Karen E. Sotomura, president of Joseph K. & Co., LLC, founded the business in 1985. Over two decades ago, Karen - originally from Reading, PA - was on vacation in Maui with relatives. Collecting Christmas ornaments was a hobby of theirs and they had hoped to bring home such souvenirs to Pennsylvania. To their dismay, they only found shoddy trinkets - nothing worth buying to display in their homes or on their Christmas trees!

On a whim, Karen decided to research the market and was surprised to learn that there was an unfulfilled demand for Hawaiian Christmas ornaments. With much determination (and the love and support of her family), Karen started her wholesale/importing business, Joseph K. & Co., LLC, in 1985. She developed a unique line of souvenir ornaments called Hawaiian Poi People^™, specifically for the Islands' tourist, gift and local market. Two years later, she expanded the product line to include souvenir magnets.

In a matter of five years, her handful of Hawaiian ornament and magnet designs had grown considerably! She began producing items that would be more suitable for other resort locations. Then in 1990, the business was expanded to North America and to everyone's delight, the products were very well received.

With the growing popularity of personalized gifts, the company began concentrating its efforts towards this burgeoning niche industry. In less than one year, the entire product line was modified to allow for hand personalization. Today, we specifically design all of our products to be personalized.

As the popularity of specialty retailing (mall carts) and the demand for turnkey programs increased, the Santa's Pen^® division was established in 1996. Santa's Pen is a turnkey, owner-operated cart concept featuring personalized ornaments and gifts. The program was designed to provide quality seasonal products and business expertise to entrepreneurs interested in becoming a specialty retailer (mall cart owner / operator). Today, there are Santa’s Pen carts in most major malls across the country and it is the nation’s largest specialty retailing program for personalizable Christmas ornaments and gifts!

In 2000, we united two very popular concepts – decorative home accessories and personalization – and created a new & exclusive collection of products featuring children’s home furnishings: INITIALS by Joseph K^™. This adorable assortment of room and desktop accessories can be personalized easily with our unique, patent-pending alphabet letter components and decorative charms.

Two years later, we opened our first seasonal retail outlet in Honolulu for the holidays. That venture was so successful that we decided to operate our own Santa’s Pen cart the following year for Christmas again. We have since expanded to two year-round cart locations and a retail store with over 1,000 square feet of space!