Bridges

How can I describe Jameel Bridgewater aka Bridges? Well, it's not easy because in many ways, he's different. Not like weird or crazy different, but unique different. Bridges doesn't have a story where he had to overcame the biggest trials or kill the most dragons. This isn't 8 mile, and there is no fancy shit to tell. The thing about Bridges' that makes him different isn't his struggle, but that he is destined to do what he's doing and that he will truly make an impact.

Bridges' is a 23-year-old designer, photographer and art director from Chicago Il. Here grew up in the small town of Urbana before going to college in the city. His father was a jazz musician and photographer and his mother was an early childhood educator. Growing up his family always encouraged and supported his creativity. Often letting him draw on walls and teaching him that it's not about the money, it's about doing something you love.

However, it wasn't until his senior year of high school that he decided he wanted to be a designer. "When I was young I'd doodle and draw but I wasn't looking at design as a career path. I took a couple art classes, then my teacher was like “Oh would you like to be a part of the AP art class.” I was like “Yeah, sure, why not.”, and I was kinda nervous about it because I wasn’t taking art seriously. I played soccer growing up so that was my main focus." His senior year his design teacher Stacy Gross, encouraged him to pursue design in college, that's when he fell in love with it. He didn’t really start doing photography until he was in college when he had to take a required photography class. “I picked it up and I just liked it.”

This is why I say he was destined for it. Design in a way chose him, and since then he's already worked for countless brands like Redbull, Topman and Jugrnaut to artist like SZA, Eyrn Kane and Kweku Collins.

You can tell he's passionate about what he's doing and is a student of his craft. Not only is he passionate, but he's also kinda fearless. “I say yes to everything. I feel like if you go into situations you can either find out that you’re really really bad or extremely good, so if you don’t take that chance or leap you’ll never know if you’re good.”

He's young, passionate, and not afraid to take chances. He's putting every bit of himself in his work and working hard as hell to get his brand and his vision out there.

One of his visions is to turn his brand into an agency where he can connect people to artist and also create a space for artist, designers and so on to grow, learn and feel comfortable. “I'm interested in making people look good and I wanna make pieces of work that won’t just live on social media, but will help propel artists." This genuine care is truly reflected in every bit of work and there's no doubt that he'll make it happen.

This is what we needed; a young motivated designer/visionary with great ideas and the passion to get it done. Bridges is about to be something special, not just in Chicago but everywhere, and I guarantee if you haven't heard of him now, you will.