Partly because its a challenge I face myself, I truly love seeing great designers from unknown areas making a good run at the graphic design industry. As the web has widened, those working in traditional art and design strongholds like New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles are finding it increasingly difficult to view themselves as design Gods amongst irrelevent men (who live in strange, unexplored regions with names like Kentucky, Missouri, Wyoming and on and on). When I graduated from college, I remember several students proudly announcing that they were shipping off to NYC, to be just so many more creative pilgrims among hundreds of thousands of others. I told them I was going to the Web: even with the whole world population logging on, it is still a vast wild to be explored, with plenty of places to stake claims.

One of the most exciting studios in regular America is PrintMafia, a partnership between designers Connie Collingsworth and Jim Madison, who live and work in Bowling Green, Kentucky. The pair have been tasked with original concert and tour posters for Tool, Marilyn Manson, the Raconteurs and even Elton John. Think about that carefully designers: The next time you’re in a studio, pulling silkscreens for Elton John, you know… you Know you’re cool.

PrintMafia specializes in silkscreened rock show posters, and they do all their work by hand: taking found images, then cutting, pasting, xeroxing and working all other forms of manual magic on them. Obviously, they don’t have to search far for found objects in Kentucky, which is a hot spot for second hand stores, flea markets and truck stops.

See the rest of PrintMafia’s work on their website. Just click here.