Chris Plantan was so bored with her choices for office supplies five years ago that she started designing her own. Thanks to a background in architecture, Plantan brought flair to formerly mundane items like binders and folders. When others started asking for her handiwork, she decided it was time for a business moniker. Plantan chose the names of her grandparents, Russell and Hazel.

Plantan says Russell + Hazel’s challenge was to turn commodities into an extension of self—to make office products personal accessories. Plantan’s vision for the company was conceived with the help of four partners: Cynthia Knox (formerly president of Kilter Inc. in Minneapolis), Kobe Suvongse (formerly managing director of Duffy and Associates in New York), Barbara Giangrossi (formerly head of accessories division at Marshall Fields) and Darin Opperman (a coworker of Knox’s husband at Key Investments). Their combined experiences helped solidify the distinction of Russell + Hazel products, marketing materials, catalogs and website. Russell + Hazel has found a niche it’s all too eager to fill. Sales reached $2 million in 2006. Given the humdrum choices at most office supply stores, it’s no wonder that these savvy office products have had a welcome reception in design circles.

The Approach
According to design director Kobe Suvongse, the approach to design at Russell + Hazel is more functional than frivolous. The end result is visually appealing, but practically useful. “We like things that are cheeky, fun and functional,” Suvongse says. “So we try to take the design up a notch on all of these sort of mundane products.” Part of the company’s approach to design is a result of the company’s “open source” environment. Ideas can come from literally anyone.

(left) Russell + Hazel's latest catalog, with its fable theme, is more conceptual than any of their previous catalogs. "We feel it's important to speak to consumers in a very friendly and colloquial manner," says chief marketing officer Cynthia Knox. "We always like to have a sense of humor or cheekiness to both our concepts and our writing. Those are things that are important to us. We want the brand to feel very inviting, fun and comfortable—like a fun friend that you have."

“Our process is very open and very collaborative,” says Cynthia Knox, chief marketing officer. “Everyone on the team collaborates in terms of bringing in ideas and viewing samples from different markets or just coming up with ideas for products.”

“In terms of product design, we start a project as a team,” Suvongse says. “We put all of our heads together and come up with ideas for products, and we’ll put design and put functionality on top of it. And we’ll maybe create prototypes and have our vice president of sales talk to retailers and see what their reaction to the new product is.”

In addition to vibrant colors and distinct design motifs, another differentiating factor of Russell + Hazel products is their choice of paper quality. “There are certain paper stocks—usually number one grade papers—that we tend to use on all of our products,” Knox says. “We like very bright, smooth sheets and typically a little bit thicker stocks than perhaps some of our competitors use in terms of spiral notebooks. We tend to use brighter, thicker sheets than they might because we feel strongly that the consumer appreciates those quality details.”

(right) Russell + Hazel identified a huge gap in the office supply category: There wasn’t much variety or individuality available to consumers. “The office supply category for many years has not been very design driven and has not followed trends in terms of color and design,” Knox says. “We thought it was important to bring those things to products, and we’ve found that they have resonated with customers. They do look at office supplies as extensions of their clothing. You spend a lot of time putting on a nice suit, shouldn’t you carry a nice binder?”

About the author
Rodney J. Moore, a freelance journalist turned communications and PR strategist whose specialty is crafting and making media pitches for companies and individuals, is the founder of Moore Creative Communications. He is the author of Design Secrets: Layout, and he is working on his second nonfiction book.

Read the full article in the June 2007 issue of Dynamic Graphics magazine.

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