Christina & Dennis Jacobs have got Perfect Laughter

By Megan | April 11, 2011 at 3:34 pm | 13 comments | CC Features | Tags: CCFeatures, Detroit designers, entrepreneurial couples, Perfect Laughter

If you are ever in a Michigan art gallery and you see a couple attached at the hip, enthusiastically discussing what’s on display – you may be looking at Christina and Dennis Jacobs.

The married couple are the co-owners of Perfect Laughter – a creative business in Detroit that blends the world of blogging, screen print and letterpress paper goods. Starting off as recreational artists and bloggers, Christina and Dennis have built their home business, creating screen prints and paperwork for craft shows while providing publicity for local artists on their popular blog.

Despite the increasing success Perfect Laughter continues to have, Christina and Dennis seem most proud of what they are able to accomplish together.

Have you always been interested in art and the art of blogging?
Dennis: Early in college and in high school, I wasn’t very creative.  I did take a few art classes in high school, but I didn’t take them very seriously, nor did I do especially well in them.  I didn’t really get into art and design until my senior year of college, coincidentally when I started dating Christina. I think that Christina is largely responsible for my interest in art and design and has always been supportive of my creative endeavors, no matter how terrible my early work was.

Christina: Dennis’s early work was not terrible!! He was pretty fearless in taking his interest in street art and bringing his ideas to life.

What made you decide to start Perfect Laughter?
Christina: After experimenting with stencils for a while, he (Dennis) got invited to show his work in a couple of local galleries. The walls were always full of local artists. I’d Google their names and sometimes nothing at all would come up. So I thought a blog could help to spread the word about the talent that we have here.

Dennis: Perfect Laughter started because we felt that Detroit lacked a resource for local designers and artists to gain exposure. From there it developed into a print and design studio in addition to our blog.

If you both have day jobs outside of Perfect Laughter. How do you find time to work on your own business?
Christina: My day job is in advertising and my agency’s culture encourages creative thinking. I can usually work a whole day there and come home still energized to design and print our own stuff.

Dennis: I work at local art gallery and design studio – 323 East in Royal Oak.  I like my job and it allows me to interact with designers and artists daily, as well as gain valuable design experience which I really enjoy.

Would you like to have Perfect Laughter as your full time job?
Christina: There’s the occasional all-nighter where I go to work with ink in my hair but the rush of adrenaline that comes from pulling off the impossible is totally worth it. One of these days though, they’re going to put a limit on my use of the office Keurig machine. That thing is a lifesaver.

Dennis: I think it would be amazing if we were able to dedicate all of our time to Perfect Laughter. Christina and I both work day jobs but we try to work at least a couple hours a day on Perfect Laughter, sometimes more if we’re up against a deadline or craft show.

Has it been difficult working for one business, while trying to build you own?
Christina: It’s really tough to put limits on what we want to accomplish. We love designing and printing our own products but we also love bringing our clients’ ideas to life. And we’ve met so many talented people through the blog. But doing all three of those things and doing them well in the limited time that we have has been a challenge.

Dennis: I think that it is having to sacrifice our time.  Since we both have day jobs, time is already at a premium. Throw in running our own business on top of that and it’s easy to have no free time at all.  That being said we are getting better at managing our time, and the benefits and sense of fulfillment we get from running Perfect Laughter far outweighs the frustrations.

Since you work on Perfect Laughter from home, do you find it difficult to separate your work and leisure time?
Dennis: This is something that I think we struggle with the most. Since we work out of our home, it is really easy to work constantly. We have had to set clear boundaries of when it is time to work and when it is time to just relax. Because we enjoy what we do, Perfect Laughter rarely feels like a burden or “work.” For example when we go to a local art opening to cover it for a blog it feels more like a date to us than an assignment.

Christina: Mostly because I get free wine either way.

Why do you believe Perfect Laughter is so successful?
Christina: Work ethic and optimism. We read somewhere that it takes 10,000 hours of experience to be good at something. If things don’t go well one night it’s ok, it’s just part of our 10,000 hours.

Dennis: I think it really comes down to that we are best friends with common goals, yet different enough where our strengths compensate for our weaknesses and that when we work together we are able to accomplish most anything.

Do you know another Creative Couple? Contact us.

Do you know another Creative Couple? Contact us.