So he decided to set himself the challenge of designing a range of kitchen tools, that would not only be easy to use for his wife, but also for a wide spectrum of people in general. And so the concept for OXO was born…. Since then OXO has become a household name, being sold by a wide range of retailers, with their product line expanding from the original 15 to a more than impressive household tools and gadgets, within their five separate ranges: Good Grips , SteeL , Candela , Tot and Exclusively at Staples.
OXO has always prided itself on its mission statement, which runs through the heart of everything it does: OXO is dedicated to providing innovative consumer products that make everyday living easier. For OXO, it means designing products for young and old, male and female, left- and right-handed, as well as people living with disabilities and long term health conditions.
Team EbD x. Sign in. We did this as a royalty arrangement. He paid us a portion of that as an advance on royalties to cover a little bit of costs. But in reality, we spent a fortune. Talk to anyone who has done a royalty project, and they become projects of passion. This one was particularly easy to do because we had such a great relationship with Sam, a delightful person to work with. He understood the business, but what was important was, he understood design. If he could have been a designer himself he would have been, but he had none of the skills necessary.
So he had a lot of admiration and trust in designers, but he had the guidance that what we were doing would be a commercial success as well. Between the friendship, and trust it would work, and especially after the previous failure, we knew this was in his sweet spot. It was engaging. There was no problem getting designers working late nights and weekends to make it happen.
When we were developing this OXO line, we knew we had to have one handle that could be applied to a number of different tools. Different gadgets would have one handle to make it more economical to produce.
So we immediately started trying to understand the various disabilities we wanted to help. We went to the American Arthritis Foundation, and got volunteers.
They introduced us to some of their staff members that had arthritis that were willing to be test subjects and talk about it. We had to design a handle that would work for various uses. You might be pulling, pushing, using it like a paintbrush.
We started developing what that handle would be. We realized it needed to be better than anything out there. Like the theory behind large crayons for preschoolers, they need something bigger to hang onto firmly. They need something with a larger dimension. A larger oval gave someone a little control. It was fairly short-handled because in some cases, like an apple corer, it would have to be able to fit into the palm of your hand.
We also knew we needed a special material, a tactile rubber material to get a better grip, especially when the tool was wet. At that time, there were no kitchen tools made with rubber.
I remember joking with Sam, sitting on a Northwest Airlines flight. The dinner roll they served was in a plastic bag with the right feel and texture. It was certainly food-safe.
From Monsanto, it was created following several years of research and development to find a new material for injection-molded tires. It was a polymer a lot like rubber, and it had all the right characteristics, but at the time, it was only used for gaskets and things to seal dishwashers. Monsanto got very excited about their material being used in a consumer product.
So we were offered lots of support. I talked a lot about the shape, but we still wanted some indication of where your forefinger might go on the grip. So we were looking at having soft spots instead, where your thumb and forefinger were.
That was his retail savviness to have that insight, that this had to be visible. At the same time we were looking at different ways to make a handle that would mold more easily to the way you grip. Sam had sort of recalled seeing bicycle handle grips with thin fins on them, so we went over to a bike shop, grabbed one of these handles and brought it in, started playing with it, and that was what was the inspiration for the fins.
But when you want a stronger grip, your thumb and forefinger push the fins into the scooped-out areas. Literally without fail.
You could do the same thing with an ergonomic shape, maybe. The design was on the right track, but it was extremely difficult to be made. We had a U. One company called Mitsubohi Cutlery, dated back to the s when they made samurai swords. So-and-So in the tooling factory. We had no idea what they were talking about. So-and-So said we can make this. Apparently, Mr. So-and-So said that if I could make it, he could make it.
This was two months before the housewares show in San Francisco, when Sam was going to show this off, make a big splash at the show.
We had peelers, serving spoons, spatulas. We had a dozen tools. The first time someone came up to us and wanted to buy the product, and we were like, what do we do? It was a huge success at the show. This big news—that Sam had come out of retirement with this new idea—generated a lot of excitement, and a lot of concern as well. No one had ever seen big, black rubber tools and were not quite sure this would work. The only major retailer that decided to take a risk on it was a store called Lechters, a predecessor to Bed Bath and Beyond.
They had housewares stores all over the country. They took it on, and initially sales were very, very slow. We convinced them they should put out big stainless steel bowls we provided with peelers and carrots, so people could pick up a peeler and try it.
With that display, it took off. The handle hung below the cardboard card, and so when someone reached for it, they had to touch the handle. That was fairly unique at the time.
The logo is kinda fun.
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