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As frustrated consumers when it came to buying affordable designer furniture, Charlie Lazor, John Christakos and Maurice Blanks--three former college housemates--often discussed getting together to give consumers a stylish American alternative to expensive European designs. But nothing happened until 1996 when Christakos, having earned an MBA in 1993, decided to take $50,000 he'd saved and leave his consultant job to start Minneapolis-based Blu Dot. He eventually persuaded Lazor and Blanks to join him (by then, each had a master's in architecture), and the trio began to collaborate on designs via fax and during weekend retreats. Lazor and Blanks would fly to Minneapolis once a month, while Christakos worked on the business aspects of the company.

Blu Dot's first line debuted in 1997 at a trade show in New York City and was picked up immediately by retailers. "The blocking and tackling of the business is 80 percent of what we do; design is maybe 20 percent in the end," says Christakos. They've been successful at both, with their designs now available at retailers like Bed Bath & Beyond, Crate & Barrel and Target, and have made their way onto shows like Friends, Saturday Night Live and Will & Grace. The company was recently selected as finalists for a National Design Award from the Smithsonian Institution's Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum for extraordinary contributions to design. Sales are expected to exceed $3 million by the end of this year.

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