“Someone once said laughter is the best medicine. They’re wrong. Morphine is the best medicine.”
Dan Golden is the comic genius who said that. His rugs manage to be high-design and yet wonderfully non-pretentious. I love all the designs, and the people behind them are just as wonderful.
What were you doing before you started your company?
Ford: I did sales and design for mostly European design brands like B&B Italia and Baultup.
Dan: I got my degree in painting. I thought I was going to be the next Jasper Johns. Then, when I graduated, I realized I had no marketable skills and I hadn’t been discovered yet. So I started doing these cartoons. I was able to use my humor and art, and it all came together in a really natural way. I had been doing some t shirts, but I always wanted to do something bigger. So when Ford came up with the idea for the rugs, I thought it was brilliant. It was taking what I was doing and putting it in the context I was dreaming of.
So how did you come to think, his art should be on a rug?
Ford: I was at a point where I wanted to start producing my own stuff. I started with a lot of concepts. First was a wine bar, and then children’s linens, and then rugs. I don’t really remember when it started, but I did know a rug manufacturer. I liked rugs, and thought Dan’s designs would translate well into products. We ended up getting them into production really quickly.
So it wasn’t hard to get rugs made? That seems like a complicated process.
Ford: Well, we were lucky because we had local manufacturers. We could visit the factory every day and watch them do a few inches at a time, versus having samples made in Asia. We tried that, but then several weeks later we would receive them and they would come back wrong.
Dan: One of the big things for me was that I wanted them to look like the cartoons. Even though the drawings are simple, if the faces don’t have the right expressions, the right details, it ruins it. Working locally made it easier. We could say, “You need to change the eyebrow, it’s not quite right,” and just go in and show them how it should be.
What was the response when you launched the collection?
Dan: We got both pro and con. I remember one store that said, “These are great, but they’re not going to go anywhere.” Then we went to another store and they wanted to give us a show immediately. There was a launch party with celebrities and a prosciutto waterfall! It was our first big validation.
Ford: We knew we were taking a risk with the product. They were handmade in NY, so our costs were already high. We knew they were going to have to be high-end product with a pretty fancy retail price, and the designs had some edgy content.
When did you end up quitting your day jobs?
Ford: I quit like four months in. I was trying to do a very hefty full time job, national sales manager for 18 showrooms. I was always sneaking into the bathroom to sell rugs on my phone. One day I just decided I couldn’t do it. I wasn’t being true to the employer, and our business was picking up. It was scary, but I felt like I knew enough about the business to take the plunge.
Dan: I still freelanced as a photo editor for a while after that. It got to be less and less, and then just dropped off completely. It was great, but also terrifying. It was the first time I thought, “I can support myself by doing what I love.”
That’s a huge moment.
Dan: Exactly, and to see it happen is amazing. You don’t want to go back. Now I wake up and am excited about what I have to do. This is what I’m passionate about. I’m happy to wake up in the middle of the night and work on it.
What has been the hardest lesson to learn while making a business out of all of this?
Dan: Transitioning from “this is a dream” to “this is a reality”. We had a basic business plan when we started, and we had an idea of how to run it, but neither of us are hard-edge business people. We were more passionate about design and art. About living, being creative and working for ourselves. Now things are getting bigger and more serious. We’re involving big companies, there are legal agreements, and it’s not just the two of us anymore.
Ford: I don’t think either one of us knew how to approach the design community. If there’s anything I could impart to other designers, it’s to just ask. We don’t know any rules or protocols. It’s just saying this is what we’d like to do, how do we make it happen? Each company is different, all you have to do is try.
Can you tell us what’s in the works?
Ford: We’re actually working on a few other things that we see growing into other collections. First is a rug collection for Odegard.
Dan: It’s called The Meds. – think Propecia, Paxil, Viagra, Prozac. I was thinking about things that are prevalent in society, and everyone experiences pain.
Ford: There’s a subversiveness, because the rugs are hand knotted and they’re made of silk – very luxurious, and with this perfect pattern, they almost look traditional. We also have a lighting collection happening – a partnership with Swarovski crystal – that should be launching in May during ICFF.
Dan: We’re not just the snarky rug guys – there’s no sex or drug references in the lamps. They’re all very clean and minimal.
We caught you at a really good moment – I only knew about your first rug collection, but it sounds like you have so much in the works – it’s inspiring.
Dan: We had this vision for where this could go, and while it hasn’t been an easy ride, we’re actually seeing it become a reality. Each one is another step. When we were just starting out we said, “One day we’ll have all this stuff coming out and we won’t have any time, it’ll just be busy busy busy.” Well, it’s starting to get to that point. I know we’ll really have gotten there when we’re jaded. When it’s like “We have to go to Europe again and look at prototypes? I just want to stay home.” Now, I still feel like I’m eight years old.