Visual change is what it was all about for the founders of
Russell +
Hazel, an office supply manufacturer in Minneapolis. The
founders envisioned organizational office and school supplies that
would be both functional and fashionable. In fact, the goal of
Chris Plantan, 44, and her co-founders--Barbara Giangrossi, 46;
Cynthia Knox, 41; Darin Opperman, 44; and Kobe Suvongse, 44--was to
get away from boring, manila-tinged organizational office supplies
and move toward modern colors and styles.
Plantan, partner of Russell + Hazel, got the original idea while
working as an architect. It was important in such a visually driven
field to have an interesting and stylish binder, so she used to
make her own. Seeing the potential, Plantan recruited her friends
and acquaintances to help her build the business and secure
funding. The quintet launched in 2002, bringing to the table
combined backgrounds in architecture, retail merchandising and
graphic design.
Plantan notes that a main difficulty Russell + Hazel faced was
finding a manufacturer for their specialty products.
"[Manufacturers] were so [set] on making commodity products
and making [them] cheaper," she says. "We said, 'No,
we want a nicely designed product--we don't care if it costs
more.'" The company also focused on doing a smaller run of
the items, to get them out into the marketplace faster, and did a
sort of real-life focus group: They sent out 50 test kits composed
of their newly designed products to young professionals in Canada,
France, the United Kingdom and the United States, and asked for
their feedback.
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Once they got the thumbs up from testers, Russell + Hazel's
founders focused on getting the products into smaller boutique
stores first. And because the products are meant to be fashionable,
they also marketed them in the gift category. "A lot of our
first customers were gift shops and smaller stationery
stores," recalls Plantan. "We [even] had museum shops
calling us."
With sales poised to hit about $1 million in 2004, the Russell +
Hazel brand can be found in retailers like The Container Store and
Urban Outfitters, and the company plans to expand its product line
even further to help people organize both their work and home
offices with style. "Being a young, fresh firm, we want to
stay small and nimble. That way, we can stay a little bit ahead of
the trend as far as design and colors," says Plantan.
"It's been a lot of fun, finding out that these products
that help you organize are really personal accessories, and people
are buying them like they would footwear or handbags."
Whether you choose to guide others into organizing or to design
and sell the products that will help them get organized, it's a
field that's poised for growth, according to Izsak.
"People are going to continue to struggle with this issue [of
personal organization], and this need will continue to grow,"
he says. "I don't see the demands on people's time
becoming fewer. [Organizing professionals] are here to stay--this
is not a fad."
Organized Labor
If starting an organizing business from scratch doesn't
appeal to you, then check out these opportunities in the
industry:
Listing compiled by Maria Anton
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