Read on to find out how an academic "experiment in tactile wayfinding" accidentally gave rise to "the ultimate wedding present" (that would be Soft-Maps, irresistible to-scale maps of cities and neighborhoods quilted onto blankets and pillows), and turrned Emily Fischer from an out-of-work architect to a successful small business owner in very short order.

VITAL STATS

Name: Emily Fischer
Occupation: Haptician
Location: Brooklyn
Age: 30
First Job: Operator, Fibrex granulator at Andersen Window Corp. It was a giant machine full of rotating knives that would recycle culled window parts from an extrusion line...it had an exciting pictograph illustrating what would happen to you if you were to fall into the hopper of the machine.
Best Job: Barista, Victory Cafe in Brooklyn
Greatest Professional Challenge: Work/life balance
Salary During 20s: Too pathetic to disclose

Hi, Emily Fischer. How did you get that f*&%ing awesome job?
After being laid off in April of this year I spent an extremely intense two-week period of time reconnecting with my old interests. Kite making, cartography and GIS data, fractal geometry, quilts, large-scale installation art...you name it. I won second place in a kite design competition, posted an Instructable on how to make that kite, bloggers found my website and picked up on what I was then calling "Soft-Maps"...and within one month of losing my job I had accidentally founded my own company.

What's special about Haptic Labs, and where'd you get the idea (and the great name)?
While at the FlyNY kite competition, I blanched when handed a registration form that required my entry to state "company name." I scribbled down "Haptic Lab," a name derived from my thesis project. The word "haptic" refers to the sense of touch---a grossly underutilized aspect of design. Haptic Lab is really about promoting embodiment by creating products and spaces that encourage people to interact with their environment in a physical way.  I consider my work to be part of the slow design movement.

You studied to be an architect and have transitioned into being a small business owner. Is it a difficult adjustment to make
I've always had a lot of energy, but I've had difficulty finding the right place to put it. The effort-to-reward ratio in architecture is a slim one; architects work extremely long hours, make no money, and often never see their work to fruition. As a small business owner I can actually see my efforts pay off. The moment I started investing my creative energy in my own work instead of focusing on being an efficient employee, I felt much more fulfilled.

Did you always have a feeling that you wanted to be a business owner, or is this one of those things that just kind of happened?
Many "opportunities" came my way and I ended up following an entrepreneurial path much sooner than I would have anticipated otherwise. I say this because 2009 really kicked me in the teeth; I think anyone else would have moved back in with their parents if they endured what I went through this past summer. My unemployment benefits were threatened almost as soon as I started receiving them due to the early critical success of Soft-Maps (it's illegal to start a business while collecting unemployment, kids). That quickened my resolve, to say the least---I had to make the business viable. I worked part time in a coffee shop, fought my way into a little-known state program that allowed me to stay in the good graces of the NY Dept of Labor, and started sewing for 14+ hours a day.

How did you get started doing Soft-Maps? They’ve gotten a lot of design-world recognition and seem to be popular with customers, too. Why do you think they appeal to people so much?
While I was a graduate student studying architecture at the University of Michigan my mother began losing her eyesight from complications of glaucoma. Soft-Maps were an experiment in tactile wayfinding; the idea was that a visually-impaired person would use them as a tool to orient themselves. I started making the quilts in earnest in April of this year while recuperating from oral surgery. (My HSA wasn’t going to roll over since I lost my job, and I scrambled to find a medical expense that would cost $900 so my savings wouldn’t go to waste---wisdom tooth removal fit the bill.) I was allergic to the antibiotics the doctor prescribed me, and spent several weeks in my apartment making quilts because I was too sick to do anything else.

I am amazed that Soft-Maps became a commercial success. It never occurred to me that I was developing the ultimate wedding gift (as they almost always are---I even found them linked on a Bloomingdales bridal registry.) The market appeal of the quilts makes sense now. People have an emotional connection to place and the quilts represent a unique way to express that connection. The quilts lock in a certain set of experiences that carry an enormous sentimental value; weddings and anniversaries require that sort of sentiment.

How did this video of Jason Schwartzman flying one of your kites happen?
For a brief time this year I had as much notoriety for kite-making as I do now for quilt-making. I got a message about the project from the brilliant filmmaker Matt Wolf who had heard about FlyNY; I made two kites in two days when I heard J.S. was going to be involved. It was pouring down rain and completely windless the day they filmed in Toronto; I think Matt and Jason worked wonders to pull it off. Basically my favorite project of the year.

What is your typical day like? I don't think I've had a typical day in my life.

 What are the biggest pleasures of the job? What could you do without?
In my old jobs I had to mediate everything I did; I was designing for someone else, so there was a filter on my creativity. I now have the freedom to make yes or no decisions for the first time…mostly. These days I’m constantly fielding inquiries for things that have no traction for me intellectually. Sure, I’ll embroider a cute little puppy on a quilt for a customer; but to paraphrase Shakespeare---they’re paying my poverty, not my conscience. I'm not really at home with the "cute" aspect associated with craft. Puppies and hearts and owls, that sort of thing. Soft-Maps are more of a functional art-object than a craft object, especially now that I'm employing digital manufacturing techniques in combo with the handmade.

This is a sloppy, two part question about the future. First, are there any product ideas incubating in your mind that you’d care to share? Second, is it fair to ask you what you’d like to be doing, five or ten years from now? 
I love apps like Foursquare (I just became the mayor of my favorite coffee shop!) that include location-based information provided by users. I really want to start making haptic wayfinding tools that might interface with location-based apps and mobile devices.

I want to teach design. I’m a dyed-in-wool academic and it’s difficult to sate my intellectual curiosity while running a business. There’s a playful rigor to academics that is unique; the dialog fuels my creativity.

What advice would you give to someone who wanted to take a product idea and build a business around it?
Inform yourself as much as you can; take business or entrepreneurial training courses, find a business counselor, learn accounting, learn tax law. The merits of your work will only get you so far; you have to know how to run a business.  Also: your family and your friends are the greatest assets you'll ever have. You will need all the help you can get.

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