Today we’re chatting with Shawn Durington about his Disney pin collection and his custom pin designs. I hope you enjoy it!
Thanks so much for taking the time Shawn, can you tell us a little about yourself?
My name is Shawn Durington, and I’m an artist and illustrator. I love Disney and enamel pins in general; I collect pins from all kinds of genres. I have designed a few pins myself and have been collecting pins for over 20 years now.
Good to meet you, Shawn. When and how did you get into pin trading?
I first got into pin trading in 2001 on my first trip to Disney World. I went a little crazy and bought well 50 or so pins. I’ve been an avid hoarder; I mean collector of pins, ever since. I’ve even lassoed my wife into collecting pins.
Ha, I think we can all empathise with that. What pins does your wife mainly collect?
She primarily collects Tangled Pins, Stitch Pins, and Cheshire Cat Pins. But her favorite ones to find are couple pins. Such as Mickey and Minnie as bride and groom or Flynn and Rapunzel together. I think it is because it reminds her of our honeymoon and the first time she really started collecting pins.
That is so nice! You mentioned you also design pins; can you talk more about that?
Definitely, so I have designed a couple of pins so far. My first one produced is my dinosaur flying on a rocket. I had an instructor who designed several Disney Pins while I was getting my MFA and decided, hey! I would love to make these!
Shawn's dinosaur riding a rocket pin
Usually, I design pins for myself to sell and trade at pop culture conventions like DragonCon and AwesomeCon and a few others. But I have designed a few designs for clubs and groups, but I don’t have permission to share those yet.
That is so cool, and I love your dinosaur flying on a rocket! Random question, what is “MFA”?
MFA is Masters of Fine Arts. It’s a level of education that basically means you have dedicated a portion of your education to really specializing in a particular field of study.
Well, now I know! Back to pins, what are your main collections and why?
Disney Villain pins are by far my favorite designs, but I love collecting pins related to rides such as Pirates of the Caribbean and Haunted Mansion.
Some of Shawn's Pirates of the Caribbean pins
One of our favorite things to do is make sure we buy or trade for a pin with any ride we go on. Finding pins both Disney Produced and fantasy pins related to Robinhood, Sword in the Stone and Jungle Book are my absolute favorite to get hold of.
Nice, we love collecting pins from rides we love too! And that is a fantastic display. How many pins do you have?
Man, that’s a thought; between all of my pins from all over, I’d probably be in the 500-600 range.
And out of those, do you have a favourite pin?
One of my absolute favorite pins is a Disney Villains Hades Pin from the early 2000s. However, probably my favorite favorite is one I designed of a dinosaur flying through space on a rocket; it’s something special to see your very first enamel pin that you create in person.
Disney Villains Hades Pin from the early 2000s
Such a lovely Hades pin! What do you like most about pin trading?
I love getting to meet new people, discussing what others collect and seeing them light up with the joy of talking about their favorite pins.
If you could change one thing about pin trading, what would it be?
Honestly, I don’t have an idea. Maybe get rid of limited edition park only pins since we don’t live near Disney; we miss out on a ton of pins that resellers snatch up and increase the price so drastically. I understand making some profit off of them, but true collectors suffer in the aftermarket with anything collectable.
You mentioned going to other cons. Is there anything from those cons you go to that you’d like to see at Disney events?
Honestly, not really; going to a con is great, but Disney Events are more like the Magical Events and are so much more special.
Do you have any advice for someone who wants to get into pin trading?
Start small, set a budget for a trip, so you don’t overspend. To keep my wife and me under control, we get a gift card each just for pin purchasing and have a huge back stock of pins for trading from the mystery packs. Also, don’t collect for value; collect what you love!
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Collect what you love, what awesome advice to end our interview on!
Thank you so much for taking the time to chat with us Shawn, it was a pleasure.
If you are a pin trader and would like us to interview you, please get in touch.
