Benjamin and Janneane are no strangers to the Indy’s creative scene. Since 2010 they have been a part of numerous ventures focused on Indianapolis culture and connecting creative professionals, from IndySpectator to PATTERN, to INDYxPARIS on a global scale. In 2013 they opened PRINTtEXT, a paradise for any magazine or print media enthusiast. Periodicals of all shapes and sizes, spanning across all genres, fill the shop which also serves as a studio and project space. Aside from running PRINTtEXT, the duo offers a multitude of creative services to the community, including art direction, set design, and product photography.
What do your friends call you?
Ben and Janneane
How old are you (if you don’t mind me asking!)?
B: 31
J: 31
Where are you from?
Here, Indianapolis
Which neighborhood do you live in right now?
B: We live above the shop.
J: Meridian Kessler/ South Broad Ripple Area.
What do you do for a living?
B: We do art direction for different people and run our shop.
What do you do as a creative outlet?
J: We’ve figured out how to incorporate all of our creative outlets into our work. Photography, set design, writing, making publications. It’s great!
What’s the most interesting thing happening in Indy right now?
B: There’s a lot of really cool collectives that are doing awesome stuff, whether it’s all the people doing the Chreece festival in August, Working Girls, GPC, all people that are really creative.
Favorite local brewery, distillery or winery? (Or if not a drinker, then favorite eatery.)
J: We love Tinker Street, it’s awesome. I love sitting outside there.
Upcoming trip?
J: New York – we go to New York every September for New York Art Book Fair. So we’re actually getting ready to go there in a month. It’s cool! We get to meet a lot of the magazine publishers in person that we carry in the shop and then also go to NYFW shows.
How did you hear about PATTERN?
J: Before PATTERN was PATTERN, it was Indianapolis Fashion Collective. I worked at KA+A and we took IFC through our branding process, gave it the name PATTERN and helped establish what it is today.
What was your favorite meetup and why?
J: We did a really cool meetup with NASA where they talked about the design of the spacesuits.
B: I liked when we partnered with VERGE to do a meetup about Fashion and Tech.
J: Yeah! We had some Thiel Fellows come, Maddy Maxie and Mari Kussman, and they were talking about efficient ways to manufacture apparel.
What event are you looking forward to attending this month?
B: I always look forward to seeing what the new issue looks like!
