ABOUT AJAX ANVIL CO. · COLUMBUS, OHIO
Hi, I'm Ajax.
My name is Jack Kelly, but I've been Ajax since before I was born. I'm an illustrator, muralist, and designer, and I run Ajax Anvil Co., a creative studio in Columbus, Ohio.
I help restaurants, breweries, and consumer brands look as good as they actually are, with brand identities, murals, merch, and packaging that make people stop, stay, and come back.
10
YEARS DESIGNING IN THE APPAREL INDUSTRY
6
YEARS RUNNING AJAX ANVIL CO. FULL TIME
BFA
ILLUSTRATION, COLUMBUS COLLEGE OF ART & DESIGN
30+
MURALS PAINTED
THE NAME CAME FIRST
I've been Ajax since before I was born. Nobody's quite sure where it came from, but one afternoon in New York my mom started singing, "There's a baby in my belly, and his name is Ajax Kelly." It stuck.
About a year later, my dad, Kevin T. Kelly, and my uncle, Dan Biggs, were putting together their first group show. Both of them are artists, and both grew up on Looney Tunes, so they built a six-foot anvil out of corrugated cardboard and hung it from the second-story window over the gallery door.
That anvil became Ajax Anvil Company, a made-up business where they could put every absurd idea they ever had, from stream-of-consciousness short stories to ridiculous product concepts.
When I started my own studio, I took the name with me. It's how I carry on what they started, and how I honor the memory of my Uncle Dan.
HOW THE STUDIO
GOT HERE
As a kid I was always making up stories, drawing comics in my sketchbook and building whole kingdoms out of Legos. I grew up on Saturday morning cartoons, Nintendo and PlayStation, and a lot of third-wave ska. That's still the root of my style: bold color, big personality, and just enough weird to make people look twice.
I studied illustration at CCAD, then spent years in-house designing licensed apparel. Some of it was for the same brands I grew up on, like Nintendo and PlayStation, alongside Disney, Marvel, and Star Wars, and it sold everywhere from Target to Hot Topic. It taught me how things actually get made, and how to make something people want to pick up.
In Long Beach, I found my people in the street art scene and started painting murals. That turned into Ajax Anvil Co. as a full-time studio, working with restaurants, breweries, and shops that wanted more than a logo. One t-shirt for a Korean fried chicken pop-up turned into four years of creative direction and a flagship on Melrose.
Now I'm back in Columbus, where I went to art school and later taught digital media illustration, and self-promotion for illustrators.
I now take on projects anywhere in the U.S., bringing imagination to life and transforming ideas into artwork that ends up on walls, cans, and storefronts.
WHAT I’M ABOUT
COLOR ON PURPOSE
I want to bring light and color into the world, especially when things feel dark. Bold work isn't decoration. It's how a place makes people feel something.
SPACES FOR EVERYONE
A library kids want to visit. A card shop where anyone can sit down and play. The work I'm proudest of brings people together, not just customers through a door.
YOUR WEIRD IS THE BRAND
The thing that makes your business a little strange is usually the thing people remember. I'd rather dive deep and turn it up than sand it down.
HOW I WORK
I take on a few big projects a year instead of a lot of small ones. That way every client gets my full attention, not a slot in a queue.
You work with me directly, start to finish. The person who designs your logo is the same one who paints your wall and designs your merch, so nothing gets lost between vendors.
Every project starts with a free 45-minute Forge Session, and you leave it with a direction, a rough scope, and a real number.
OFF THE CLOCK
I'm a dad first. I'm also a self-described absurdist who thinks most rules about what art should look like are worth bending. I share the real ups and downs of running a creative business and raising a family as Ajax Kelly.
