MAIL-ORDER INSPIRATION

Step Inside Design, Mar/Apr 2008 by Taute, Michelle

For more than a decade, Clark Whittington's Art-o-mat machines have made buying original art as easy as snagging a candy bar in the company break room. These retrofitted cigarette vending machines dispense everything from small oil paintings to pewter castings of crackers for S$-$y at roughly 90 locations worldwide. Now your ability to buy isn't limited by where you live. Whittington's new Art-o-carton brings the collecting experience to the doorstep of anyone with $99.99 to spare. Each Art-o-carton arrives packed with 10 original works by io different artists, a selection the Art-o-mat team hand-tailors based on each buyer's responses to a brief questionnaire. This customized grab-bag approach means you never quite know what you're getting-an alternative with an intentional contrast to run-of-the-mill consumerism. "Art is so subjective, and contemporary retail is so dumbed down," Whittington says. "With Art-o-carton, we try not to give away too much information." * www.sbopartomat.com/carton.html

MICHELLE TAUTE, a former editor at I.D., has written for HOW, Metropolis, Architectural Record and others. She's the author of Design Matters: Brochures 01 from Rockport. www.michelletaute.com