Philosophy

We are Knock Knock, purveyor of witty books and gifts since sometime in 2002. We create products that bring humor, creativity, and smarts to everyday life.

We believe in the Golden Rule, friendly customer service, and shipping quality merchandise on time. We suffer fools not gladly, but for the most part we actually like other human beings. Our customers comprise the impish, the dapper, the droll, the young-at-heart, those who prefer the humor of the truth to false feel-good affirmations.

Knock Knock High Five Nifty NoteOn the highfalutin front, Knock Knock seeks to integrate art and commerce. Our inspirations are Charles and Ray Eames and Tibor Kalman, designers who refused compartmentalization and brought intelligence, aesthetics, and creativity to everything they touched.

Rather than a product category, material, or target market, Knock Knock’s unifying force is a sensibility. We channel that sensibility into designing and manufacturing original products, selling primarily to retailers. Also, we read a lot. Following are a few things we believe:

Ethics and decency are immeasurably important.
Products should be created with care, whether mass produced or handmade.
Every once in a while it’s good to notice quality design.
Craft is important for the soul as well as the hands and eyes.
Art is not necessarily superior to craft.
Humor makes everything better.
Smartness is fun.
Empty feel-good affirmations are an instant gratification of diminishing returns—slyly interpreted truths last longer.
Passion, curiosity, and enthusiasm can make anything interesting.
Good should be rewarded.
Problems should be discussed and resolved.
Self-awareness is underrated.
Mistakes should be admitted and learned from.
Common sense is uncommon.
Ego is annoying.
Turn signals should be used.
Even though it’s possible to use fewer words than more, why?