The Story of Mo

As I’ve moved through adulthood, I’ve found myself appreciating space more deeply, fewer things, but with more intention behind what stays.

One day, I stepped into my parents’ garage and actually noticed the several large moving boxes stacked to the side. They've sat there for many years. Inside the boxes were my dad’s remaining inventory from a venture he started over 30 years ago.

Foam hats shaped like steel beams, "Steel-Heads".

They were created in the early ’90s and sold during football season to local Pittsburgh businesses as well as fans at tailgates.

That day in the garage, seeing the boxes clearly for the first time, I had an idea: to turn what was left of the inventory into something we could experience and share again, an archival-type moment.

We certainly didn't need the amount we still had. But we couldn’t just get rid of these hats, they carried sentimental value. I still remember it clearly, when my dad started getting more orders and things began to pick up. The part that always stayed with me was our basement. My mom and dad, my two brothers, and I, all under one roof, moving through the process together, packaging hats.

That energy felt big to me as a kid. Seeing my parents excited, and getting to take part in the process, even in the small way of stapling the bags together. Looking back, it wasn’t just the hats. It was the feeling of being included in the trying. With nostalgia in mind, I really wanted to create something fun that reflected the childhood aspect of this memory. I kept imagining a mascot, a personified steel beam, that was a 2000s-inspired cartoon. A tribute to steel, football, and my dad’s business, Mo’s Toys.

Mo, the steel beam, came to life. ✍🏻 Shout out to Rudy Illustration

This became an exercise in building an archive, and I’m glad for the way it has come together. It felt familiar, like a generational echo. And just like that, we were together again, all under one roof, in the basement. Looking at Pappy's invention, 30 years later, with my kids.

📸 Photography by Blu Hippo Photography.