On Jan 10, Cultivate Studios didn’t celebrate its 5th anniversary.

Well, there were text message congratulations exchanged. I guess we’re like a seasoned married couple that doesn’t need an anniversary to celebrate the beauty and accomplishments of their marriage. This blog entry is an effort to celebrate 5 years of Cultivating and 5 years of making self-deprecating jokes about being Cultivators. We’ve seen some things and made some stuff.

In September of 2004, photographer Mark Wierda and I were hired by the Ozinga Foundation to travel to Pitesti, Romania to document the story of a medical clinic created in the wake of the fall of Communism to be a new corruption free model for health care in that country. It was out of the success of this first challenging assignment, that Cultivate Studios was brought smiling into the world. Upon return, graphic designer Chris Pierik joined Mark and I, and we set up a little creative shop in Orland Park, IL. On January 10, 2005, Cultivate Studios officially opened for business as a subsidiary of Ozinga. Graphic Designer and Web Developer Schuyler Roozeboom joined us in the summer of 2007. For three and a half years, we cranked out our creations from the dark corners of the Winterset Office Park, designed more for dentists than creative professionals, before packing it up and bringing our little show to Chicago.

In those days we looked like this.
Now we look like this.

How long is five years? Cultivate Studios predates YouTube. Five years ago, Mark still had an earring, and I dabbled with a mohawk.

In the past five years, we’ve gone from unwrapping miniDV tapes to shooting in high definition. From Photoshop 9 to Photoshop CS4. From point and click to multitouch. From single-server websites to cloud computing. We’ve also traveled from Guatemala to Ghana. From Montana to Mississippi. We’ve survived the raging waters of two floods. We’ve partnered with some crazy-talented people. We’ve documented some great stories on the road and closer to home. We’ve captured some amazing photographs. We’ve helped organizations venture through capital campaigns and milestone anniversaries. We’ve partnered with companies that are just getting their start and companies launching innovative new products. We’ve received awards for sites like this and should have sought awards for sites like this. We’ve designed books and brochures. We’ve packaged everything from chicken vesuvio to diamonds. We’ve worked successfully with film critics, athletic trainers, non-profits, software developers, universities, oven-bake clay manufacturers, youth organizations, and bride after bride after bride.

We’ve accomplished a lot in the last 5 years. Along the way we’ve learned from our mistakes and honed our skills. We’ve pursued the trust of an ever-expanding list of clients. We believe we’ve played a pivotal role for many organizations and businesses in realizing their branding potential. We’re proud of the fact that most every client we’ve had has returned to work with us again.

Over the last five years, perhaps, just perhaps, we’ve earned the right to call ourselves Cultivators. Our thanks goes out to everyone who has given us the opportunity to show that we are.