One of the strongest design teams that have been assembled in recent history within current urban culture has to be Jason Noto and Doug Cunningham at Morning Breath Inc.

Pushing the design borders out of what is accepted and safe, these two break all the rules, a characteristic that I always applaud and appreciated greatly. Their vision is unique in the design world I feel and they are only pushing harder to do “their own thing” in all cases.

These true artists and I have been working together for a number of years, 13 with Jason to be exact and with Doug about 6 maybe. Hard to believe how time flies… I met Jason while he was working at Def Jam’s in-house design firm, The Drawing Board with Cey Adams. It was here that I began to see the skills that J had. He set himself apart and his laid back demeanor was different from so many in the game. When I had the opportunity to work with a designer, he was the first person I called. We designed a number of albums together… most notably… Eminem’s “Marshall Mather’s” LP, The DOC’s album “Deuce” and most recently, J.Holiday’s “Round 2”. 

Aside from the packaging design, for which they were nominated for a Grammy a few years back… they have also sank their teeth into the skateboarding and snowboarding world, one familiar to both of them. I’ve seen the decks and it’s like having a functional piece of art. I doubt that kids riding the decks by Chocolate even know what the unique vision that they are representing underfoot. They’ve accomplished so much over the years with clients such as New Era, Stussy, Interscope Records, and Ride Snowboards to name a few.

I recently had the privilege of photographing them in their studio in Brooklyn. I showed up we had a conversation throughout the session and we did come simple but really effective photos in my mind. Their work space is so full of visual information, references and their own work you can’t help but fee that you have entered their world. One could spend hours there just looking through their work. I stayed for about an hour and just shot a few portraits and documented a heated game of pool (a new pastime fro them). I nearly challenged them to a battle with Team Mannion, but they said that home court advantage was really serious there and they played about 8 games day. I backed down as I play about 8 games a YEAR. I mean, I ain’t no punk, but I think I better practice a little bit first and get my angles down…. knawmean…

Clever, defiant, talented, observant & classic… “They just get it”

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