How EXACTLY Does an Animator Transition into Greeting Cards?!
Good question! How does someone with a 15-year background and two degrees in animation stumble upon the world of paper, specifically greeting cards?
In this case, it was a nice combination of serendipity and just-right timing. Brad Woods, owner of Maginating, wasn't feeling fulfilled working in the animation industry. He'd worked in a variety of styles, from Saturday morning cartoons to feature films, but nothing felt substantial to him. He wanted to work in an industry that felt satisfying - a place where he felt the product was a significant contributor to society in one way or another.
About nine years ago he was at a restaurant in Los Angeles with his sister. Fortunately, she suggested he check out the shop next door as she thought he’d think it was pretty cool. Turned out it was a letterpress business who specialized in their own stunning custom letterpress. This included a storefront as well, selling an amazing assortment of letterpress cards. It blew him away - he’d never seen anything like it before! One of the owners was in the shop that day and was very kind – she was happy to answer all his questions.
About six months later Brad was fortunate enough to meet Bob Paduano – a master of all things letterpress. Bob had been in the business a long time and was able to restore a Kluge 10x15 platen press for him. At the time he was still doing freelance design work so, for about a year, whenever he had a spare moment, Brad worked down in his garage – trying to figure out this big hunk of cast iron. He never took any classes… he would have but wasn't able to find any that taught printing on a platen press. For safety reasons, classes always taught on Vandercooks or very tiny table top presses. So he kept looking online for answers and spoke with all sorts of helpful and generous printers. It took some time but eventually his knowledge base grew to a point where he was able to get going at an operable speed.
Not long after that Brad stopped taking on any freelance design work and dedicated all his time to creating a letterpress greeting card line. A pretty significant leap, somewhat blind, but something he felt was necessary. If he was going to make a go of it, he had to commit himself, one hundred percent!
By the way, Maginating, the name of this company, is a made up word. Brad created it when he was very young. He'd use it all the time, particularly when he was playing with his toys. It's kind of like a verb... used to describe the use of one's imagination. Someone might ask him, what are you doing, Brad? And he'd reply - "I'm maginating!"
