Where Creativity and Philanthropy Meet: A Q&A with Preservation & Creation

December 9, 2015

By Laura Brauer

Sponsored by Preservation & Creation

Rangefinder: When was Preservation & Creation founded, and what is its mission?

Preservation & Creation: We started as a small startup in 2014. We’re a team of creative thinkers with backgrounds in photography, design, style and marketing that came together with one common goal: to preserve and inspire life with purpose.

The concept for the company started from just a conversation. We all agreed that life tended to lose its wonder between great moments. Everyone has photos from a wedding, graduation or a big trip. But it’s the little everyday moments that get lost, overlooked and quickly forgotten throughout the years. We believe every part of life’s story should be told—from the in-between moments to the big days.

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Books and prints from Preservation & Creation.

Even though it seems that people are taking more photos now than ever, they aren’t preserving them in anything but a phone or computer. We think moments are meant to be held onto and re-lived by displaying them on shelves, lining your halls with them or flipping through photo books again and again.

Rf: What was the flagship product and what have you since added to your print offerings?

P&C: Our flagship product is the versatile Hardcover Photo Book. It can hold an entire life within its pages—complete with quotes, personal notes and, of course, photos.

Our polaroid-style Journal Prints launched right behind our photo books. These were made to document stand-alone moments, and have an area on each for adding personal sentiments that won’t interfere with the image that can be handwritten or easily added through our editor.

In celebration of the holiday season we are bundling these two products, our Hardcover Photo Book, and Journal Prints, in a special offer. Until December 19, when you buy any Hardcover Photo Book you’ll get two sets of our Journal Prints free—plus, free shipping (use promo code: RFBUNDLE)

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Hardcover Photo Books

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Journal Prints

Our product line continues to expand with Square Photo Prints, Canvas Prints, Soft Cover Photo Books, and our handmade Bastrop Wood Block photo holder, made from wood salvaged from a devastating forest fire in Bastrop, Texas.

Rf: When did you start offering the set and what made you decide to use reclaimed wood?

P&C: As a company, we took the opportunity to both help clear the ground following the fire and upcycle the wood that did remain to give it a new life. The Bastrop County Complex fire was horrifyingly unique in that it burned for 144 days straight—damaging over 34 thousand acres, including parts of Bastrop State Park and the ancient Lost Pines Forest. We see this product as a part of history—one that we were able to salvage. Each wood block is handmade to fit our polaroid-style journal prints. This product became available in our shop in early October 2015 and continues to be one of our favorites.

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A collection of Journal Prints in a Wood Block.

Rf: What are some aspects of your prints and books that set them apart from other companies?

P&C: Not only do we take care in each print and photo book we produce, but we also work hard to provide exceptional customer service. It brings us so much joy to play a part in helping to preserve someone’s history. That’s what drives us. We will do whatever it takes to make sure a customer gets a product they love completely.

Rf: A percentage of each purchase supports Living Water International. When did you form a relationship with that organization? What is their mission?

P&C: Before we even sold one product we had already fully funded two water wells on our own because it’s a cause we believe in. In the early stages of our company we knew that we needed a bigger purpose—something that made the world a better place. In our search, we began by attending a volunteer event that hosted several different types of charities with educational information and representatives to help answer questions. Upon learning about the work Living Water International was doing we knew that this was a cause we could get behind. Living Water International exists to help communities affected by the water crisis acquire desperately needed clean water. Each purchase a customer makes means a percentage of a water well is funded for communities in poverty. Customers can see fully funded wells, wells in progress, and even the percentage of a well their order helped accomplish.

Rf: Do you have any new products launching soon, or any news to share?

P&C: We will be steadily releasing new products and enhancing existing products over the next year. As we move forward, we are always reevaluating to make sure that our current products are exceeding our customer’s needs. So for our first initiative we will be implementing new templates to our Photo Book’s editor. Themes will include weddings, travel, baby and a few others that are still in the works. Second, most of our projects require several photos to complete—which is great if you have lots to print. But we will be brainstorming products that make it easy to print just one or two photos in a project. Lastly, we will focus on providing new visual content and education to inspire customers to make the photos they want and better envision how to display them.

See all of Preservation & Creation’s products at www.preservationcreation.com