Plural Artists & Designers

How are the items in your shop produced?

Xéna & Kin’s art products are either produced in our home studio using a standard printer, a laminator and a cutter/scanner machine we own, or have their original illustrations by us sent off to small businesses and manufacturers. We keep our own stock, do not operate a POD outside of our redbubble storefront and verify our production partners for business values that align with ours through careful research, peer reviews, and direct communications with them.


What are Xéna & Kin’s values and where do they stem from?

Xéna & Kin is an artist owned brand which focuses on supporting human made art that coexists with nature and humanity. We stand with the communities we belong to such as the LGBTQIA+ community, racial minorities and the mentally ill, disordered or disabled. Our own experiences of discrimination and environmental concerns as we grew up in the early 2000s have deeply impacted us. We are particularly motivated to share stories to improve social perceptions and create more representation of those affected by Dissociative Identity Disorder, adjacent diagnoses and the plural community as a whole, meaning core members of our own group (system) are proudly represented in our branding and given space for their own unique voices.


Is Xéna & Kin owned and ran by multiple people?

Technically, no. Xéna & Kin is operated by one human called Anja. However, Anja’s experiences with being plural and her work through therapy has empowered her to continue living with multiple personalities alongside her. Many of these personalities constitute as members of a larger found family and have expressed deep interest in her art business and personal goals, occasionally chyming in on social channels, at events or this website and represented in our comics. Xénon, our second most active member works as Xéna & Kin’s accountant, agent, marketing strategist and primary customer support while Anja focuses on design, order fulfillment and creative direction. In October of 2022, Xénon and Anja cofounded Xéna & Kin, named after the system’s nickname being the both of them together (Xén-A) along with the supportive involvement of the rest of the system (Kin standing for Kinship).


How do you run sales and when?

Our Etsy storefront has a maximum of 25% sale whenever we run a charity event or it’s the time around Anja and Xénon’s birthdays and the business’ anniversary (October 23rd) along with sales events (Black Friday etc). We are still figuring out how we will operate our own storefront in relation to our Etsy storefront. We do know that our own storefront will have better prices than Etsy, due to lowered fees.


Is Xéna & Kin eco friendly?

Being truly green is a complex topic covering everything from shipping, production, material sourcing, packaging and production environments. While a lot is out of our control as a small artist owned brand, here are the following ways in which we at Xéna & Kin keep our art eco friendly, socially conscious and as sustainable as we can:
     - To ship our art to you, we work exclusively with the national Swiss post who have implemented eco & social conscious measures such as electric vehicle delivery, recycled packaging, accessible branches and services to the disabled and participation in many initiatives aiming for efficient energy usage away from fossil fuels.
     - We vet production partners for values that align with ours, meaning they have employment practices, participation in causes related to, source raw materials, and/or treat their waste material in ways that encourage gender equality, support of the LGBTQIA+ community, supports the environment and aids indigenous people and handmade art local to our manufacturers. Examples include but are not limited to: using only recycled acrylic in keychains and pins, using FSC certified wood, using fast growing easily renewable wood types, focusing on smaller manufacturers over larger industrial ones, seeking manufacturers close to Switzerland to limit shipping distances, working with brands that support women owned businesses and entrepreneurship in Africa and Eastern Europe, and small businesses who encourage their employees to live as plastic free as possible.
     - We source materials from locations close to our own to limit shipping distances, use limited bulk purchases to limit emissions, and prioritise carbon compensation programs, recycled material and packaging, and durable quality products to ensure our art is worth every bit of material and energy used.
     - Xéna & Kin regularly collects old packaging from our business and private lives and reuses them responsibly to fulfil orders. We dedicate to using as little packaging materials as possible, and make sure boxes are of an appropriate size for each order to limit emissions and maximise delivery efficiency when shipping our art around the globe. When purchasing packaging material dedicated to the business, we bulk purchase and source only packaging containing recycled materials. When possible, we do not decorate or package our orders with difficult to remove adhesives or inks to maximise future use and recyclability in facilities across the world should you ever send our packaging to a recycling centre near you. Our plastic sleeves are added to ensure safe transport of items sensitive to moisture and are biodegradable, meaning you can safely dispose of our plastic bags in your compost bin.
     - Our homemade items are made of recycled materials or durable enough to be worth the time and energy invested. We use machines that operate with low waste, such as our ink tank laser printer which doesn’t use bulky plastic ink cartriges. We also limit our waste by making the most of our materials, turning leftover sticker paper into freebies that we include with our orders, or packaging material, and recycle as much of our waste as we can.
     - Our members dedicate themselves to a low plastic lifestyle where we emphasise recycling, low water consumption, low energy consumption, low waste and vote according to socially conscious and eco friendly ideals in our country. Xéna & Kin also uses sale and charity events to donate a portion of our profits to causes that align with our values, notably towards providing malnourished children with free meals and forest restoration charities we vet through independent sources, peer reviews and our own research.


Is Xéna & Kin’s art made for everyone?

Xéna & Kin’s art, comics and accepted commission types may contain mature content such as the discussion of mental health topics, representation of subcultures with mature themes and content not safe for anyone under 18 years old. That being said, not all content is suggestive and those that are form a smaller subsection of our work. We encourage parents and guardians of minors to exercise common sense when purchasing gifts for their younger loved ones. Due to the presence of small parts, our items are not suited for children under 3 years old.