AK Studios

06/30/2022

Only 16hrs left on our kickstarter! Lock in your Preorder today!

Each Preorder comes with:

-One BA\CA Board

-All metal dual-sided diamond sharpening plate (400 & 1000 Grit) to help you keep your knife razor sharp

-Heavy weight 100% cotton cloth to help you scrub, clean, and re-oil your board

-Refillable 2oz amber glass bottle of food-safe mineral oil to re-oil your board as needed

Get yours: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/akstudio/the-ba-ca-board

The BA\CA Board is a premium travel cutting board with a razor sharp knife built-in and magnetic retention to keep it all together until you're ready to use it. Simple in design but packed with features to ensure it'll perform no matter where your adventures take you 🏔 🌊 ⛵️🏰

🪵 Constructed of the TOP Grade of hard sugar Maple in a butcher block pattern that resists warping and cracking.

🔪 Super sharp full-tang 440c stainless steel blade, wide offset blade makes it a breeze to cut, chop, and dice with ease and it has a bottle opener built right in.

🧲 Our magnetic retention system keeps the knife stored where you want it until you're ready to use it!

🧨 The handle is mounted with epoxy and stainless steel pins for durability that you'll be able to pass down.

🎒 Carrying Hole at the top to store and stash board

🧼 Our drainage channel allows for deep cleaning and proper drying. Mold ain't no worry here.

💧 Our juice groove runs along the entire outside perimeter to keep your work surface clean and clear.

Get your preorder in today!

The ultimate travel cutting board with a razor sharp knife built-in. Made to Bring Anywhere and Cut Anything.

06/27/2022

How did AK Studios start? Here’s breaking down 4 years of fun (mostly) in a few minutes!

06/27/2022

Join the 100s of backers getting their preorder discounts today! Prelaunch pricing ends soon!

06/27/2022

Simple design, super well made. You’ll love brining your BA\CA Board with you on all your adventures! Preorder yours today while discounts last!

06/09/2022

Get yours today!
https://www.kickstarter.com/proj.../akstudio/the-ba-ca-board
https://www.kickstarter.com/proj.../akstudio/the-ba-ca-board

The BA\CA Board is a premium travel cutting board with a razor sharp knife built-in and magnetic retention to keep it all together until you're ready to use it. Simple in design but packed with features to ensure it'll perform no matter where your adventures take you 🏔 🌊 ⛵️🏰

🪵 Constructed of the TOP Grade of hard sugar Maple in a butcher block pattern that resists warping and cracking.

🔪 Super sharp full-tang 440c stainless steel blade, wide offset blade makes it a breeze to cut, chop, and dice with ease and it has a bottle opener built right in.

🧲 Our magnetic retention system keeps the knife stored where you want it until you're ready to use it!

🧨 The handle is mounted with epoxy and stainless steel pins for durability that you'll be able to pass down.

🎒 Carrying Hole at the top to store and stash board

🧼 Our drainage channel allows for deep cleaning and proper drying. Mold ain't no worry here.

💧 Our juice groove runs along the entire outside perimeter to keep your work surface clean and clear.

06/08/2022

After countless adventures, and just as many sub-par cooking experiences, we were inspired to design The BA\CA Board, to combine our love of traveling and the outdoors with our greater love: good food. We got to work designing the ultimate tool for preparing and serving food while on-the-go.

The BA\CA Board is a premium travel cutting board with a razor sharp knife built right in. Simple in design, we've incorporated features that ensure The BA\CA Board will perform no matter where your adventure may take you.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/akstudio/the-ba-ca-board

The ultimate travel cutting board with a razor sharp knife built-in. Made to Bring Anywhere and Cut Anything.

01/06/2022

06/27/2020

This is Emmett McBain (1935-2012). He was born in Chicago, Illinois and started showing his natural talent for design at an early age. When he was 12 he attended summer classes at The Art Institute of Chicago. He then enrolled at the Ray Vogue School of Commercial Design before transferring to the American Academy of Art 1954 while simultaneously taking night classes at IIT Institute of Design. He had a natural gift and an unmatched work ethic. This made him a highly sought after designer. At the age of 22 he joined Pl***oy Records as a assistant art director, he was “hired immediately after displaying samples of his work”- Record and Sound Retailing Magazine. Within a year he became the Promotion Art Director and his cover for Pl***oy Jazz All Stars became Billboard’s Album Cover of the Week. He used this recognition to start his own design firm called McBain Associates and developed a relationship with Mercury Records. By age 24 he had designed 75 album covers and had worked with jazz musicians like Tony Martin, Max Roach, and Sarah Vaughan. McBain went on to work on products like Ford Mustang, Newport ci******es, Sears, Kellog's cereal, Marlboro etc. He was one of the biggest names in commercial advertising at the time and enabled countless other Black Americans to break into the space. He is truly one of the greatest commercial designers that has ever lived and has the portfolio to back it up. @ AK Studios

06/26/2020

This is Archie Boston (born 1943). He was born in Clewiston, Florida to a sugar cane farmer and a stay at home mother. He always had a natural talent for painting and drawing so he followed in his brothers footsteps and attended Chouinard Art Institute (soon to become CalArts). He took his first internship at Carson/Roberts where he discovered his love for and the importance of commercial art. After college, Boston became an art director at Hixson and Jorgensen, an advertisement firm in Los Angeles, while serving out his National Guard duty. He eventually started a design firm with his brother, Bradford. They formed Boston & Boston in 1967 and never looked back. They were bold, daring and talented. They set their logo in a typeface called Jim Crow. People were attracted to their perfectly executed provocation and humor. Boston later joined the team at Botsford Constantine and McCarthy where he simultaneously started Archie Boston Graphic Design. Boston spent the remainder of his career teaching, creating departments, serving on boards and leaving his mark on world. He was the first Black president of the Los Angeles Art Directors Club and brought it to new heights. Boston's irreverent style should be admired by all and especially designers. He spoke on controversial issues and shed a new light on modern America. His retirement from Chouinard Art Institute was in the form of a lecture titled "Archie Boston’s FU (Final University) Lecture” where he greeted viewers with a middle finger and then continued with “I want to be remembered as the professor who cared about his students and did what he thought was best for them. I want to be remembered as someone who stood up against critisicim and spoke out on controversial issues. And finally, I want to be remembered as a designer and educator, someone who documented my experience as an African American”. @ AK Studios

06/26/2020

This is Archie Boston (born 1943). He was born in Clewiston, Florida to a sugar cane farmer and a stay at home mother. He always had a natural talent for painting and drawing so he followed in his brothers footsteps and attended Chouinard Art Institute (soon to become CalArts). He took his first internship at Carson/Roberts where he discovered his love for and the importance of commercial art. After college, Boston became an art director at Hixson and Jorgensen, an advertisement firm in Los Angeles, while serving out his National Guard duty. He eventually started a design firm with his brother, Bradford. They formed Boston & Boston in 1967 and never looked back. They were bold, daring and talented. They set their logo in a typeface called Jim Crow. People were attracted to their perfectly executed provocation and humor. Boston later joined the team at Botsford Constantine and McCarthy where he simultaneously started Archie Boston Graphic Design. Boston spent the remainder of his career teaching, creating departments, serving on boards and leaving his mark on world. He was the first Black president of the Los Angeles Art Directors Club and brought it to new heights. Boston's irreverent style should be admired by all and especially designers. He spoke on controversial issues and shed a new light on modern America. His retirement from Chouinard Art Institute was in the form of a lecture titled "Archie Boston’s FU (Final University) Lecture” where he greeted viewers with a middle finger and then continued with “I want to remembered as the professor who cared about his students and did what he thought was best for them. I want to be remembered as someone who stood up against critisicim and spoke out on controversial issues. And finally, I want to be remembered as a designer and educator, someone who documented my experience as an African American”. @ AK Studios

06/25/2020

This is Gail Anderson (born 1962). She is a first generation American and lifelong New Yorker whose family migrated from Jamaica. Anderson always had an affinity for art and design. When she was a child she was known for making pretend magazines for popular shows. She graduated from School of Visual Arts (SVA NYC) with a BFA in 1984 where she was taught by Paula Scher and developed her love for conceptual typography. She started her career as a designer at Random House and continued to The Boston Globe Sunday Magazine. In the fall of 1987, Anderson started as a designer at Rolling Stone. She quickly rose through the ranks and became the Senior Art Director until she left in 2002. She started there with nothing but a drafting table, mayline and triangle and left using some of the most advanced computer programs at the time. She has created some of the most influential theatrical advertisements to ever be printed and will go down as one of the most influential type designers of the modern era. She currently teaches at SVA NYC and is the creative director of Visual Arts press. She is one of the AIGA 2008 Graphic Design awardees. Her philosophy for type design is, “the process has to be fun and you need to be willing to step outside your comfort zone”. @ AK Studios

06/24/2020

This is Thomas Miller (1920-2012). He was born in Bristol, Virginia and was the grandson to two former enslaved people. After graduating from Virginia State University he enlisted into the US Army where he attained the rank of first sergeant during WWII. He was later discharged from the army and moved to Chicago to chase a career in commercial art. An art education for Black Americans was a rarity during this time but Miller was tenacious and determined to become one of the best. After he was accepted to Ray Vogue School of Art he knew his dream was in reach. Despite being one of two Black Americans in the entire school, Miller pushed on and became one of the most successful artists to attend the school. After graduating, Miller accepted a job at an art and design firm called Morton Goldsholl Associates, a progressive firm known for their animation, graphic design and corporate branding. He worked with companies like Motorola, Quaker Oats, The Peace Core, etc. He was an extremely talented graphic designer who had a love for art. After his design career he was commissioned to make a mosaic mural at DuSable Museum of African American History in Chicago, IL. His work will live on as some of the most influential branding design the corporate world has ever seen but most importantly he never stopped chasing his dream of becoming an artist. He passed in 2012 but his design and artwork will live on forever. @ AK Studios

06/22/2020

At AK Studios we believe that people should build each other up and connect with their ENTIRE community. Anti Black racism is spread throughout this country, and it is an extremely crucial time to reflect and recognize your own individual privilege. While the reach of systemic racism is vast and complex, its effects are blatant; countless Americans do not receive equal treatment because of the color of their skin. We do not celebrate our Black communities like we should. So we’re doing a series on Black designers who left their mark and had a lasting impact on the world. As two white men we try to do our part but we know there's always more we can do. We wanted to use our platform to showcase people who still don’t get the recognition they deserve in the design world. Please donate, sign petitions, volunteer, and educate your friends and loved ones.

This is Georg Olden (1920-1975). Georg was born in Birmingham, Alabama as the grandson to a former enslaved person and the son of a Baptist preacher. Georg was an artist, AIGA award winning graphic designer and one of the first Black Americans and artists to work in television. Georg started his graphic design career after the attack on Pearl Harbor. He joined the OSS (Office of Strategic Services predecessor to the CIA) and designed propaganda posters that promoted conservation and rationing along with cartoons for The New Yorker and Esquire. After the war, he was approached by the Vice President of CBS’s television department to head up a one man team to handle a wide range of commercial art techniques. Georg later headed a staff of 16 in charge of 60 shows handling all of the advertising and graphic design. Georg worked at CBS from 1945 to 1960, and in that time the number of televisions in America grew from 16,000 to 85 million.

“The door is open for artists on TV” - George Olden. @ AK Studios

06/01/2020

We pride ourselves on being a human driven design studio. We design products for everyone. We provide services for everyone. We believe everyone should have access to good design and knowledge about design. But this is so much bigger than any one individual/company so we all have to make sure we do our part. We need to come together as a nationwide community and make sure every person of color knows they have a place in this country. That they have a voice and that voice matters. Please help in any way that you can. Donate, sign petitions, volunteer in your local community to make sure everyone is safe and fed. Take time to educate yourself and others. We are all in this together. @ AK Studios

05/22/2020

Hookd is a wrap!! Thank you again to everyone who helped us bring this project to life. This was extremely important to us. It was our first Kickstarter campaign and it was a total success. Hookd finished with 200% funding and we couldn’t have done it without you! We are currently working with our manufacturer to get Hookd shipped out ASAP. We plan on bringing more products to Kickstarter so stay tuned for new launches. If you didn’t get a chance to back Hookd on Kickstarter we will be adding it to our website for purchase. Thank you!!