Fred

Fred was founded in Cumberland, Rhode Island in 2004 by Frederick A. Roses — known to the brand as "head Fred." The starting brief was simple in Roses's own words: "designing products that put smiles on peoples' faces." Twenty-plus years later, that's still the whole strategy.

The catalogue has grown to cover kitchen, bar, party, desk, kids, and pets — but the formula doesn't change. Take an everyday object, find the joke inside it, then engineer the product properly enough that the joke isn't the only thing. Fred sells primarily through independent specialty stores, museum gift shops, and design retailers, because it's never tried to be a mass-market kitchenware brand. It's always been the design joke that earned its bench space.