Bon Jsell on why they love theSkimm and Surface
“We got more than what we paid for; Surface is basically a 3-in-1,” said Skimm’r and Bohn Jsell designer John E. Bell.
Surface Industrial Designer Kait Schoeck (wearing a Bohn Jsell vest), Bohn Jsell designers John Bell and Kasha Reavis, and me (wearing the Bohn Jsell top sketched below). Photo credit: Hive Studio
I was thrilled to meet Surface fans Kasha and John, the co-founders of Bohn Jsell Collections at the #NineteenthAmendmentPeople event earlier this month—especially because they let me wear one of their tops that had been designed on a Surface. Kasha and John have been fans of their ultra-portable Surface Pro 4 and its accompanying Pen since they purchased it earlier this year so it was fun to meet them and hear their story.
Instagram post while designing on Surface.
John had been designing for years, but it wasn’t until he met Kasha (a fashion stylist) that the two of them decided to launch Bohn Jsell together last year. They are the perfect pairing because John creates the designs and Kasha styles and presents the pieces. According to Kasha, they created Bohn Jsell to act as a the “bridge between corporate America and the artsy hipster girl so she can easily transition from day to night.” Their pieces are for people on the go, which is what made Kasha and John the perfect fans to feature in Surface’s partnership with theSkimm.
After Bohn Jsell launched, they determined that they needed new computers. John previously had a Mac and Kasha a PC, so they weren’t sure what to get. But once they tried out Surface Pen, they decided to splurge and get a Surface Pro 4 that they could share. With Windows 10, sharing their Surface Pro 4 is simple because they each have their own profile. One of Kasha’s favorite features is facial recognition (aka Windows Hello) because “it’s so easy! I just look at my Surface to open my profile.”
Hailing from Nashville, John is a student at the illustrious Fashion Institute of Technology in New York so he uses Surface in class to take handwritten notes as well as sketch his designs. For him, “fashion has always been a place of refuge. Growing up in a creative family, I always see a canvas. And Surface lets me capture that inspiration right away.”
Bohn Jsell designs created on Surface Pro 4
Bohn Jsell designs created on Surface Pro 4
Kasha, who often takes the bus, also loves being able to use Surface as a tablet when she’s just scrolling through webpages or watching Netflix. And they both use Surface as a laptop to run their business from emails, to spreadsheets, to marketing. John thinks of Surface Pro 4 as “a 3-in-1 because we use it as a sketchpad, a tablet, and a laptop, but it actually could be a 4-in-1 if we hooked it up to external monitors.” But for now, the touchscreen on Surface is more than enough because it lets them zoom in and scroll easily so they can see the details on photographs before they upload them to their site. As a startup, sometimes Kasha and John can’t afford to have all of their pieces photographed on models. When that happens, Kasha will just “take a picture of a dress on my iPhone and then edit in Photoshop on the Surface. It’s super easy.”
We can’t wait to see what beautiful designs come out of Bohn Jsell’s latest collection for New York Fashion Week. In the meantime, check out their current pieces at Nineteenth Amendment.
Source: Bon Jsell on why they love theSkimm and Surface
