Foundry Collective
Ten years ago the design scene in Oklahoma was somewhat bleak. Heck, four years ago, when I was a sophomore beginning my design classes, we were told to look to Dallas and Austin if we wanted to stay close to home and actually get a graphic design job. Want a paid design internship in the city? Nope. Nope.
Today is a different story thanks to fresh creatives who are choosing to stay in Oklahoma and cultivate something great. Foundry Collective gives me hope for the Oklahoma design state of affairs. Please check out their website, blog, and Twitter and marvel at their raw talent and impeccable style.
What is Foundry Collective?
An excuse for neither one of us to have a 9-5…
For the sake of public relations though, Foundry Collective is the collaboration between Scott Hill and Paul Wilkes for making pretty things. We bottom line it at making great and beautiful work that functions well. We’ve worked together on anything from campaigns to print pieces to photographs to events. We have a quite the passion for the film and music industry that shows through in a lot of our portfolio.
How long has Foundry Collective been around?
That’s a tough question…
It probably started in Intro to Ad/Design our sophomore year of college…or in 2007 at the Non’s release of Paper City when we joked about starting a business…or a year ago when we started working together on a bunch of projects…or 2010 when we just up and incorporated because we were working together full time on a number of contracts. We kicked it all off with the release of The Non’s sophomore album, Tadaima in January.
Do you have a favorite project that you have done so far?
It has to be a tie between two projects we’re currently working on, both campaigns. We’re working on an extensive campaign for Buffalofitz’s upcoming EP release of “The Belle of St. Louis” that includes a website, photography, release shows, album artwork, and the whole works to have a great album release. You can see the beginnings of it at www.belleofstlouis.com. The other is a custom campaign for Parsons Construction to help get the word out about the gorgeous work they do. We’re working on a documentary about his work with local cinematographer Andrew Patterson, new site, a line of shirts, and a number of other collateral pieces.
You know you’re in a cool line of work when you get really stoked for meetings because each meeting brings something new and exciting to the table.
What is your take on design in Oklahoma and Oklahoma in general?
We’re really excited about the state of Oklahoma’s creativity. I grew up in Dallas and Scott is from Tulsa. We both made the conscious decision to stay in Oklahoma. In doing so we also made the decision to contribute to the culture and life of Oklahoma by making things happen. At the end of the day it’s a bit of a mantra that we live by – Do. Cool. Stuff. Whether that’s throwing a music event this year or being a part of a festival or just creating things that people want to go to and be a part of. I was talking with another art director the other day and we had the conversation that if (Peter Drucker style) every business did their part to help the community around them then what a cool community we would have.
Oklahoma has a really great community and we’re excited to be a part of it. There’s this amazing feeling here that everyone is rooting for the success of the state and it’s culture. In all of my travels I haven’t seen that anywhere else. (that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist elsewhere but it’s prevalent here)
Dream Client?
Nickelback….a full rebrand. Seriously though, think about it. If we could somehow successfully make Nickelback cool….what couldn’t we do??
Advice for aspiring graphic designers/creatives?
Remember all those cool ideas that college classes cultivated? Find a way to translate those into the ‘real world’ and make them happen. Do whatever it takes. Don’t be afraid to be creative and don’t let anyone take that away from you.
For entrepreneurial creatives that jump off into self employment, don’t let it get you down. When you’re up it feels like you have the whole world and when you’re down it feels like you’ll never be up again. It’s a roller coaster of a ride but it’s worth every single minute of the experience. I’ve been on my own for 5 years now and it’s a killer place to be.
