Today we’d like to introduce you to Oscar Martin Cardenas. Them and their team share their story with us below:
Casita MikiWiki was started almost a year ago, in February of 2022, by Oscar A. Martin Cardenas and Helen Pavon, a young couple in Austin, Texas. Oscar recently finished his bachelor’s and master’s in mechanical engineering at UT Austin. Helen is also ready to finish her bachelor’s in economics this upcoming spring from UT. Their love for 3D printing sparked a vision to share a refreshing and colorful take on decor while taking advantage of the many benefits of additive manufacturing “3D printing” in their designs.
Oscar has always loved creating cute 3D-printed home decor pieces for his partner, Helen. Sometimes Helen would request a specific item, and Oscar would design and prototype it for her. Other times, a random idea would become an obsession that would eventually become a final product. They kept brainstorming ideas of ways to make decorative pieces that were aesthetically pleasing and functional simultaneously, all using the power of 3D printing. The inspiration for the aesthetic behind the initial line of products is danish pastel decor- matte, bubbly, soft, and curvy. The products are lightweight, ergonomic, custom, colorful and biodegradable.
Seeing their friends interact with some of the early prototypes reassured some of the ideas they had been working on. They felt there was some potential and decided to use some savings to start experimenting and developing a business plan for a business that not only creates products but also offers 3D printing services for businesses and people. These services range from creating custom parts to designing branded products to 3D printing services of 3D files.
“Casita MikiWiki was the light of hope during a dark time of uncertainty in the world and our lives, slowly becoming a dream that turned into reality,” said Oscar, the lead engineer behind Casita MikiWiki. “Dealing with the aftermath of Covid in the world and our personal lives, life was tough; however, my love for art, engineering, and Helen brought the best out of me to want to start this journey.” Oscar has always dreamed of having his manufacturing facility to bring his ideas to life and help others achieve the same.
“I am grateful that this has evolved into what it is today and for full creative freedom in all aspects that allows us to explore new concepts. Like Oscar, I also consider it a silver lining during my college years- some of the most challenging times in my life.” After finishing her undergraduate studies at UT, Helen looks forward to having more time to invest in working on Casita MikiWiki.
The business started with a single 3D printer in a room. Now, Casita MikiWiki has its own office space, multiple 3D printers, and recently- a 3D scanner. This growth was the product of a social media and local marketing campaign that boosted the business on Etsy to become a Star Seller. The new printers and scanners helped keep up with demand while allowing new products to be developed. Pop-up events throughout the year in Austin have allowed the business to have the opportunity for an in-person audience to experience and interact with the products. The colorful displays catch people’s attention and make them curious about 3D printing. Other businesses would also learn about what they could do with 3D printing, strengthening Casita MikiWiki’s connection locally with fellow business owners. A few stores have featured Casita MikiWiki’s products: Abe’s Smoke Shop, Lina’s, and Burning Love. Casita MikiWiki has collaborated with PMG, Happy Clouds, Garden Seventeen, Austin Bouldering Project, Austinite Cannabis Co, and Seismic Dance Event. In the future, Casita MikiWiki will release a new line of products, grow its local presence, add family/couples 3D portraits, and more!
Please talk to us about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned. Looking back, has it been easy or smooth in retrospect?
One of the biggest challenges in this journey has been finding a work-life balance that includes work, school, pets, online orders, family, and free time. Both Helen and Oscar find themselves in their 20s and learning a lot of what it takes to be a business owner from scratch. Their business backgrounds in college and other early ventures have helped with this early success! Despite circumstances and work, the business has grown at a rate that has allowed us to learn what it’s like to be business owners while keeping up with demand. Another challenge included designing for manufacturing. If you print for a hobby, the print time does not matter as much since you’ll most likely only need a small number of parts in a given time. However, to keep up with orders, inventory, and prototyping new products. Print time and material cost become your biggest enemies. We were able to challenge this by adding more printers, experimenting with print settings, and upgrading certain hardware to expedite printing processes while maintaining good quality. Obtaining the right tools and practices to clean up plastic parts without messing them up became key to preventing slowdowns during busy times. Similarly, perfecting the post-processing of the parts was challenging. As Casita MikiWiki continues expanding its business, it will encounter new problems. However, their experience so far makes them confident enough to keep pushing and solving problems together to make this dream come true!
Thanks for sharing that. So, you could tell us a bit more about your business.
With Casita MikiWiki, we’re focusing on making products that are both aesthetic and functional. We provide customizable options for our products and services to meet preferences in color, style, and design. Aside from being environmentally conscious in terms of energy and waste, 3D printing technology allows for lightweight parts, complex geometries, and on-demand production. We offer smoking accessories, plant items, and home decor. Shortly, we’ll be releasing more variety of products for everyone to love. Lastly, we create custom, functional, branded pieces for other businesses to use and sell.
Our best-selling product is the Bowl Buddy Kit, an accidental success due to TikTok. This cannabis accessory is an invention that elevates the smoking experience. No more spills from glass bowls, sticky fingers from touching the herb, and more! It has a magnetic glass bowl holder, a magnetic herb shovel, and a pick/packing tool. Due to its success, we kept promoting the product in popular smoke shops like Abe’s Smoke shop and Happy Clouds. No one had seen anything like it. We continued adding other tools to the collection that were compatible with our kit. Some of our home decor products include planters, containers, lamps, propagation stations, mirrors, fridge magnets, tissue box covers, and ashtrays- all of which have a variety of designs and colors.
We are living in the next industrial revolution, and additive manufacturing is part of it! In our first year, we shipped to every state in the country and fulfilled over 500 orders. As we prepare for our next stage, we’ll expand our shipping internationally and list more products on our website. We’ll keep experimenting with different software and additive manufacturing technologies to expand our services and have something for everyone! We’ll continue educating the community about the many advantages of 3D printing.
We are different from our competitors since not only do we produce our products/decor, but we also provide 3D printing and design services. We love working with other small businesses to create custom products for them and think outside the box to make eye-catching pieces. A fun fact about our business is that our mascot is an axolotl named Miki. Axolotls are magical creatures resembling salamanders and can grow back any part of their bodies. When we rescued Miki, it only had 2 limbs; an arm and leg were missing since another axolotl had bitten them off. Luckily, after a month of taking good care of Miki, it had completely grown its limbs back to normal- appearing as if they had come from nothing. A slow healing process within Miki that eventually produced a limb reminded us of 3D printing. When you start a print, there’s nothing on the build plate. However, it will slowly make the part layer by layer after waiting for the printer. Once you check back on it, you will have a part that was not previously there. Casita MikiWiki loves sharing Miki on social media and integrating Miki as part of the brand!
Is there a quality that you most attribute to your success?
We have spent the last year developing various products to test ourselves with family and friends. We want to make something that has value to the customer and a reasonable production cost- while having the potential to be more personalized with various colors. One of the advantages of 3D printing is that we get to easily test products by making them ourselves in quantities of our choosing. If a product is unsuccessful for one reason or another, we can stop producing it and move on to a different product idea.
Pricing:
- Products: $5-$40
- Services: Depends on project, design, and printing costs.
Contact Info:
- Website: solo.to/casitamikiwiki
- Instagram: http://instagram.com/casitamikiwiki
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Casita-MikiWiki-104558375444302
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/casitamikiwiki
- Other: https://pin.it/1wh3XAU
