We didn’t realize how competitive our Knock Knock team was until we started our company-wide “Ultimate Ping-Pong Championship,” aka “U.P.C.O.K.K.” (Yes, we did purposefully name it that just so we could use the acronym; and yes, the acronym does still make us giggle like little schoolgirls when we say it aloud.)

We started the tournament in mid-February and ended it this past month in a ping-pong themed fiesta. Here are some highlights from the championship round—Paul, our assistant manager of operations and customer service versus Jim, our president. In the end, there was one victor to congratulate—Jim!

Killerspin. The competition was fierce. Sort of. (Thanks to our editor-at-large, Jamie, for this pic!)

Gentlemen at the ready.

Score one for Jim. Maybe.

Look at that form! (Thanks to our manufacturing coordinator, Chelsea, for this one!)

All the spectators in panorama form.

Final score, Jim: 3 and Paul: 1. Jim is victorious! (Again, thanks for capturing this, Jamie!)

Good match, guys.

See more photos in our Knock Knockers at Work FB album. Can’t wait for the next “U.P.C.O.K.K.” to commence!

Does your workplace hold any internal competitions just for fun? Share with us in a comment!

Our manufacturing director, Elyse, and our president, Jim, have traveled together to China several times now and have come up with a pretty standard formula for these business trips. Wanna feel like you’re on a Knock Knock biz trip? Here’s the protocol:

1. Always sit as far away as possible from each other on the plane in order to avoid embarrassing glimpses of your coworker drooling or snoring.

2. Take pictures of you working so the folks back at home know you’re actually doing something constructive.

Elyse working. Or at least, she manipulated this photo to make it look as if she was.

3. Eat noodles for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. (This is mostly Elyse’s mandate, But she did get Jim hooked on morning noodles.)

4. Get dinner at the restaurant KimChee in Hong Kong at least once.

Elyse and Jim at dinner. Delicious!

5. On the last night of the trip, enjoy a relaxing drink overlooking the Victoria Harbour.

The harbor at night.

. . . And there you go!

Meet the founders of Hat-trick Design: Jim Sutherland (left) and Gareth Howat (right). (Photo courtesy of Hat-trick.)

In spring 2011, designers Jim Sutherland and Gareth Howat gaped at the city of Cape Town from a helicopter tens of thousands of feet above South Africa’s mountainous coastline. The Hat-trick Design duo was in town for the annual Design Indaba Conference, and traveled from their UK studio to participate as speakers. During that helo ride, they met a fellow Indaba conference speaker and attendee—our head honcho, Jen Bilik—and like propellers, the creative sparks flew.

We teamed up with the award-winning design firm for our new book, Phobophobia, a grownup picture book that invites readers into a visual guessing game with clever images and typography. And since this is the first time we’ve ever partnered outside the US, our cup doubly runneth over with excitement!

Though we can imagine how very long their to-do lists are, the Hat-trick guys carved out some time to let us pick their mind.

A day at the Hat-trick studio. Jim and Gareth founded Hat-trick in 2001, and since then, the design firm has grown into a staff of thirteen.

1. Did you always want to be a designer? How did you get started?

Jim: I studied math and physics at school, but always liked drawing. I went to art school to do illustration, but when I got there, everyone was better at drawing than me. I looked around and saw people doing design, and it looked easier.

Gareth: Originally, I wanted to be an architect. I got a place at university to do the course, but changed my mind at the last minute. It’s a seven-year course and the big thing is it takes so long to actually see any real work appearing, so I decided to do a foundation course, which led me to graphics in the end.

2. How did your collaboration come about? And where does the name “Hat-trick” come from?

Jim: Originally, three of us set it up, hence the name. We had all worked together at another London company after leaving college.

Gareth: Choosing a name was one of the hardest things we’ve done. It took us longer to come up with the name than anything else.

3. This question is a two-parter. Your work spans such an array of sectors—from designing Olympic-themed stamps for the Royal Mail to crafting the ad campaign for Action on Hearing Loss, so:

a. Where does your design inspiration come from and how do you apply it to all the different stuff you work on?

The silver cupboards of discussion. The Hat-trick team stick their designs on these cabinets every six months to spurr their creative process and talk through any problems that arise. (Photo courtesy of Hat-trick.)

Jim: We are really keen to work on all different types of projects across all sectors. It keeps us fresh and is much more interesting. I get inspired by so many things around me—books, films, exhibitions, anything really. From Jacques Tati and Tom Waits to Bruno Munari and Alan Fletcher, etc.

Gareth:  Like fashion designer Paul Smith says, “Inspiration can come from anywhere.” There is so much work out there now and it’s so easily available. One idea is to have your own “filter” to pick out the work you like and use it to spark new ideas.

b. Do you have any special organizational routines to keep the creativity flowing—or simply to help retain sanity?

Jim: We work a lot together. We put all the ideas on a big metal wall and discuss them, since the best ideas come from talking the problem over. We also put aside an afternoon every week to do research and experimentation. This is where “Phobophobia” came from originally. I constantly scribble notes and lists of ideas in notebooks.

Gareth: No, that’s why we are actually insane. In reality, we are quite an organised company so that we work pretty quickly. But we don’t follow any really rigid ways of doing things, it just comes from experience.

Phobias get the design treatment in Phobophobia.

3. What sparked the idea for Phobophobia?

Jim and Gareth: We had been working on several projects that were word and language based. Once we started finding out these amazing words for phobias we started visualising  them and bringing them to life.

 4. Do you have any fears or phobias you’d like to share with us?

 Jim: As the introduction of Phobophobia states, I’m scared of lots of things. Mainly spiders, but also cows and dancing. I think it’s fascinating what fears we hold inside.

Gareth: Being bored, and spiders, I really hate spiders. There is something inherently evil about them.

5. What are your hobbies outside of designing?

Random objects we've fallen in love with inside the Hat-trick Studio: 1. This should be the standard caution sign.; 2. Your typical mannequin torso and legs.; 3. Hat-trick's array of projects.

Jim: I love designing and don’t really treat it as a job. I spend a lot of my spare time thinking of new projects I could be doing. It’s not a proper job.

Gareth: Tennis, running, and outdoor stuff. We spend so much time at work, so it’s good to be active and not indoors.

6. As you know, there are numerous phrases in the US language that mean something completely different in Britain. What’s your favorite American slang word or phrase, and what’s the equivalent in British vernacular? Or, if you don’t have a favorite, what American phrase irks you the most and why?

 Jim: I want to find out more about the difference between American and English spellings. For instance, why does ‘color’ have no ‘u’? Who decided to do that?

Gareth: It has to be “pants”—that really makes me laugh every time I hear it in the States.

Hat-trick's view from their studio in London Bridge. We are jealous. Seethingly jealous. (Photo courtesy of Hat-trick.)

7. What’s your favorite Knock Knock product and why?

 Jim: I love the Clump-o-Lumps. It’s a genius idea and I am very happy we have some.

Gareth: The Complete Manual of Things that Might Kill You: A Guide to Self-Diagnosis for Hypochondriacs. It really resonates with me, as I am one! It’s very dark but very funny.

8. You started Hat-trick nearly 12 years ago. What do you see yourself doing 12 years from now?

 Jim: I hope I’m still doing this. I feel like I’m running out of time so I’m speeding up.

Gareth: I can’t believe it’s gone by so quickly—that’s a good sign. Probably more of the same, if we can keep up the energy. I can’t imagine doing anything else.

The Knock Knock digital team, minus Trish (who took the pic), waiting for bags at JFK airport. We do digital stuff like this. From left to right: Jen, our head honcho; Sara, our e-commerce manager, and Mel (me!), marketing and digital coordinator.

I’m currently watching the highly-acclaimed Olsen twins classic New York Minute while I write. It’s the only Olsen flick I have not seen, and by fantastic chance I DVRed it in the nick of time, which may or may not be one of the most embarrassing things I’ve chosen to share with the Internet. Nevertheless, it involves a young woman who’s determined to make it big in a city saturated with hustle and bustle and Simple Plan cameos. One of those two plot points is completely relatable to my current, post-college pursuits.

At the tail end of January, I had the opportunity to travel with the Knock Knock team to New York City, which I consider an extraordinary accolade, considering: 1. If thought bubbles hovered over our heads in the office and labeled us, mine would read, “Mildly mellow chick, semi-decent fashion sense, junior status”; 2. New York is way over there, literally on the other side of the country from our Venice, California, locale, and plane rides ain’t cheap these days. So when my colleague and Knock Knock e-commerce manager, Sara Hartman, sent me an email asking if I’d like to come to NYC for digital department meetings and the New York International Gift Fair, that was an immediate “Uh, hells yessssss!” And while prepping for the trip, I made sure to revisit my inner “how to not fuck things up” canon.

So there I was, 37,292 feet in the air, working on Knock Knock social media, PR, and video items from above and exchanging interplane emails with the boss ladies—Trish, our VP of branding, and our head honcho, Jen, have you heard of her?—and Knock Knockers back in Venice. All the while scheming up ways Sara and I could somehow sneak into first class and make Chris Pine fall in love with us, although I kindly gave Sara dibs. (Yes, the actor really was on our flight and newsflash, he reads newspapers! Whoa, guys, it’s like he’s a real person!)

Top: Sara and me at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). We are so contemporay and meta that we took a pic in front of a regular set of stairs. And yes, that is what we look like on the reg. Bottom: The ladies of digital at dinner, discovering our love for skinny margs (they has agave!). Trish is actually in this one!

It all felt so very odd to me—like, taking-off-my-boots-and-putting-heels-on odd. Why did I feel so weird working? I had no idea. I’ve been on flights where I was perfectly sandwiched between two coworkers chatting it up about plans and “next steps,” but didn’t think I’d be doing the same exact thing at the tender age of twenty-three. I was out of my element. (If you wanted to know, my “element” is falling asleep to my iPod and spontaneously waking up to make sure I didn’t miss the food cart.) But damn, did I feel productive! And so my fingers returned to my keyboard.

The four-day trip itself flew by at the same fast, fervent rhythm of New Yorkers’ feet pounding on the concrete. We weaved in and out of digital meetings the first two days. In and out of the freezing 19-degree chill that made my breath look as if I was smoking my lungs out, sans cigarettes. Surprisingly we had a few spurts of free time, which Sara and I used to walk around a snow-blanketed Central Park and visit the beloved Museum of Modern Art (MoMA).

At night, the Knock Knock digital ladies also had spurts of alcoholic beverages that made walking outside a bit warmer, our team a bit closer, and our list of bad pickup lines you should never, ever say to a gal that much longer. For pete’s sake, guys, do not try to woo women from Los Angeles by saying that you “expected them to be more beautiful” and then proceed to call it “witty banter.” In the real world, this is actually considered an insult, and you will be branded an “asshole” with inept social skills.

Amazing Knock Knockers at the Knock Knock booth. From left to right: Jim, president; Craig, publisher; Travis, sales associate; Dave, our friend who has helped us out at this show numerous times; Lonnie, national sales manager. You all are the best!

Sunday came around, the first day of the fair at the Javits Center. Unlike Ms. Jen, who has a decade of trade shows under her belt, I’ve never been to a trade show in my life. I’ve heard so much about the show over the last few years from the reports I’ve received to post about on Facebook, but that was the extent of it. My plan was to live-Tweet and -Facebook the experience, but when I got inside the Javits I realized I didn’t have Wi-Fi for the designated Knock Knock social media iPod Touch, which meant I was pretty much screwed out of that scheme.

The upshot? For those of you who have never experienced a trade show as grand as NYIGF, go to at least one or two in your life. By the end of it, you’ll want to hug and high-five each and every member of your sales team and cater to their every need, because the logistics of it all are exhausting. Our superstar sales team not only set up the booth, which, by the way, looked über-fantastic, but spent the entire week on their feet with huge smiles on their faces, taking time to talk to each and every person who stopped by. For an ENTIRE WEEK. I was at the Knock Knock booth for less than an hour and within fifteen minutes I knew I couldn’t do what they do so seamlessly. A supreme shout-out to them (and to our Tradeshow Jots, which were freebies just for the show, and very, very popular)!

Walking the show. There were a lot more people than this, I swear.

I also had the opportunity to walk the rest of the aisles and aisles and aisles of booths. Walking the convention center, spanning two huge floors, made my brain spin, but in a good way. I tried as best as I could to keep up with Trish and Jen’s strides but I easily became overwhelmed with the thousands and thousands of brands and companies—both big and small—and the tens of thousands of products with which they’d stocked their booths. Not to mention the tens and thousands of people running around trying to sell and buy all of it—oy, I had to sit down and take a breather and reflect upon the fact that this craziness happens twice a year. After the this experience, I was thinking of submitting “trade show” to UrbanDictionary.com, alongside the definition, “embraced ridiculousness.” There are just so many items with which to become fixated, it would take weeks for you to sift through them all. Although it would take me months, because I shop like a snail.

Sara and Trish at the gala d-a-n-c-i-n-g! Such a great time for all!

To close the day, and the trip, the Knock Knock team attended the Gift for Life AIDS charity gala and auction, which is probably the swankiest event I’ve ever been to. Hanging out, drinking, and catching up with other Knock Knockers outside of the office was oh-so-refreshing and extremely fun. If you didn’t see the photo-booth snaps from the event, check them out, because it really does capture our inebriation. On a side note to other twentysomethings: if you go to a future event with your management team and there’s an open bar, sip with caution. I know it’s tempting, but do not, I repeat, do not, take advantage of it to the point where you’re doing power-hour shots or anything of the like, because getting blackout drunk in front of your execs is utterly moronic, but more importantly, unprofessional.

Once again I worked on the plane ride home. As I pushed pixels, that funny, fickle feeling crept over me again, that feeling of sudden assimilation into unknown territory. Not to sound too cheesy or stupidly soft, but I realized that “unknown territory” was confidence. Finding confidence in my own work efforts and ethic in this bachelor’s-degree afterlife. Here I was, hunched over and editing a video for four hours on an airplane, not because I was required to, but because I wanted to, and I actually felt I had a purpose within my own career pursuits. And by flying me across the nation, I realized I felt comfort in knowing my company thought I did, too.

For more pics from the New York trip, and let me tell you, there are many more, check out our FB album all about it!

———-

Do you have any comical story nuggets from your first business trip? Share in a comment!

Black and white, upper left picture, left to right: Mel Gasmen, our genius digital and marketing coordinator; me; Sara Hartman, our savvy ecommmerce manager; Trish Abbot, the indispensable VP of brand development. Color picture: Jim Papscoe, our president, joins us, looking oddly like one of the Village People.

I write this month’s Head Honcho Hello from my Times Square hotel room on a break from one of the three tradeshows for which Knock Knock mounts its own booth, the Spring New York International Gift Fair (NYIGF). I must say that at this point in my career it is more fun to write about tradeshows in a hotel bed than it is to actually be at the tradeshows. I have become somewhat internally infamous for flying all the way to New York, showing up at the Javits Center, and, after walking the aisles to ogle the landscape of the marketplace, somewhat antsily announcing that I have work to do at the hotel. It’s a far cry from when I had to manage setup and staff the booth myself all day, every day, then break down the whole caboodle.

The true pleasure of the tradeshows is seeing the Knock Knock brand writ large, all in one sweep, much as an artist much appreciate seeing his/her work all up at once for an exhibition. It gives me a bird’s-eye view of what we’ve done, past and present, all at once, and an opportunity to suss out the larger patterns that will govern what we do in the future. Despite my (permanent) tradeshow fatigue, I almost always leave the shows feeling enthused and inspired. And it’s also a great opportunity to spend some fantastic social time with the team—last night we all tied one(s) on at the gift industry’s AIDS charity, Gift for Life, which has a gala event on the first Sunday of each January NYIGF. I seem to recall having performed some embarrassing dancing. And there were photos (see top right).

Each time I enter the Javits Center, however, my first thought is, “Oh my god, there is so much stuff in the world. Do we need this stuff? Why are we making more stuff? I make stuff. I am part of the world stuff machine.” From ceramic dogs to creepy dolls to cloyingly scented unctions to aprons with insightful proclamations like “Danger! Men Cooking!” one can instantly understand why the United States has a trade deficit with China and why the American storage industry is thriving. But then I spend some time in our booth and get the luxury of fielding compliments on, stories about, and laughter in response to our work, and I feel a little better about what we do. I mean, I actually feel great about what we do—proud and great—but amid a sea of stuff-stuff-stuff it’s hard not to feel like part of some problem or another.

Our Spring line on display. A busy booth is a happy booth.

On these New York trips, two to three times per year (May for the National Stationery Show and August for the Fall NYIGF), I always tack on a bunch of other meetings: desksides with editors for PR, in which I visit them at their office with a bag of new products and do a little dog-and-pony-show about them, pitching for future inclusion; various consultancies; and time with retailers, reps, and buyers. Even though I used to live in New York City and have lots of friends and some family here, Manhattan has become a work destination as I’ve made shorter and shorter trips to get in and out as fast as I possibly can, leaving less time for personal get-togethers. This is a mistake. I miss my New York people, and I miss slurping down the marrow of the city! But I suppose if I were to make a longer trip to accommodate personal recreation, it would probably be prudent to do it for the May show. Weather-wise, August and January pretty much suck.

The breakout bestseller. Because isn't love about filling in the blanks anyway?

I am inordinately proud of the Spring 2013 list, especially its amazing array of books. Our What I Love About You journal is flying off the shelves, a breakout hit. It was inspired by a handmade book I made years ago for my aunt Sue on the occasion of her fiftieth birthday, recounting, one per page, fifty things I loved about her, as well as by a book that our editor Kate’s boyfriend made for her. You fill it in yourself for a loved one—just in time for (ugh) Valentine’s Day. I am sad to report that two copies have been stolen from our booth display at the show so far—who are these people with no morals, and why don’t they behave? We have a whole new party line, including balloons, samples of which are flying high in the booth thanks to a sweet little helium tank we’re keeping in the booth closet. Apparently they have to be repumped every morning. I particularly love these wine tags. Also making enthusiastic inroads are our guest books, for dinner parties and bathrooms. The bathroom one is, I think, so terribly clever, and I just love the way the graphic design came out. Finally, we have two little books that aren’t yet on the website, probably because they haven’t hit the warehouse: 100 Reasons to Panic About Getting Married and 100 Reasons to Panic About Having a Baby. These morsels are perfectly giftable, sweetly illustrated, and wryfully on-point. The team really outdid themselves this season.

The Bathroom Guestbook provides you the opportunity to leave desirable evidence of your trip to their commode. Not the undesirable kind.

Okay—now I’m off to meet a fellow entrepreneur, a generous fix-up from another entrepreneur who thinks we’d hit it off, at her wine and cupcake bar, Sweet Revenge, in the West Village. Then I get to have dinner with my cousin. Tomorrow is part consultancy, part tradeshow walking, then I have the honor of being interviewed by the inimitable Debbie Millman for her podcast, Design Matters. Wednesday is an all-day marketing consultancy, then back on Thursday. Of course, all of this will be over by the time you’ve read this, on Friday, February 1. But we can always reminisce together, no?

We picked out our favorite holiday songs for you to enjoy and freely blast on your speakers. You’re welcome.

1. “Ballad of the Sad Young Men” by Roberta Flack —Will, production artist

2. “All I Want for Christmas is You” by Mariah Carey (But you need to watch this version if you haven’t already.) —Dayna, assistant editor and Travis, sales associate

3. “A Marshmallow World” by Dean Martin —Erin, managing editor

4. “Let it Be Christmas” by Alan Jackson —Jim, president

5. “Carol of the Bells” by Trans-Siberian Orchestra —Sara, e-commerce manager

6. “The Christmas Song” by Nat King Cole —Mia, design director

7. “Candlelight” by The Maccabeats —Paul, assistant manager of customer service and operations

8. “This Christmas” by Donny Hathaway —Lena, customer service specialist

9. “I Wish It Was Christmas Today” by Jimmy Fallon, Tracy Morgan, Horatio Sanz, and Chris Kattan —Melanie, marketing and digital coordinator

10. “Merry X’Mas Everybody” by Slade —Kate, associate editor

11. “The Dreidel Song” by Julie Silver —Jen, head honcho

What’s on your holiday playlist? Tell us in a comment below!

This Thanksgiving, other than cooking up a storm in the kitchen, stuffing our faces with friends and family, and hopefully sleeping-in, the Knock Knock team is thankful for:

Mustached Sara.

1. “I’m thankful to my friends and family for being there always—through think, thin, better, worse, and especially for bad photo opportunities. Unconditional love is a rare and special thing—like mustache straws.” —Sara, e-commerce manager

2. “Studies have shown that around 1/3 of all Americans have never seen the ocean, I’m thankful that this is my backyard (figuratively more than literally, but you get the idea).” —Paul, assistant manager of customer service and operations

Paul and his backyard.

3. “I’m thankful for my baby niece’s irresistible cheeks.” —Priscilla, social media marketing intern

Priscilla, her baby niece, and her baby niece's cheeks.

4. “I am thankful for my ridiculously good-looking, goofy, tight-knit family. Here’s a picture of a small portion of them at Disneyworld. From L to R, my aunt (sweetheart), my brother (grumpy), my mom (tan), and my stepdad (too cool).” —Dayna, assistant editor

Dayna's familia.

5. “I am thankful for the bucket of chocolate in the kitchen, and the fact that everyone at Knock Knock is like a second, more fun/warped family!” —Will, production artist

Will and Squid-o. Buddies.

6. “Of course I’m thankful for my loving family, friends, and good health. But this year I’d like to especially mention how thankful I am for my newish-cat, Captain Daenerys Phoebs Tonks Bluth (or Dany, for short), because she is the absolute cutest. And I swear I’m not a crazy cat lady.” —Mel, marketing and digital coordinator

Dany and Mel.

7. “I’m thankful for working for a kick ass company!” —Jim, president

Jim, we're thankful you're on our team as well!

Jen sometimes listens to Oprah.

8. “I’m thankful for the opportunity to be thankful. Because I just got all up in the thankful in my latest blog post for Knock Knock with an actual heartfelt gratitude list (come on, Oprah, sometimes I do listen), I’m recognizing that I do actually have things to be thankful for. Between my ironic, pessimistic, snarky brain (humor never came from optimists, you know) and my tendency to look at what I can’t do or haven’t done rather than what I can do and have done, the realization that I have much to be thankful for is something to be thankful for. So thank you.” —Jen, head honcho

What are you thankful for this year? Tell us in a comment below!

We’ve been planning the Knock Knock tenth-anniversary party since approximately forever ago (really, six months at the very least). While we can’t possibly share all the nitty-gritty deets that went into prepping for the party and “Fun/Functional” showcase, you can check out party pics here and see how the hard work paid off. And if you see yourself in a pic, tag yourself, please!

As Jen explained, we didn’t hire a party planner, but we did have the Knock Knock “Ten-Year Team” (“TYT” for short—pronounce it out loud) to setup and ensure everything went smoothly.

Step in TYT’s pre-party shoes for a few moments:

Several days before the party, Chelsea, our manufacturing coordinator, Sara, our e-commerce manager, and Melanie, our marketing and digital coordinator, spent an afternoon in our conference room making thirty paper boutonnières for the team. They made it out of our Why I Must Get Drunk With You Pad, because of its orange color and because it was oh-so appropriate.

Left: Paper flower made out of our Why I Must Get Drunk with You Pad. Right: our production artist, Will, sporting the finished version.

The TYT team and the American Design Club crew started setup at SPACE on Abbot Kinney at 9 a.m. sharp:

Bare brick walls and furniture in plastic wrap. Let's do this!

We used strong, removable double-sided tape to hang up our product signage. They were quite the bitch to peel, but it worked out. From left to right: Jen, head honcho; Sara, e-commerce manager; Mel, marketing and digital coordinator.

Trish suffered from a "taped" leg. (We actually ran out of places to keep tape while we hung signage, so our legs were the only answer.)

At one point Will threw his hands at the heavens because he couldn't take the pressure of hanging a giant January card. Theatrics.

Our publisher, Craig, found the stash of orange bowties for the bartenders and security guards. Craig, orange looks good on you!

Meanwhile, AmDC took care of their showcase room:

Kiel and Annie make sure those Urban Shoe Pots hung from the ceiling just right.

The team displayed around thirty products. Products galore.

It's lookin' good, guys!

We had to somehow manuever the giant plywood piece (that the products sat on) to the second floor, where the party was. Since we couldn’t fit it through the doors or elevator, a number of strong arms actually hoisted it up and over the second-floor railing. We aren’t kidding. Thank you, leverage!

People on Abbot Kinney stopped and stared at our conundrum.

Before we knew it, it was 5 p.m. and though we may or may not have been sticking the last of the product signage on the brick walls, it was nearing game-time. Check our finished SPACE out:

Ready to party. (Photo by Jennifer Fujikawa Photography)

Security guards at the ready, wearing dashing Knock Knock orange bowties. (Photo by Jennifer Fujikawa Photography)

Please enter the “Fun/Functional” showcase room:

"Fun/Functional" products on display. (Photo by Jennifer Fujikawa Photography)

Our head honcho Jen and the American Design Club crew. From left to right: Henry Julier; our head honcho Jen; Sam Cochran; Annie Lenon; Sarah Boatright; Kiel Mead. (Photo by Jennifer Fujikawa Photography)

"Fun/Functional" products on display. (Photo by Jennifer Fujikawa Photography)

"Fun/Functional" products on display. (Photo by Jennifer Fujikawa Photography)

"Fun/Functional" products on display. That's an In-N-Out Qult on the right. We also gave out special tenth-anniversary tote to all attendees. (Photo by Jennifer Fujikawa Photography)

"Fun/Functional" products on display. It's a very romantic thing. (Photo by Jennifer Fujikawa Photography)

Wyatt Little's Urban Shoe Pots. (Photo by Jennifer Fujikawa Photography)

"Fun/Functional" products. (Photo by Jennifer Fujikawa Photography)

We created special cocktails exclusively for the party. They were named after a couple of our products—The Pep Talk and The High Five. Delicious.

Jen giving her speech to a room full of friends, colleagues, and FOKKers. (Photo by Jennifer Fujikawa Photography)

Knock Knockers in the loung area. From left to right: Jim, president; Craig, publisher; Gil, director of operations and customer service, and Trish, VP of branding. (Photo by Jennifer Fujikawa Photography)

Party mingling. That's our manufacturing director, Elyse, in the middle. (Photo by Jennifer Fujikawa Photography)

More party people. Is that our former designer Alexis (in white) that we see? (Photo by Jennifer Fujikawa Photography)

Our sales associate, Travis, and her boyfriend, Chris, write in the party guestbook. (Photo by Jennifer Fujikawa Photography)

A peek at a few entries from the guestbook. Front: the Knock Knock guest book; Middle: Merritt's rad Knock Knock doodle; Below: Paco?

When the party ended, Knock Knockers and friends helped with the breakdown and took the signage off the walls. And the night was still young . . .

Knock Knockers during mid-breakdown. From left to right: Sara; Dayna, our assistant editor; Melanie; Trish, and Craig.

As our birthday festivities come to a close, we want to thank each and every one of you who helped us celebrate. Here’s to another decade of putting the “fun” in functional!

The second sign welcoming people into the party. The first posed the question, "OMFG, has it been 10 years already?"

Do you, any of you, have social anxiety? That weird thing that makes you dread something that’s supposed to be a great time, even though you know intellectually you’ll probably have fun and forget about yourself once the shindig actually starts? The perverse instinct to cancel and run and hide with some ice cream and TV even though everybody thinks you’re outgoing?

That’s what I had going into the ten-year-anniversary party. Not to mention that it was a hell of a lot of work to put on. As someone who’s never planned a wedding (bridesmaid five times, though, thank you very much), I really had no idea. It’s a party. In a space. With people and food and drinks and decorations. What, Trish? What’s that you say? You think we need a party planner? Pshaw.

Trish was right. (She usually is.) It was such a big project that, as the day approached, I was not only dreading it irrationally and agoraphobically, I and the party team quite understandably couldn’t wait for the post-work relief that would set in once the heavy lifting was over.

But you know what?

IT WAS A MAGICAL NIGHT.

Social anxiety be gone. Work be worth it. People be incredible. Evening be beautiful. Triumph be palpable. Party be rock star.

Trish, Craig, me, and Jim—festive captains of the ship!

In general, gratitude—at least the self-help modality version of it—bugs the shit out of me. “Blessings,” people say. “In gratitude.” Yeah? I mock your Prius bull-hockey with my namaste hands. So imagine my surprise when I noticed myself feeling GRATEFUL. Tear-in-the-eye grateful. Non-mocking-namaste-hands grateful. Therapist-would-be-proud-of-me grateful. Pocket-full-of-sixpence grateful.

Because of this, right now, for one time and one time only, I’m going to do what I’d vowed never to do—make a gratitude list. The kind that Oprah says will make me a better person if I do it every day. But that’s not why I’m doing it—I’m doing it because I really, truly, and uncharacteristically want to count my and Knock Knock’s blessings. And I’m going to make it eleven just for the hell of it, and because ten years is actually sort of eleven years when you count them on your hands.

1. A kick-ass ten-year-anniversary party that truly felt culminative and triumphant and symbolic, filled with Knock Knockers past and present (and who knows, maybe future?), trusted and relied-upon vendors and consultants, friends of Knock Knock, friends of Knock Knockers, up-and-coming young product designers and their creations, neighbors, FOKKers (shout out to August FOKKer of the month Ariana, who came and surprised us from San Bernardino and made my night!), and even a very small smattering of (other people’s) family. A party that looked as good as it felt, that went off flawlessly, that included mixed drinks called the High Five and the Pep Talk, that offered cheeses with unpronounceable names from local shepherds served by delightful individuals in orange silk bowties. A party filled with art and music. A party at which all attendees actually looked like they wanted to be there.
2. 

   The first Knock Knock catalog, the first Knock Knock product (pre–Knock Knock), and lots of gorgeous cheese.

   An amazing Knock Knock team. Really and truly and unforgettably. A more dedicated, skilled, hard-working team you will not find—because we get shit DONE. Shout-outs here to Jim and Craig and Trish, who manage the whole enterprise with me; Mia and Miguel and Aimée in design; Patricia in product development; Shane and Will in production; Erin and Jamie and Kate and Dayna in editorial; Melanie in marketing and Sara in web; Elyse and Chelsea in manufacturing; Gil and Paul in ops and customer service; Jazzlyn and Lena and Paul in customer service; Travis and Lonnie in sales; and Odi in accounting. And all of our sales reps all around the country. And our distributors all around the world. And our PR agency and lawyers and IT consultants and accounting firms. But not Jesus. I’m sorry. I’m just not going to be thanking Jesus here.

3. Getting to make creative, fun, interesting stuff we believe in. Yes, there are the craven marketplace bestsellers like all the WTF products, all of which seem to sell no matter how little creativity we put into them, but we work at a company where we brainstorm about reasons to have sex, write books about drunken toasting, and design snow globes. Right? Right? And a creative corollary here: I’m grateful for a workplace in which we can swear and talk about untoward things and not have to dress up.
4. Having people buy creative, fun, interesting stuff we believe in. Oh, you retailers and buyers and FOKKers, how wonderful are you to allow us to do what we do? If you didn’t buy it, we wouldn’t be able to keep making it. If you didn’t interact with us on social media and in stores and at tradeshows, we would feel alone and blue. You get it, we get it, let’s get it together! We’ve got it together, FOKKers, you and Knock Knock. And might I just add that I am also thankful for 2012 being one of the best sales years we’ve ever had, with incredible opportunities popping up left and right. It’ll all combine to be our most profitable year, too, and if you’ve been following the year-by-year history of Knock Knock on this blog (see postscript below), you know how important that is for us!
   

   Just as the party was starting. A few great Knock Knockers in this one: Chelsea, Will, Sara, Jim, me, Craig, Trish, and possibly a couple others I can't make out. Doesn't everybody look great in their Saturday best?

5. Offices we love in a place we love. We are so fortunate to be in the Electric Avenue Studios, with our perch recently expanded into four units from three. It’s a creative, light-filled, open space within walking distance to great lunch places and even the beach (though nobody seems to go from work) in the land of eternal sunshine and the neighborhood of cool breezes, a place where we can walk and bike and generally flout the Los Angeles cars-only reputation.
6. The fact that we made it ten years. Wow. Ten years. Lots of businesses don’t make it to five. When I started Knock Knock, a couple people in my life told me they first thought, “Well, that stuff is great, but what other things can they do?” Each time we brought out a new list, they thought, “Okay, surely they’ve exhausted the ideas now.” The fact that we made a ten-year-perservering company out of consistently innovative and fresh creativity—with major mistakes and missteps and disasters and meltdowns and injuries and teaching “opportunities” along the way—is something to be grateful for, no doubt about it.
7. Other smart people. Early on, I determined that I wanted Knock Knock to function in part as a think tank in the following manner: really smart people coming together to grapple with and debate about interesting challenges and issues (one of the definitions of an interesting problem is one you haven’t had before). I like smart people. I like learning from others. I like it when other smart people constantly spur you to bring your A-game. I like it when there are people around you who are better at what they do than you are. Done, and done!
   

   The amazing AmDC new product design show, Fun / Functional. Such beautiful and witty designs, along with many of their beautiful and witty designers!

8. Knowing how to do this thing we call business. It was so terrifying when I/we had no idea what we were doing or how to do it. Now I’m reasonably seasoned and not a bad businesswoman. For the most part, I truly know how to run Knock Knock, and I know how to do the critical thinking work to figure out the things I don’t yet know. And we’re big enough and functional enough to attract and compensate other people who know what they’re doing, people who’ve had prior experience doing things (vs. reinventing the wheel over and over again), people who can say things like “There might be a better way to do this” or “Let’s create a system or process for that” or “Jen, you’re full of shit.”
9. Having the financial support we needed. We got help for about seven years, which culminated in our becoming debt-free in 2012. Knock Knock’s financial history is unique. It’s one of the areas in which we had an extremely lucky break, and we were able to get to where we are today without many of the financial struggles other growing companies have faced. Sometimes people feel that if others get help financially, what they’re doing isn’t worthwhile. It’s probably an envy thing, and to be sure, it isn’t fair whose endeavors get supported by easy money and whose don’t. But when you and the team work really, really goddamned hard to do something innovative that succeeds in the marketplace year after year (not easy to do, let me tell you), does the fact that you’ve had a couple legs up discount what you’ve done? I don’t think so.
10. A return to a reasonable work-life balance. This is partly personal and partly across the company. That first six years of ninety-hour weeks and untold stress and chaos took a TOLL on me. I still haven’t gotten back to certain pre–Knock Knock standards of life and self (though of course in so many other areas, I’ve greatly surpassed where I was before Knock Knock), but at least there’s the possibility of doing it, and I’m working on it (why, oh why does life require so much work on oneself? it’s exhausting! will it ever end?). It’s also across the company. Knock Knock is so much more orderly and sane than it was in the early years, with most people working normal hours most of the time and knowing what they’re supposed to be doing when. (Yes, this last creative development season, the one that just ended, Spring 2013, was an anachronistic killer, but it’s now over, thank god.)
11. Unending excitement at the prospect of new opportunities and the future. We have compiled a team that does not prefer complacency and status quo—in fact, people who drift in that direction don’t end up doing well at Knock Knock. But for those who love stimulation like I do? People who are easily bored and like to tackle new endeavors? People who are curious about almost everything and don’t say things like “That’s not my job”? It’s the best! On a strategy level, our planning is well into 2014. We’re thinking about things we’ve never thought about before, on scales that would previously have been nothing more than unachievable fantasy. This shit is FUN!

The smiling faces I saw as I gave the speech for the evening. I think I kept it short enough!

So. I end my gratitude list by saying thank you. Thank you to everybody who’s made this ten years possible. Thank you to everybody who’s survived difficult times with and for us and has the scars to prove it. Thank you to everybody who’s celebrated with us, near us, or on us. Because you must know—for a pessimistic, self-flagellating curmudgeon like me to feel so lucky even for a moment is no small thing.

Thank you.

See you at the twenty-year-anniversary party!

P.S. Even though the postscript is dead, I do feel it’s important to let you know that I am aware I only got up to 2007 in my year-by-year narration of Knock Knock’s history. That’s six posts out of the eleven required, a majority. I do still plan to finish this project, and who knows, maybe I’ll make a book out of it, and it will come with a CD of music to slit your wrists by—like Mazzy Star. And a book isn’t too far off—it turns out that the median length for all books is 64,000 words, and I’ve already written (not including this post) 29,138. Because, as we’ve said from the very beginning, why use fewer words when you could use more?

We’re ready to look outward during this tenth year and beyond, however, let’s not forget the leaders who have been the solid foundation of Knock Knock for quite some time—and their inherent solid taste. Infectious positivity radiates from Jim, our president, on a daily basis. So much so that you probably won’t even need a cup of coffee after being in his presence. Here are his pick of items that shape him into the “guy’s guy” we all gravitate toward.

Writing this post for “guy’s guy” stuff, has made me realize how great and yet how simple my life truly is. It revolves around a few things that I love the most: family, sports, friends, and my barbecue! Those four simple things put a smile on my face and keep me grounded.

So what are those products that I cherish most and keep me engaged and enthused with “guy’s guy” stuff?

1. In my life, first and foremost is family. I love playing golf with my two boys, Jake (six years old) and Zach (five years old). I grew up playing golf with my grandfather and my dad, and have some amazing memories of which I want to pass along and create with my own boys. We like to play out in Palm Springs, go to the driving range, and also play on our local Par 3 course not too far from our home. They both have great swings and definitely needed their own set of clubs!

Golf clubs, a must!

2. So I do love to play golf, but to try and stay in shape, I like to jog. One of my favorite Knock Knock products is the Health Life Log, where I can track all of my runs, my distances, times, and write comments on how I felt during the run. I know nowadays it’s old school to actually write these things down, but I find it very rewarding and therapeutic to complete this log right after I’ve finished my run.

My Health Life Log

3. Staying true to the sports theme, I am a huge sports fan and basically will participate whenever possible or watch almost any sport on TV. I’m so bad that even when I travel to China I’ll get caught up in watching table tennis or cricket—sports that I typically don’t have much interest in, but it’s on and I’ll watch it. Also, I am an alumnus from Michigan State University and love to show off my Spartan pride to my neighbors.

My Spartan flag hangs proudly.

Funny story: so after I moved in a few years ago, I hung my Michigan State flag on our house right away. Clearly I didn’t know my neighbors well until after a few months. Then one day I was out front cutting my grass (yes, I actually do this) and two of my neighbors came up to me asking about my flag. They didn’t know what team it represented and thought it was Stanford, only without the right school colors—total rookies! I was appalled, but had a good laugh with them. Nothing like being a Midwest transplant and living between USC and UCLA neighbors! Go Green!

4. One of my annual rites of passage is a “John Doe bachelor party” to Vegas with some of my high school buddies. We’ve been doing this for twenty years now, and every year it gets better and better. There’s nothing like reliving your high school and college days with good friends and a few (or many more) brews. I like to bring Knock Knock care packages for these guys and here’s is what I brought this past year:

This is just some classic Knock Knock product that has these guys cracking up and are usually a good foray into a couple of good stories.

5. Additionally, I don’t really like to cook but I do love to barbecue. At my house, the barbeque area is my own oasis where I have a barbecue, a flat top grill, a sink, and yes, a fridge. So that’s why I like to barbecue so much—there’s an endless supply of cold beverages literally right at my fingertips! I barbecue about three times a week, sometimes more, especially in the summer months. I also keep my handy Recipe Notes Sticky Notes in my barbecue drawer, so I can jot down cooking times or changes to a marinade, etc.

My oasis.

6. Last but not least, I did mention that family is very important to me. So, to keep the goodwill flowing and to try to pitch in where I can, I have the trusty Things To Do Around the House Pad on my fridge so it’s easy access for my wife.

It’s usually filled-in, so not sure what’s up with that, but this pad keeps the harmony in the home!