It’s the end of an era.

Trevor walked upstairs last week holding the only 3 remaining Flat Cats and handed them over to Mitch.  There they were.  The last three. 

In case you didn’t know, Blue Q began it’s life with this “two-dimensional cardboard kitty that was marketed as the”Perfect Pet”. 

Let’s take a quick history tour here, shall we?

20 (give or take) years ago in Boston, Mitch spied this Cannon ad in a magazine.   

He thought it was pretty cool, ripped it out, glued it to some corragated cardboard and stuck it on his desk.  At that time he and his brother Seth had already rented a space to start some sort of lighting company.  Seth was working in high tech.  Mitch was manning the fort, coming up with ideas.  When people walked into the joint, they’d comment on this standup feline…how cool it was….someone thought it was real…..commented enough on it….Mitch brought the idea to Seth.  Seth said, Sure.

Mitch contacted Cannon.  Cannon contacted the photographer, Manny Denner, and Manny said, “Sure, I have outtakes.”  Mitch went down to New York to look at those outtakes, got mugged, and then picked out the perfect photo.

They sourced out a printer, a die cutter, priced out making 10,000.

Seth said – hey, if we’re gonna make 10,000, let’s just make sure there’s SOME interest.  SOMEwhere.

Mitch called out to Copley Fair (still a loyal and loving customer) to see if they would have any interest.  Sure.  They would.  I mean, they need to see the end result, but then sure.  They would.

They told Mitch about the New York Gift Show - maybe he’d want to show these cardboard cats there.  Mitch and Seth did.   They rented a booth at the show and filled it with cats.  Flat ones.  They didn’t know anything about Sales Reps – how to get the word out.  But they started collecting cards.  One Sales Rep said, “You know what?  I can get this thing into the window at Bloomingdales.”

And he did.

(Picture this Bloomingdale’s window filled with Flat Cats.  Because in 1988, it was.)

And hell, once you’re in the window of Bloomie’s, you’re pretty much starting a business here.

There’s so much more to the story – like how the Nash’s dad pretty much named the Flat Cat (saying, and I’m paraphrasing here) that the only good cats are flat ones – and how Seth quit his high tech job 3-4 weeks after the Bloomingdales Window thing – and then how the Instant Infant was the next cardboard wonder in line……

But for now, we say adieu.  Adieu, little kitty.  Adieu.

This is Roy Fox.

Ok, actually, that’s not Roy.  That’s a collage he did.  It’s of R. Hovey, poet.  Not that Roy Fox isn’t a poet.  In fact, when you scroll through the Blue Q website, you’ll see it’s full to the brim with Roy’s poetry. 

The Flower Shopper.

Vintage inspired Air Mail Zipper Pouch.

You see all these vintage postcards of buildings in the photo below here?  Keep your eyes peeled – we have something s-uh-weet coming out in a few weeks featuring these puppies. 

He hails from Maine and recently moved his studio into this tremendous brick mill building where he can fit all of his stuff. 

Because he really does have a lot of stuff.

And he plays in a band (see the electric guitar hangin’ out over there).  The Bob Band.

But he, thank GOD, still finds time to design these little nuggets of eyecandy.

This is the Landscape Overnighter.

If The Shoe Fits Coin Purse.

And I just have to say that this little soap here, Mood Swing Soap, it the cutest and sweetest bar of suds.

I love Roy.  I talk to him almost every day.  He just came to visit and he’s lovely and wonderful.  Ok, enough enough!  Just go buy his stuff.

Don’t forget to check out all our other Designer Workspaces.  Utterly inspiring.

Michael Kuvent is longest employeed person at Blue Q since Blue Q moved from Boston to the Berkshires.  That was over 20 years ago.

Last Friday it was his time to retire….so, we bid adieu to Michael.  Seth gave him to key to Blue Q.  Here’s a sweet article about the event written by the Berkshire Eagle.

It was a much deserved retirement party to remember.  We all got our pictures taken with him:

And this is a photo of Michael and his wife, Gracie.

Michael was employed by Blue Q through Berkshire County ARC.  On the back of some of our products you will see the phrase: “Blue Q employs a work force of disabled and non-disabled individuals working together to assemble this product”. Blue Q has been the largest private employer of individuals with disabilities in Western Massachusetts for over 10 years. Millions of packages of Blue Q magnets, soaps and other products have been assembled in our airy, art filled Production Department. This employment program is coordinated for Blue Q by Berkshire County ARC (Association for Retarded Citizens), whose mission is “to assist and support individuals to identify and realize their chose lifestyles.” Berkshire County ARC oversees the hiring and retaining our crew, and assists with many other aspects of their lives away from work, too, and we love ‘em!

In many ways this is the soul of Blue Q, and if you come to one of our company bowling or kickball events, or observe Friday morning art classes, you’ll understand why.

***Check back tomorrow and I’ll upload video of Michael’s retirement party complete with a visit from Pittsfield’s Mayors office and a limo, of course!***

Deborah (Manager of New Product Development) and I went to the Society of Illustrators on East 63rd Street in Manhattan on Friday night to see Nate Williams talk.  And we’re now officially in love.

With the Society of Illustrators.  Why?  Who did you think I was talking about?  Oh, we love Nate too.  He’s prolific in his work that’s for sure, but also has a must have desire in this world of art – the desire to communicate.  He has 5 websites, promotes using Twitter, Facebook, blogging, etc.  

But he’s also just a genuine guy, ready to share with any illustrator anything he’s learned.  If you want to know more, you must check him out.

But this venue…..man.  The walls were covered with art from the ages.  Very excited to see it all in the flesh.

(I’m looking for the artist’s name of that Sarah Palin caricature.  Looks familiar, right?  Rolling Stone, The New Yorker?)

 The only disappointing part of the Society was their gift shop.  I mean seriously, look at these TOTALLY LAME bags, right?

I think I’ve seen better ones in my life….ones that are made from 95% post consumer recycled material and are just loaded with the coolest designs that I’ve ever had the pleasure to lay my eyes on.

Man.

We have the coolest job.

Thanks again for the print Nate!  It was great to meet you in person.

Who doesn’t love their Mother?

Well, I just wanted to tell you that OUR mother just won Agency of the Year by Creativity Magazine.  And what has your mom done lately?  No.  That’s not fair.  She’s awesome.

So, who is our mother?  Or more importantly, why do we work with Mother New York?  An Advertising Agency and Blue Q?  Doesn’t seem to quite make sense?  (You are so close minded….).

Well, they’re filled to the rim with ideas.  And here’s one of them:

I gotta tell you, whenever there’s a blog mention somewhere of Blue Q’s Nelson Mandela Brand Car Air Freshener, the digits on our website soar.  When this idea came into Blue Q’s New Product Development, we were speechless – like looking at something amazing and wonderful and bizarre and highly intelligent yet slightly….slightly something that makes one knit their brows.

We loved it.

Of course we loved it!  We made it!

Here’s my personal favorite Mother NY invention.  Skipping, Jogging’s Gay Brother.

Oh, and here….the classic double entendre.  A Well Hung Car Air Freshener:

Mother NY also designed magnets with us; Sons of Bitches, Dieting with Jesus, and this is the one that kept making me giggle, because it’s nice to see a man weep…almost like a real person, Men Crying Magnet Set.

Congratulations, Mom!  You deserve it.  See you Sunday for crockpot!!

It’s official.  We have announced our legitimacy.   No more screwing around.  I’m talking, P.R. baby.  All the way.  Check out this shiz:

Let the games begin.

Check it out here because we’re all about spreading the word my friend, influencing the influencers, alerting the masses, making you turn your head in our direction.  We got the goods and we ain’t afraid to show it.

You wanna piece?  Yeah you do.

But in all seriousness – yes our Mighty Michelle Obama Bag is number one over here at Blue Q….but HandyMan has a great pie recipe I still need to get so there’s so much to do…..so what does all this mean for you?

Be a part of history.

Buy the bag.

Eat the pie.

Hug your neighbor.

Return the 20 bucks you borrowed.

I hope you know about this guy.

Nate Duval. 

This is not a 100% accurate portrait, but pretty close.

He used to work here – how many years ago, Nate?  4?  Holy macaroni, 4?  3?  He sat right over there…..right across from me…at the Mac.  As the in-house graphic designer….we used to talk about music and meatball subs and he and Sergio were friends.

Sniff.

Sigh.

We miss him.

Sorta!  He still designs for us!  And I just wanted to let all y’all know….that Nate Duval designed for us the highest selling coin purse Blue Q’s got.

And you can get it right here. 

He also did these puppies:

 And the word on the Blue Q street (and I can tell you, I know that street pretty well), is that you’re gonna see more of him this Summer.

Oh and duh!  He did the front page of the Blue Q website….and lots of other parts…..

 And we love his girlfriend (or soon to be….you know what).

 Just a little love note, Nate.  We miss seeing you in house every day.  xxo

I am delighted to announce that a long awaited sickingly sweet Blue Q Shopper has finally entered the building.  Oh, and you can have it whenever you want right here.

Oh!  And there’s it’s little brother too.

 So, who are 64 Colors?  Eric and Laura.  And they live in Michigan.  And they are the nicest people from Michigan that Blue Q has ever met.  There’s a surprise companion product to these bags arriving shortly…..but you like surprises, right?

Every so often, an item will grab us in New Product Development by the lapel, tug us closer, and make us love it. A couple of years ago, we fell in love with zines.  It began with The Monster Who Ate Stars by Souther Salazar.

I mean.  Come on.  How friggin cute?

Art Director, Mitch Nash, saw this little zine at Cinders Gallery in Brooklyn.  He brought it back to the office and we all were smitten.  We decided to make books.  All in all we made 28.  The world’s smallest coffee table books. 

We started with The Monster Who Ate stars – produced them ourselves – and then began to scout out other material.

I had a few Blue Q Books favorites – Esther Pearl Watson’s Romeo and Juliet and Mark Todd’s Bad Asses among them.

But one that is near and dear is  Cat and Gnome by Graham Roumieu (because I scanned in each handwritten page from Graham’s journal.  He wrote this book at the airport while waiting for his delayed flight – after a recent ended relationship).

And check out this.  Cat and Gnome made it to the Top 10 Books to carry you through to the new decade!

I gotta say, each of our books are completely designed to the smallest detail.  They are darlings and we wish we could work with more and more artists and authors on the Blue Q books….but some categories see their inevitable end. 

They await you.  Check them out….

We are proud to present a little tete-a-tete with one of our designers, Nate Williams. 

In New Product Development we had been looking at one of Nate’s pieces for a while.  We do 2 product releases a year.  There is  process of deciding who we work with….we look at a lot of artists, a lot of designers, figure in all the styles, see how they all work together…..   The moment finally jelled with Nate.

Here’s what he did with his super cute handy tote, See You Around.

And here’s the shopper, printed on silver, Black and Red All Over.

Art Star: Did you know about Blue Q before we called?
Nate Williams: ohhhhhhhhh yes … I think I first discovered Blue Q from the Dirty Girl Franchise.
AS: So, did you think we were going to ask you to make a lotion?
N8W: As famous as I am for making lotion … I thought you guys needed a company mascot … I was sure you wanted to put me on a boulevard somewhere in the Midwest dressed as a farm animal waving a bell.
AS: No! We’ve loved you and your work from a far for a while. I tried to order that Urban Outfitters pillow you did online, but it sold out in record time. You are one of the most prolific designers we’ve ever come across (see bottom of interview for links). Mitch (Blue Q Art Director) once wrote to me in an email, about you (in response to one of your many links) “There is a lot of creativity on this round planet.”
N8W: wow … that is a huge honor coming from you guys … I love your design and sense of humor.
AS: How do you find time to do everything that you DO do? Seriously!
N8W: I don’t know … I think I am a curious person and that forces me into action … I really like making things and thinking of new ideas. I try to overlap things I want to do .. for example if I want to take photographs of Typography on the street … but I need to take care of my 3 year old son Milo … I make it fun for both of us … I will put him on the back of my bike and tell him we are looking for “Letters” … we’ll ride around the city and he will point letters out to me … he has fun, I have fun, it’s exercise … he learns something … I learn something.
AS: And everyone’s starring at you wondering why a 3 year old knows what letters are but his father doesn’t. I love that.

We’re a very curious company too – and we love trying things out…hoping that they will come to a happy, wonderful, profitable end. Sometimes that works!! Sometimes…not. In one release, a few years back, we introduced car fresheners and underwear. You will see what’s missing on our website to know what didn’t work. But, hell. You never know if you don’t try. And we are thorough, believe me. But you can’t anticipate everything. On the back of our Blue Q business cards it reads “a good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow”.

Not to sound too too interviewy here – but what has been your biggest artistic success and your biggest failure?
N8W: hha .. maybe you could combine those ideas and come out with underwear fresheners .. who doesn’t want fresh underwear??? .. underwear for that special ambulance ride … The ad could be a guy on a stretcher with the paramedics by his side and everyone is giving a thumbs up … with sparkles coming from his underwear.

I think my biggest artistic success … is being able to quit my corporate job and earn a living making pictures … and limiting my diet to rice and potatoes.

I think my biggest failure is when I tried to start Moodybuddha lamps … very cool lamps with a ton of interest all over the world .. we were seriously getting inquires daily from shops that wanted to carry them .. but I couldn’t figure out the logistics of getting the product to market .. it was like I needed business Viagra.
AS: Someone already beat us to it: http://www.flat-d.com/flatdreusable.html  But I say, that’s ok. It’s for the best. But imagine the graphics you could put on those things!

I always loved those lamps. We spend many many many hours over here talking logistics on a regular basis. There are spreadsheets and projections and budgets…. profitability, warehousing, importing, selling and that’s not even the fun part of finding the art, showing the product at tradeshows, bragging about the finished good. That’s why good partnerships between idea people/art people/and business people are a must. And who knows…. We’ve revisited many ideas from the past….

People must come to you all the time for advice about being able to quit corporate and go off on their own. What do you say?
N8W: It’s okay .. sometimes people beat you to the punch .. I wrote a children’s book called “Short Poems for Short People” .. but I later discovered Edgar Fawcett wrote a book with the same title in 1872 … I was a mere 173 years late I completely agree on partnerships. It really allows you to focus on the part you enjoy most … I love the brainstorming process … so if you guys ever need an extra brain … or storm … let me know

Yes … people definitely want to quit their corporate jobs … I honestly think it’s a lot easier than people think … assuming they aren’t in debt and have a skill that can be down remotely. There is a great site called freelanceswitch.com that is all about this topic … I refer people to that site … or tell them to call me and so we can talk about their unique situation.
AS: I refer to you all the time because you are prolific. And it takes time to build up a repertoire. Doesn’t happen easily or quickly. And, coming from a client point of view, it’s great to see that someone like you also works because you NEED to work, create because you NEED to create. Not everything is made for a client – besides, we don’t always want to see how you work with Coca-Cola. We want to see how you work for you. And you do that. Enough smoke blowing. We will work again, I am sure. We still have stuff we need to make. With people we like.

Your Black and Red All Over Shopper rocks with that silver. Have you seen it in person yet???
N8W: You are tooooooooooooo kind … I AGREE.. personal work is huge .. I think the best work comes by accidental discoveries and apart from making art .. just taking time to enjoy life and have experiences that will later fill your art with interesting things. I started a little zine called Hola Amiga for this very purpose http://www.n8w.com/newweb/hola-amiga.php… I haven’t created one in a while .. but it’s long overdue.

No I haven’t seen it yet …. living in Buenos Aires … makes it hard to receive anything … unless someone brings it on a plane … otherwise some guy between Buenos Aires and the States will end up using it. South/Central American Postal service is like mail roulette … sometimes you receive things … sometimes you don’t
NATE WILLIAMS Illustration and Hand Lettering
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