Doing Well While Doing Good

In 1983, Torone and a fellow employee started a 6,000-square-foot commercial shop, Stantone Graphics, in Manhattan. The two opened the shop with four presses and no customers, but their former employer fed them trade work, and before long they stood on their own.

"The competition was tremendous, and turnaround time of the job was always a pressure," says Torone. Doing work for CVS, the New York Stock Exchange, and numerous ad agencies, Stantone Graphics specialized in critical color work and constantly had graphic designers looking over their shoulders to O.K. proofs.