Founder of Ink Monstr hits on a big idea that has stuck
When Reed Silberman took his first paying print job, he was living in a van parked in a friend’s driveway in Aspen. At the time, the tattooed New York native hoped that making vinyl stickers and vehicle wraps could help supplement his income as a semi-professional snowboarder.
Twelve years later, it has become a whole lot more than that.
“I’m a 24/7 kind of guy,” he said. “This is what I do. My business is my life, and my employees are my family.”
The company he founded in his friend’s driveway is now Ink Monstr, a growing Denver graphic design and large-format print shop that boasts a national client roster, including Red Bull, GoPro and MTV. Brand ambassadors include hip-hop duo Method Man and Redman.
Ink Monstr’s custom designs can be found in storefront windows, hotel lobbies, fitness centers, museums, trade-show booths, vehicle exteriors, even entire building facades. Their vinyl brick wraps, installed all around Denver, look more like painted murals than what they actually are, essentially giant stickers.
And while Silberman didn’t set out to make a living in the printing business, he has been intentional about what he has created — a full-service, art-driven shop that is committed to the Sun Valley neighborhood it calls home.
The Ink Monstr founder has been named the 2016 Small Business Person of the Year in Colorado by the U.S. Small Business Administration. He and honorees from other states will be feted in a celebration next month in Washington, D.C.
“I didn’t want to be like everyone else. I didn’t want to be like the rest of my industry and the rest of the shops and studios that existed,” Silberman said. “It’s just my personality.
“I thought, ‘Is it possible to build a lifestyle brand and make a print shop sexy? Is anyone going to care? Is anyone going to want to associate themselves with this kind of brand?’ That was my goal: to make it not just a shop that utilizes its tools to help build other people’s brands but to utilize our tools to help build our own brand, too.”
Silberman got his first taste of graphic design and printing years ago when he was working at a snowboarding camp in Ore-
gon. The camp needed someone to do some design work, and he volunteered.
“One summer of doing that, and I was hooked,” Silberman said. “I like working with my hands. I like creating. I always envied artistic people. I was always a business person and an athlete. This was my way of exploring my creativity.”
The business person in him also saw the financial opportunity, and he leaned on his connections in the action sports world to get Ink Monstr off the ground.
Silberman, who worked on Wall Street for a few years before heading West in search of a more fulfilling career, moved Ink Monstr from trendy River North to Denver’s Sun Valley neighborhood 2½ years ago, transforming an old storage warehouse into its headquarters.
The exterior of the 10,000-square-foot building is now covered in the largest vinyl wrap of its kind in Denver, made to look like a row of Brooklyn brownstones.
“I wanted to showcase our skills somehow,” Silberman said. “The first thing I saw was a blank canvas.”
Inside, Ink Monstr employees do everything inhouse — from design work to production to installation. The company also works with a 3M-certified network of installers for out-of-state jobs.
At the time of the move, the company had six employees. Now, it is up to 16, with plans to grow, Silberman said. Those plans include launching the company’s first line of consumer apparel.
The shop’s former conference room is now a fashion showroom, and Silberman hopes to begin small-run garment manufacturing in a soon-to-becreated, in-house sew shop.
The debut collection includes graphic T-shirts, sweatshirts, leggings, coffee mugs and throw pillows, designed by Ink Monstr’s in-house illustrators. Custom apparel is also available.
Colorado Secretary of State Wayne Williams toured the facility this week and got an in-person demonstration of the shop’s new fabric dye sublimation process as employees created custom socks for a local marijuana dispensary.
“Reed leads his company with a passion to his craft, with dedication to customer service and quality, and delivers innovative products with the utmost integrity,” Williams said.
The Denver Office of Economic Development nominated Silberman for the SBA honor and has worked with him frequently over the years, providing site selection help for Ink Monstr’s current location as well as staff recruitment assistance through the city’s workforce development programs.
“From our perspective, Ink Monstr is doing so many things right, including building a national reputation doing branding and signage for outdoor events,” executive director Paul Washington said. “Reed is not only building new product lines and a strong business, but he’s helping shape the revitalization of Sun Valley.”
Since moving the company to Sun Valley, Silberman has been active in the community, hosting free neighborhood events, helping to resurrect the local neighborhood organization and serving on multiple committees as part of area redevelopment efforts.
Ink Monstr also works with Denver Housing Authority’s Youth Employment Academy and has hired through the program, he said.
“I love this neighborhood, and they’ve treated us very well,” Silberman said. “I’m going to be here for a long time — I think it’s really beneficial to be involved in your community, not just exist in your community.”