Less Distracted

lov.li is a new community marketplace / social network for artists an crafters. It was mostly written from my desk at Less Distracted. Here’s the description I sent out to the bloggers.

Lov.li will officially launch (beta) January 11^th, 2007.

While we’ve had the password down for a few weeks now, we’ve kept quiet while we zap bugs and improve usability. Now we’re ready to put the word out that there is a new way for artists, craftspeople and the people who love them to find each other.

http://lov.li

What is lov.li?

lov.li is a community of people who make art, crafts and handmade products, combining a social network, gallery and store.

Who is lov.li for?

• Artists and Craftspeople who create paintings, prints, sculpture, ceramics, glass, books and zines, carvings, knitting, bags, clothing, furniture, chainsaw art, jewelry, toys, music, puppets, zines, candles, soap, or anything else they made with their hands or brain.
• Anyone looking to buy a unique, handmade piece of art
• Anyone looking for inspiration or something to do

What can you do on lov.li?

• Share your art and handmade items
• Sell your art and handmade items
• Create Groups
• Promote Events
• Blog
• Share Video
• Make Friends

How is lov.li different?

• In contrast to online storefronts, lov.li emphasizes the community aspects of making and finding art.
• Lov.li does not charge listing fees, only a 3.5% commission on sold items. Items posted on lov.li do not have to be for sale.
• Groups allow members to create and moderate communities of interest and can use lov.li to coordinate their ‘real-life’ art communities and events.
• Lov.li uses your address to find users and events nearby.
• Lov.li always sorts items by their relevance to you – by social distance, geographic distance, and your interests. Even before you log in, lov.li will make a guess at where you are and return local items.
• Lov.li gives vendors a way to actively promote themselves – making more friends increases visibility of items.

Platform:

• Lov.li is built on Ubuntu Linux, Apache, MySQL, and the Cake PHP framework.

Who started lov.li?

• Patrick Sullivan, Founder and Lead Developer. Patrick is serving as lead developer and fundraiser for lov.li. Patrick has worked for more than 10 years in software development, marketing and sales at diverse companies from agencies and startups to Intel. He brought new-to-the-world products to market as CTO of Nameboy.com. Patrick is a printmaker and photographer. He has a BA in Political Science from Reed College and an MBA from Portland State University.

• David Moody, Marketing and Operations Director. David is driving lov.li’s marketing efforts. He received his MBA from Portland State University where he concentrated in marketing and is currently head of the marketing department for a local company. David used his molecular biology degree in the bio-tech field, in both technical and sales roles. David is currently restoring a vintage Portland home and is passionate about art and the DIY community.

Company Info

• Lov.li is located in Portland, Oregon. We are currently angel funded and seeking institutional investors.

For more information or interviews, contact:

Patrick Sullivan – 503-806-3770 – skype: expatrick

Logos and screen shots can be found at

http://lov.li/pages/press

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 11th, 2007 at 5:46 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.