Don’t toss this one out – the Cuppow is a keeper.

By Chris Leo Palermino

Two Somerville-based artists hope to redefine the to-go coffee cups that people have come to know and take for granted.

Cuppow, a new product created by Joshua Resnikoff and Aaron Panone, offers an alternative option to single-use paper coffee cups by repurposing canning jars as portable coffee cups.

Started within the walls of the multi-disciplinary workspace/studio Fringe Union in Union Square, Cuppow is a leak-proof, recyclable, durable, clean BPA-free lid specifically made for canning jars.

An engineer by day, Panone combined his skills with an eco-friendly sentiment. “I wanted to make the product look good, and stay really simple and clean. Since I am an engineer, I tend to design items around utility. Designing plastic parts for manufacturing is a specialty field that I have been interested for awhile,” Panone remarked.

Although a simple idea, it has been well-received. “People are either like, ‘Man, why didn’t I think of that?’ or they call us ‘hipsters’ or something. I can deal with both of those, because the response has been so overwhelmingly positive,” Panone continued.

Regardless of the apparent simplicity, the product required lots of time being developed, manufactured and patented. They had to put money into patenting it, which was risky as it was hard to predict the response to the product. Yet, the initial rush of online orders was more than expected, and they have had lots of blog and press buzz.

The marketing and sales aspect of the business has been a new foray for the two creative types. “We are working with a handful of retailers in the Boston area, in other areas of the country, and even internationally to try to get the product out there. We have been learning a lot every day about marketing and distribution and sales. It is pretty fascinating,” Panone said.

Resnikoff and Panone made sure to keep the planning, developing and marketing of Cuppow local. The packaging is made by Mike Dacey of Repeat Press, which is also part of Fringe and Somerville-based Stebs Shinnerer from Paper Fortress Films developed the promotional video.

“This product is kind of a case study on what kind of product could be created in an environment like Fringe,” Panone mused.

While Resnikoff and Panone are realistic about the ebbs and flows of marketing a niche product such as Cuppow, they have high aspirations for the success of Cuppow and other products going into the future.

“We hope that this product can continue to stimulate our local economy, by either direct contract work for Cuppow or by providing publicity for the designers/creatives who worked on the project,” Panone said.