The Story of ChatStix
ChatStix was born in Costa Rica.
We are a family of five from Boston who moved to Costa Rica for two years (with our puppy and duffle
bags full of stuff we totally didn't need).
One day, we came home from school with some friends and found our mom sitting at the kitchen table writing words on colorful craft sticks. She was preparing to teach an English lesson on opposites to our neighbors.
We dropped our backpacks and went to the kitchen for a snack; when, as usual, our mom says:
"Hi guys! How was school? What'd you do today?"
As usual, we replied:
“Fine. Good. Boring. Nothing”
As our mom was packing up the sticks, she suddenly had an idea. She called us all over to the table and asked us to pick a stick and tell her a story that connected one of the words to anything about our day.
We all did and it actually was fun and way better than her typical questions.
It inspired to make our own set. We chose 52 words (A-Z) for 26 sticks, such as EASY/EMARRASSING ... GRATEFUL/GROSS and dozens more.
We called them ChatStix.
We kept them on the table and after school or at dinner we each picked a random stick and shared a story about our day.
Our friends would come over and say things like:
“I wish we did this ... Can you make some for my mom? … You guys should totally sell these.”
We returned home to Boston and made lots of prototypes for other families to try. The feedback was amazing and inspired us to take our homemade project to the next level.
After almost two years of working to perfect the final product, ChatStix was finally ready to share.
We are so grateful to our friends and family, local business owners, and talented designers for helping us get ChatStix from our kitchen table in Costa Rica to kitchen tables everywhere.
We really hope you enjoy the stories they'll inspire and hope you'll join us on our mission to get
ChatStix on every family table.
- The Whole ChatStix Family
