Our Story

AdversityGifts began in 2017 with a simple idea and a lot of hope.

I’m Alek, and when I first opened our Etsy shop, I was simply looking for a way to make ends meet. I started creating personalized gifts, never imagining that what began as a small side business would eventually grow into something my wife, Aylin, and I would build together.

Over the years, AdversityGifts has become much more than a business to us. It has become part of our story.

Like anyone, we’ve faced challenges, unexpected changes, and moments that tested us. Building a business as husband and wife has brought its own lessons, too. We’ve learned how to work together, trust each other’s strengths, keep improving, and sometimes laugh when things don’t go exactly as planned.

That journey is where the name AdversityGifts means so much to us.

We believe that even through adversity, something meaningful can come from it. Difficult seasons can teach us, strengthen us, and remind us to appreciate the people and moments that matter most.

That same idea inspires the gifts we create.

Whether we're turning a favorite photograph into embroidery, preserving a meaningful voice or song through soundwave art, or creating a personalized piece that represents a special place or memory, our goal is the same: to create something that means more than just a gift.

Every order represents a person, a memory, a relationship, or a story. We never want to lose sight of that.

A New Chapter

For years, Etsy gave us a place to share our work and connect with customers from all over. Since opening our shop in 2017, we’ve been fortunate to grow to more than 10,000 Etsy sales and 2,000 customer reviews—milestones we never could have imagined when we first started.

We’re incredibly grateful to everyone who found our little shop there, placed an order, left a review, recommended us to someone else, or trusted us to create something meaningful for them.

Our Etsy shop is where much of the AdversityGifts story began, and it remains an important part of our journey.

You can visit our original Etsy shop and see our history and customer reviews here:
AdversityGifts on Etsy

As AdversityGifts continued to grow, we knew we wanted to build something of our own—a home where we could share more of our creations, tell our story, connect more directly with our customers, and continue growing the business together.

That’s why we created AdversityGifts.com.

Our website may be a new chapter, but we’ve been creating personalized gifts since 2017. We’re bringing with us years of experience, more than 10,000 orders, and all the lessons, creativity, and care we’ve developed along the way.

Today, we continue to create together, learn from each other, refine our ideas, and put genuine care into every piece we make.

When you order from AdversityGifts, you're supporting a small husband-and-wife business. More importantly, you're trusting us with a memory, a person, or a moment that's important to you—and we don't take that lightly.

We hope something we create becomes more than just a gift. We hope it becomes a reminder of someone you love, somewhere special, or a moment worth holding onto.

Thank you for being here, for supporting our small business, and for becoming part of our story.

With love and gratitude,
Alek & Aylin
AdversityGifts