For a birthday, wedding or another special occasion gift items can be found on local store shelves or online. But Personalize It Gift Shop has made a business of crafting customised items and bringing customers' ideas to life.
The Diego Martin-based business was co-founded in 2017 by Mandingo Pascal, its CEO, and his wife Rachael (sales and marketing and quality control). Rachael told Newsday Mandingo's passion for creativity can be traced back to his pre-professional days of dabbling as an artist and selling his original drawings and paintings.
"Always one for personal development and growth, he continued to fine-tune his skills through self-taught methods, which led him to experience the fields of photography, graphic design, and woodworking, to name a few.
"After several years in the professional arena working as the senior graphic artist for an established advertising agency, he decided to spread his wings and create something of his own that would allow him to meet the hearts and needs of others."
[caption id="attachment_913124" align="alignnone" width="1024"] CEO and founder of Personalize It Gift Shop Mandingo Pascal at work in his workshop. -[/caption]
Mandingo said he had been doing promotional advertising and products geared towards large companies before branching off and doing it on his own.
"It is all about adding creativity to whatever I am doing and I would bring my creative experience into my new endeavour."
He discussed with Rachael a way to meet the needs of everyday customers and this led to the structure of the company.
"Personalise It Gift Shop was born from an idea to meet the masses, the everyday client who would walk in and want a particular item. They may not want a whole lot of it but a one-off item."
Rachael explained as a husband-and-wife team they complemented each other's strengthens.
"As Mandingo fulfilled his passion in the designing and creation of the items...(I), having spent over 13 years in the hospitality and tourism industry with a background in sales, marketing, and customer service, handled the day-to-day business administrative duties."
She said everything would be centred around bringing customer's ideas to life, and would be designed and created just for them.
Items big and small
Mandingo said their inventory ranged from something as small as a key chain to something as large as custom-made beds, entertainment centres, or uniquely designed barn doors.
[caption id="attachment_913123" align="alignnone" width="559"] Personalize It Gift Shop CEO and founder Mandingo Pascal displays a stone cover. -[/caption]
"We are giving people the personalised touch for whatever they want. Some customers say we have a niche market. Our niche market is anybody who craves customisation and a level of personalisation. That is our market."
Initially, their products were geared towards more printed works such as T-shirts and mugs, but as their business grew so did the reques
