Meet Emily & Joel Watson | Owner & Designer at Science & Fiction

We had the good fortune of connecting with Emily & Joel Watson and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Emily & Joel, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
This is actually not the first time we’ve had our own business. Several in fact! But this story starts back in 2013, when Emily started an Etsy shop making geeky, beaded jewelry. She had been a stay at home mom for 5 years prior to opening the shop. She wasn’t invested in the career path she had been going down previously, so the shop was a way to earn some money and do something creative and fulfilling while still being around for our kid. After a few years, she closed the shop and moved on to a normal, full-time job.

During the pandemic, the company we worked for took a financial downturn (as many did) and Emily’s hours were cut by half. That’s when Joel and Emily decided to reopen the shop, but with all new products. In the years since we had closed the shop, Joel had taken up 3D printing as a hobby, and we collaborated on ideas for designs for new products including pins, earrings, fridge magnets, and magnetic mask charms. Our designs took off quickly, especially our pronoun pins! We quickly found that people loved the bright, readable, lightweight pronouns pins, so we started making more unique and even seasonal designs. Our teenager is bi and genderqueer, and we’re happy that we can support our LGBTQ community members and fellow allies. In addition to our pronoun and pride flag designs, we also have pins showing support for social justice issues, and some that are just for fun. The shop has grown so much over the last year or so that Emily was able to make it her full-time job. Earlier this year, we also opened a shop on our own website in addition to the shop on Etsy.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Joel and Emily are both creative people. In addition to 3D design and printing, between the 2 of us, we have worked in graphic design, comics, animation, photography, voice acting, and jewelry design and creation. We have also both worked almost exclusively for small businesses when we have been traditionally employed, which taught us a lot about how small businesses run (both by running well, and not so well). We also have both been self-employed off and on over the course of the last 15 years, so it truly has been a journey. It is definitely not always easy! But we have always been there to support each other’s goals and figure it all out together.

One of our favorite things about Science & Fiction is being able to support causes that mean something to us. We’re fiercely supportive of the LGBTQ community, especially our teenager who identifies with multiple letters in that acronym. We also have pins to support Ukraine, Black Lives Matter, and reproductive freedom. Plus, we have cat pins, and who doesn’t want that??

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
We have always loved Dallas Zoo, Perot Museum, and the Dallas Museum of Art. Definitely must sees! We’d have to get BBQ, probably Hutchins, Ten 50 or Spring Creek. Other favorite restaurants are OMG Taco, Maru Ramen, and El Fenix. Maybe catch a movie at Flix Brewhouse or Alamo Drafthouse, and a musical at Fair Park.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Our friend Justin who first introduced Joel to 3D printing and Wes, who gave Joel his first 3D printer. While we don’t use that printer anymore, we wouldn’t be here without everything Joel learned while using it. So many of our friends have supported us by ordering and/or sharing our shop, we couldn’t even name them all. Several of our friends (shoutout to the Jennifers, the Amandas, Donna, and Ashley) acted as guinea pigs while we were building our website and shop. They placed orders to help us test all the functions and make sure everything was working before opening it up to the public. Emily’s parents who are always there to cheer us on. And of course our kid, who is our reason for doing everything we do, helps out with the shop, and celebrates our victories with us!

Website: www.scienceandfiction.shop

Instagram: @scienceandfictionshop

Facebook: facebook.com/scienceandfictionshop