I picked up rug tufting in January 2021 as my COVID hobby. I work on the computer as a full-time job and was itching to pick up a craft that was more tactile. Through hours of YouTube videos and reading message boards, I taught myself to make rugs with a tufting gun. I quickly turned this craft into a small side hustle called Zing.
Within the first year, I have created over thirty custom rugs to order, made fifty sales through Instagram and Etsy and have gained a strong following of over 600 people on Instagram. In 2023 I expanded Zing into an art studio located in the heart of Portland, OR where I offered rug making classes and tufting meetups to the public. Over the course of a year I taught over a dozen classes to over 50 people and have hosted 6 tufting meetups. Currently I have made over 100 rugs and have a following of over 1100 people on instagram.
In December 2021 and 2022, I joined dozens of other small businesses at the Portland Night Market. I was able to hand out over a thousand business cards to future clients, network with dozens of other artists on future collaborations and brainstorm new ideas for the new year.