In Maya Angelou’s autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, she writes, “There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story.”

Jenna and Matthew Walker, co-founders of Artifact Uprising, would agree.  Born from their desire to cultivate tangible story-telling, Artifact Uprising (a “design-your-own” photo book and photo goods business) required a great deal of perseverance, creativity, and a dash of serendipity.

In 2004, after pondering her recent desire to learn the art of photography, Jenna happened upon a discarded, yet intact, camera and lenses.  After recovering from her complete astonishment, she took the blessed opportunity and soon fell in love with photography.

“We worked as professional photographers for 8 years–making permanence of experiences that move minds and hearts. As one click of the shutter turned to another turned to hundreds of thousands of photos, we realized our documented lives were sitting on our phones and computers with no true place to live on. It’s something we kept coming back to–‘What are we leaving behind?’”

The Walkers wanted to create an authentic business design that would allow each customer to share his/her life in a unique and sustainable fashion.

“Somehow – with a kind of serendipity much like finding that first camera – doors opened where there might have otherwise been dead ends. Sometimes the world whispers ‘Stay the course.’ And that we did.”

Like many entrepreneurs preceding them, Jenna and Matthew had to persevere in the face of failure, pivot, create, and redesign.  They added products, features, and employees which has culminated into their own beautiful story.

From basement to business, Artifact Uprising is a poster child for the entrepreneurial mind.

If you would like to read the full story and or browse their wonderfully crafted products, please visit their website: https://www.artifactuprising.com

Creativity. Community. Authenticity.