A Welcome, a Thank-You, and a Trip Back in Time…
Howdy. I’m Jason Hackwith, owner of Firewind Productions.
It’s my privilege to welcome you to ArtBeat’s brand new website, celebrating forty years of serving you!
On behalf of everyone at ArtBeat, thank you for your support over the years. We couldn’t do any of this without you and we’re profoundly grateful to be a part of your lives.
Let’s rewind the tape to 1985. The world was dancing to synth-pop, hair was defying gravity, and you couldn’t go five minutes without hearing someone quote Back to the Future. Michael J. Fox had just taught us that 88 miles per hour could change everything, and somewhere in America, a whole generation was dreaming of owning a DeLorean (or at least a pair of self-lacing sneakers). E.T. was phoning home and teaching bicycles to fly, and The Goonies showed us that adventure can start right in your own back yard.
The movies were loud, but the colors were louder! Fashion in 1985 was a glorious free-for-all of color, confidence, and questionable decisions… and we loved every minute of it. Big hair wasn’t just a look; it was an architectural achievement. Shoulder pads could double as safety gear, neon was considered a neutral, and denim was everywhere—from jackets to skirts to the occasional hat (yes, really). Leg warmers made you look athletic even if you hadn’t seen a gym in years, and if you owned a Members Only jacket, you were automatically cool. It was a time when more was more, subtlety was suspicious, and self-expression ruled the closet.
The soundtrack to that year? “We Are the World” had us all singing in our living rooms, Madonna was busy being “Like a Virgin,” and A-ha’s “Take On Me” gave us the most ambitious music video anyone had ever seen. Mixtapes were the ultimate love language, boomboxes were practically fashion accessories, and every car ride came with the satisfying click of a cassette flipping to side B. MTV was brand new and completely revolutionary—because back then, if you wanted to see your favorite band, you had to wait for it to actually come on TV.
Speaking of TV, the lineup was unbeatable. The Golden Girls were cracking wise and MacGyver was defusing bombs with paper clips and gum wrappers. Saturday mornings were reserved for cereal and cartoons: nobody questioned that ritual. If you were lucky enough to have a Nintendo Entertainment System, you got to spend long golden hours exploring The Legend of Zelda and searching out the secret minus level in the original Mario Bros.
We didn’t have smartphones or streaming, but we had imagination—and patience. People wrote letters by hand, gathered around the TV (much as previous generations gathered around the radio) and survived somehow without Wi-Fi. Sure, fashion was a bit over the top, the music videos dramatic enough to qualify as short films, and some of the movies a little cheesy by today’s standards—but that’s what made 1985 special. It was bold, unfiltered, and full of heart: a decade strutting into the future with a cassette in one hand and a dream in the other.
Right in the middle of that neon-tinted, synthesizer-fueled world, something creative was brewing in the Northwest. That’s when ArtBeat Inc. first opened its doors in 1985: ready to turn ideas into art, one T-shirt at a time. Back then as now, it was a small team with a big dream (and possibly a few mullets). The tools were simpler, but the mission was the same: make people look good and feel proud of what they represent.
Fast forward forty years, and ArtBeat is still going strong. Now the equipment hums with digital precision instead of analog guesswork. Screen printing has evolved, embroidery has gone high-tech, and good graphic design is more important than ever. Yet through all the change, ArtBeat’s heart has stayed the same: a small, Mom & Pop shop creating work that’s vibrant, meaningful, and built to last.
From local businesses and schools to community events and creative entrepreneurs, ArtBeat Inc. has helped thousands to bring their visions to life. They’ve seen trends rise and fall, fonts go in and out of fashion, and logos get sleeker and smarter, but one thing never changes: people love seeing their ideas made real. Whether it’s a sharp embroidered jacket or a perfectly printed tee, ArtBeat’s been making it happen since before Photoshop even existed.
So here’s to 1985—the year the world got a little more colorful, a little more musical, and a lot more creative thanks to ArtBeat Inc. From airbrush to digital print, from floppy disks to the cloud, ArtBeat has kept its edge through every era. Forty years later, they’re still turning wearable canvases into conversation starters—and that’s something worth celebrating. Cheers to the next forty years of creativity, craft, and color!
We’d love to hear from you!
Have we served you in the past forty years? We’d sure love if you would stop by our Testimonials page and let us know how we did. Good or bad, we want to hear from you! We’d love to showcase your comments (if you give us permission, of course).
