COLUMBUS COOK STUDIOS INC

Being very passionate about the renaissance era and desperately in search of a way to make enough money
to return to design school, Columbus Cook decided to forego one semester of college at Tuskegee University to study cosmetology. In 1987, Columbus received a License in Cosmetology from the Alabama Board of Cosmetology and briefly opened De La Renaissance,
an ill-fated barber and style shop in Wetumpka, Alabama.

On the advice of his older brother Curtis, Columbus enlisted in the local National Guard. After completing basic training at Fort Leonard Wood Missouri, Columbus graduated at the top of his class in Fort Lee Virginia with a diploma for Water Purification in the summer of 1990. By the end of 1990, with dreams of returning to his architectural studies fading, he began applying to John M. Patterson State Technical College for their drafting program. Meanwhile, he was sent to Saudi Arabia in support of Operation Desert Storm and received national attention through military publications for his pen/ink sketches completed during leisure time.

In 1992, while working part-time in the yearbook department at Herff Jones Inc, Columbus met Charronda King and they got married nine months later. After graduating from J P Tech, Columbus began working as
a draftsman for Max Keith Norman Residential Design in Montgomery, Alabama. Determined to establish himself as a successful entrepreneur and working under the mentorship of veteran businessman Mr. Willie T. Goodman, Columbus opened Renaissance Technology in February of 1993. The idea behind RT was that it

would be a “School of Athens” style business venture which would bring together people from various backgrounds. RT included drafting & design services, a barber & style shop and a t-shirt shop. It was also a very popular and positive place to just “hang out”.

In August of 1996, Columbus and Charronda were accepted to the Atlanta College of Art where he continued his design studies and she studied photography. Columbus became a published illustrator while attending ACA by partnering with children’s storybook author Joseph Trimble to produce Marty Makes a Difference, which can be found on the Barnes and Noble national children’s book list. After moving to Atlanta, the company’s name was changed to Renaissance Design Technology. In 1997, Columbus opened an office in a tiny utility room

behind a one-car garage. With a handful of artist supplies, drafting board and lamp, he began a one-man rendering/design operation in a quest to put a mark on the Metro-Atlanta industry. Columbus completed drawings for various projects such as residential renderings, patent drawings, logo designs and murals. It was also during this time that Columbus worked at Silvestar Associates, Inc as a project manager.

Believing that the time had finally come to shed the image of a singular artist, Columbus Cook Studios, Inc. was launched in May of 2001 as a visual communications company. That same year, Ava Sanchez joined the company as project manager along with various other supporting staff. 9 11 occurred four months later and Cook Studios was almost forced to close its doors. With a lot of praying and marketing efforts eventually beginning to payoff, projects from the commercial real estate industry as well as product and set design began to come in.

Cook Studios even illustrated a coloring book for Zoo Atlanta. In 2004, Charronda King-Cook joined Cook Studios as CFO. After 2 1/2 years as CFO, Charronda began establishing our photography department. Daven Cook has been with the company since he was a baby who crawled around on the barber shop floor during the days when we were Renaissance Technology. Nowadays, he works part-time as our graphic assistant and is showing early signs of the entrepreneurship spirit with a passion for writing comic books and video game design. Only our imaginations are the limit to where Cook Studios will go from here.

Today Cook Studios employ a cadre of artists with varying expertise in Adobe Software, Traditional & Digital Photography, Autodesk Software and SketchUp Software as well as hand drawing, painting and marker applications. Since 2001, Cook Studios has grown to become one of the most sought after visual communication firms. Cook Studios has completed conceptual designs and architectural renderings for: Georgia Pacific-Product Development; Wood Partners and

Trammel Crowe for The Preston Partnership, LLC; Harrison Design Associates; Trump Towers Atlanta for Kenji Design Studios; Marriott International for Goodwyn, Mills, & Cawood; as well as Hirsch Bedner Associates, Burma Weller of Paces Ferry Realty and many others. Cook Studios was created to bridge the visual communication gap between the architect, builder, real estate developer, product developer and its target audience. In essence, Cook Studios helps to establish the “design-flavor” or direction and present the final product to its end user through use of our visual language…”ideas to communication.”