By Chris Rockwell

“King Duce is an essential cross-section of California’s music, art, and action sports scene. It’s so rare to actually find a crew of people from seemingly different subcultures band together naturally without it feeling contrived or manufactured. But King Duce is the real deal, and it’s a movement more than a brand. Inspired by the memory of fallen originators of the Sacto scene, the voice of King Duce reverberates worldwide because of its authenticity. To see LA street and comic artists connect with hip hop heads and snowboarders, and to align with King Duce has been inspiring, and to be a part of it an honor. King Duce has home grown authenticity with global relevance and that combination is extremely powerful when communicating with the cutting-edge of popular culture.” – Andy Howell

The first day I met Andy Howell he literally rolled into the Zazzle.com office on a skateboard, sporting a Mohawk, shades and a laptop backpack that looked like it was straight out of the movie, “District 9”. My buddy Rob Greenleaf had reached out to Andy a few months earlier about getting him involved with Zazzle and it manifested into him joining the team full-time to launch his vision called Artsprojekt.com; a global community of the world’s sickest artists and brands that could instantly turn their artwork into high-end products. After Andy filled me in on his accomplishments and idea of Artsprojekt, I was stoked to team up and work together. I was especially excited to collaborate with Andy because he liked the concept of King Duce and realized that it was a great fit for Artsprojekt.com. What really caught my attention was the custom skateboard deck application he was developing because it provided King Duce with the highest quality custom skate decks in the game.

Andy’s accomplishments are impressive: but, as he likes to point out, his roots are simple: skateboarding, surfing, drawing, painting, punk rock, hip-hop. He grew up immersed in the 80’s Virginia and DC punk scenes; skateboarding and art became addictions, and soon everything else fell victim. Howell turned pro as a skateboarder in 1989.

During his career as a top professional skateboarder Howell co-founded New Deal Skateboards, Element Skateboards, 411 video magazine, and Giant Distribution. As Creative Director at New Deal, Howell was the prime force in ushering in the still prevalent trend of graffiti and cartoon-influenced graphics for skateboards and t-shirts. His “Big Deals” were the first baggy jeans designed specifically for the board sports industries, cultivating a trend that caught on like wildfire and became the trademark of action sports for almost a decade. Howell then moved on to found and direct Sophisto Clothing, MTN, Girly Things Clothing, Freedom Video and Rowdy Industries.

In 1999, Andy turned his brand-building experience to the mainstream with the creation of Imagewerks, Inc., which was later bought by Interpublic’s McCann Erickson Worldgroup. As Founder, President and Creative Director of Imagewerks, Howell was responsible for major campaigns and promotions for clients ranging from edgy core brands to Fortune 100 corporations, including Toyota’s Scion, Coca Cola, Quiksilver, DC shoes, K2 Snowboards, Activision’s Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater game franchise, Time Warner’s Transworld Media Group, 686 Snowboard Clothing, Ford Motor Co, and McDonalds, among others.

I had some memorable road trips and experiences with Andy during our Artsprojekt days, but the one that sticks out the best was our trip to San Diego for the Agenda and Action Sports Retail show. We (Me, Andy, Dave Gross and Greenleaf) headed down to showcase Artsprojekt to the street brands and artists that converged together for a few days of madness. On the last day Andy invited me and Dave Gross up to his place in La Jolla for an early morning surf and swim. Andy is a good surfer, growing up on Virginia Beach back east. But Dave and I looked at the sizeable waves relentlessly coming in and we knew this was going be a rough wake up. By the time Dave and I finally grabbed our boards, Andy was already riding his first wave with a smile. As we paddled out past the break I knew this was going to be like my first college football game…ugly! Sure enough we both got rolled up with the first wave and tried to battle a few more before paddling back in past the locals; cut and defeated. We sat on the beach like two kids who had just been sent to the principal’s office for poor behavior (poor performance in our case). We sat on the beach laughing at each other’s stories and taking in the chill scenery as sand and water purged out of our nose and ears.

Click Pic for Skateboards

After many late nights and some great road trips with Andy, Artsprojekt.com was off and running. We said our goodbyes and I moved on to focus full-time on King Duce. Building Artsprojekt and working with Andy and the AP/Zazzle crew was an experience that I will always look back with fond memories. It was a time when Andy and I were both living in hotels, away from our wives, and working crazy hours. Often times, we would end our long days with hang out sessions talking for hours about art, branding and life. Andy generously shared his knowledge, industry connections and opened my eyes to a world that I was just beginning to discover and understand.

I’m grateful to him for helping me see and understand my business on a more intricate level and I am honored to consider him a friend and part of King Duce.

Duce Up!!

Check Andy out www.artsprojekt.com & www.andyhowell.com