Blake Kimmel

Mayor Hickenlooper Jiberish Visit Video

2010-02-03T20:09:00.001-08:00

Jiberish Clothing has spent months supporting local designer and construction man, Drew Witmer, while he renovated a dull, sand tone wine shop in the Lower Highlands Neighborhood of Denver into a vibrant and stylish garment showcase suite. Part of this was made possible by a creative loan from the Denver Office of Economic Development, which helped out Jiberish with lending during a time when traditional lending institutions were not doing so.

As a result Mayor JohN Hickenlooper made a stop by to cut the ribbon at the grand opening. I was told that news cameras and reporters would be present for this but when I showed up, I found otherwise. I ended up being the only person with a video camera there that day which was quite exciting. I took Hickenlooper aside for a few of my own questions, and finally got to put my University of Colorado Journalism degree into action.

2010!

2010-01-02T18:22:00.000-08:00

The first decade of the new millennium is in the bag. Drag yourself out of the post holiday season party slouch and start making it happen. May you excel at your passions and thrive with the company of friends and family.

Lifestream Watersystems

2009-10-25T16:58:00.000-07:00

Even though I have been designing for seven years, not once had I tinkered with the logo or identity of my parents company, Lifestream Watersystems. They work in one of the more noble and pertinent industries out there, reverse osmosis equipment engineering and production, or, more simply put, machines that turn saltwater into drinking water. This equipment becomes ever more important to embrace as our increasingly populated and thirsty world swallows up valuable freshwater reserves, endangering alpine and lake shore habitats.

I stayed within the shape of the droplet they had been using for years, and elaborated and modified the interior until we reached an appealing solution.

MYFDB

2009-10-16T02:19:00.000-07:00

Los Angeles based My Fashion Database company has been quietly building an impressively massive, motion adorned and graphically razor sharp, online fashion directory. Following in the footsteps of an internet giant, IMDB.com, which pioneered the concept for the film industry, MYFDB sets itself apart with a honed and beautiful website that is going to put it's older, movie industry comparable to shame. It is also filling a vacant online networking site niche, and those are hard to find these days. The site is finally ready for full fledged traffic, and has been getting tons of media chatter at places like the Wall Street Journal.

My cousin's BF is calling the shots over there, and was syked enough to ask me for a screen captured 'sizzle reel' of some of the features of the site. It finally is on the front page, and MYFDB is go for lift off.

Think Green

2009-04-29T23:58:00.000-07:00

A poster I did to give my University of Colorado INVS class a sample of a photoshop course proposed for a Service Learning project.

The Great Southwest

2009-04-25T13:33:00.000-07:00

For the final spring break of college my roomates set their plans on an alternative to the normal arid beach booze crushing and floozee mingling college spring break. Rent a 30 ft RV and drive from Boulder, Colorado to Las Vegas, Nevada over 6 days for a stunningly bargain price and soak up the sights and sounds of the Great Southwest with a fully stocked base camp on wheels. Late March can be a nippy season for high desert camping so being able to drive the rig to camping spots, monuments and viewpoints with no dwelling set up beyond extending the lateral living room space enhancing winglet was relaxingly crucial. This thing was a beauty, and had only 600 miles on it when we picked it up. Even better, we could leave it in Las Vegas and fly home. I got equipped for this trip with a new Mamiya C330 Medium Format camera with 8 rolls of Provia color slide film, a Canon Digital Rebel for timelapses and my Sony HDR HC1

We cruised to Moab, Utah the first night to check out some of the spectacular red rock structures of Arches National Park. At one point parked at a trailhead in Arches, a group of young adult males walked by our RV as we were lounging and said, "Hey look its just like Borat." GOOOFUS. Making the turn from Interstate 70 onto the road that heads south we saw our first sunset of the trip...

We definitely wanted to escape the RV Park all amenities served establishments that we were bound to frequent on the trip. Leaving an open day in the schedule we proceeded south on Highway 191 the evening of our full day in Moab to drop anchors at hte most pristine remote location and actually go to sleep in the same place we woke up. After some internet research from family back home it appeared the camp ground "Gouldings" deep in the Najavo Indian Reservation in Monument Valley on the Utah Arizona border was worth a bounce. SUre enough, it was; and with winding canyons, steep elevated slick rock and even an arch all within a rocks toss of the Recreational Vehicle we were SYKED on exploring.

The next day we zipped down to the Grand Canyon to mingle at some seriously touristy viewpoints. On the way we drove for three hours through stretches of desolate Navajo barren land. For about 50 miles of this stretch of road North East of Tuba City, AZ I noticed an electric railway. What a peculiar site it was to see a european looking electric engine creep by carrying flatbed cars. If you have ever moseyed through this area and had a similar spike of curiosity about this strange sight, then read about the Black Mesa/Lake Powell RR.

The Grand canyon was spectacular as always. Lots of fellow Southwestern globe trotters were there bumping elbows with us trying to GTS (get the shot). I have visited this place once before when I was younger, but hadn't actually breached the canyon rim and walked down into it. We took a light 15 minute walk down the Bright Angel Trail and got a whole new perspective for the size of this natural wonder.

(Click for Digital SLR panorama)

(Click for Digital SLR panorama)
A light walk a few hundred feet into the GC and some golden hour photos and we had seen enough, geared up the truck and headed south to Williams, AZ. Forget about $40.00 RV parks, we decided to get frugal and convenient by parking at the Safeway right on the main street. We are now on Historic Route 66, and ready to rage. We went to Rod's Steakhouse, a delicious restaurant with bountiful southwestern cow flare.

Recovering from throbbing Route 66 drinking headaches in the morning we refueled at our Safeway and got ready to drive to Lake Havasu, Arizona. This afternoon I was delighted to be reunited with In N Out. We stopped at WalMart to get floaty toys and sunscreen for our pontoon boating adventure the next day. We played some catch and then checked into a relaxing waterside camping(parking) spot. We rose early to boat and got some wakeboarding in but by 11PM a torrential wind storm picked up. Massive lake swells crashed over our bow before captain Tim Swales figured that going as fast as possible into the waves made the rest of the ride less like 'Deadliest Catch'. Back in the canal we went and bought beer. While waiting for us to return, Jimmy's hat blew into the lake.

I did some timelapses too with my Digital camera plugged into my laptop for remote shots. I thought I would get more but we didn't spend nearly as much time sitting around at epic vistas as we all hoped we would.

Jack Boyd Photo Design Collaboration

2009-01-11T17:20:00.000-08:00

My good friend Jack Boyd goes to the Art Institute in Denver and has taken a number of very revealing photography classes. For his Advertising final, he created the concept of the New Antique District for his project, as a hypothetical antique shopping neighborhood in Denver to base his photo subjects. Design and copy are pivotal parts to delivering an advertising message and he asked me if I could do some for him.

Our finals weeks were very close together so I had almost no time to work but was able to put a few compositions together. This is the first time I have worked with fashion photos but it felt very natural and easy. I think the best part is that unlike standalone work, the design is not the main focus of the image, making everything look a little better. I have seen some amazing model based design compositions throughout the net. Someone pay me so I can do more!

Dew Tour and FuelTV

2008-12-26T21:49:00.000-08:00

This past weekend Matt Yerman and myself were asked by the awesome folks over at Fuse Marketing to hang art for the Dew Tour Ski and Snowboard competition in Breckenridge, Colo. This three stop winter action sports tour pulls five local artists and musicians from each stop to participate in the Dew Underground program which offers visitors a glimpse into some of the local culture and artistry.

They set up an impressive inflatable dome at the River Walk Complex alongside installations from Nike 6.0, Toyota, FuelTV and other attendees of the pop up tent schwag corrale, Dew Underground staffers entertained passerbys with free Mountain Dew, Vinyl stickers and of course, our art. I hung some more Crowning Gallery Event pieces as I have been swamped with school with no time to make new stuff.

Tim from Fuse was syked enough on me to forward my work to FuelTV. About 2 weeks before the event I was contacted by them to do a 2 minute interview! I of course said yes, and in between two hectic finals last week was able to jam down to Denver to talk about myself. The producer Drew, used to work for FuelTV but got sick of the cubicle and now has my dream job; traveling the globe with a high def camera, a microphone and a laptop to cut segments for the channel. He did a great job editing the piece and was able to skillfully incorporate standard definition B-Roll design lapses I gave him into his high def final.

Anytime you are rambling into the microphone about how cool you are, its tough to guess whether you sound like a grateful and confident up and coming artisan or a complete clown. But after seeing the final product I am not ashamed, I think it came out quite nice. I was then informed on Saturday while spending time shredding with good friends and company in celebration of my 22nd anniversary of birth that I was on NBC during afternoon coverage of the event. STOKED. Check out the interview below… All pictures above were shot by Jiberish photo foot soldier, Chip Kalback.

The Crowning Gallery Event

2008-11-29T16:59:00.000-08:00

Well this is certainly a late update because I have been non stop busy, and unable to blahhhg. This summer I had the chance to be in an Art Gallery in Dnever! Woo! Via Dave Boger of Jiberish Clothing's awesome networking skills we befriended Mike Walter, a gallery owner working on Denver's emerging art boulevard, Santa Fe Street, and were lucky enough to be offered a month show featuring the artists behind Jiberish. I was joined by design phenom Matt Yerman, photographer Jack Boyd, Jiberish OG art man, John Kirk, photographer Chip Kalback and the newest addition to the Jiberish creative clan, Michael Coriano.

I wrapped up spring finals week, did a quick jet set back to CA to see the fam, and then returned to Colorado with just 3 and 1/2 weeks to grind out some gallery items before the June 6th opening. After 3 days of failing miserably to stay on task in the distracting party junk show that is Boulder in the Summertime I decided to pack up the mainframe and move into an open room at Gabe Anderson's house. So it was thus at what Jack coined 'Art Camp' I would spend the next weeks pumping out Illustrator and Photoshop design work and get a taste for the lifestyle of a gallery artist. Struggling to stay motivated on the end result while burning countless hours daily in front of the computer, ALONE, I have a new appreciation for the commitment and resolve of people like Jason Thielke, Shepard Fairey and other like minded gallery mercenaries put up to do what they do year after year.

All in all 'Art Camp' went well, and I was able to create a three canvas set based off a slide tray illustration I had done years ago...

I also did a large 4' by 6' collage panel of four different digital design pieces. After, numerous Home Depot binge sessions, and 16 hours of straight construction and adhesion, this monstrosity came to life at 4:45AM the morning before the show.

The gallery opening itself was quite triumphant. It was slated for a 'First Friday Art Walk' an event that Santa Fe is (in)famous for. Although I had heard it described numerous times as nothing short of a practical pub crawl for art interested Denver-ites, I definitely did not grasp the magnitude of the gathering until I saw it first hand. The dozen or two art galleries peppered up and down Santa Fe all switch up their displays and then feed everyone cocktails from 3 until 11 PM. As the sun dipped behind the Rockies, the street continued to swell with pedestrians, to the point where walking was difficult. If you haven't been to a First Friday before, hit it up, its a rager!

Balancing partying and looking like a respectable young artisan, I was greeted by a buyer interested in the triptych canvas set around 6:00 in the evening. After jiving with the friendly gentlemen for a few minutes he pulled the trigger and that was that, my first fine art sale went down. The lucky recipients are the owner and wife of Denver based production studio Uptown 6. Apparently their new canvases are adorning one of the creative spaces in their workplace, which makes me very happy that they are getting plenty of use!

All in all it was a great experience to start the summer, and an awesome event for Jiberish to have under its belt. I wish I had more time to prepare and hope that I will have the chance to do something like this again in the future with many months to design and plan. Big thanks to Mike Walter the Jiberish family and my parents who supported me while I was grindin'.

Freeskier's Mike Thomas showed up and pumped out a sweet video as well. Click the image above to go watch!

Scoot on over to ABSTRACTmall.com to pick up canvases and trinkets from the event. Click here to go now!

Jiberish Media Kit

2008-03-06T23:23:00.001-08:00

I just finished the Jiberish Media Kit that will be sent out to retail locations all across the globe accompanied by their 08/09 line sheet which is very sick as well. Matt Yerman, and Chris Fry of Denver's Design Syndicate the400 straight killed it on the line this year. I squeaked one in there super sketchy style but it worked out in the end.

The Jiberish Staff has really been stepping things up with new over seas production connections, courting approval for a formidable business credit line and a continued "Anything Possible" excited attitude about growing their company in the fierce and challenging textile and garment industry.

This Is Grassroots

2007-11-23T23:20:00.000-08:00

The SPOTL!GHT Project DVD is finally shipping. The box art is Kinko's crisp and the DVD spray paint is fresh. It is shipping a little late, but we thought that it was more important to have the DVD brimming with bonus content and unique menu navigation. Extra features include New Zealand throwback, Additive Free ABC, Jiberish Fashion Shoot, Garage Drop, Canadian Rollercoaster and many others.

The DVD is available for $9.45 at ABSTRACTmall Swurve over thurr and cop one.
Peep the trailer.

theSPOTL!GHTproject Finished

2007-11-06T13:19:00.000-08:00

The movie is done. It rounds out to about 19 minutes and is available for download or on DVD. Im pretty stoked on how it came together. Huge shout out to Level 1, Waterville Valley and Jeff Loewe for floating some footy over. Cop either version and scope it.

theSPOTL!GHTproject Trailer

2007-09-24T23:26:00.000-07:00

I am trying to make a ski movie, and its really hard. This is the trailer, about the only thing done. It is composed of a mixture of footage that I shot from Colorado public parks, urban and the two closed shoots I was lucky enough to attend, as well as scattered footage from Level 1, Shades of Gray, ATA and Poor Boyz. I am anxious to make more headway on the main project to see if this much footage from ulterior sources can flow in a time line, because usually it doesn't. But with school and life it is difficult to go enough places with enough people to make a movie. It is actually so difficult that I have decided a movie can't be made right as a full time student and this winter I am going to film less and shreddd more.

theSPOTL!GHTproject is a Jiberish/ABSTRACTmall/Level 1 collabo and the first aMcinema presentation ever. It will be digitally distributed on ABSTRACTmall.com for download, the same price you would pay for a Mike Jones song on iTunes? Heck yeah it's the same price as a Mike Jones song on iTunes, because content is king and Court's digital download gate is LEGIT. Peep it in it's entirety on October 28th.

Blake Kimmel Freelance Designs

2007-07-22T12:24:00.000-07:00

This is the new logo for my personal freelance design. Send me an email by clicking on 'Contact Me' at the top righthand side of the page if you need creative concepts delivered...

Echo Mountain Edit

2007-05-04T18:54:00.000-07:00

A week and a half ago Matt Walker and myself went to Echo Mountain to ski for the afternoon. I had never been there before so I wanted to check it out. As a term and condition for getting a free pass, I offered to make a little edit for Jibij Pro Shop. It was bullet proof ice and fifty degrees out, which was confusing, and the skiing didn't turn out that amazing on film, but it was fun regardless. Josh Bishop came like twenty minutes before we left and got a shot or two as well. Scope it by clicking on the image below.

ChebaHUT Fabric Wares

2007-04-20T18:54:00.000-07:00

Yesterday the ChebaHUT shirts were completed and delivered. When they asked me to do a shirt back in March, I was excited to help out because I know they are some of the friendliest, dedicated and hardworking people in Boulder. We seem to have conveniently timed them to be available on April 20th, so if today has extra significance to you then perhaps you will consider buying one. Or perhaps you are enthusiastic enough about the recently implemented zero impact, bio degradable cup and packaging regimen you will buy this shirt to support a restaurant that forwards an environmentally sustainable agenda. Whatever your reason, they will be somewhere between $16.00 and $22.00 so go down there, cop one, and get kitted out!

The Jiberish Collection

2006-12-16T18:53:00.000-08:00

It has been 6 months since I began my first Jiberish piece in early May. Finishing the four pieces, doing proofs, color swatching, screen ready composites and communication with the screen printers took alot of work. But the amazing part is my piece of the project was only a very small part of all the work that went into getting the lineup ready. The Jiberish management busted their asses struggling with uncooperative production managers, limited financial resources and a diverse community of artists to get everything worked out. I had the honor of working alongside Jason Fry from Denver design syndicatethe 400 as well as Denver contemporary art guru and genuine badass Jason Thielke. I have never worked with bosses that have seen so eye to eye with me on where art should be going and for the exception of one piece everything, I submitted went in to production in its original form without any complaints or changes. On the 21st, meetings about next years lineup begin and a very special addition to the team, Matt Yerman who has already offered a mock for one of next years pieces shown in the last image below, will be joining us. The vibrant and exciting future of this company is just beginning and plans for next year already prove to be leaps and bounds ahead of 2006. Visit ABSTRACTmall to buy this years stuffff.

My First Print Ad!

2006-10-24T18:52:00.000-07:00

My debut into the world of print advertisments is bitter sweet. A full page ad in FREESKIER which circulates 80,000 copies an issue with international distribution is definitely one of if not the biggest opportunities I have had since I started design 4 years ago. I shuffled through thousands of pictures, fooled with layouts for hours and learned about CMYK proofs, but wound up leaving Craig Coker's name off the riders list in the initial submitted draft. We caught it 20 minutes later and deleted the incorrect version from the server and uploaded a fixed copy a few hours later. No worries right? Not right… somehow, even after this correction and a series of email correspondence, the WRONG version went to print. Thankfully between my email trail with the FREESKIER staff, the file modified times and Pete Drago's juggernaut business phone call skills we should be able to get compensation for this mishap. Nonetheless I am ecstatic how it came out other than the mistake. The color correction looks phenomenal, its placed in the first 3rd of the magazine, opens to the left hand side and is right next to a booster strap AD!! WOOO! Just want to send out a huge apology to Craig for this fuck up. I feel bad and we are going to have to get you a ridiculously thugged out AD before this season is through.

The New Homestead

2006-10-03T18:51:00.000-07:00

I have been meaning to write this for a while but am just now getting the chance to. My residence has now changed once again and nestled in the blustery foothills of the rocky mountains lies the new sanctuary for work, sleep, eat, drink, party and, most importantly, creativity. Its a little easier to work on stuff here than it was in the chaotic mayhem of the dorms last year. This place is clean, homey and spacious but a few things did need to be overhauled when we arrived. The most important was the horrendous globe/ball lighting fixtures which we replaced, OURSELVES, with directional halogen beams. Then each of the three of us did a piece of art for the wall. Even though Greg's is a little bland, (all red) we are definetly going to be decorating the wall with different pieces throughout the year. Jim was also keen enough to snag a six by six foot aeriel photograph his first night in Boulder and drove half way across town, pinning it to the roof with one hand, text messaging with the other and shifting his 4Runner with his elbow.

From right to left. Manista, Kimmel, Marek

This couch was graciously donated by the Morris family.

Kitchen window.

My contribution to the wall.

Swallows

The roomates.

Witness DVD Cover

2006-09-20T18:27:00.000-07:00

I am just wraping up a projekt for OFSmedia founder, owner and operator Kyle Decker. DVD sleeve artwork for his upcoming film Witness. SHot in High Definition, legit sponsors, legit riders and now a legit DVD cover? You tell me but it was a fun one for sure. You can order it through ABSTRACTmall so snag a copy ya herrd?

Canada006

2006-08-16T18:26:00.000-07:00

Fifteen images from the phenomenal summer refuge I have the annual privelege of visiting.

Red glass.

Disaster quickly approaches

Hangtime.

Man down.

Beer-B-Que on the dock.

My uncle shralping.

The sky still illuminated by traces of light from the firey sunset.

Dog

You know you have bred a real dock rat when it starts sleeping in sail bags.

High Def mist shots...6:45AM

Wolf Bay

Sparsley folliated crag.

High dynamic range photography. (click to enlarge)

Panorama. (click to enlarge)

Canada Departure

2006-07-26T18:26:00.000-07:00

I am leaving for Canada tomorrow morning. Should be interesting, it will be amply documented so sit tight.

Old Money, Hookers and Top Hats at the Track

2006-07-21T18:25:00.000-07:00

Dillon and Mona had tickets to opening day at the Del Mar race track on wednesday. I had heard lots of things about the horse races but I had never acutally been to one. They had tickets to the Turf Club which is an exclusive upper level club with ah bar, betting room and seating area for people with connections. So we dressed as sharp as possible and found the most streamlined hats and hit it up. The scene was something of which i have never witnessed. We could barely walk as the entire Turf Club level was a cluster of 25-45 year old cash flashing executives mixed with a unprecendented amount of absolutley stunning 20-30 year old well dressed females. The Turf Club brings in 300 top level Las Vegas escorts to entertain businessmen from across the county. The girls drink the booze the men spend the cash, and the elitest lifestyle rolls on. Old money is a good way to describe it, I felt very lucky to be a part of the absurdity for one day. Couple a few eye fucks and a crotch grope or two, with a few drinks from the bar and we had enough excitment, consolidated our debts and retired to the house.

Take your sport coat off, and you will kindly be shown to the door.

Dillon headed to make some wagers at the "Large Transactions" window.

The Cove of Dreams

2006-07-18T18:24:00.000-07:00

When god designed the western coastline of the United States he set aside the usual geographic features that one would come to expect at the edge of a continent. Inlets, cliffs, harbors, deltas, estuaries and bays. All of these things have come together to constitute a general mixture of water skirted territory that is found in any costal region of the globe. But one bay in particular lying somewhere south of Newport was made extra special. Servicing the beach like needs of a sickeningly flawless 500 home utopian community is a place called Emerald Bay. On a normal public beach, stringent laws forbid drinking and the usual debauchery that comes with it but as Emerald Bay is a private beach with no alcohol restrictions the beer flows freely and the bobbing fruit laden party punch sloshes with relative ease. Couple this liberal amount of alcohol consumption with every obscure outdoor sport imaginable and you have the most triumphant playground for summer frolic any person is likely to find. The next 22 photographs were the best of the 55 taken on this day. Peeep the E-Bay mini photo essay.

Matt taking advantage of every cubic inch provided by the softey cooler.

The priveleged resident only golf cart parking zone, strictly enforced.

Tyson with another totally unacceptable shirt. (See 4th of July entry)

The last thing any one would expect to see at the beach. Jager bombs.

Party punch, equipped with free floating fruit for that healthy finish.

Sotguns before the highly one sided volleyball faceoff.

Matt smoking number 8 of his 37 cigarettes of the afternoon.

Cory uncorking his typical squash ball showmanship.

Stoked.

On to cig number 22 of 38.

Hasselhoff.

The camp in full disarray.

Living the dream.

Corn dog.

Trashbagged.

Squadron 1.

Squadron 2.

interACTiVE sun screen art courtesy Matt Jimenez.

Squadron 3.

The playmate prepared to warm us up.

Cory fine tuning the settings. Maximum speed, maximum top spin.

The ball machine is strictly reserved for serious tennis use only.

Oh My God

2006-07-13T18:24:00.000-07:00

I just stumbled across Madrid based creative design syndicate SerialCut. A few times a month I see something that actually makes my breath shallow and my digits tingle. This one did it for July... Check it out.