 

Junk.this.universe aims to bring light to this universe by shining a light on small artists and reflecting them out to the crafters who want their innermost thoughts and cherished memories surrounded by good art.

Values:

• We are open and accepting of people from all walks of life. Accomplished artists, new artists, and hobby 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. 
• AI is a tool, not a solution. Artists are not replaceable with robots because the purpose of art is to communicate and connect 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 want 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 Partners
• Diverse artists to join our artist collective.
• Brand Representatives & Content Creators
• 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.