Designer helps move Macs

By: SHANNON WINGARD - For the North County Times | Friday, June 8, 2007 8:00 PM PDT ∞

CARLSBAD ---- For former automobile designer Michael Santoro, using his creative energies to develop cases and accessories for Macintosh laptop computers was an easy transition.

Early in his career, he learned that with designing, "it doesn't matter what you do, it's the same process."

His Carlsbad-based company, called DesignStar and founded 10 years ago, designs and produces carriers and accessories for Macintosh products and some carriers for IBM computers.

The company's mainstay is its MacCase products, that now includes a leather collection of shoulder carriers, leather sleeves, accessory bags and iPod carriers.

Santoro said his is the first line of leather carriers and accessories for Mac products. The bags sell for $200 and the sleeves for $90 to $100 depending on size.

"I'm an Apple guy," he said. "When it came to designing stuff, it had to work for me."

The company also sells nonleather products, including binders, sleeves, backpacks, slings and briefcases.

To Santoro, the MacCase carriers aren't just carriers ---- they have a window to show the Mac logo.

"It's something that makes the product special, and allows the end user to interact with the product in a way that wasn't done (before)," he said.

Before founding DesignStar, Santoro spent five years working for Chrysler in Detroit where he was a designer of the 1995 Car of the Year, the Cirrus. He also designed the 1995 Dodge Stratus and did the preliminary work on the 1996-2006 Jeep Wrangler.

After leaving Chrysler, he was a consulting designer for New York-based Walter Dorwin Teague, where he worked on projects for Rubbermaid and Samsung and created conceptual design interiors for Boeing.

In addition, he also did consultant work for the Vector M12 and the Lamborghini Jota sports cars.

However, he said a feeling that he had accomplished his goals in the automotive industry led him to create DesignStar. "My heart was restless," he said.

The company's first product was the StudioPack for art supplies.

He said the idea stemmed from his experience teaching design at his alma mater, Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, where he earned his bachelor's degree in industrial design. He said he had looked nationwide to find a carrier for his art supplies, but couldn't.

He created the first MacCase in 1999. A variety of other products have been added since, and a new tote and briefcase will be launched soon.

For the man who grew up "wanting to be part of something bigger than me," Santoro said he has achieved that goal with DesignStar.

Because Mac users tend to be loyal customers, he said, they tend to be interested in using Mac-specific products: "These people will pay for a quality product."

Contact freelance writer Shannon Wingard at scwing711@gmail.com.

Name: DesignStar

Owner: Michael Santoro

Address: 5674 El Camino Real, Suite P, in Carlsbad

Phone: (760) 602-0807

Products: Designs MacCase and CasePC carriers and laptop accessories, which are sold online and at retail stores in about 26 countries

Web site: http://www.mac-case.com/

Established: 1997

Employees: Two

Estimated gross sales for 2007: $1.5 million

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