An Open Letter to Stuart Semple and Culture Hustle
I have been a supporter of Stuart Semple and Culture Hustle. I like what Stuart Semple stood for, the fairness and fighting against powerful selfish companies and artists, and supporting the creative people and artists.
But I have to show my concern on their operation and this Kickstarter campaign, as it seems they are not respecting their customers, and instead of delivering paid orders made by some of the customers, they are making more projects to make money (on Kickstarter, a platform where the money you spent might not return).
And I would like to ask Stuart Semple and Culture Hustle to make a public statement regarding this matter.
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So here are my financial involvement with Stuart Temple / Culture Hustle:
Black 3.0 KS campaign backer number 64
Order #44404 in 2019
Order #177076 in 2023
Order #209758 in 2025 August 12th
My last order #209758 was delayed without any communication, and my emails asking for the products I paid for were ignored (well, they do reply at first saying they would look into it at first, but they stop responding after that), my emails asking for cancellation and refund also were ignored.
If this was a Kickstarter project pledge, that would have made sense. But this was an order through their web shop. And even still, I wouldn't have written this. It would have been just another disappointing company.
They made an action finally when I asked my credit card company to handle the cancelation. Only then, on December 9th, four months after my order, Culture Hustle shipped something*, making the credit card company unable to issue a refund to me, and me against my will receiving items I no longer need.
*I still cannot confirm what they sent me
That is unprofessional and insincere. And then came this Happy Time campaign, and it's on Kickstarter. The thing is, I'm not only a superbacker, but I am a watch designer, and I was planning to use their LIT powders for my watches, which they did not ship in time, nor tell me any reason or expected shipping time, so I ended up not using their product. All while Stuart Semple / Culture Hustle was working on this watch project which uses LIT, which I didn't somehow receive in time for the production of my watches.
When I recently shared my message to Stuart Semple / Culture Hustle on my Instagram, I received from two different followers regarding their orders from Culture Hustle. One custom watch business owner told me that they "also screwed me over", and another business owner "I emailed them about a month ago and they apologized for taking so long. But still no new updates". And a collaborator of mine in the watch business also told me that the LIT order he made "Culture Hustle hasn’t sent me mine yet, so I am looking for another source."
I would also like to note that I have been actively recommending Culture Hustle products, the Black series, the LIT powders, on the watch / watch modding communities. And I know that there are many creative people in the watch custom communities now uses LIT for lumes (glow in the dark bits), and I know one watch smith who graduated from renowned the Finnish School of Watchmaking whose graduation work had Black 3.0.
So it seems while they are taking money from their customers, while the money stays with Culture Hustle, instead of the money being used for shipping the orders the money was paid for, nor spent on communication with their customers, they priorities their new products, and trying to receive money on no other than Kickstarter where "Rewards aren’t guaranteed".
As I mentioned in my Instagram story, I understand a small company handling many orders having hiccups. But this is seriously concerning me, as their customer, as a superbacker, and as a watch brand owner.
So please Stuart Semple / Culture Hustle, if you are still the person / company I was supporting, fighting against unfairness and supporting the creative small people, why don't you show that by making a public statement. Or are you turning into the enemies of the artists and creative people you were pledged to fight against?
Sincerely,
-Yu Ando, founder and designer of AndoAndoAndo