Too much Monkey business

What began with making T-shirts in a small bedroom has grown to use a much larger canvas for the two guys behind Purple Monkey Design. The company’s new studio, a wide-open space off of Government Street, is much more conducive to the creative process and running a business in general. “We’ve come a long way since working in my garage,” says Michael Shoemaker, co-owner and founder of Purple Monkey. Shoemaker and friend Quintin Good opened in their new space six months ago, but they’ve been dabbling in the business for the last eight years.

“Our first shirt we ever made was for the Geology Club at LSU,” Shoemaker says. “It was a plain shirt that read ‘Nice Shirt.’” Nice referred to a type of rock, but also to the quality of the shirt. From there, the two never advertised, but simply let their business spread by word of mouth. “We were supposed to get other jobs,” Shoemaker says. “But this ended up being it.” Each admits he wanted to be a teacher, but life, they say, had other plans.

Using student loans to purchase equipment for the business, the two worked hard and allowed the company to become more than just another T-shirt-making business. “We are a print shop gallery,” Good says. “We do more than shirts. We’re open to exploring many different mediums for art.” This is evident with a look around the gallery: you’ll see shirts, canvases, a checkerboard, chairs, and their newest venture, handbags. Next on the list will be a “Found Objects” experiment where they will resurface objects they find around the city with material printed by the company.

The long-term goal for the company has been to diverge from mainstream printing. That goal seems to be at least partly achieved. “We do oversize printing, foil printing, and ‘color-me’ tees,” says Shoemaker, just to name a few. And new ideas are always in the works.

Purple Monkey shirts can be purchased at the gallery itself and Storyville on Chimes Street. Art by other Baton Rougeans can be purchased at the gallery, too; a radical idea for a T-shirt company with a radical name. So what gives with Purple Monkey? Shoemaker laughs and explains, “It was inspired from a Simpsons episode.”