Design firm Smirk moving to RiNo, gives $90,000 to charity in 2013

Eric Peterson | Monday, December 16, 2013

Nick Baumbart and Taylor Langan are Smirk. Smirk

A shirt depicting the North Pole's food pyramid. Smirk

Nick Baumgart had been designing websites under the moniker of Baumgart Web since 2006. After meeting Taylor Langan in the spring, they joined forces and launched Smirk in April 2013.

"We're both really passionate about design and impacting the world in a positive way," says Baumgart. "These days we're really focused on apparel -- we didn't set out to do that."

Eight months later, they've shifted from websites to T-shirts and raised more than $90,000 for charity in the process. They're moving from Littleton to RiNo in early 2014, in part to be near their printer, A Small Print Shop.

Smirk has had a lot of success with its 1876 brand of Colorado-related shirts, hats, and hoodies as well as making shirts to sell for charities tied to The Chive, the self-described "best website in the world" that's spawned local communities all over the country.

Smirk printed its first Chive-related shirt in April. "The Chive thing just sort of happened to us," says Baumgart. "Denver Chive tapped us. They wanted a do a shirt to raise money. We thought we'd sell 50 or 60 of them -- we ended up selling 1,600."

The company also raised $7,000 as part of a flood-relief push in September.

Beyond the Chive shirts and the 1876 brand, Smirk's designs play off of Internet and pop-culture memes. The company also makes a few greeting cards and has a branded corn-on-the-cob butterer.

"It's kind of a joke," says Baumgart. "In the history of human beings, no one has ever thought that rolling a hot ear of corn on a stick of butter was a hard thing to do."

He doesn't discount the possibility of Smirk moving back into interactive design. "It's all about what we're passionate about. If it's a website or a shirt or a card or a corn butterer, if we're passionate about it, we'll go after it."

Contact Confluence Denver Innovation & Jobs News Editor Eric Peterson with tips and leads for future stories at eric@confluence-denver.com.

Design firm Smirk moving to RiNo, gives $90,000 to charity in 2013

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