Our story
Strangers
to squad
A handful of beads, a house full of strangers, and a brand nobody planned.
18 strangers and a bag of beads
Jelli Bead started with a party house full of strangers.
We'd brought a bunch of kandi supplies to a festival rental house we were sharing with 18 strangers. The second those beads hit the table, everyone was friends: stringing beads, swapping bracelets and sharing stories like they'd known each other for years.
That's the whole thing, right there. A handful of beads doing what usually takes way longer: turning a room full of strangers into a squad.
Reddit said yes
We figured other people might want that feeling too. So we started posting designs on Reddit just to see if anyone fw them.
They blew up. Suddenly the inbox was full of people asking where they could get them.
No plan, all vibes
There was no real plan. I was working in sales and marketing, so I took what I'd picked up from work, what I'd taught myself over years of doodling and designing imaginary brands, kept a YouTube tab open at all hours, and threw a bunch of stuff at the wall to see what stuck.
Enough of it stuck to make a real brand out of.
The name? Honestly, it was an available Instagram handle, it was cute to say, and it reminded ya of candy/kandi. Our first logo was a shameless rip of a big candy company, which we proudly ran with until we got big enough that we, uh, had to stop. Good call, turns out.
Going all in
Then things got insanely busy. Orders were stacking up, the bead machine was running nonstop, and I was still working my full-time career on the side.
It came time to choose: keep working my career, or turn the lights off on the bead machine. So I left my career to go all in on JB.
Plz consider buying one bead to keep fueling the bead machine.
The ride so far
- July 2023The festival house
18 strangers, one bag of kandi supplies.
- January 2024The Jelli Gang is establishedJoin the Jelli Gang
- January 2024The first bead
Zach makes his very first bead.
- February 2024The Reddit post
Designs go up, the inbox blows up.
- Mar 22, 2024Jellibead.com opens
- February 2025Filthy Valentines go viral
NSFW conversation hearts. Now a yearly tradition.
- April 2025Coachella merch
Jelli Bead helps make Coachella merch.
- October 2025All in
Zach leaves his career to run JB full time.
- February 2026New HQ
Jelli Bead moves out of the house and into our new HQ in Atlanta, GA.
- June 2026Jelli Bead takes Bonnaroo
GRiZ wears a penis bead.
Out in the wild
Since then, our beads have turned up in places we never saw coming, from festival crowds to a few brands we grew up loving. It still feels a little unreal.
We're still a small crew in Atlanta. We dream up the designs, finish the beads and pack every order ourselves.
Why we do it
The best part is still the faces. Meeting fans at festivals and shows, watching someone read a bracelet, admire the charm, catch the punchline and light up.
Newbies scrolling the Instagram and saying "haha holy sh*t I need this." That's that sh*t fr fr.
That's all it's ever been about: more ways to connect. More reasons for strangers to become friends.
Meet the gang
The people stringing, packing and dreaming up every drop.
Thanks for being part of it. Every bead you string helps a small team keep doing what we love.
JB4EVER
ZachFounder / OG Bead Goblin
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