REDESIGN

The Switch to Stitch

John Pryor '98 & The Art of Adaptation

As COVID-19 marched across the country last spring, John Pryor made a plan to adapt his hand-crafted furniture business, Madison Flitch, into something that could withstand a pandemic.

“Need your help,” Pryor posted on Facebook on March 21, “Madison Flitch wants to convert part of its workshop space to making and selling around 100 medical masks per week.” He wanted to provide medical professionals with PPE through a buy one-donate one program, create jobs and keep his company going. “We’re figuring out the details this week and hope to launch soon.”

Pryor projected selling about 50 masks during the first week of production. Instead, he sold 50 in the first hour. “Over that weekend, we sold thousands and thousands more. I was freaking out! I only had two people ready to sew.” His work was cut out for him, but Pryor used his education, experience and entrepreneurial mindset to expand Madison Flitch into Madison Stitch almost overnight.

DISCOVERING AN INNER ARTIST

Pryor describes himself as “a former academic turned technology professional turned furniture designer.” He has master’s degrees in history and theology and an MBA from Boston University. In 2016, while managing a team of software specialists at a Boston-area tech firm, he realized he was burning out. Pryor and his wife returned to his Kansas City roots, he took up woodworking — and tapped into a talent for art and design.

“It was a revelation to me how much I loved working with my hands,” he said. “I had always worked in the realm of ideas. With woodworking, I was making something tangible and ending up with something different and unique and real.”

He trained with a master woodworker and founded Madison Flitch by combining his entrepreneurial mindset with a modern design aesthetic. Pryor’s high end, customized pieces are a beautiful blend of form and function, crafted exclusively from local trees.

“I like the idea of the land around you having a particular flavor, kind of like wine does. Local conditions create color variation, grain patterns and a look you won’t find in other regions.”

Madison Flitch prices reflect the quality and craftsmanship of each piece. When the pandemic began impacting the economy, Pryor realized people’s spending priorities were going to change. He asked himself a strategic question: What do people want during this crisis? The answer, he determined, was face masks, not furniture.

THE SWITCH TO MADISON STITCH

Pryor and a small staff reconfigured the business model and created a cut-and-sew operation. They hired 60 stitchers in three weeks.

“We found out very quickly we couldn’t keep up, and I was also proving to be a very bad stitcher,” he laughed. “I scrambled and reached out to everyone I knew." He contacted Catholic Charities, Rightfully Sewn and refugee employment services. “Suddenly I just had people showing up at my door looking to make masks.” Most of the stitchers were women, refugees from Myanmar and Afghanistan. They took fabric and supplies home and returned with piles of Madison Stitch masks.

“There were language barriers and cultural differences, but these women were very skilled, very assertive and great negotiators. Many of them had come from very difficult circumstances, so we wanted to create an atmosphere of safety and comfort in a weird and unknown environment. Being open to accepting people into our fold was one of the things that worked.”

Not everything worked in the beginning. Pryor’s team made constant improvements to the mask design, including a unique cord and toggle system, based on buyer’s feedback. “In the tech world, we released products to the market that we could fix after release. I had to get very comfortable with risk and producing something that may not be fully ready, but good enough to get out into the market. That was pretty much true of this whole process, too.”

ADDING TO THE LINE

Within three months, the company sold over 10,000 masks and donated 11,500 to health care professionals. As larger manufacturers caught up to the medical demand, Pryor reduced the percentage of donations to hospitals to about 15% of sales and invested the rest into the operation. “We want to stay connected to our refugee stitchers and their stories,” he said.

Madison Stitch added a line of handmade leather and linen bags, some named for the stitchers who designed them: Farida, Than, Esther, Khaw. In October, Pryor opened a brick and mortar shop and added three new collections. Each bag has a “unique Madison Flitch flavor” that incorporates wood and leather sourced from Missouri.

“This has all happened since March,” he said. “We just had to throw out all the rules and jump in.”

THINKING DIFFERENTLY

Pryor can trace at least part of his ability to take on the challenge of redesigning Madison Flitch during a pandemic to his education at Barstow.

“It wasn’t clear to me until much later that at Barstow, we were trained to think differently. Throughout my life and career, I think about how I was always allowed to and encouraged to think differently and independently.”

He recalled a lesson learned as a member of the Barstow basketball team, when Coach Fritz Gabler installed an especially complicated offense. “Coach told us, ‘You guys go to Barstow. You can handle it.’ That kind of thinking has always been a part of me. When something is complicated or hard, I know I can do it, largely because of how things were framed at Barstow.”