Infinity Images was founded in February 2000 with a modest but scrappy crew of four. By the end of the first year, we’d grown to eight, and three are still here today: our founder and CEO, George Gross, Dave Winfield, and Matt Diehl.

Over the past 25 years, as our services expanded from large-format printing to also include design, 3D fabrication, and installation, we cultivated the diverse roster of makers needed to bring increasingly complex ideas to life.

Today, Infinity Images is comprised of 65+ creatives who bring a wide range of skillsets and specialties to the table, but George, Dave, and Matt stand apart for their unmatched dedication. From small, simple print jobs to custom, complex displays on ever-tighter timelines for some of the biggest brands in the world, Dave and Matt’s jobs look a bit different from when they first started. Join them as they look back on 25 years at Infinity Images.

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WHAT'S YOUR ROLE?

Dave

Current role: Senior Graphic Designer

Previous roles: Graphic Designer, Art Director, Project Manager, Editor

Matt

Current role: Scheduler

Previous roles: Finishing Tech, Finishing Lead, Zund Operator, Production Manager, Party Planner, Safety Lead, Project Manager, Installer

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FAVORITE MEMORY FROM YOUR FIRST YEAR

Dave

Catching water in a garbage can. Imagine it’s your first day at a new job, and you are asked to hang a bracket on the wall. Now imagine drilling a hole in the wall, only to be sprayed in the face with a jet of water, because you inadvertently and amazingly punctured a water pipe. This did not happen to me, but it happened to a co-worker, who will remain nameless.  What do you do? What do I do? I asked myself the question. The answer I came up with was to grab a 50-gallon garbage can and catch as much water as I could while the rest of my co-workers scrambled to find the water shut-off valve. Still makes me laugh and reaffirms, even back then, we were Team Infinity, solving world problems in real-time.

Matt

Two things! Number one, the first Summer I worked for Infinity we were so slow that we would go to the park and play frisbee and lay in the sun! If we needed to hang out at the shop, it was Monopoly…ALL…day! You can play four games of Monopoly in a day when you have people that are used to playing together day after day! Secondly, I remember that at the end of the first year when Christmas bonuses might be handed out that our “motivational” speech from our owner was that he would have made more money that year if he had put his money in the bank and collected the interest! Still makes me laugh!

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FAVORITE RECENT MEMORY

Dave

My favorite recent memory has to be competing in our annual Cornhole tournament with my 25-year co-worker counterpart, Matt Diehl. How did the stars align to randomly put the two quarter-centurions together, to compete against the entire company? Some may cry foul. Some may go down the dark-web rabbit hole to uncover the conspiracy of the quarter-century. But the fact remains, Matt and I have no idea how it could have happened. And the matching, 25-year team t-shirts just accidentally showed up right before the matches began. We didn’t win anyway, so you just need to get over it.

Matt

My first time attending the Soapbox Derby last Summer! It was fun to get out in the fresh air with friends and fellow employees to support Infinity during this traditional Portland event. Getting to watch our team work together from the first planning sessions throughout the competitive and successful runs down the course made for a great event!

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ALL-TIME FAVORITE PROJECT

Dave

There have been so many. It is hard to say, or even remember, but the one that pops out was the most nerve-wracking and detail-focused project I have been involved in. The Detroit Nike Store Stairway Wall. This project relied on a bulletproof site survey that had to be absolutely correct. The ask was to remove a magnetic wood-paneled wall graphic that was literally melting off the building. We had to recreate 50-some wooden panels accurately, cleating them to the wall, aligning them perfectly and seamlessly, that flowed around corners, down a stairwell, notching to each tread, then around another corner, ending perfectly at a wall corner. These are printed and varnished wood panels—not wallpaper panels—you just don’t get to trim finished wood panels if they don’t fit. You don’t get to stretch or fudge the material. You can’t come up short at a corner. It has to be perfect. Well, it wasn’t perfect, BUT, it was damn-near. I believe we had to reprint one small panel that happened along a ceiling edge where there was an undocumented obstruction. The finished product is something I’m still proud of, and I couldn’t be prouder of our team’s effort in surveying to 99.99% perfection and installing flawlessly! We do great work.

Matt

Always hard to pick just one! From painting murals in Connecticut to installations on golf courses in Reno, the installation projects have probably been my favorites. My very favorite is probably the NFL Superbowl build and install in Los Angeles in 2022. It was one of the first projects I got to help build in the shop and install in person. It was amazing to watch the digital design renderings come to life and the final install pics were outstanding as they looked EXACTLY like the design! Our full install crew went down for several nights of installs and really got to spend some challenging and memory building times together. It turns out that spending a couple of days in Southern California in February is pretty nice!

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WHY DO YOU LIKE WORKING FOR INFINITY IMAGES?

Dave

The people I work with are a joy in my life. You spend close to a third of your life working, or at least that is my under-estimated story. If you don’t work with quality, caring people, career satisfaction suffers. I am blessed to have found a family to make the necessity of working pure joy.

Matt

Every day is different. I have never enjoyed the same routine day after day — probably why I have done so many different things here! We are always reinventing the wheel and trying something new. Each year presents new challenges and the ability to learn new processes. The amazing group of people I work with, that are really like a second family, have made the years go by quickly. When I broke my ankle years ago and was out of work for physical therapy, it was the support of the Infinity family that really helped me get through. I couldn’t do what I do today without the help of the people I work side by side with every day.