Greenpoint designer selling a cardboard ice-cream truck for kids [Q&A]

Any Calvin and Hobbes fan knows that kids love a good box. Will they like the box even more if it’s an extra special box? That’s what Måns Swanberg is testing with his new company, Famous OTO, which is making cardboard toy trucks for kids: big ones.

The kind they can crawl into and pretend to operate. They are detailed, durable, non-toxic, made in the USA and completely recyclable.

The company’s name is a play on the word “auto,” because he intends to make more vehicles. He simplified the word so that anyone could understand it, and the designer in him enjoyed its symmetry and the way he could make a logo from it that evoked the half-wheels of his toys. By day, Swanberg directs for the Lower East Side production company Blacklist. Though originally from Sweden, he lives and works in Greenpoint, after moving here three years ago.

“I love New York very much with an intensely burning flame,” he said.

The ice-cream truck, his first product, will run $60. Users can customize its license plate, on the website and print it out from a color printer. The trucks just went on the market this month.

We conducted a Q&A with Swanberg. Here’s how you pronounce his first name. Our questions and his answers follow:

TB: Where did the idea for the idea for Famous OTO come from? Why start with the trucks?

I’ve been brewing this idea for several years. Cardboard is such a great abundant material, you can make anything with it. I wanted the toys to be lavishly illustrated like storybooks. No skimping on the details. I see food trucks all over the place in New York, and love how much imagination goes into decorating them.

The combination of a car and a shop is a pretty great setup for a toy, so it seemed like the natural place to start. And since the Ice Cream Truck is the most universal of food trucks, that was the first one out. But I have a massive list of other versions waiting.

TB: How much time did it take you to get the product to market?

I spent around 18 months developing this product. Having the idea was the easy part, then I had to learn about engineering, manufacturing, materials, toy safety regulation and so on. I learned a lot of new words. Thankfully, I found some great people to work with that were patient with my weird accent and uninformed opinions.

TB: Have you done previous projects for yourself or other employers that you think helped lead to your current project?

Yeah I’ve worked with illustration and 3D animation since ten years back. So I’m definitely familiar with the whole color and form thing that is central to Famous OTO. I always had a special emotion for typography and color combinations.