OXO ( ) is an American manufacturer of kitchen utensils, office supplies, and

housewares Household goods are goods and products used within households. They are the tangible and movable personal property placed in the rooms of a house, such as a bed or refrigerator. Economic role Businesses that produce household goods are categorize ...

, founded in 1990 and based in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

History

OXO was founded by

Sam Farber Samuel Farber (November 16, 1924 – June 16, 2013) was an American industrial designer and businessman. Farber and his son, John Farber, co-founded OXO, a manufacturer of kitchen utensils and housewares. Farber is credited with revolutionizi ...

, an

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values th ...

in the housewares industry, and his son, John Farber. Sam Farber chose the name "OXO" as an

ambigram An ambigram is a calligraphic design that has several interpretations as written. The term was coined by Douglas Hofstadter in 1983. Most often, ambigrams appear as visually symmetrical words. When flipped, they remain unchanged, or they mutate ...

that renders the three letters in "OXO" the same regardless of their orientation, either horizontal or vertically. Noticing that his wife, Betsy, who suffered from mild arthritis in her hands, was having difficulty gripping ordinary kitchen tools, he saw an opportunity to create more comfortable cooking tools that would benefit users. He worked with the design firm

Smart Design Smart Design (or Smart) is a design consultancy based in New York City. Smart was founded in 1980 by industrial designers Davin Stowell, Tom Dair, Tucker Viemeister, and Tamara Thomsen, with Stowell serving as CEO. The firm has been a prominent ...

to create the initial products in the line, including the Swivel Peeler, and Oxo continued to collaborate with Smart for many years. The first group of 15 OXO Good Grips kitchen tools were introduced to the U.S. market at the Gourmet Products Show in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, in 1990. Sam Farber sold OXO to General Housewares Corporation in 1992. General Housewares Corporation was acquired by World Kitchen LLC. in 2000. In June 2004,

Helen of Troy Limited Helen of Troy Limited is an American publicly traded designer, developer and worldwide marketer of consumer brand-name housewares, health and home, and beauty products under owned and licensed brands. It is the parent corporation of OXO Internat ...

bought OXO housewares for $273.2 million.

References

External links

*
"A history of the OXO Good Grips peeler"
''

Fast Company ''Fast Company'' is a monthly American business magazine published in print and online that focuses on technology, business, and design. It publishes six print issues per year. History ''Fast Company'' was launched in November 1995 by Alan Web ...

'' Manufacturing companies established in 1990 Manufacturing companies based in New York City Kitchenware brands Food preparation utensils Home appliance brands 1990 establishments in New York City Helen of Troy Limited 2004 mergers and acquisitions {{US-manufacturing-company-stub