A pair of industrial designers hopes their new St. Paul firm can help clients create greener housewares and other consumer goods.
Strom Studio celebrates its launch on Thursday, July 1, at its new downtown office in the
CoCo coworking space. The industrial design shop will focus on design research and sustainable development.
Co-founders Kerstin Strom and Marshall Young have backgrounds in the children's safety products and medical devices, respectively. They already have clients from networking at this spring's International Home + Housewares Show in Chicago, though they can't drop any names yet.
The timing is right, says Strom, because many companies' green marketing efforts are being met with greenwashing accusations. Strom Studio will help companies work through sustainability issues early on in a product's development instead of waiting until it's complete.
Strom credits CoCo, too, for the timing of their company launch. (She's also events coordinator for CoCo.) The coworking space eliminated much of the overhead related to starting a company, she said.
Another key factor: CoCo is across the street from what's expected by 2014 to be a high-speed rail stop connecting St. Paul to Chicago, where Strom has clients already.
"It's a great opportunity for us to stay in the Twin Cities," Strom says about the future rail link, which she expects will generate significant commerce back and forth between the Twin Cities and Chicago.
Strom Studio celebrates its launch with a open house 4-10 p.m., Thursday, July 1, at CoCo, 213 4th St E., 4th Floor, in St Paul.Source: Kerstin Strom, Strom Studio
Writer:
Dan Haugen