To a T: Design Shop Shows World 'Watertown Strong'

The constant buzzing of the phone's ring tone was seemingly endless as customers crowd into the small storefront of Watertown's Graphic Connections at the intersection of Mt. Auburn and Common streets. 

Inside the cramped showroom, office manager and designer Caryn Case was writing down orders which were placed into a bulging yellow file folder resting on the desk in the middle of the shop.

"This is today's orders," said Paul Der Boghosian, the owner of the screen printing and embroidery business he founded in 1986. 

"Yesterday, it was this large," he said, holding his hands a foot apart.

The customers – from as close by as good friends living a block away to those placing orders from overseas via the Internet – were purchasing two new designs printed on a wide variety of T-shirts, sweatshirts and singlets: a mock up of a Boston Marathon race number and, by far the most popular, one that simply reads "Watertown Strong."

All to remember an unbelievable week for the region and Watertown.

"It's been a surreal experience since Watertown has been altered through a horrific act of terrorism," said Der Boghosian, referring to the past week which brought the attention of the entire planet to the small Boston suburb. 

Friday's events – a middle-of-the-night Wild West-style shootout, a day of frayed nerves as law enforcement search the city as residents hunkered down and the celebration when suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was captured – also brought the community together like never before, said Der Boghosian.

"While everyone was hoping and praying for a successful outcome, no one believed it would end here because this is a quaint suburban town," said Der Boghosian whose shop, at the current location since 1993, is well-known for creating promotional products and where students from nearby Watertown High School have come for the past two decades to purchase their "Raider" gear.

"People wanted to feel part of supporting the victims and show their solidarity that we are a strong community that support our heroes in pubic safety," said Der Boghosian, who lives in the town's East End where most of police activity took place Friday although he was away. 

And what better way then putting that pride out front for the world to see on a T-shirt? 

The Watertown Strong message – which Der Boghosian has trademarked – is the second of the designs as the shop produced a shirt earlier in the week to remember the terror victims and the resiliency of the region.

After the bombings, which killed three and wounded nearly 200 along Boston's Boylston Street last Monday, April 15, Case immediately began creating a design resembling a race number – including the safety pins – which the 27,000 runners wore. 

After removing corporate symbols from the actual number, the design included the number 41513 (for the race date April 15, 2013) and "Boston" across the top. 

The store was ready to begin selling the new line on Friday. But that launch would be delayed.

"Paul texted me at 1 o'clock in the morning about what was happening so I was stuck in Nashua and then became glued to the television for the rest of the day like everyone else," said Case.

It was only after the capture when Der Boghosian thought of putting a townie touch to the popular "Boston Strong" slogan which was reaching a fever pitch since Monday.

Der Boghosian had a worker typeset the phrase "Watertown Strong' and his employees began working straight through the weekend to have products ready for sale Sunday morning.

"[The crew] did a remarkable job cranking them out," said Case, who is a runner herself. 

And it didn't hurt business that the shop is literally a hop, skip and jump from Franklin Street where the surviving Boston Marathon bombing suspect was captured.

"It's been a blur the number of people who have been coming through the door," he noted.

On the business side of the ledger, "selling $8 T-shirts is not the most profitable of items," said Der Boghosian.

But what the designs and products have accomplished is bringing awareness to the business and his brand "and will have some impact on our business over time." 

For now, he is proud that for each sale a donation is being made to the OneBoston fund.

"It's so much about being strong in what has been a trying week and that's what Watertown is about," said Der Boghosian.