Timeline Post Type Description
Having served the needs of businesses with custom stamps for some time already, we saw the opportunity to develop our own stamp brand. With the launch of the 2000PLUS® brand, we leveraged our knowledge of stamps into a brand that we owned, allowing us to own the distribution and control the supply chain of component parts and giving us a competitive advantage in the marketplace.
Carlson Craft created the Specialty Products division to focus on custom stamps and engraved products that catered to business needs. These specialty products were one-off, custom products that did not involve printing on paper.
As the Taylor Corporation grew and more women joined the company, it became evident the company had an opportunity to do something few others had done: provide childcare for families employed at Taylor Corporation. The opening of Golden Heart Childcare was a revolutionary business practice and a perfect example of how the company values its employees.
Glen knew his next move had to be purchasing part of the company he had already put so much energy into, so he went about developing a deal that would give a family man just out of college the means to do so. Mr. Carlson agreed to share profits if Glen could boost revenue without any additional cost. So Glen put his farm boy ingenuity to work. Using parts from an old TV, a car, and a stove, among other things, he built a stamping press that could do its typical job in one step instead of two. This saved a penny per napkin imprint, which eventually turned into a fortune and allowed Glen to purchase Carlson Craft upon Bill Carlson’s retirement in 1975. In the same stroke he officially set up the holding company of Taylor Corporation.
Glen Taylor, then a college student, got one of his first jobs with the company. Taylor loved a challenge, had ideas to make things better, and had the drive to get things done. He worked almost every job at the plant, allowing him to really learn the business. Listening to what his customers wanted, he developed new ways to cut delivery times, improve service, and expand the company’s product offerings. As Glen looks back, “It seems obvious now, but others were just printers, while we were also marketers, listening to brides and giving them what they wanted.”
After years of successful growth, Carlson’s once small, part-time company became a full-fledged business. In 1957, the business changed its name to Carlson Wedding Service. In 1970, the company became Carlson Craft and built a name for itself, not only for manufacturing high-quality wedding invitations and stationery products, but also for being a great place to work.
Carlson Craft’s founders, Bill and Betty Carlson, started the company in their family room in Mankato, Minnesota as a part-time business venture in 1948. With little more equipment than a Remington typewriter, the couple mailed out 50 letters to local business firms and individuals to promote the Carlson Letter Service. Very quickly they decided they wanted to be a wholesale supplier of wedding stationery. “From 1945 I had the “American Dream” of someday having my own business. After investigating several possibilities the idea of a letter shop seemed the most logical one. (The U.S. Dept. of Commerce had numerous plans for returning servicemen to “start a small business” after WWII.) Betty and I had typing and mimeographing experience, so we started a “Part-Time Venture” in our home.” – Bill Carlson