Time capsule

The posts on this blog are incredibly old. The fact this is on Blogpost tells you a lot about the era when CritBuns was born. Weebly and Squarespace weren't even companies yet. Enjoy browsing the history that follows, and follow more recent movement on my site at http://www.joegebbia.com

CritBuns in Fortune Magazine

An excellent article in Fortune Magazine about inventors, product development, and the Billy Mays phenomenon.

Order fulfillment services

Are you a business owner, entrepreneur, designer, or artist selling a product? After a great deal of research, I have selected a new order fulfillment house and highly recommend them for handling web and wholesale orders. They have excellent customer service and years of experience shipping products. If you're interested to learn more, drop me a note: design@critbuns.com

Designboom coverage!

Based in Milan, Designboom is a design mega-site run by some fantastic folks. Thanks guys!

Core77 coverage!

Writer Carl Alviani had some words about CritBuns today on Core77. Ecosystem of cruelty or pleasure? You know some people actually enjoy pulling all-nighters. Thanks Carl and Allan!

Read the post.

Swissmiss covers CritBuns!

If you don't know this blog, you should. It's called Swissmiss, and it's full of daily design inspiration.

Thanks for the coverage, Tina!

http://swissmiss.typepad.com/weblog/2008/12/critbuns-are-ba.html

They're back! Or rather, they're bottom!

CritBuns were last seen in Sydney at the Designboom gift mart in August. They went on a break as we searched for a new manufacturing partner. The search is over - I am proud to introduce CritBuns 2.0. These are the softest buns we've ever produced. They retain their lightweight attribute, and portable handle, along with rich color and smooth, baby-butt finish. They're even better for hard, uncomfortable surfaces like office chairs, stadium seating, and yoga (yes, during meditation).

Thanks for your patience while they went on hold, and I look forward to shipping you a pair.

They are available in blue through the holiday season. You can order online.

Obama O's & Cap'n McCains

The breakfast of change! www.obamaos.com

A maverick in every bite! www.capnmccains.com

A happy boyfriend

CritBuns down under!

It's that time. CritBuns is headed to a new continent. I've been selected to participate in DesignBoom's gift mart located at the International Sydney Design Festival 2008. I'm thrilled to be a part of another DB event, and look forward to meeting some design savvy Aussies! I'll also be retailing a limited number of Untitled books, my latest collaboration with CITIZEN:citizen.

How Art School Reveals Human Nature

The Huffington Post ran an article on art schools, and the personas that come from them. There is some truth to how an artist wants to embody the lifestyle, clothing, and attitude of an "artist". You can stereotype each major (Architecture, Painting, Jewelry, Fashion, Graphic Design) by personalities and behaviors. Line up bunch of art students and their clothing, body language, tattoos/piercings (or lack of), and even body language can say what creative camp they reside in. I disagree, however, that art students inherently look down upon other majors. The smart students recognize the different perspective another design discipline can bring to the table. The smart student will take advantage of the access to a wide range talent only a short reach away. Chances are in the real world, you may very well have to collaborate with another creative in a different department to realize your project. But they'll be much harder to find. If you create the habit of resenting other majors in college, there's a very good chance you'll do that after you graduate. And that, to me, is a recipe for failure.

Read the short article here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/seth-roberts/how-art-school-reveals-hu_b_110097.html

CritBuns in USA Today

I completed an interview with USA Today recently about the CritBuns story. They spoke with other small business owners about doing business on a global level. It's a great read overall, and certainly useful as case studies for anyone looking to go international with their small business. My best advice? Get your web presence up on day one.

Here's the complete article.

Here's the part about CritBuns:

A young online designer. Joe Gebbia, a 26-year-old entrepreneur and designer in San Francisco, credits sore backsides for helping him to create CritBuns (www.CritBuns.com), an online maker of colorful foam seat cushions.

As a student at the Rhode Island School of Design, Gebbia noticed that classmates were uncomfortable sitting on hard chairs and floors during day-long critiques of their work by professors. He designed the fashionable cushions and plunged full time into his new business after graduation.

Scores of skeptical retailers rejected his cushions, until Gebbia finally sold 200 units to the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Last year, Gebbia launched his website, and the cushions were featured at a Tokyo design show and in I.D., a design magazine.

Demand for the cushions took off. Now, 25% of his sales are to customers in Canada, Europe, Australia, Japan and other countries and regions. He also plans to market the cushions as "Sports Buns" to professional and school athletic events in the USA and abroad.

"I hadn't anticipated international sales at all," Gebbia says, "but people found the website, and I started getting orders from all over the world."

CritBuns.com ranked in the top 5%

Wow. Now this is cool. There's this web site called CommandShift3 (named after the keyboard command for taking a screenshot) that pairs two web sites against each other, and users click on the one they think is 'hot'. I entered CritBuns.com back in December 2007 and the stats are quite impressive: "Top 5% of sites (460 of 9924)"

Boo yah!

See the listing, browse other sites, or enter your own site.

CritBuns.com design gets noticed (again)

Another gallery of web sites picked up CritBuns.com. This time is across the pond in the UK, as seen on Design Shack.

They also allow voting.

CritBuns featured in Craft - Volume 4

http://www.craftzine-digital.com

Chicago Tribune

Guide to quirky creative gifts

"Nothing ruins a day at the office or football field more than a sore bottom from prolonged sitting. Made of cushy foam, this colorful, indoor/outdoor seat cushion"

CritBuns.com gets noticed

CritBuns.com featured on CSS Heroes - a site that catalogs beautiful web sites! Major props to Horace Ko who helped implement the vision for CritBuns' presence on the web.

CSS Heroes allows fans to rate the design. Cast your vote for CritBuns here.

CritBuns featured NOTCOT Holiday Gift Guide

As a avid reader of design and culture blog NOTCOT, I was thrilled to discover they selected CritBuns for their 2007 Gift Guide! Check out the buns, and all the hard work they've put into curating a collection of some really unique gifts. Each day will have a new addition to the gift guide, an entire page in fact, so check daily. With 28 more days to go, you're bound to find the right present for that certain someone. Thanks, NOTCOT!

Tokyo, we love you too

The results are in - Japanese have an affinity for soft curvy seat cushions. At least the ones who showed up at the 100% Design Tokyo Designboom gift mart. I went with a full box of 42 CritBuns, and after 5 days at the show, left empty handed (thanks for translating, Min). More Tokyo pics posted in the photo gallery.

Read the Core77 event coverage here.

Pecha Kucha, round 2

When Pecha Kucha asked me to come speak at November's event, I could hardly pass up the opportunity. This month's volume was sponsored by Oracle, and tied in with the massive Oracle conference taking place in San Francisco. Held for the first time at the Yerba Buena performance center, presenters had one heck of a set-up: a stage, giant projection screen, wireless mic, catered food, cash bar...and over 500 people in the audience!

Rather than repeat the entire CritBuns story from February, I did a product medley consisting of four short stories about four current entrepreneurial ventures: CritBuns, Ecolect, "Untitled" (coming soon from Citizen-Citizen), and Air Bed & Breakfast.