Cardboard as an Artform?

I got a call from a customer, who wanted to find out if I was interested in some retail space
in the San Diego Artists Colony, as he thought we would be a good addition to his space there,
as it is located in the heart of a new burgeoning art area near UC San Diego.

After he explained the purpose of his call, I asked him how it was that he came by us as a source
for packaging and handling art, for both artists and their customers.

He told me that his wife, was an artist, and that she had a recent showing of her latest collection
of artwork, in a gallery with the wife of the actor, Jack Black. The show in a gallery, in West
Hollywood was a big success and other shows are scheduled.

I still was not sure what specific business we had done with these customers, but the gentleman,
a Mr. Golden, told me his wife buys our boxes and has used them as a canvas, and painted directly onto the cardboard boxes. In some case, she has almost done a three dimensional piece
of art, by painting half the portrait or scene on the left side of the box and the other portion on
the other side of the box.

This is the first time in almost 25 years that I have heard a story like this, and it has stuck with
me, as many people dabble in art, but to use a commodity as standard and ubiquitous as an old
cardboard box--that each and every one of us has used countless times in our lives--as a means
of maybe defining their artwork in a cardboard kind of way. Something so simple and yet so
staggering.

See for yourself, at: floragoldenart.com

I got to speak with Mrs. Golden the other day, as I told her husband that if his wife wanted any special cardboard, it would be our pleasure to get it for her. I let her know that I can get her
a stronger double wall piece of cardboard, to ensure a greater strength to the canvas, as paintings
with certain paints, can be heavy.

That is about how far my involvement with creating art goes, I am afraid, as I knew early on that for me to be involved with art, it was not going to be cause I was good at creating it; more like better at packaging it, crating it, admiring or even trying to figure out its true meaning.

But most important for me was that I got to work with some of our fantastic customers that we have at Box Brothers. In fact, after being the President of Box Brothers for almost 25 years,
meeting and speaking to our customers is still the single biggest rewarding aspect to how I make
a living. I sometimes can forget what I do, when I am lost in the world of payroll taxes, personnel, medical insurance, hiring and firing and working with staff and vendors.

There is an old saying in the retail trade, in fact, more than one that comes to mind, but in retail,
you do not get to pick your customers and in a service business, you learn quick that the same
rendition of service can lead to accolades from some, and serious negative complaints from others.

That is why the customer experience is so great here at Box Brothers, as these customers know
that they are the reason we come to work; that without them, we got no oil in the engine to make our business go. I just got reminded how rewarding and special, these customers can be.
Happy New Year.