CLEVELAND — A low-cost spinning toothbrush. A plastic paint can with a spout. A kids' tricycle with a built-in squirt gun. Each started as an idea at a company run by two former college buddies and now operating out of a 76-year-old converted church.

Nottingham-Spirk Design Associates has sold its ideas to a variety of companies, including Newell Rubbermaid, Little Tikes, Huffy, Invacare, Procter & Gamble and Black & Decker.

Product designs emerge from brainstorming sessions in which designers try to make keen observations about ordinary things.

"What we have found is that by being outside of the bureaucracy of the average corporation, we're free to do anything we want," the tall, thin, often smiling co-chief executive, John Nottingham, said. "If we come up with something, then we'll show it to a company, and if it's interested then we can make a deal."

Cooper Woodring, interim executive director of Industrial Designers Society of America, said product design firms generally work for corporate clients, consulting on specific projects. Nottingham-Spirk stands out nationally in its determination to come up with ideas independently.

It's important to come up with new ideas to start new ventures or jazz up sales of established ones, he said.

"Ask American manufacturing companies today, and they will probably say 70 percent of profits comes from products they didn't have three years ago," Woodring said.

CONSUMER FRIENDLY

There's millions, even billions, to be made from products that take off with consumers.

The idea for Sherwin-Williams paint cans with twist tops and built-in pour spouts began when designers realized from experience that metal paint cans could be messy and cumbersome.

"We couldn't think of another consumer product that you need a screwdriver to open and a hammer to close," said designer Craig Saunders.

A Nottingham-Spirk patent also led to the spinoff SpinBrush Co., which made what eventually became the Crest SpinBrush electric toothbrush. The idea grew out of a patent Nottingham-Spirk obtained in the early 1990s for spinning lollipops, which became a popular children's toy.

Nottingham-Spirk, with about 70 employees, also designed the Swiffer SweeperVac that has become a well-known product for Procter & Gamble Co., a swivel Christmas tree stand, hand-held tools that are easier to hold and a spinning brush for washing dishes.

INNOVATION CENTER

Three years ago, Nottingham-Spirk spent $15 million to buy and remodel the former First Christ Scientist Church, built in 1931. The design firm had been in a factory building and a large house before consolidating in the church.

A large pipe organ that came with the church plays occasionally (helped by a computer) for visitors to the redesigned building, which the company calls Nottingham-Spirk Innovation Center.

The church pews have been replaced by work stations. There's a colorful domed ceiling inside the former sanctuary, but no stained glass windows or any other religious symbol. Former Sunday school classrooms now hold tools and machines to form and mold metals and plastics, where designers' ideas can be turned into prototypes.

The goal of staff brainstorming is a "wow" idea. Designers listen to an idea presentation and vote one of three ways: wow, that's nice or who cares?

Even an idea that doesn't dazzle at first has value, co-CEO John Spirk said.

"Sometimes the timing isn't right, or we're looking for another piece," he said. "We're constantly referring to things we put on the shelf maybe 10 or 15 years ago. We're not trying to solve all the problems of the world, at least not right away."