The Krink story in The New York Times Magazine

I don’t have access to The New York Times Magazine here in Australia so I didn’t find out about this until Razor Apple linked to it, but the most recent publication (the one with a soldier holding a gun on the front cover) features a story on Krink’s unique history as not just a tool for graffiti artists, but for all artists in general.

From Tag Sale by Rob Walker:

The evolution of KR’s ink from something a guy made to illegally tag city streets into a brand available in slick retail settings mirrors the way graffiti — or the graffiti aesthetic — has been absorbed into pop culture over a period of decades. Growing up in Queens in the 1980s, Costello was exposed to an earlier iteration of graffiti. This was back when a lot more people called it rank vandalism, and “street art” had yet to become a tactic used to market cars and electronics — or a look mimicked by tony fashion designers. Some at the time used home-brew ink markers; Costello recalls a recipe involving mimeograph paper soaked in alcohol overnight and mixed with a bit of nail-polish remover. A felt chalkboard eraser — stolen school supplies were a common base material — completed a tool for making a “mop tag” (the makeshift marker being the “mop”).

The formula he developed — he’s cagey about specifics — resulted in a metallic look and an expressionist drip effect. He sometimes scrawled the word “Krink” on the side of soda bottles that he filled with the stuff for friends, but that was more of a joke than a branding strategy. It wasn’t until around 2000, after he returned to New York, that the owners of Alife, a street-culture store on the Lower East Side, suggested it could sell. It did: 20 bottles, then 40, then 80. Over time, Costello started working with a manufacturer to make $10 “squeeze markers” (a bit like a shoe-polish bottle) and more penlike markers with wide tips ($8) that fill with ink through a pump-action mechanism. There are now nine Krink colors.

For those who don’t know, Krink is as an all-purpose ink that’s permanent and waterproof.

Previously on Doobybrain.com: Krink products

And just because I can, here is a photo of my bottle of Krink back at home. Ok, here’s another one.