With Pencil & Paper Tad Carpenter is Champion of Craft

Mohawk is a leader in supporting, encouraging, educating and recognizing the creative community. For North America’s largest privately-owned manufacturer of fine papers and envelopes, the tradition continues in 2015 through — among many activities — a year long initiative in the pages of GDUSA entitled “Champions of Craft.” In each edition of the magazine, Mohawk presents storytelling insert exploring the work of aspiring and seasoned designers. The initiative kicked off back in January when Mohawk served as exclusive sponsor of GDUSA’s 52nd Annual People To Watch editorial feature. 

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The latest Champions of Craft insert features Tad Carpenter Creative and appears in the October edition of GDUSA magazine. Tad and his wife Jessica Carpenter founded the firm in Kansas City, where they have thrived and garnered an array of high-profile clients including Target, Macy’s, West Elm and AMC Theaters. The Carpenters are advocates of drawing as a foundation, and all projects begin with a pencil and paper. Tad says that he teaches that, first and  foremost to his students at the University of Kansas, because it will benefit them and the way they think throughout. 

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Of his own work, he says: “That feeling, that high you get from seeing your work on a billboard or in a national commercial is hard to compete with. At the end of the day, though, developing concepts, collaborating with a client and developing strong work can be just about the same, big or small, and I like it that way.”

Look for Champions of Craft in the new edition of GDUSA, arriving around the country this week. The latest insert is designed by San Francisco’s Hybrid Design the award-winning firm which also helped develop the resonant Mohawk Maker campaign. The insert is produced on Mohawk Loop Inxwell Super Smooth Digital with i-Tone 80 Lb. Cover, printed on a Xerox iGen 150 press. You can learn more about the paper grade, and other Mohawk offerings for designers, by reviewing the mill’s newly redesigned collection of swatchbooks.

We are honored that, throughout the year, Mohawk is using our pages as part of its celebration of the creative industry, its support for the maker community, and its introduction of the pleasures of print and paper to a whole new generation.