Don't let the name fool you - there's nothing basic about the BasicGrey brand. Their edgy style in craft products not only reflects the latest trends but sets trends as well. For the modern scrapbooker, it may be hard to imagine a time when BasicGrey wasn't manufacturing the beautiful products we've come to love.
The BasicGrey Beginnings
BasicGrey was founded in 2004 by Rachel Brenchley. At the time, Rachel was a stay-at-home mom, having left a career in advertising, art direction and graphic design. Needing an outlet for her creativity, she designed what would become the first four paper lines for BasicGrey.
The distressed style and unique progressive designs were groundbreaking. Manufacturing them was a big risk. Would the scrapbook community embrace something so totally different than what was already on the market? The answer was a resounding YES!
When these papers debuted at the tradeshow in July 2004, they were an instant hit. Rachel and the BasicGrey team returned to Utah with Editor's Choice awards from five different leading industry magazines... and three times more orders than they had anticipated. With quick action and a solid business plan in place, they were able to fulfill all of the orders within weeks.
As the magazines hit the newsstands and the orders arrived in stores, suddenly everyone was talking about the raw, cutting-edge style of BasicGrey. The risk had paid off. Customers could not get enough of BasicGrey.
In those early months, many BasicGrey fans told stories of visiting craft stores, asking employees whether they carried BasicGrey paper, and being led to stacks of ordinary grey paper instead of the colorful and stylish designs they were seeking. You might wonder why a company based on manufacturing fresh and innovative designs would have a name like BasicGrey. In fact, the name was chosen based on the idea that just like a basic grey, classic and unique never go out of style.
BasicGrey quickly became as much a staple of scrapbooking as basic grey is in fashion.
BasicGrey Pairs with Popular Craft Companies
Over the years, BasicGrey expanded its product offerings well beyond patterned paper collections. After their initial success with paper, they added letter stickers, monograms, rub-ons, and tags to complement their lines. They introduced a variety of tools designed to make working with their products easier. They added a large number of embellishments that coordinated with the paper collections.
Most recently, BasicGrey has partnered with a number of other companies to expand their product lines. Sizzix makes over eighty shape-cutting and embossing dies and folders in partnership with BasicGrey. Hero Arts manufactures dozens of clear acrylic and repositionable rubber stamps featuring BasicGrey designs. Moda produces fabrics based on BasicGrey's most popular collections, as well as coordinating notions and patterns for quilts, pillows, and other projects.
Originality is at the core of everything BasicGrey does. In all their products, BasicGrey strives to combine the charm of yesterday with the trends of today and the innovation of tomorrow.
Distinctive. Fresh. Eclectic. Progressive. Unique. Innovative. These are just some of the words that describe BasicGrey. BasicGrey dedicated themselves to creating impeccably-made, cutting-edge, avant-garde products that allow crafters to create beautiful cards, layouts and other projects that reflect their own style and unique personality.
See all the great BasicGrey products that Scrapbook.com carries.
