One of the most frequent questions Molly and I get about our business is where the name Sharky Waters comes from.
It’s not so easy to answer because the ideas and perspectives of two people combined to create the name. I figured a good way to get ahead of this question would be to share the story behind Sharky Waters on our blog. I’ll start with my side of the story first.
I have loved sharks for as long as I can remember, really loved them. As a kid, I wanted to learn all about sharks, wear clothes with sharks on them, and watch Shark Week every year. One of the absolute highlights of my law school career was getting to write a paper on shark conservation law.
Now, even though I love sharks very much and passionately believe they should be protected, there is one little thing… I’m terrified of them.
This might seem silly, but it makes sense to me. Sharks are incredible animals; they’re beautiful, unusual, and versatile. They’re also strong, fast, and sometimes intimidating. I see the sea as very much their domain. I love the ocean, but I’m perfectly happy to enjoy it from the beach or a large boat. (Of course I’m grateful not everyone feels this way because I love close-up photos and video footage of sharks.)
In my many years of watching and reading everything I could about sharks, I came across the term “sharky waters.” It was a way to describe waters that likely had sharks present. I thought it was a very cool phrase, and I just enjoyed the sound and feel of it. The funny thing is how I interpreted this phrase compared to Molly.
Molly went on a trip to Australia when she was in junior high, and it included a lot of ocean activities, like snorkeling. This is where she became familiar with the phrase “sharky waters.” Obviously, any sea water around Australia is VERY sharky. Yet Molly adopted the more relaxed view of her Australian hosts, and amazingly the water never seemed sharky and it was always fine to snorkel or swim. For me, all ocean waters are sharky waters, and that’s okay. (I’m happy to say that Molly has now heard so much about sharks in shallow water from me that she has a much more cautious approach to the ocean. I’m very proud of my success in this long, hard-fought campaign.)
That explains where Sharky Waters came from, but now I’ll share why it’s our name. In addition to sharks, both Molly and I have always loved animals in general. Whether pets or wild, cartoon or real, they were basically our favorite thing. So when we decided to start our own stationery business, we knew we wanted animals to be involved somehow. We decided to feature animals in our designs and to donate a portion of our profits to charitable organizations that protect animals, our Make Waves initiative.
So, this rather long story comes down to something pretty simple. We chose Sharky Waters as our name because it incorporates our love of animals, sharks specifically, and aligns with our Make Waves initiative. We also felt it embodied the tone and feeling of our stationery, pretty but never fussy.
I hope you enjoyed getting to know a bit more about Sharky Waters.
Let's make waves!
