In a chic New York Meatpacking District building that provides office space to startups, hundreds of entrepreneurs are trying to change the world. Phones ring on reclaimed wooden desks behind glass walls; designer heels click against hardwood floors. In the chrome kitchen, someone is always pouring coffee. Here, you'll find startups looking to revolutionize file-sharing and startups aiming to become the next household name in social networking.

One such company is banking on a seismic shift in the American attitude toward marijuana. Rodawg, helmed by founder Joshua Gordon, wants to become the first luxury accessory brand associated with the cannabis industry. And no, it doesn't matter one bit that marijuana is illegal in the state Rodawg calls home.

"You walk into a dispensary, and you'll get $200 worth of cannabis in a plastic bag," says Gordon. "Then you'll buy a bottle of Johnnie Walker Blue Label at your local liquor store, and it'll come in a felt box, an impressive bottle. That's how we envision cannabis in the future."

Gordon has delivered this line before; it's something of a mission statement for Rodawg. Having spent winters with his family in Colorado, Gordon has witnessed public opinion sway toward marijuana legalization. Colorado legalized cannabis for medical use in 2000, and became the first state to allow sale of recreational cannabis in late 2013. A 2013 Gallup poll revealed 58% of Americans are now in favor of legalizing marijuana for recreational use.

"There's been a paradigm shift in the way people are thinking about cannabis," Gordon says. "That led us to create a product that would fit the lifestyle of the regular person, not the stereotypical stoner sitting on his couch, smoking a bong, playing Nintendo."

In short, Rodawg wants to make weed classy.

Image: Rodawg

The company's first product for the discerning cannabis consumer is a flat, rectangular tin that bears the Rodawg name and logo; it looks like a classed-up version of the repurposed Altoids tins of yore. Inside, depending on the size of the case, are three or five empty cones of natural, unbleached paper imported from the Netherlands, complete with a filter. A five-pack tin costs $7.99; a three-pack costs $5.99.

While the joint case is currently the only product available for consumers, Rodawg's product line for marijuana dispensaries is more robust. The line includes glass jars for storing cannabis flower and plastic containers with child-proof caps, a small plastic orb to house cannabis concentrates, test tube-shaped containers for individual joints, and biodegradable pouches for storing edibles. He shows me a glass jar Rodawg produced for one West Coast dispensary. The outline of a sun is etched into the wood-finish lid, and a cream-colored label bears a colorful sun with gold lettering. It looks like the packaging for an artisanal soy candle. They bear chic, distinctive names like "The Dome" and "The Saturn," and they cost a little more than the plastic pill bottle most dispensaries use to package their bud.

"We're at a slight premium, but we believe the value is there," Gordon says. For our meeting, he wears a cranberry beanie, a gray blazer and a t-shirt bearing a faded print of a steer skull. He speaks with an easygoing drawl, but never veers into the stoner slang the industry tends to favor.

Image: Rodawg

Already, the cannabis industry is proving exceptionally lucrative for entrepreneurs like Gordon. A survey by the research arm of ArcView Group, a network of cannabis industry investors to which Rodawg belongs, valued the legal cannabis market at $1.53 billion in 2013, with a projected 68% increase for 2014.

A graduate of Fordham Business School, he founded Rodawg with his own savings and a small cash infusion from his father, who continues to hold a stake in the company. An angel investor later contributed an extra $500,000 to Rodawg's coffers. He plans to seek another round of funding later this year.

The whole enterprise seems pretty audacious, considering marijuana is still illegal in New York. I picture the slick office space periodically interrupted by police dogs sniffing desk drawers in search of illicit product. But that's really not the case. "Are there certain things we need to be careful about? Sure," says Gordon. "But in the end, we're selling packaging."

Being an ancillary business, one that never touches marijuana directly, means Rodawg can run its business out of New York without incident, albeit with the help of a legal team.

"You can fill the case with any kind of herb, hand-rolled cigarettes, cloves, whatever your vice is," says Gordon. "We're not promoting illegal activity, but at the same time, you sell an Altoids tin and someone repurposes that…"

Image: Rodawg

The biggest challenge for a cannabis industry startup, it turns out, is not skirting the law. Rather, it's the lack of clear-cut regulations governing the legal cannabis industry. Given Rodawg sells luxe packaging to dispensaries in states where medical and retail cannabis is legal, the company must comply with each state's requirements for the packaging and labeling of cannabis products. Some types of packaging must be child-proof, others merely tamper-proof; some packaging must be completely opaque, while other packages can be a little translucent; edibles, like a chocolate bar, must be portioned off into "doses" rather than sold as a single unit. And regulations seem to change in an instant.

If Rodawg's aim is to become the fashionable face of cannabis, Gordon has already assembled the right ingredients: the cramped but bustling office space, a small army of young staffers well versed in sound bites — "What industry, outside of maybe Bitcoin, is moving this fast and has the opportunity to grow so big?" chief brand strategist David Goldberg quizzes me — and a product line that wouldn't look out of place on a vintage coffee table or beer garden patio.

If all goes well, Gordon says, the company will be rolling out a new website and a more robust product offering on 4/20 — brand consistency at its finest.

Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.