Ron Kanfi, Vice President, Nobleworks Hoboken, NJ

Meredith Schwartz -- Gifts & Decorative Accessories, 4/1/2001

Gifts & Dec: How was the company first founded?

Ron Kanfi: Christopher Noble, our president, was working for an alternative-market card publisher. He was a victim of downsizing, and took to painting apartments while he figured out what to do next. He came up with the concept for his first line of cards, Moon Blooms, while playing with latex paint. They were basic black-and-white cards treated with a squiggle of shadow-printed latex paint. He worked at home on a $400 investment that he borrowed from his mom. He took Moon Blooms to the 1981 stationery show. They sold well. But the second line-question-and-answer jokes-put us on the map.

Gifts & Dec: When did you join the company?

RK: In 1983, I came from Israel with a backpack and $1,000 for a six-month tour. I quickly realized that it wasn't enough money to get me coast to coast; I had to get a job. I was washing dishes in an East Village cafe. The cook's roommate was Christopher's assistant. My background was in art, so I got hired to paint cards at 2 cents each.

Gifts & Dec: And your responsibilities grew from there?

R.K.: Yes. Christopher later asked me to be his assistant, and then his partner. I took over business and operations, and he assumed the creative directorship even though he has a business degree and I was a painter. It was perfect because we each knew where the other was coming from. Today, Christopher is semi-retired.

Gifts & Dec: How did Nobleworks grow from there?

RK: The next idea, art cards designed by Gene Greiff, bombed. It was ahead of its time. After that were astrology cards. We also did collage cards with talk bubbles, and postcards by John Callahan. That put us on the map for successfully publishing cartoons. In the early '90s, we came out with a successful art collection. We applied the images on kraft paper onto frames.

Gifts & Dec: You were no longer working in Christopher's home?

RK: We started in a space in Manhattan's meat packing district, before it was trendy. In 1989, we moved to Hoboken and got twice the space for half the rent. Since then we've had three spaces in a one-block radius. The current one is 15,000 square feet.

Gifts & Dec: What has been Nobleworks' biggest challenge?

RK: Growing the company into the mass-market arena that it needs for volume. The niche retailer is an endangered species. So many of the stores that targeted a specific community are being replaced by the common-denominator chain. Our strength was in that niche market. When it comes to humor we're always a step or two, or ten, ahead of the mainstream. It was a real challenge to fit into a national store without providing mainstream product. We've been walking that line. While we're moving a little to the right in our thinking, the market is moving left. So we've met in the middle. We can now sell cards to mainstream stores that we never dreamed of placing five years ago.

Gifts & Dec: You mean Nobleworks is losing its power to offend?

RK: The day we can't offend people, we might as well go home. We thrive on hate mail.

Gifts & Dec: What's been some of your best hate mail?

RK: We made a card on how to cook a cat. The ASPCA published it in their newsletter inviting subscribers to protest. We have boxes full of protest mail! Another one we're proud of is a Callahan card, which reads: "This is a feminist book store, there is no humor section." Some feminist groups in Oregon got hold of it and were very upset. We would never publish anything that is socially irresponsible, malicious, or promotes violence, but it's nice when you can laugh at yourself. We once published a card with a picture of a nun and an off-color joke. The nun recognized herself and thought it was hysterical. We sent her a box of them.

Gifts & Dec: After 20 years, do you plan to branch out beyond cards?

RK: We've concluded that we're best doing what we know best. Art, regular humor cards, and our leftfield humor line are enough fronts to tackle. That's our direction for the next five years. Beyond that, who knows? We've thought of manufacturing cars.very funny cars