So my esteemed Wilderness partners Goo and David showed up down here this morning, and we met with clients all day.

And, about Wilderness, well, there you go. The dachshund is out the bag.

Wilderness. I think that might be the first time I’ve said anything about it on here. Maybe not. Now, if you come to Portland, I’ll talk yer goddamn ear off about these guys, and how talented they are, and how lucky I am to be in cahoots with them. I’ve known these guys since 2002, having worked along side them at Cinco. After a couple years there, we all went out on our own. And now, we’ve come back together to try some new stuff.

We started this very mellow collaboration back in March of 2008. Our first client was Giro helmets as a team, with trips down to San Jose to meet Bob, Richter, Greg, Kevin, Eli and Casey of Giro. These fellas know how to make a pretty serious helmet. And goggles. And shades. I mean, come on, Olympic athletes use their stuff to set world records and stuff. Lance Armstrong! Very impressive designs.

So we took on their Snowboard/Ski ad campaign. It’s out there in the mags and rags right now, so, when you see it, think about Wilderness. We are very, very proud of it. Our buddy Mark Welsh shot it, and we thank him for his good eye.

Here’s our fancy web site: Wilderness. How’s that for a head turner? Well, we just put our sticker on the door of the shop, and that took us nine months, so, apply that kind of “business plan” to the web site, and there you go. We’re busy working.

For the record, Wilderness is the vessel that will guide all of my client work, from here on out, with help from Goo and David. Three sets of eyes are better than one. We’ve transitioned Union, Coal and Snowboard over to Wilderness, and of course, I’ll be getting dirty on many other things under the DDC banner. So, when you add my client work, Field Notes and multiple DDC projects into the mix, well, I’ve got a pretty full year on the horizon. Heck yes. Just how I like it.

And why’d we call it Wilderness? No reason. Just had a cool sound to it. So stay tuned for a soft launch, business cards and all that. And with some luck and sweat, good work for good people. Feeling pretty good about it.

Oh yeah, so we all spent the day together, hanging with clients, working, playing, eating, etc. I tried to go late “taking back Vegas” and went to sleep a little more poor. My numbers just weren’t coming up on that goddamn roulette wheel.

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OREGON NEON, AND WE’RE TALKING A TON OF IT: A Flickr collection called, “Oregon.” (Sent in by “man with a plan” Scott Leverenz. Thanks, buddy!)

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MINNEAPOLIS IS A TOUGH TOWN: Colin Whyte sent this one in. One of my favorite Canadians. The guy’s got a good eye for all kinds of things, knowing a good thing when he sees/reads it. Here’s one of his selections.