It's almost summer here at The Grommet and we're gearing up for some really exciting things happening in the next few months. One of our favorite things to do each month is get to know some great crowdfunding campaigns and decide which we think have good potential for long term success.

We're starting the season off right by investing is some majorly kick-ass crowdfunding projects. We've done a lot of research for this month's products and decided on these to name just a few. We can't wait to see them come to market and hope you are just as excited. Do you support projects on Kickstarter and Indiegogo that you think might make it big? Follow along with our series here to see which projects we invest in monthly.

Kuli Kuli

Kuli Kuli

$45,324 raised of $50,000

Days to go: 16

While in the peace corp, the founder of Kuli Kuli discovered a nutritious plant made in West Africa called Moringa. It helped her to fight off the possibility of malnutrition and she decided to bring the plants benefits to the U.S. So she started a company to produce these gluten free, raw snack bars called Kuli Kuli. She now needs your help to get these bars into production.

JamStik

JamStik

$143,430 raised of $100,000

Days to go: 6

JamStik  is a modern-day, technology-charged version of the traditional guitar. When learning to play, you typically need to worry about tuning, disturbing neighbors and transporting the heavy instrument. This is a super-cool, portable digital guitar that connects to an iPad or iPhone. It uses light to scan a players fingers as they press strings, then sends that information over to a smart phone in real time. The smart phone helps you make cool music and helps you to learn more quickly.

Brck

Brck

$106,544 raised of $125,000

Days to go: 13

The idea behind Brck was created out of a local problem in rural Kenya: providing reliable internet connectivity where power and electricity are not always present. Brck is easy to use and can connect to the internet through an ethernet, cellular data or open wifi channels. It's portable, easy to set up, can support up to 20 devices and is able to provide wifi for multiple rooms. The team likes to say "If it works in Africa, it will work anywhere."

Keyprop

Keyprop

$17,552 raised of $30,000

Days to go: 9

Keyprop dubs itself as "the world's smallest tripod and stand". Yet we don't think that phrase does it justice. Keyprop is a smart way to keep your keys and your phone together, while at the same time creating a handy stand for your smart device. It's also pretty cool looking! Want to take a picture and use a timer to take the picture from afar? Now you can. Want to sit back, relax and watch a video on your phone without holding it? Now you can. You can even adjust the angle of the stand by propping it higher or lower.

Blackprints

Blackprints

$69,617 raised of $50,000

Days to go: 30

Founder of Blackprints, Sabrina Chun, loves cars. She loves driving them, admiring them and thinking about how each is different. That's why she's created Blackprints, an inverse black and white illustration of beloved classic cars, in print form . These prints are sleek, beautiful and will look great in your home or office; plus they'll help you day dream about your favorite car.

 Which campaign is your favorite? 

This past Sunday, some Grommet team members ventured into Boston to stroll through the "Public Art Walk" where you have the ability to walk freely in and out of people's personal art studios and exhibitions.  There were many beautiful pieces of art, rich with colors, textures and stories. One exhibit stood out to us, as it touched on the important subject of education and the artist did a particularly good job of detailing his passion for the issue throughout his exhibit. Above the Standard is an art exhibit created by Boston Public School Teacher, Ari Hauben. His solo art show depicts the detrimental effects of the increasingly standardized and mechanized worlds of education and society. Read more about Ari and his exhibit here and view some of his most beautiful pieces below.

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Last year we shared the story of Project Repat here on The Grommet. This company is on a mission to turn textile waste into fair-wage job opportunities in the U.S. Founders Ross Lohr and Nathan Rothstein are doing much more than just repurposing your old worn t-shirts.  If  you're not familiar with Project Repat, be sure to check out our video and the story here.

Although it's be a while since we last shared an update from Ross and Nathan, we stay in touch with our Partners and work with them long after their launch day. Launch day is just the kick-off to a great relationship and there are many great things ahead for Project Repat (including a new Kickstarter campaign we're eager to share with you).

Grommet: Nathan tell us, what's new with Project Repat?

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3 Generations of Coffee Farmers

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Recently, The Grommet launched TRIVE Farmers Coffee, a truly disruptive company that offers a new option for farmers to earn 5 - 10 times more than Fair Trade. They helped to educate us about a massively popular beverage that many of us consume every day, yet ironically  know such little about. We recently caught up with Christine Macrenaris, Director of Marketing & Communications of THRIVE Farmers coffee and we got carried away talking coffee (of course!). She shared some fun facts about coffee that we found fascinating.

Read on to discover 7 Fun Facts about coffee that you may not have known!

1. Coffee is actually NOT a bean, but comes from a fruit! It is grown on a tree or bush that produces cherry fruit. The bean is the seed inside the cherry.
2. Coffee is the world’s second most popular drink after water.
3. Years ago, in Turkey, if the husband did not provide their wife with enough coffee, it was grounds for divorce.
4. It takes one tree to make one roasted pound of specialty coffee and each berry has to be hand-picked.
5. There are 4,000 roasted beans in one pound of coffee. (Source: Rob Tuttle, Barista and Thrive Farmers VP of Operations)
6. The price of a tall latte in America is a day’s wage for many of the farmers who harvest it in South America.
7. What makes Thrive Farmers unique is that they are selling coffee directly to the consumer, providing world class coffee and giving farmers the opportunity to THRIVE in an industry where many farmers are unable to survive.

 sources for fun facts: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6,

How many of these facts did you know about your favorite morning drink?  

Last year we launched ReFleece here on The Grommet. We shared the story of Sam Palmer and Jennifer Feller who create products using a new kind of upcycled felt they call ReFleece. If you're not familiar with ReFleece, be sure to check out our video and the story here. Although it's be a while since we last shared an update from Sam and Jennifer, we stay in touch with our Partners and work with them long after their launch day. Launch day is just the kick-off to a great relationship and there are many great things ahead for ReFleece (including a new Kickstarter campaign we're eager to share with you).

Above: Sam and Jennifer visit The Grommet HQ and catch up with Joanne.

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Grommet: Jennifer, tell us what's new with ReFleece?

Jennifer: So much has been happening here! Polartec has come on board, sending us scraps that would otherwise have to be melted down, and Patagonia continues to send us clothing returned by customers through their Common Threads program. We've had some wonderful publicity, including a spread in Money Magazine, and Forbes Top Ten Accessories for Travelers list. We launched the iPad mini sleeve, and now, we are really excited to launch our Kickstarter Campaign. We are getting the word out about re-use by inspiring people to send in their old jackets, sweaters, baby blankets, or whatever is too worn out to wear, and have it turned into one of our beautiful new covers or accessories! In response to customer comments, we're also launching the 4square organizer, a desk-tray or art organizer, for those who don't need a new cover for their tech device but want to participate in the mission of re-using old stuff. And we've just decided to expand the campaign, adding WOOL to the list of materials we will take back for re-use (can't wait to see the moth-eaten sweaters that come our way!).

Thanks Jennifer for sharing the latest with us!

We're very excited to share the ReFleece Kickstarter campaign and help them meet their goal. They only have 20 more days  to raise a total of $25,000. What do you say Grommet community, can we help them get there? Please check out their campaign page and help spread the word. Let's see these new ReFleece products get their wings!

As exciting as it is to launch a new product here on The Grommet, for us, it gets even better when we get to see how the world reacts to these innovative ideas and passionate entrepreneurial stories. For our partners, a Grommet launch is just the beginning of some well deserved attention.

Here’s the most recent press for our Grommet partners:

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The Grommet loves watching the innovation pouring out of crowdfunding and we follow the crowdfunding space very closely. In fact, as a company we actually invest in ideas that we think have real, long-term potential.

Crowdfunding platforms can be a great feedback mechanism for consumer demand. The feedback product creators receive from the community is so valuable as they iterate their concepts and designs. Five of our Product Pitch participants launched Indiegogo campaigns after their big day at Fenway last month (quick, check them out, funding deadlines closing soon!) and they have received great feedback from the community.

Once crowdfunded products are ready for retail launch, we love introducing their story to the world and actually helping them to sell on our site and off-site through our retail placement partners.

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We're very excited about today's launch of GoldieBlox here at Daily Grommet.  GoldieBlox is an important product whose mission is an important one -- to inspire social change around the education of girls.

This activity game and storybook  features a female engineer role model named Goldie Blox. Goldie can be anything she wants to be when she grows up, even a female engineer. In the spirit of dreaming big and encouraging girls to see themselves as makers, creators and engineers, we've asked some of our favorite women in tech to share with us, "what did you want to be when you grew up?"

Read their answers below and share yours in a comment!

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Sarah Evans | Social Correspondent and Chief Evangelist at Tracky

When I was in kindergarten I wanted to be a librarian, just like my mom. From sixth grade through my senior year of high school, a Broadway start. In college I discovered the study of communications and was hooked. I decided I'd either become a world-famous news anchor or publicist to the best brands in the world. I love that I can keep discovering what I want to be when I grow up.

Follow Sarah at @PRSarahEvans on Twitter

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Today marks the fourth installment in our series the Grommet Grill (check out our first respondents, Whoopi Goldberg, Chris Brogan and Leslie Carothers). This is a series of  quick interviews with people in our community.  Our community members tend to be people who are uber-passionate about the companies and products they support.  So we decided to turn the table and ask them to imagine what they would do if they were on the “creator” side of the equation.

Today's Grommet Grill is with Beth Feldman. Beth is the President of Role Mommy, an online community created to inspire, entertain and inform today's busy moms. Beth is also a former network TV Executive, PR maven and author -- she has her thumb on the pulse of what's important to women and families and she is definitely someone we enjoy connecting with.

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Grommet: If you were a product what would be your tagline?

Beth: You've gotta believe.

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Featured Grommet Grill, community

It's officially spring and that means it's time to get our gardens growing. Here at Grommet we're excited to launch several items this spring that will help you and your landscapes get into full bloom. We're also continuing our series on our favorite apps and have listed some of the best gardening apps below that will help you keep that thumb of yours bright green.

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