trading stuff The Swap Meat

A Virtuous Circle
of Artful Swag –NYT

It seems like everyone we know is making stuff. People are publishing books and photography products, creating tee shirts, posters, stationery, stickers, games, pins, movies, music and toys. Periodically, we receive unsolicited stuff in the mail. We love getting it and most of the time we return the favor by sending back some of the stuff we've made.

Check our new Swap Meat TV Spot.

So let's try doing this on a slightly larger scale in an attempt to make lots of people as happy as we are when the FedEx guy shows up unannounced.

See what's changing hands right now: Selected Swap Meat items

Send us some of your stuff. Not stuff you made for clients or stuff you just have laying around. Send us some of the stuff you made for yourselves, that you're selling or giving away. You're going to have to trust us on this, but we'll check out what you send and then send you back some stuff of approximately equal value. That might be stuff we received from someone else or some of our stuff, or some combination of the two.

We're not going to put any constraints on what qualifies as "stuff," but, like with everything we do, design matters. Also, if it's too large to carry in one hand, don't send it. This is not an invitation to clean out your closet by filling up ours. On the off chance this gets bigger than we're prepared for, keep in mind that we are going do the very best we can, but that ultimately we're not actually obligated to do anything.

The Four Things That Can Happen When
You Send Us Something For Swapping

1. Nothing. If you send us something mass-produced or something that is generally available through mainstream retail outlets or that doesn't fit in the general vibe of the Swap Meat, we'll look at it, possibly enjoy it and maybe even write about it somewhere. But beyond that, nothing will happen.

2. You Get Swapped. We'll match your item with someone else's item and swap them. This is the most likely result and we hope you dig what you get back. That's really what this whole thing is all about.

3. You Get Swapped & Featured. We'll photograph and write a short profile about selected original, amazing, creative things and feature them on the Swapped Page including a link to where people can get more information or make a purchase. We're featuring at least one new thing every weekday and if you subscribe to our blended RSS feed you'll know when they're posted.

4. You Get Swapped, Featured & Commissioned. When we receive an item that we totally love and that is, for one reason or another, not available for sale on the web, we may commission the object's creator to produce a special, limited-edition to be sold through our Swapped Page. Those items are marked with this icon and a specific description of availabliity under the heading "Swap Meat Exclusive: Available For Purchase."

Note: We are NOT currently swapping but of course you can send us cool stuff any time you like. -August 2008

So, postmark your stuff and send it to:
Coudal Partners Swap Meat
400 North May Street
Suite 301
Chicago IL 60622

Please include a short note describing your project, a link to where people can learn more about it, a way for us to get in touch with you and a non-PO-Box mailing address where we can ship you some stuff in return.

what we're swapping

See what's changing hands right now: Selected Swap Meat items

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