Dyske Suematsu

Growing up in Japan, I was always jealous of the English alphabet. It is ironic that Japan, a culture known for its simplicity, has such a visually complex language. I dreamed of using only English, and not having to worry about memorizing a seemingly infinite number of characters in Japanese. That dream came true when I moved to the US through an exchange program to attend high school in California. After a year, I loved it so much that I decided to stay in the States indefinitely.

After two years of high school, I moved to New York City to attend the School of Visual Arts from January 1987 to June 1990, and received a BFA in Fine Arts. Since my primary focus in college was conceptual art, I worked in a variety of mediums, including drawing, painting, sculpture, video, computer programming, photography, printmaking, and performance.

At night, I attended The Juilliard School of Music from September 1988 to June 1990 to study history and theory of music, as well as analysis of modern compositions. During the summer of 1989, I also attended Mannes School of Music to study orchestration and ear-training.

After graduation, I wanted to experience something entirely different from the art world, so I got a job on Wall Street. I sat next to traders on trading floors, creating custom pricing applications for so-called “Interest Rate Derivatives.”

Then came the Dotcom boom. I quickly left Wall Street and worked for a few small Dotcom companies as programmer and designer. In 1997, I met Manny Kivowitz, the principal of KSK:STUDIOS which at the time was a commercial and video production company. Desktop computers were just becoming capable of handling motion graphics for video, so I took the opportunity to develop it as a business with Manny. I worked with him on a freelance basis until 2001. Then I decided to join KSK:STUDIOS as creative director, overseeing several designers. Since then KSK has built its reputation for seamlessly fusing quality graphic design with film and video production, and for building websites that integrate high aesthetics and functionality.

In 2004, I decided to leave KSK to start my own business. I felt it was a good time in my life to do so, and so far so good.

Roxanne Wolanczyk

Growing up in the East Village, the arts were always a center of my life. Attending art school was a natural assumption rather than a belabored choice. I studied at Pratt Institute graduating with a BFA in sculpture in 1994.

Throughout the 1990’s I exhibited my artwork (wolanczyk.com) in venues such as The Brooklyn Museum, The Bronx Museum, and various galleries. I began to work digitally in 2001 (prettysite.com, bitskis.com), enthusiastically embracing the internet for its potential to reach a mass audience and not just the educated art consumer.

Through the years, I have also worked as a graphic designer for print and web at large and small advertising agencies, and for individual clients.

Most recently I have authored and illustrated two children’s books (currently being marketed) and I have co-created several unique children’s applications for the iPhone.