Today we’d like to introduce you to Lucy Fry.
Lucy, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I met Jason at UF while we were earning our degrees in architecture. We graduated in 1999 and moved to Atlanta to pursue our design careers. We got married in 2000 and continued to work insane hours at our respective architecture firms. I was doing interior design for law firms and banks at ASD, Jason was putting together Flash presentations for his urban planning team at Cooper Carry. After 9/11, the vibe changed. People were getting laid off at design firms left and right.
A good friend of mine, who was a carpet rep for a big carpet company in Dalton, needed something cool and fun to present at lunch presentations she was giving to designers. At the time, Power Point slides were the norm, and they were so boring and dry – so Jason put together this totally bad ass Flash presentation for her. It incorporated music and live video…it was pretty cool.
The owner of the carpet company saw it and loved it so much, he made it the official presentation for all the reps. This was also at a time when very few companies had websites…including this carpet company. They asked Jason to build them a website and the fee was more than his annual salary at Cooper Carry – so he quit in January of 2001 and started Biscuit Studios in our tiny apartment on 5th and Argonne in Midtown.
I stayed at ASD until I got pregnant with our oldest daughter in 2002. Then I bailed and joined Jason at Biscuit.
From basement, to attic, to renovated detached garage, to loft in Studioplex. We’ve been working together ever since.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
We purposely kept Biscuit small and at home so we could be there for our 2 daughters and watch them grow and become the amazing teens they are today. The graphic design industry is all consuming, and we knew that having a big office with staff would keep us away from the kids. Early on, we spent a lot of late nights in the attic working on projects after the kids went to bed. After baths and bedtime stories we would have the same conversation on repeat overnight, “You goin’ up?”, “Yep, I’m goin’ up. Are you?”
We would spend hours in our attic in Ormewood Park – sometimes until 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning – working our asses off to meet deadlines. We were doing the work of 4-5 people.
Now that the girls are getting older, and wanting less to do with us, we are ready to grow and expand the studio. We are ready to hire designers and programmers. We just bought a loft in Studioplex and we can’t wait to release the kraken.
Please tell us about Biscuit Studios.
Biscuit is a graphic design studio located in Ormewood Park; soon to be expanding to O4W. We have been in business for 17 years. We work with a wide range of industries from non-profit and education to corporate and retail. 60% of the work we do is web and UIX design. 40% is branding and print.
Because we are architects at the core, we are detail oriented, focus a lot of attention on client relationships, and we are trained take criticism without taking it personally. We love to collaborate and work with our clients as a team. And, we do all of our design and programming in-house.
We are a solid team. We love what we do. And we have fun.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
I was raised in Miami, FL on a little bit of money, and a whole lotta love. Almost everything I owned came from Salvation Army or Goodwill. My father, who is also an architect, was starting his business when I was a kid. We spent every moment outside.
Our street was teeming with boys. I was the only girl – but that didn’t stop me. We would ride our bikes all over the neighborhood. Some of my best memories were in the fall after the time change we would get the whole neighborhood together and play Ghosts in the Graveyard (hide and seek at night). I would hide until I wet my pants. That was the best. So much freedom.
Contact Info:
- Address: 659 Auburn Ave.,
Unit 101, Atlanta, GA 30312 - Website: biscuitstudios.com
- Phone: 404.635.9280
- Email: lucy@biscuitstudios.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fyberbaby/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/biscuitstudios
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/lucyangelfry
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/biscuit-studios-atlanta
- Other: https://www.pinterest.com/biscuitstudios
Image Credit:
Andrew Thomas Lee
Getting in touch: VoyageATL is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
