About

Hi there It’s Chris Smith.

Before I ever knew what design was, I knew I was compelled to retrieve all of the cardboard from the back of my dad’s cleaned laundry shirts, so I could draw all over them. That was my first hint that this was for me.

I’m from King of Prussia Pa. I grew up in Mall World. Growing up 30 minutes from Center City I was obsessed with sports as a wee lad. Of course I loved all 4 Philly teams. I also was obsessed with other team's logos. I loved drawing the weird childlike logo of the old school padres. I could draw a flyers logo that looked liked a badly swollen hand. I loved the Montreal Expos logo.

I remember as a child going to my grandparents house (being consciously aware) and I remember seeing a picture of a scary Indian mask. Scary but intriguing and that memory is still in the data base. My grandparents lived on the Cochiti Indian Reservation. This is a different world. Flea Markets, Indian blankets with pastel colors and complicated patterns. Storyteller dolls with children climbing on them. The geometric Hopi kachina dolls wearing fierce masks. Pueblo clowns handing out watermelon painted in stark black and white, as I said, different world.

All of these elements were absorbed into my bloodstream.

Motion, geometry, color, the power of black and white. All of these can be used for the bold mark that has the sticking power, and then folds into a storytelling image that is so compelling it hooks and influences.

Quarternative, the studio I founded, takes the name from my quarter Isleta Pueblo roots. Quarternative is more than a name. It’s a methodology. The way I compose an image is grounded in how Native American art handles patterns and color, not for mere decoration, but for structure and dimension. Every element has its place its own sliding scale in relation with others. Elements aren’t randomly selected, every facet is weighted. All of these work in coordination to induce intent.

This lens is what makes Quarternative's work impossible to put in a box. Why sports brands call when they need athletes made iconic. My work lives at the intersection of East Coast edge and desert geometry — and there's nobody else standing at that corner.

I’m cased in the Philly area and take on select projects worldwide.

Cheers!

Chris