Lunch With Kelsey

Alright, who’s hungry? Kelsey treated the talented Dave Desjardins to lunch this month. So read on!

Dave Desjardins made me promise not to laugh when he prepared to tell me what he always wanted to be when he grew up. Assuring him with the earnest confidence that can only come from a woman who’s current dream is still to drive an ice cream truck for a living, I managed to get it out of him. A race car driver? That’s embarrassing? Come on. Those jump suits covered in advertisements are both fashionable and figure flattering. And not only is going fast exciting, I’m equally impressed by those skilled enough in the art of driving to parallel and reverse stall park.

Turns out Dave’s dream wasn’t just a Pavlov-esque association developed at childhood between the angelic ding of an approaching ice-cream filled truck and the inevitable joy that followed. Dave actually has experience racing and has spent time as a performance driving instructor. He’s the real deal. So there you go, right off the bat, I’m impressed.

As we settled into our table at a new downtown bagel themed restaurant, Dave told me about his life. An early passion for cars led him to believe that his future was in racing, but as I’m sure many youths can attest to, Mom’s aren’t often okay with the whole high speeds resulting in potential fiery death thing. So it was his interest and natural talent in the arts that shaped where Dave is today. From automobile design to film production to motions graphics, Dave has done it all, and his past experiences have developed him into what he is now; a talented, well versed and experienced designer.

Dave is 50% of Fiction, an award winning design team consisting of himself and Designer Mike Spicer (those of you who didn’t just stumble across this article after Googling “Lunch” will remember when I had hamburgers with Mike last month). The two started Fiction 2 years ago and are now being represented by Loop. They work out of the Loopmedia office and have completed a number of incredible motion graphics projects since joining us in 2011.

An admittedly strong silent type, Dave’s a no nonsense kind of guy who prefers getting down to business over schmoozing. He’s focused and ambitious and with a number of big plans for his future, not even he knows where he’ll be in 10 years. Although by the sounds of it, I’m pretty sure it will involve either driving fast or making art. Heck, maybe even both. Just hopefully not at the same time.

Lunch With Kelsey

I learned a lot during my sunny afternoon lunch with Mike Spicer. Sure, he’s an interesting guy who has lived all over Canada and contributed to some of the most innovative and downright cool graphic and motion design I’ve seen. Yeah, he’s got a neato sleeve tattoo and a nose ring. And yes, we happen to share a love for the kind of real-life crime-drama programming that one might watch in marathon format on a Sunday afternoon. But by far the most valuable piece of information that I retrieved from our sit down was which home beer making kit would be best fitted for my busy, workaday life style. And as Amazon can attest to, I took his recommendation seriously.

Talking over our burgers, Mike and I got to know each other. A relatively new addition to the Loop team, I’m ashamed to admit I didn’t know a whole lot about this award winning designer before offering to feed him. A graduate of Fanshawe College, Mike has been a force to be reckoned with within the design industry for the past thirteen years. He’s held positions at some of Toronto’s most successful design studios and has in recent years started a company of his own called Fiction. A collaboration between Mike and Creative Director, Dave Desjardin, Fiction is a successful labour of love for the designers. The two Creative Directors share an obvious passion for design that shows clearly through the incredible work that they produce together.

The two have recently become a part of Loop, joining the team in 2011. Loop reps Fiction and they complete work both for Loop and for Fiction. They’ve added a refreshing new dynamic to the Loop environment, not to mention a boat load of talent and inspiration.

Mike’s an obviously talented guy. He has created and designed ads, show openings, websites, promos and a host of other materials that have gained him recognition within the design community. His next step on the ladder of creativity is to begin creating art not with his computer mouse but with his personalized mouse operating system. Or as we called them in the old days, his hands. His plan is to spend his spare time transferring his creativity to a new medium ultimately challenging his artistic capabilities and I personally can’t wait to see what he comes up with.

 

So long, friend.

It’s been a week so I figured it was high time to take a moment to wish the best of luck to our former Account Executive, Mike Nagtzaam. Mike has moved on to new professional endeavors and will no doubt flourish in whatever he takes on. We know you’ll do great out there, Mike! Don’t be a stranger.

Like any self respecting company, we went bowling to celebrate Mike’s time at Loop. Here are some pictures.

 

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Lunch With Kelsey

 

Happy new year! With the year 2012, comes a brand new edition of Lunch With Kelsey. This month featuring Loopmedia’s Director of Marketing and Business Development, Jan King! Read on.

 

A mere days into the year 2012, still struggling to emerge from a tryptophan induced holiday coma to rival the “three kinds of potatoes fiasco” of 2006, I find myself seated across from Jan King. As Loop’s Director of Marketing and Business Development, Jan’s not an easy woman to tie down to a lunch meeting. She’s one of Loop’s most experienced sales associates and to call her a busy lady would be an understatement. Jan’s a meeting booking, event attending, client schmoozing machine. She’s always willing to take on a challenge and doesn’t let a whole lot stand in the way of what she wants. And that’s all fine and good, until you try to get her to sit down for an hour to talk about herself over a bowl of soup.

Jan’s been dedicated to the Sales, Marketing and Business Development of Loop for the past 12 years. She’s landed and kept some of Loop’s highest profile clients and campaigns and never fails to push the envelope of what our creative collective can provide. A truly business orientated woman, Jan once ran her own business representing illustrators and photographers. In a time before jerks like me were claiming to be photographic geniuses thanks to sepia tone and iphones, Jan was representing the real deal, finding work and exposure for Toronto’s best professional artists.

Jan’s talents don’t rest in her business savvy, she’s also an incredibly creative person with a serious eye for design, a passion for the outdoors and a commitment to various causes. From around the block dog walks to 60k walks for cancer, Jan is working towards making a change for the better, whatever size it may be.

After attending George Brown for graphic design, Jan has spent her adult life surrounded by animation, design, illustration, you name it. She wears her passion for the creative industry on the sleeve of her snazzy blazer and I genuinely believe that she will continue to represent, endorse, sell and contribute to this industry for many years to come.

Animation Career Review Interviews Loop’s Creative Director, Craig Kirkham

Loop is pleased to be featured this month in Animation Career Review’s online interview series. The website offers aspiring animation, design, and gaming professionals information on training programs, software and technology, careers and profiles of the leading industry firms. Loop’s Creative Director, Craig Kirkham, sat down to answer some questions about his and Loop’s role in the animation and design industry.

To read the interview, click here.

Lunch With Kelsey

 

It’s that time again. Another edition of Lunch With Kelsey has hit the internet like a ton of brick shaped rocks. For those of you out of the loop (pun intended), Lunch With Kelsey is a monthly publication that features the creative, business savvy and all around awesome people that make up Loopmedia. As Loops Communications Coordinator, Kelsey Griffin has taken on the grueling task of taking out a member of the Loop team once a month for a free meal. She asks the hard hitting questions in order to get to the core of who these people are and what their places are in this vast world of media, advertising and design. She also aims to get the best possible photos of what they look like mid-bite.

Up this month is Loopmedia Vice President, Bill Hutchinson.

When dining with Bill Hutchinson, location is a thing of detailed importance. You see, Bill is a vegan and can therefore only take part in lunching at certain pre-determined downtown locations. And considering I am usually only willing to travel up to half a block by foot, we took in a lovely meal at the Fresh directly across the street from the Loop office.
Over the years that I have gotten to know Bill, I’ve come to learn that he has a moral upstanding that doesn’t stop at his unwillingness to eat anything with a face. He’s generally just a stand up guy. As the Vice President and Technical Director at Loop, Bill is kind of like the fairy godfather of the office. He watches over everything with a quiet but knowing presence, ensuring that production, creative, and the even sales and marketing departments run smoothly on a day to day basis. And the fact that he is always able to fix my computer when it’s frozen without giving in to my suggestion that it would be better off thrown out the window, leads me to believe that he is not only a good person but also potentially capable of sorcery in some capacity.
Bill actually founded Loop back in the 1990’s when starting a computer animation company required tenacity, steadfast determination and the purchase of a single computer for an exorbitant amount of money. A far cry from his formal education in literature and history, Bill’s genuine interest in 3D animation inspired him to take a shot at making a career in the industry. And it has proven to have been a shot worth taking. Loop has only grown stronger and more capable in it’s sixteen years and I don’t foresee it slowing down. In an industry that is ripe with failed attempts at success, Loop has managed to grow, continually adapting to the ever changing needs of its clients.
It’s obvious that Bill’s got a lot to do with Loops success over the years. It doesn’t take a business major to figure out that he’s doing something right. He’s been around since day one, has become a top notch editor, and has helped to create some of Loop’s most innovative and award winning work. Let’s put it this way, for a guy who broke the bank nearly 20 years ago on his first computer, he’s defined what it means to build a dream from the ground up.

Lunch With Kelsey

Sitting in a crowded diner across from Creative Director, Craig Kirkham, I find myself wide eyed with anticipation. The day is dreary and gray, the restaurant is buzzing with the sounds of patrons and their respective sandwiches, and Craig is telling me a story. Without getting into details, let’s just say that for a man that I would describe as somewhat quiet and unassuming, the guys got some fantastic stories of adolescent debauchery. And let’s face it, if you’re looking to make friends (with me), there is no better way than to regale me with tales of a tumultuous past.

Beyond his above average story telling capabilities, Craig is an incredibly talented artist. He’s been the Creative Director at Loop for the past eight years and has been responsible for some of the company’s most innovative and creative projects. His career in design began in the print industry and gradually moved into graphic and motion design when he started as an intern at Loop. Having studied Art and Animation at Western and Centennial respectively, Environmental Resource Studies at Trent, and general hard knocks at Brock University, Craig is the poster child for a well rounded education. And to say that all of his book learning and hard work hasn’t paid off would be the kind of foolish talk worthy of a good pinch, as Craig has solidified his place within today’s talented design community and boasts a number of awards for both design and short film production.

Craig moved around a lot as a kid. Originally from the U.K., he’s lived everywhere from Norway, to Montreal, to Abu Dhabi, finally settling in Ontario as a teenager. Craig is a self professed country boy, despite his current big city residency in Toronto. He grew up spending his summers on a farm and hopes to one day return to his rustic roots, setting up a bee farm somewhere on the outskirts of town. That’s right, Craig Kirkham is going to be a bee keeper. If you’ve ever heard of a better 20 year plan, I don’t want to hear it. It’s not as good as being a bee keeper. Now despite his plans to raise a swarm to call his own, it’s safe to say that Craig will always express himself creatively. I’m confident he’ll continue to make art, be it through graphic design, animation, film or otherwise.

Oh, and he’s also recently created perhaps one of his most adorable works of art to date, his 14 month old daughter Kate. She won’t be dressed up as a bee for Halloween this year but she will be a flower. Which is not only cute as heck, but also an essential life force for the ongoing existence of future swarms. So there, it all comes full circle.