About Design Turnpike

As a boy, I loved license plates. Six-hundred-mile trips were enlivened by keeping a list of the many diverse plates I saw on the road along the way. Family road trips to New Mexico, South Dakota, Florida, New Brunswick and many other destinations exposed me to the wealth of color, style and personality of each state's tag. A separate but genuine love for maps, geography and crafting grew to inspire the art you are viewing right now.

Design Turnpike began as a simple quest to recreate for myself a fascinating piece I saw several years back: a map of the United States made from old license plates. It was during that learning process that a challenge turned into a hobby and creative outlet. Along the way I realized I had my own wealth of original ideas for taking discarded license plates and immortalizing them in ways that could bring people years of enjoyment. In fact, a blue Michigan plate that adorned my first vehicle for 8 years lives on in one of the pieces in my personal collection.

Working from Dearborn, Michigan, the birthplace of the modern automobile, I continue to brainstorm and produce various new designs along with some of the classic license plate maps shown in throughout this website. I've been selling handmade license plate art and maps online now for several years, and hundreds of sales later, it's client comments like these that keep me motivated:

"I just wanted to let you know that our license plate map arrived yesterday. I hadn't shown the pictures you sent me to my husband so he was really excited to unpack it. It's wonderful! Once we get it up on the wall, I'll forward you a picture. It looks fantastic and we can't wait to hang it." SK in New Jersey

If you'd like to join a growing list of satisfied customers that includes professional athletes, automobile buffs and corporate executives, click here to get started. I'm also interested in commissioned work. If you would like to discuss a custom project or have questions about my work, please drop me a line!