What happens when an art piece goes viral? For one 23-year-old, it meant financial stability, a new apartment, and $80,000 tied up in delayed orders.

Oskar Flodstrom's pill bottle side table went viral and became the basis for his first product release with NO LOGO.

NO LOGO Oskar Flodstrom, 23, went viral after creating a pill-bottle side table.

With NO LOGO's help, he brought the design to market and generated $150,000 in two weeks.

The hit let him leave swim teaching, but brought production delays and cash-flow pressure.

When I called Oskar Flodstrom on a Wednesday, late morning, the 23-year-old Los Angeles designer politely asked whether we could talk while he was "kind of working on something." He was restoring a Sonneman Orbiter lamp he had picked up on Facebook Marketplace for about $30.

If he cleaned it up well, he said, it could be worth thousands.

"I live on Facebook Marketplace," Flodstrom told me.

He has developed an eye for overlooked objects: He recently found a Paul Smith rug for $50 that he believes could fetch far more, up to 10 grand, after a professional cleaning.

In Los Angeles, at least, he's noticed that convenience can outweigh price, and many sellers, particularly those with money, would rather have an item gone than hold out for a better offer.

That instinct for salvaging and transforming discarded materials helped turn Flodstrom into a working artist — though he still sounds surprised by the title.

"I wake up, and I'm an artist, which doesn't even feel real to say," he mused.

Flodstrom grew up in Illinois, skipped college, and moved to Los Angeles with about $400.

NO LOGO Flodstrom grew up in Peru, Illinois, a town of roughly 10,000 people that he describes as "the middle of nowhere." At 18, he chose to skip college and drove west with about $400, an apartment found through Roomster, and a plan to make rent by delivering DoorDash orders.

"Besides those details, there was, like, no direction, and I was cool with it," he said.