Small Batch Code and Creative

Barrelmaker erases the line between creative and technical projects, making good design and development accessible to small organizations and businesses.

Big agencies and development studios are always chasing big ideas, and they have big teams of brilliant people dedicated to seeing big possibilities that you never dreamt of... and they require big budgets. Most of the time you never even talk to the talented people doing the actual work. Sometimes you just need somebody to help solve the challenge in front of you, rather than string you along or try to convince you that it is just a symptom of a larger problem that you should tackle instead.

This is where Barrelmaker comes in. From print to pixels, crafting your message is difficult and takes time and skills that you may not have. We are focused on your organization or business with high quality targed solutions for everyday creative and technical problems, from print and digital graphic design, to website and web app development, to website hosting and management. Small projects are welcome! If there is a creative project to be done, Barrelmaker can handle it.

Finally, we believe that you should always be in direct contact with the talented people doing the work rather than playing telephone with middlepersons who may not understand it. This ensures the highest degree of shared understanding and quality.

Thank you for your interest in Barrelmaker. We look forward to working with you!

About Christopher Cooper

My family got our first computer when I was 14 years old. 1994: the internet was new to most people, I was just a kid, and computers felt like magic. One of the first things I did with that computer was take it apart.

I was obsessed with the internet before I ever had access to it. I immediately began learning HTML and building web pages. It was a formative experience blending technical and creative problem solving. I also discovered Dungeon & Dragons. This will be important later.

In college I studied graphic design instead of computer science because I wanted to learn how to design better websites rather than dig deeper into the technical workings of the computer. I didn't know it going in, but I was actually headed to fine art school. In addition to graphic design, I learned old school typography, drawing, painting, sculpture, and printmaking. I also learned photography and how to operate a photography studio, an incredibly pure combination of technical and creative skills.

Art school taught me how to be resourceful both materially and procedurally. Do the most you can with the materials on hand, use your limited tools in creative ways, and commit to the highest level of quality allowed by the time available.

I won't bore you with the specifics of the twists and turns of my professional path, but very quickly it became apparent that writing code was the more stable and lucrative way forward. For nearly 20 years coding jobs have dominated my resumé, including for clients such as Kraft Heinz, McCormick & Co, Starbucks, Discover, Enterprise, Anthem, Humana, GogoAir, Cox Cable, Comcast/Xfinity, Spectrum, and the list goes on.

People are not defined solely by their official employment history. I never stopped working on design and photography projects over the years, mostly for friends and family who just needed some design help or maybe some decent head shots.

In 2015, Dungeons & Dragons came roaring back into the culture in a big way. People my age, who had largely stepped away from the hobby to do adulthood, were rediscovering it in tremendous numbers. I was obsessed, running games and playing as often as I could, thinking about it constantly. That mix of creative and technical problem solving is my happy place.

During the pandemic, I decided to try building a brand and hobby business around D&D and tabletop role-playing. I called it Arcane Artifactory because alliteration is cool and I like mashing words together. I designed the logo and began thinking about writing and publishing materials. Shortly after, I had the idea of adopting a kind of persona for my own take on the hobby, which I named Evil Artifact. I had to design a logo for that too, obviously.

As the pandemic began to lift, I started running games at a local brewery as Arcane Artifactory. I built the website and designed posters. I created and printed maps, and I designed game materials. I fell back in love with the true mix of creative and technical problem solving, which is why these projects are included in our portfolio. I wanted to create like this full time. Primarily, I wanted to do it for a community; real people that I can talk to rather than committees in corporate meeting rooms.

The world tries to force you to specialize, to be one thing, but I created Barrelmaker Studios at the intersection of the creative, the technical, and the practical. I don't separate these disciplines. The goal is to solve real creative and technical problems for people and businesses that may not have the time or the skills to do it themselves.

Graphic design is hard. Coding things is hard. Managing websites is hard. I am here to help, and I can't wait to work with you.