In The Beginning
ZOO-INK was started in St. Louis in 1972.
After graduating from Washington University, 3 friends and I put $400 together to have films and screens made for 2 designs, a Fox and a Bird.
We printed fabric in the basement of our flat by using a fixed screen and pulling the fabric under it for each frame. Frame registration was done visually.
Bird, Print on Cotton
Fox Design (Film Positive)
San Francisco - Project One - 1973
After realizing there was limited opportunity in St. Louis, I relocated to San Francisco and moved into Project One, an 84,000 sq foot warehouse urban community. My explicit goal was to build a textile screen printing shop.
Project One, early photo of the ZOO-INK studio. 1973
Being new to California, I was fascinated by both The City and the natural surroundings. For my first true yardage prints I designed 2 urban images (The Transamerica Pyramid building and the Golden Gate Bridge) and 2 for nature (Wood Grain and Tree Banner).
I also spent time developing techniques to produce fabrics using a large airbrush. These one of a kind works led to the idea of breaking down the hard edge of traditional screen printing into a process I called "screening softly".
ZOO-INK, the Designer Line
In 1979 I moved into a larger studio and also published my first collection of fabrics for the Interior Design Trade. I must have hit a nerve as we had national distribution within 6 months.
Two 30 yard long tables at American Industrial Center, SF
North/South and Light Rain, 1979
Neon Dreams, 1980
