Fingers Duke, a full service design studio, is settling in nicely in its new space on Fourth Street in downtown Bremerton.

Being back in the downtown mix, though, is nothing new for the company which designs and produces T-shirts, logos, posters, business cards, websites and much more.

Co-owner Derek Gress got in on the ground floor with the company back in 2010 when the studio was located at 705 Pacific Ave. Before long, Gress, Sam Enlow and Rufus Schell took over ownership of the firm.

“I helped name the business and get it started,” Gress said. “It was all owned by another gentleman, but after about a year we both had different goals. Me and a couple of other investors decided to see if we could buy out the business.”

From there, Fingers Duke moved into a space inside the mall in Silverdale where it stayed for about two years. The firm returned to Bremerton in May.

“We accomplished everything we wanted to do and kind of outgrew the space in the mall and needed to find a new place,” said Gress.

The large Fourth Street space, with about 2,700 square feet on the ground floor alone, not to mention a basement and second floor, came at a good rental price. It also allowed Fingers Duke to get back in the middle of a vibrant downtown community.

“There is great exposure and foot traffic which helps us get our name out there,” Gress said.

That unique name, it turns out, stems from old Victorian slang. It is, in part, where the phrase “Put up your dukes” comes from.

“We do a lot of hand done art and our screen printing is all manual,” Gress said. “It seemed to fit and is something that is unique enough that we had never really heard of before and didn’t see it being used. After about two hours, we couldn’t get it out of our heads, so we said, ‘What the heck, let’s give it a shot.’ It seems to be pretty successful because it gets stuck in everybody else’s head as well.”

Gress grew up in Renton, but graduated from the Northwest College of Art and Design in Poulsbo with a minor in visual communication and a double major in fine art and graphic design. While in school, Gress got more and more involved in the local art world.

“After I graduated I wasn’t in any hurry to go back to Renton,” he said. “I was really digging it over here and the vibe of Kitsap County. Instead of specific little neighborhoods like there are in Seattle, the whole county has a sort of vibe to it.”

Spearheading Fingers Duke wasn’t part of Gress’ original plan, but he’s happy with the way things have worked out.

“Originally, while going to school, the idea was to get a job with some big firm,” he said. “I ended up doing a lot of freelance work while waiting to find those opportunities. I really like the ability to work by myself or in small groups, interacting with clients and customers. It was always a long-term goal to have something of my own, I just didn’t expect it to happen this quickly.”

Learning how to run a successful business is hard work, but it also has its rewards.

“One of the best parts is kind of having a lot of freedom to do what we want,” said Gress. “We get to set a lot of our own hours. The work is also a lot more rewarding knowing we accomplished something; especially when it involves meeting deadlines and pushing through to get things done.”

There are also a lot of challenges.

“It’s not necessarily something I’ve ever done before,” said Gress. “I had done design and screen printing, but I never had to deal with the administrative tasks and all of that fun stuff.”

All of that extra “fun stuff” is also a great motivator.

“It’s knowing that there is no room to slack off, because if we don’t get the jobs coming in and we’re not working hard, nothing happens,” said Gress. “There is not really anything to fall back on if we fail, so we work extra hard. While that’s kind of a challenge, I also think it’s extremely motivating and one of the reasons we’ve done so well.”

Fingers Duke works with a diverse group of graphic designers, illustrators and artists on a wide variety of branding projects. The company takes pride in working with customers to improve existing branding and marketing materials across a wide variety of mediums. The clothing line is printed in-house and designed by Pacific Northwest artists who maintain artistic rights and get a percentage of each sale. Fingers Duke is located at 523 Fourth St. and can be reached by calling 360-373-0388. Their website, which undergoing a re-design, is fingersduke.com.