Local Creative Design Company takes Fairfield County by Storm
“The color orange excretes creativity and positivity. I would paint everything orange if I could.” Dave Condon’s voice booms through his studio and center of operations. Located on Linwood Avenue in Downtown Fairfield, the *andHOW! space is one that is painted a vibrant orange, exemplifying the creativity that they celebrate. The creative design center takes in and breathes out a unique business that has taken the greater Fairfield County by storm.
Dave Condon Jr., the CEO, and Founder of *andHOW!, created the company name while attending the University of Buffalo.
“My job is to grab somebody’s attention on your behalf”
Dave had written this in a years-old notebook when asked what graphic design meant to him. After leaving upstate New York, Dave’s path to the successful business he operates was a long and winding one. After working in Amsterdam at a design company, he returned to the U.S. with a creative spark that would ignite a years-long search for a place to call home. This eventually lead Condon to settle down in Fairfield with his wife, Lindsey, and two children, where he would see *andHOW! actualize into the higher potential it always had.
Opening the business in its Fairfield location allowed the family to grow, adding Kat VanSteenbergen to the team, a first cousin of Lindsay’s[1] . She graduated with a Business Management and Fashion Merchandising degree from Johnson and Wales University and had been looking for a unique opportunity like this. She was brought onto *andHOW! at its early inception, helping with all facets of the operation that was still early on in its infancy.
“I did nearly everything, Dave taught me how,” she said. Kat and Dave managed all of the shop's work, doing logo and apparel design, wrapping trucks, and running a successful startup. Kat self-taught herself the software and is now well versed on their multi-head embroidery machine, fulfilling hundreds upon hundred of projects.
Val Roberts came on in September of 2022, meeting Dave through a mutual friend. She had worked mostly with installation but had always been
well-versed in the fine art of screen printing. She fit in perfectly within the dynamic of Kat and Dave, elevating the level of friendliness and family that was already tangible within the *andHOW! name. Starting in a 460 square foot converted closet space and eventually moving to a larger studio on the other side of their wall, the *andHOW! team grew into what it is today. After the move, *andHOW! welcomed Drew Morrison, a local artist and designer, to help in the production of in house creative branding. The company is no simple print shop or silk screener.
“I wanted to create a model that incorporated design, branding, and the export of goods for all business needs”
After expanding into the larger space, the team now boasts a wide array of machinery that allows all the creative production to be done in-house. One of their newest machines, a direct-to-garment printer, was funded by a micro-enterprise assistance grant by the Town of Fairfield CDBG Program in July of 2022.
*AndHOW! has designed and printed for nearly everyone in the 203, and is expanding rapidly beyond. From breweries, bands, Fortune 500 companies, local colleges, businesses, brands, and just about anything else that you can think of, *andHOW! branding and logos can be found in the far reaches of the United States.
With that said, *andHOW! is a credible and reliable creative center. Rather than finding the cheapest and easiest way to get a job done, Dave and company work with clients to not only design a brand or merchandise package, but create an identity. There is a virtuoso-like quality to the work that is done at *andHOW!
“I like to stay curious 90% of the conversation,” Dave said one time on a phone call with a potential client. Taking steps to learn each client on an individual level, *andHOW! Assists each client in telling a story. It’s even right there in the name! They work closely with every customer, no matter how big or small, to create a specific identity for their personal brand, and how to execute it using their nearly limitless creative potential.
(L to R) Val, Kat, Lindsay and Dave
The passion and love that lives at *andHOW extends past the actual creation and production, existing within the bond of the team itself. On a daily basis, Dave, Lindsay, Kat, Val, and Drew can be found having a laugh while they enjoy lunch. Their hardy giggles over a funny anecdote or meme are truly something to be witnessed. Every so often, their families come in as well, with Dave’s children eyeing his toy collection and Kat’s dog sniffing around the shop. When asked how he would describe the work family that he has worked to create, Dave thought for a moment and looked around his office.
“Without the people I have cultivated here, none of this would exist. Without their trust, support, and motivation to back this dream, none of this would exist.” There is a tangible bond that ties the team together, creating a workplace family that only elevates the quality of what they do.
So after all of the time they have been working together, all of their roundabout journeys to get to where they are today, and all the compassion they have for what they do, the question arises: What’s next for the *andHOW! Team?
Kat hopes to open a daycare, and Val jokingly hoped for a tattoo parlor. Dave thoughtfully responded:
“What’s next for this? Calculated growth.”
Rest assured, they will be coming in after a relaxing weekend, ready to start their next big project. Regardless of where they will go from here, the community will continue to have their stories told through *andHOW!’s creative processes. Though they have no plans for painting the world in their designs just yet, *andHOW! is looking forward to doing work within the greater Fairfield County community and beyond. From design and branding to marketing and production, the *andHOW! studio will be active and lively, full of laughter and machinery, and unique creative energy that is hard to find anywhere else.