Toronto’s Crush Inc. is celebrating its first anniversary this month and the commercial/design shop’s co-owner and president Gary Thomas says he is both surprised and pleased with the company’s progress to date.

‘We had targets and things we wanted to accomplish but I don’t think we had any real expectations that we would get so close to our goals as we actually have come,’ says Thomas. ‘We didn’t have long track records in the city and we didn’t have loyalties and we didn’t have the kinds of connections our competitors do.’

Quite the contrary, actually.

Prior to starting Crush, Thomas learned his craft overseas in Australia and Asia and upon returning to Canada learned there was a definite need within the Canadian production industry for the service he had become adept at.

‘I found there was a need here for a place that was more like a design studio and a little less like a post house,’ he says. ‘There seemed to be a bit of a gap in the way things worked and it seemed like a good time to set up a shop that focused mostly on graphics and type design because that is becoming a much bigger part of the commercial business.’

It was also his hope to set up a shop that was, as Thomas says, more relaxed.

‘I wanted to work in a place like that, so I figured I had better make one.’

Crush started with one Henry and some Macs, with two designers running After Effects. It recently acquired a second Henry, which Thomas says is good for the graphic design work Crush has become known for.

‘We have found that having two systems that can interchange was a really good idea,’ says Thomas, adding he is pleased the company steered away from using an arguably more user-friendly Inferno system. ‘When people are using the Inferno – and this is a gross generalization,’ he says, ‘you tend to see a lot of the same kinds of looks and plug-ins and sort of easy fixes for things. I find you have to work a little harder with the Henry, and you have to make things yourself instead of relying on a plug-in.’

Although in its first year Crush was called on to do a great deal of broadcast design work, Thomas says he is very proud of what the company has accomplished in the commercial market. Admittedly, having worked thus far with more American than Canadian clients and agencies, he enjoys the freedom allowed by commercials. In the last year, Crush has created commercials with Ogilvy & Mather for client Elliot & Page and with Jordon McGrath Case & Partners for Media One, among others.

‘For us, those have been very satisfying,’ says Thomas. ‘Those are the kinds of jobs we like to get, where people just say we are not exactly sure what we want to do, and want Crush to figure something out and make it look beautiful.’

One highlight from the last year, says Thomas, was when Crush was given the opportunity to work on the ‘Rant’ spot from Molson Canadian’s ‘I Am Canadian’ campaign. He has been ‘pleasantly surprised’ by the attention the spot has garnered.

Crush is currently working on a pool of spots for Grey Advertising in London, Eng., and New York for Twix candy bars.

‘We’ve been given a free hand to run with it,’ says Thomas of the Twix job. ‘It’s really rewarding now after only a year in business that people are confident enough in us to let us do that with their pictures.’

Now that Crush’s first year is in the books, Thomas hopes for more commercial work in the upcoming year. He believes now more than ever companies are in need of a shop like Crush to help establish corporate identities through creative graphics. But until then he and his comrades at Crush will bask in the glory of a successful first year.

‘To have managed to claw our way through the jungle in a year is very rewarding because it is a really tough market,’ says Thomas.