I am Spoon Popkin, and I am the originator of the viral doormat craze you see all over the Internet. I know it sounds crazy for one person to say they invented an entire industry by themselves, but I did.
It all started back in 2009 when I got married, bought a house, and we went to get our first doormat together. We went to Target, and there were four styles of fugly doormats. Nothing represented Us. We're not really Big Box store people. We like thrift shops, DIY handmade crafts and recycling. So my spouse remarked that I should just make us one, so I did!
I could never have imagined at that moment that I was creating an entire industry. Etsy was a new site & I was the only maker doing hand-painted doormats there (or anywhere!) for quite a few years. No one was looking for hand-painted doormats, as they were not a thing. I had invented something completely new and had to build demand for it. And build demand, I did! They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, so consider me flattered in a big way! A search on Etsy now brings over 130,000 listings.
Some of my most copied styles are; the "Bye Felicia" door mat from 2014, "This is a House of Learned Doctors", quoting from Step Brothers back in 2010, "Welcome Bitches!" 2014, "The Crib" 2012, "Leave your worries and your shoes at the door" 2012, "Doorbells broken, yell ding dong real loud" 2015. All of my JRR Tolkien quotes that I started making in 2012. I even got permission from Warner Brothers for these! I hope you brought wine/ weed/ tacos/pizza / etc. 2013. My wide variety of "Fuck Off" Doormats that I started in 2011, including "Get the fuck out of here", "Get the fuck off my porch", the eye chart version of "Get the fuck off my porch", it goes on and on. Anyway – kudos to me!