🧭 Why We Talk About AI
Lanier Mercantile isn’t just a store. It’s a mindset. It’s about slowing down, appreciating texture, color and story. It’s about useful things that make you smile every time you pick them up or use them. It’s about reconnecting to the act of making, even if it’s messy sometimes.
Our mission is simple: to create thoughtful goods that feel personal and to build a creative community that celebrates originality over perfection.
We believe in trust, transparency and showing that technology can be used responsibly without losing the handmade heart of our brand. That’s why we limit our use of technology in creative design and why we want to share exactly how we use it.
🌿 Our Philosophy
We see AI as a helper for words and organization, never a replacement for human creativity. It helps us brainstorm ideas, refine packaging and presentation concepts and organize our business operations. It’s a partner in the background, not the artist at the table.
🛠️ How We Use AI
Here’s what AI helps us with (in small but mighty ways):
- 🗂️ Planning & Organization: keeping track of inventory, pricing and project planning
- ✍️ Writing Help: drafting product descriptions, newsletters and blog posts
- 🎨 Design Support: testing layout or color ideas before bringing them to life
- 💡 Creative Brainstorming: generating ideas for packaging, collection names and storytelling
- 🧠 Learning & Technical Support: finding tutorials, troubleshooting tools and discovering educational resources
We use ChatGPT, Canva AI (limited), and Creative Fabrica AI (limited), but our use of AI for actual graphic or design creation is minimal.
🎨 What We Don’t Use AI For
Less than 10 percent of our creative work involves any AI assistance at all.
🌾 The 90/10 Rule — Keeping It Human
We very carefully write detailed prompts to ensure any AI-created art starts from the heart. On the rare occasions we use it, we treat it as a base, something we heavily edit, redraw or reshape by hand until it feels unmistakably “us.”
🤝 Our Promise
Transparency matters. Every product still passes through real hands and real hearts, before it ever reaches you.
🌙 Why It Matters
Honestly, AI didn’t matter to us much at first. But once we started using it to learn and improve our craft rom tutorials to tool tips, we realized it could be used mindfully. It’s not about shortcuts; it’s about support.
💬 Frequently Asked (And Honestly Answered)
Do you sell AI art?
Less than 10% of our products utilize AI for design.
Do you use AI for product listings or blog posts?
Sometimes we do to help organize our thoughts. Why? Our minds are a bit messy. Every post is reviewed, modified and approved by a human.
How do you make sure things stay original?
Everything we publish or produce gets a human once-over before it ever leaves our workspace.
So… you use AI like you’re using it now?
Exactly. We use AI tools for planning, brainstorming and assistance with writing.
💛 Closing Note
We’re only humans (and a little helpful tech) doing our best to bring you beautiful things that feel like home. Thank you for trusting the hands and the heart behind every Lanier Mercantile creation.