Oh boy, a design company: "The paper chase"

Graphis, Nov/Dec 2001 by Martinez, David

So far, ArtifactsTM products are selling in 75 home, stationery and gift stores, like San Francisco's Arch and Fillamento, LAs Shelter and Soolip, and the Museum of Contemporary Art there, as well as Kate's Paperie and Catoe & Bambu in New York City. Wholesale prices, marked up 200-300 percent at retail, run as low as $3.50 for a roll of tape or ribbon and $7.50 for a 9-5 Guide, to $18 and $27 for the gift wrap books.

Some companies are turning to Oh Boy to create their own, privatelabel products they can sell themselves, the same ones as ArtifactsTM but dressed in customized, proprietary designs. Salanitro surmises that people are responding less to Artifactsm' functionality and more to its design... and sense of humor. Irreverence and wit show up in many of the firm's designs, from the company's freckle-faced logo to the "Guide" in the ArtifactsTM product names to the text of its labels and catalog.

As Salanitro says, "I'm taking the ordinary and making it special." He's also confident that he'll make a big enough splash with ArtifactsTM' Disposables to send him swimming towards profits once he introduces the Covetables. Next thing you know, ArtifactsTM will go international, and he'll be hiring even more staff to handle the expanding load.

Once all the time and money that Oh Boy has spent on this half of the business begins to pay off, the firm will be able to pursue more selective client work, publish compendia of culture and literary works, and design furniture and textiles.

Along the way, Salanitro welcomes the competition. From what he can tell, though, it doesn't exist yet. However, he hopes other designers will become inspired to help create a growing trend in designerproduced and branded retail products. Such participation in breaking the molds of graphic design, as it is currently defined, can only enhance a design firm's reputation-and that of the design industry-as innovator, trend-setter and business leader.

(Opposite) Oh Boy, Guides To Giving And Taking (Ribbon), 2001 [One 10-yard spool of 718inch-wide finely woven fabric ribbon in seven custom-dyed colors.] - Creative Director David Salanitro Designers: David Salanitro, Ted Bluey Production Manager. Elizabeth Cutter Photographer: Oh Boy, A Design Company Manufacturer (tape): Creative Labels Manufacturer (ribbon): Offray/Lion Ribbon Client: Oh Boy, A Design Company (Above) Oh Boy Figure, 2000 (Sculpted styrofoam form with applied resin) Creative Director David Salanitro Designer: Ryan Mahar Photographer Oh Boy, A Design Company Manufacturer Dream Delivery Client: Oh Boy, A Design Company