Josh Blosser and Brad Gehring started Athenian Openers, a custom bottle opener business, in January.
Josh Blosser considers himself to be a handy person.
The Cincinnati native has constructed items ranging from fish tanks to guitars but, now, has moved on to a new venture in custom bottle openers.
Along with his friend and fellow Ohio University student Brad Gehring, Blosser sells the mostly Ohio-based designs through his newly formed business, Athenian Openers.
“I’ve always been into art projects. … This was just kind of the next art project,” Blosser, a senior studying biology pre-med, said.
He first thought of the idea for the business during winter break and it has been gaining popularity since it officially launched in January. The business has made a few thousand dollars so far and receives dozens of orders each week, Blosser said.
“I just saw a bottle opener that we have in our kitchen at my dad’s house, but he had just gotten it as a giveaway from corporate, so there was just the logo in there, so I thought it would be cool if there was an Athens one or a Bobcat one,” Blosser said.
Customers can order a variety of bottle openers from the business's website featuring maps, quotes or definitions. Customizable bottle openers may also be requested with up to 200 characters on it, he said.
Gehring and Blosser thought OU students would be their main demographic, but the product has also been popular as wedding or anniversary gifts.
“A girl wanted one for her boyfriend,” Blosser said. “Her boyfriend lives in Cincinnati, she lives in Cleveland, so they wanted a map of Ohio highlighting the roads (between the two cities).”
In addition to selling products through their website, the pair also sell bottle openers through the e-commerce website Etsy.
“One girl wanted a picture of the island of Jamaica for her 10th anniversary because that’s where (she) got married,” Gehring, a senior studying biology pre-med from Akron, said. The final product also included the wedding date, Blosser said.
Originally, the idea of the business started off as a joke between Blosser and Gehring, but once they started receiving orders they realized how lucrative it could be.
“We were just messing around, and the next thing you know, we’re making real money from real products,” Blosser said.
But their path to success was not unmet by challenges along the way, including the process of figuring out which type of paper was best to mount the designs on.
“We spent probably a month, maybe two months trying to figure out the best way to put these things together because the resin ruins paper, so we had to try tons of different types of incredibly expensive paper,” Blosser said. “We ended up finding one that works very well.”
The duo has invested about $700 of their own money into Athenian Openers since it began, he said.
The length of time it takes to make a bottle opener varies depending upon the order, Blosser said.
“If they place an order for an Athens one, we already have that template made so we just print it out, cut it out and place it,” he said. “The resin takes about 48 hours to dry. All in all, it takes a few minutes, maybe 10 minutes at most to actually put the thing together, and we just let it dry.”
{{tncms-asset app="editorial" id="6d6eb488-fb6d-11e5-9b40-5fcb0c072d26"}}
The graduating seniors also want to make the bottle openers "college student-proof," or unable to be easily broken during a night of fun.
“They are completely waterproof,” Gehring said. “They’re very durable. You drop them in a cup of water, they’re going to be fine.”
Though satisfied with the level of success the business has had so far, Blosser said he is always looking for ways to improve the products. He and Gehring also plan to get the business officially licensed.
“I can always kind of tweak it and change it,” Blosser said. “It’s a really cool creative outlet for me.”
@megankhenry
