Visualingual: Putting the Fun in Function
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Want to win your own Seed Bomb Slinger or Ol Pine Hear Warmer? Follow this link to enter for a chance to win! Contest runs from Monday, July 1 through Friday, July 5. Winners announced Saturday, July 6.
The Seed Bomb might be the greatest thing to come from Iceland since Björk. OK, it really comes from Cincinnati, but as creator Maya Drozdz explains, it was the meltdown of Iceland’s economy in 2008 that gave it birth.
Drozdz had recently left a “soul-sucking” corporate job. Suddenly, Iceland’s economy imploded, and the rest of the world followed.
The Skinny
- Fun fact: Designer Maya Drozdz, who calls herself the “VP of Luck Management,” was born in Gdynia, Poland.
- Visualingual
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“All of a sudden the job opportunities I had been scoffing at weren’t even there anymore,” said the Polish-born graphic designer. “I needed some sort of creative outlet so I didn’t feel like a total loser.”
“I started making things in small batches. Having products to talk about made it easier to go out and talk to people. It wasn’t just me and my resume. After a while, it was, ‘I’m not looking for a job anymore – I’ve created one.’ ” She created one for Michael Stout, as well. Stout – also a graphic designer – began helping her part-time, then full-time.
“We’ve always been interested in objects that are active, that are tools.” -- Maya Drozdz
The Seed Bomb is Visualingual’s best seller.
Drozdz and Stout have a utilitarian bent. They love designing and making things that will be used, not just looked at.
“We’ve always been interested in objects that are active, that are tools,” Drozdz said. “We always try to make it something that has more meaning than design being used to window-dress a static object.” She believes that the Midwest offers fertile ground for that approach.
“In the Midwest, there’s a historic manufacturing base — old infrastructure and architecture,” Drozdz said. “When you combine that with a low cost of living, I think it really encourages people to be more hand-on entrepreneurs, and to take a chance on manufacturing something by themselves.”
Their company, Visualingual, offers about 25 products — all of them whimsical, useful and appealingly designed. Their biggest seller is the Seed Bomb, a slingshot that lets the user scatter pellets of flowers, herbs, salad greens and other treats.
We’re giving one away on Modern Midwest, along with an Ol Pine Heart Warmer. Check back next week for details on our website, Facebook or Twitter.
“It has a hippy-dippy aspect to it,” Drozdz said of the Seed Bomb. “It empowers people to beautify their environment. And then they’re not left with something gathering dust on the shelves -- they’re left with these beautiful flowers.”
