When we started this business 6 months ago, if you'd told us that our best-selling product would be a magnet shaped like a curling stone, we would have laughed politely and changed the subject.
Curling is, by any reasonable measure, not a mass-market sport. Most Americans encounter it once every four years during the Winter Olympics, when they spend exactly 20 minutes being delighted by it before forgetting it exists for another 1,440 days.
And yet. Here we are. Curling stone magnets. Best seller.
Here's the story.
How it started
ThingsForge started as a side project. My husband handles the technical side — printers, slicers, the whole part of the operation that involves cables and acronyms. I handle the creative side — design, photos, what to call things, how to talk about them. We're based in Kansas City. Our two dogs, Betty and Walter, function as our unofficial QA team, in the sense that they sit and watch.
We started out making things we love and use: brick bouquet flowers, bolt & screw gauge tools, and plant supports.
Then I was thinking about what to make some friends who are obsessed with curling (and even made it to the amateur curling team national finals a few years back! Shout out!) I thought that magnets would be something that they would actually use and appreciate. They loved them.
When we listed them on Etsy, they exploded.
What happened next
This just happened to be during the 2026 Winter Olympics, so yes, timing was perfect. Then we listed them on Amazon, and they sold there too. Suddenly we had a best seller, and the best seller was for a sport that most of our friends didn't even know we were paying attention to. And along the way, we've met the coolest people in the coolest sport. Very passionate and knowledgable people who make this sport a thing of joy.
Here's what we've learned:
Lesson one: specific beats broad. Always.
The conventional wisdom in e-commerce is to go big. Broad appeal. Mass market. Things lots of people want. The reality, for a small handmade shop, is the exact opposite. The narrower the audience, the easier they are to reach, and the more loyal they are once you reach them.
There aren't that many curling fans in America. But the ones who exist are passionate, underserved, and delighted when somebody acknowledges that their thing exists. That delight is the whole engine.
Lesson two: niche audiences are loyal in ways broad audiences aren't
Our curling magnet customers are some of the best we have. They leave thoughtful reviews. They tell their curling friends. They come back the next year for gifts. They write us little notes.
Compare that to a generic "cute home magnet" customer, who's there once, buys one thing, and is gone forever. The lifetime value of a niche customer dwarfs the lifetime value of a casual one. We didn't know this when we started. We know it now, and it's shaped every product we've made since.
Lesson three: the curling stones taught us our brand
Before the curling stones, ThingsForge was a 3D printing shop that made fun, functional stuff. After the curling stones, ThingsForge was a 3D printing shop that made specific stuff for specific people who feel a little jolt of recognition when they see it.
That insight — that the product should make the right person feel seen — is the spine of everything we've made since. The Moodsters are an extension of it (five very specific moods, made for people who recognize themselves in them). The Bouldering Hold Magnets are an extension of it (made for the climbing partner who is hard to shop for). Every product we've launched in the last two years has had to pass the test: is there a small, specific group of people who will see this and feel a little jolt of recognition?
If yes, we make it. If no, we don't.
What's next
The curling stones are still going strong. Still made in our garage. Still inspected by Betty and Walter.
We've got a few new things coming in late summer that we'll talk about here first. (Subscribing to the newsletter is the move if you want a heads-up.) They're not curling-themed. But they're built on the lesson the curling stones taught us, which is the only kind of product we know how to make anymore.
Small things. Specific people. Big feelings.
That's the whole thing.
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