Seattle, WA – March 5 2009 (Press release):
Paul Matthaeus, Digital Kitchen founder, CEO and Chief Creative Officer has stepped down as DK’s ranking creative visionary to pursue new creative endeavors outside the company, and has delegated day-to-day creative leadership to DK’s creative managers under the supervision of Mark Bashore as Head of Creative, yet Matthaeus will remain a major interest holder, board member and creative consultant.
Matthaeus explained, “It’s been an amazing ride, but I grew to renew my need for greater intimacy with the creative work. So it’s time to break new ground again- I intend to take my experience founding and building DK and apply it to entirely new initiatives. The opportunity to build something wildly creative is what inspired me to start DK, and that’s what I intend to do again.”
“Paul is a visionary,” comments Don McNeill, Matthaeus’ partner since 2000. “For the nine years we’ve built DK together, he’s never lost sight of the importance of great creative work and great talent. But he always keeps a keen eye on what’s next. So I’m excited to see Paul embark on another creative journey. Whatever he decides to pursue will undoubtedly be cool. He’s a great partner and great friend.”
Since DK’s inception in 1995, DK grew from a three-man shop adjoining the kitchen of Matthaeus’ regional advertising agency into a bi-coastal creative network with over 90 full and part-time employees with offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Seattle- the largest independent design-driven production company in North America. Matthaeus noted, “If appropriate, I fully intend to deploy the resources and infrastructure of DK in my new ventures.” DK has worked for clients including Nike, Adidas, AT&T, Microsoft, GM, Ferrari, HBO, Showtime, Dreamworks, Sony Entertainment, and all the major networks.
Under Matthaeus’ leadership, the work of Digital Kitchen has been celebrated in Newsweek, Time, The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, Entertainment Weekly, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Communication Arts, Graphis, and AdWeek. This year Matthaeus garnered DK their 10th Emmy(r) nomination- more than any firm of their kind in the last seven years.
Matthaeus is probably best known for his creative approach in television entertainment- which includes the opening creative direction for Six Feet Under, Nip / Tuck, House, Rescue Me, Ghost Whisperer, The Path to 9/11, The Company and Dexter. His latest contribution was in the creation of the opening sequence for True Blood, the highly anticipated HBO series that broke this Fall by Oscar-winning creator/writer/director Alan Ball.
“What I like about Digital Kitchen’s creative approach is their intuitive ability to depart from the status quo,” said Alan Ball, creator/director, True Blood. ” We first worked with DK on the titles for ‘Six Feet Under’ and the opening for True Blood is equally thrilling. This vivid title sequence so effectively evokes the spirit of the show. It immediately transports the viewer into the True Blood world.”
Regardless, it could be argued that Matthaeus’ greatest contribution lies beyond the offices of Digital Kitchen. He has mentored hundreds of young digital filmmakers, many of who have gone on to found their own firms. He also has evangelized the creative process at countless design conferences, marketing and broadcast media symposiums including AIGA, American Marketing Association, SIGGRAPH, FlashForward, and InVerge, a national symposium on digital media convergence.