Growing Small Businesses: BUILT Merges Fashion and Function for People on the Go

JOHN ROSCOE SWARTZ: We started BUILT because we believe great design makes everyday life better.

I’m John Roscoe Swartz, I’m the CEO at BUILT.

AARON LOWN: I’m Aaron Lown, I’m the Chief Design Officer at BUILT.

JOHN ROSCOE SWARTZ: BUILT is a design company. We make cool bags for people on the go.

AARON LOWN: We design a range of bags – everything from bottle totes to bags to carry your lunch, to bags to carry your laptops – the sort of ubiquitous products that oftentimes don’t get the attention of designers. So, we started taking these sort of sometimes banal things that you use every day and we’re committed to making them wonderful through design.

JOHN ROSCOE SWARTZ: Being an entrepreneur in New York City is a really exciting thing.

AARON LOWN: Being in New York, it’s key to having our hand on the pulse of fashion, as well as industrial design.

JOHN ROSCOE SWARTZ: It’s expensive, it takes resources to be there, to be in market on time with the right kind of products.

ERIN MCCLOSKEY: I’m Erin McCloskey, I’m a client manager here in business banking with Bank of America Merrill Lynch. John and Aaron are incredible, artistic and visionary entrepreneurs, and they have these great ideas and these products that are really innovative, but they have to be able to produce and distribute those products. They came to us with a really interesting business that was doing well, but needed some help to get to the next level, and we were able to provide some solutions for them to help them grow and meet those goals that they had.

JOHN ROSCOE SWARTZ: All of these people in all of these outside companies that help us, they all contribute to helping us grow our company.

AARON LOWN: You know, it’s really fulfilling and rewarding to be able to sort of help somebody else, the young designer on their career path.

NINA LORUSSO: My name is Nina Lorusso, I’m a product designer at BUILT. I’ve been at BUILT for about two years now. I think I was really lucky, because I came in and the first day I was playing with fabric and making things.

JESSIE LIU: I’m Jessie Liu, I’m a graphic designer at BUILT. As a designer, it’s so gratifying to have a voice and to believe in your work and to create something that you believe is beautiful, not what someone else tells you is.

JOHN ROSCOE SWARTZ: We started in the beginning of 2003, borrowing money from family, and we’ve grown that now into a company of 50 employees. We see ourselves creating cool bags for people on the go and we just see that as being a real, boundless opportunity for us. There’s so much to be excited about.