Calgary Entrepreneur: From the ashes of Calgary's bad economy rises Poop Heart

Oct 8 2016, 12:03 am

When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade.

When the economy shits on you, you turn that stuff into rainbow coloured hearts and put it on pillows, mugs, and tshirts – at least that’s what Erin Moffatt did.

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When she was laid off from her job with a junior oil company in Calgary, Moffatt took the opportunity to devote more time to a side hobby creating colourful art.

Her company, Poop Heart, features random animals and figures made from colourful mixed media. She draws out a stencil and then hand cuts recycled paper products, cloth and the like to make the stencils come to life.

From bears to unicorns to stegosauruses to ballerinas all are found to be pooping hearts, something Moffatt says “symbolizes among many things, to not take life too seriously and smile!” She sells her designs as prints, pillowcases, tshirts, onesies, and coffee mugs.

“I love to make people laugh.” Moffatt explained in an email interview. “I wanted something funny for my bathroom to make people smile when they least expected it but I couldn’t find anything I liked. Why can’t bathroom art be funny AND pretty to look at? So I started making my pooping creations and Poop Heart was born!”

Moffatt is also using her project as a way to raise money to help the world’s poor build the basics supporting water, hygeine, and sanitation.  10 per cent of sales are donated to the Centre for Affordable Water and Sanitation Technology, a Calgary non-profit that helps schools, clinics and homeowners improve sanitation and water quality. It’s an avenue she hopes can also lead to a return to engineering.

“There is a lot of cool sh*t to work in as an engineer that I never knew about. So I’m going all-in with poop! I have a lot of transferable skills so I plan to shift my career into water and waste management. I’m currently looking into consulting opportunities so I can do both Poop Heart and engineering.”

The art is already a big hit with local dragon W Brett Wilson who made an order to fill out his Christmas lists. “His passion for anything Canadian was immediately apparent,” says Moffatt. “So naturally he loved my Poop Heart Canadian Collection featuring a pooping grizzly bear, beaver and moose. ”

And, yes, she also sells pooping dragon art.

Find out more at poopheart.com

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