Kismet with Christen Carter of Busy Beaver Button Co.

Christen Carter is the founder and owner of Busy Beaver Button Co; a company of 21 creative people that have been helping their customers spread their messages and build communities through pin-back buttons and stickers since 1995. All the buttons are made in the “Dam” in the Logan Square neighborhood of Chicago with solar power!
Growing her business from a one-person operation out of her college bedroom making 50-100 buttons a day to a staff that can crank out more than 20,000 in a day has taught her a lot about the ins and outs of running and growing a business.

She also co-curates the Button Museum, a collection of 50,000 buttons (and growing!) with the mission to tell as much of American history as possible through pin-back buttons. Many large events like space travel and Presidential elections are represented in the Museum as well as small events like a family reunion. Nothing quite tells the history of their time as buttons do. In the archives, you see a people’s history that reflects what people cared about. All are welcome to visit the Museum in person or online.

Recently, Princeton Architectural Press released her book, Button Power: 125 years of Saying It with Pin-Back Buttons, a survey of some of her and the co-author, Ted Hake’s favorite buttons from the past 125 years. Print Magazine named it one of the Best Art and Design Books of 2020.

Christen has solidified herself as a global thought leader on the role of buttons in history and design. She is an author, speaker, and entrepreneur who has taken her roots from a DIY and punk rock ethos to value-based entrepreneurship. Her experiences as a business owner and curator for the past 26 years and how deeply she can get into buttons and how they communicate ideas, makes her a resource that she loves to share!