Why I do this

I founded and ran the name-brand homegoods company GAMAGO for sixteen years. Started it in San Francisco in 2001, sold it in 2017. Prior I was the Creative Director for two other CPGs. Thirty years of making products people use.

Towards the end I was pretty wiped out. I didn't feel a connection to the customer, to the vast factories, to the products themselves. The imagining and shaping of a useful thing for a specific person, that part had gotten lost.

So I quit.

Murmmr came out of that decision. Slow down. Focus. One product at a time. Take the time to make it as well as it can possibly be made.

I started with an idea for a new type of ashtray. It needed to work for me and my home. It had to do two things: look good, smell good.

It took me years to make an ashtray that checked both of those boxes.

In the end I found a surprise, the magic movements of smoke. An incredible unplanned-for result of good design executed with precision.

Working with small family-owned factories in Europe was another surprise. Getting beers with fifth-generation glassmaker Thomas Stumpe, then having his son (now the sixth-generation glassmaker, Lucas) over to my apartment for dinner. It's been an incredible journey building relationships and friendships with skilled craftspeople.

None of this scales, which is the point. Nobody to answer to but the product. At this size I know every set that leaves the door, and I know who it's for.

Greg

Every piece is inspected for flaws before engraving, numbering, and final assembly.

The brasswork is polished until it holds the light.

A single coat of hardwax oil, worked into the charred wood and left to cure.

The Proof of Originality is written, numbered, and torn, then matched to your Object.