BY ALLISON MCCREADY MELUN
A Colorado woman invents an ingenious way to wrap your gifts with love this holiday season.
The amateur inventor and woodworker was so dismayed by the pine-beetle infestation and subsequent devastation of the trees around her house that she thought there must be something positive she could do with the dead trees. So she began recycling the pines by fashioning them into rustic ornaments stamped with wildlife images. That evolved into package décor and a deceptively easy system that makes even the plainest package look like Martha Stewart herself wrapped it for you.
In 2005, Mrofka formed The Fab Fob Company and applied for a patent for her product, which she named the Fobbie. The name Fobbie comes from the word “fob,” meaning “an ornament that hangs at the end of a ribbon.” The Fobbie has since won many awards, including best new product at the National Stationery Show in New York. It has also garnered coverage on the “Today” show and several news shows, and scored some prime distribution deals.
Along the way, Mrofka became a member of the Rocky Mountain Inventors Association (www.rminventor.org) where she learned about the process of patenting a product, manufacturing, marketing and more. And she played around with lots of ideas … some that worked, some that didn’t. She also started blogging about her inventing process at inventorsjourney.com.
It’s obvious when talking to Mrofka that she loves the creative side, coming up with new designs and finding alternative ways to use the Fobbie. The business side is more difficult. She likened that process to “jumping through hoops.” She has had a crash course in the intricacies of contracts and licensing agreements and some of the disappointment of deals falling through. But with her product now being sold at Michaels, she feels like she’s finally made it. (You can also order the Fobbie online at fobbie.com.) All the work seems to have paid off.
“This ‘overnight success’ thing is amazingly slow,” jokes Mrofka.
So what is the Fobbie and how can you use it? The Fobbie is a square or round card that has a holiday or special-occasion theme. Made from recycled materials and about three-and-a-half inches in diameter, the card has four pairs of parallel slots through which you can weave pieces of ribbon around your package. You can easily adjust the Fobbie to fit any size package by pulling the ends of the ribbons to tighten them.
True to her inventor persona, Mrofka encourages people to find their own unique ways to use the Fobbie and become what she calls a “wrap star.” She even has a blog (fobbiegiftwrapping.blogspot.com) where she writes about new and creative ways to use the Fobbie.
“You are only limited by your imagination,” says Mrofka, who has loved gift-wrapping since she was a little girl and liked to put lots of bows and curling ribbon on her creations.
The Fobbie is especially useful during the holiday season, when lots of people are sending packages to friends and family all over the country. With standard wrapping, ribbons get crushed, tags get lost, bows fall off and packages are in fairly dismal shape by the time they reach their recipients. But the Fobbie adds a beautiful design touch that cinches down flat against the package, staying neat and tidy and arriving in the same condition as when it was sent in. Not to mention, it eliminates the need for tape (which, if you’re like me, never seems to be handy when you need it). And even the most wrapping-challenged among us can use it. Although at first glance it looks a little tricky, it really is quite simple to use.
The Fobbie comes in many different designs, but it also comes in a blank version, which can allow you to be even more creative in your wrapping and is especially fun for kids to decorate. Mrofka loves that people are creative with her product and put their own spin on the wrapping.
“Make it special and use it to reflect your personality … or the personality of the person you’re giving the gift to,” says Mrofka. She has seen people use climbing rope instead of ribbon, knitters who have woven knitted strips through the Fobbie and a picture frame Fobbie that was made into a pin cushion. Mrofka suggests that during the holiday season, people can turn their Fobbies into ornaments.
During the holidays, there are so many people to give gifts to — teachers, coworkers, hostesses, etc. — and not all of those gifts fit into a box. A traditional hostess gift like napkins, candles, tea towels, breads or cookies can be “dressed up” with a Fobbie. And because Fobbies are adjustable, they will fit on irregular sized boxes or objects.
“They are versatile and really fun,” says Mrofka.
The Fobbies range in price from $1.49 for a single to $19.99 for a 21-pack. The themes range from traditional designs celebrating occasions like Christmas, birthdays, anniversaries and weddings to more modern designs including frame Fobbies and blank Fobbies that you can decorate yourself.
And they’re not just for gifts. You can use Fobbies to adorn scrapbook pages, wrap around candles at a table setting, place as name cards, tie around a bottle of wine as a gift or a favor and on and on and on. Mrofka’s website features pictures and descriptions of many different wrapping styles and uses that consumers have come up with. (My favorite is the above-mentioned picture frame Fobbie that became a pincushion with felt and fluff and a sewing tape measure used in place of ribbon.)
The best part: Mrofka designed her product with the three Rs — reduce, reuse, recycle — in mind. Because her product is durable and long lasting, it can be reused over and over. And it can have a life after packaging a gift, such as an ornament or a refrigerator magnet. The Fobbie is made from recycled materials, so even after it has lived its many incarnations, it can be recycled again.
So check out the Fobbie for all your gift-giving needs this holiday season. Mrofka promises some amazing new designs in stores and online. “It’s so versatile,” she says. And easy … take it from a gal who’s all thumbs.
Check out Mrofka and Fobbie on Twitter or on Facebook.
Allison Melun is a Denver area writer and editor busy getting everything ready for the holiday season.