12 Acre Studio is owned and operated by John Pappas. He is a graduate of Michigan State University.

John spent eight years in the San Francisco Bay Area where he worked as a graphic designer for SF’s public television station KQED, and then as a designer with Zimmermann Crowe Design (now VehicleSF). Their clients included Levi Strauss & Co., Electronic Arts, and Wells Fargo Bank.

Along with his wife, artist Candace Compton Pappas, and their two children, John returned to Michigan in 1995.

Between 1995 and 2013 he worked as a designer and art director with Perich Advertising + Design in Ann Arbor, whose clients included Borders Books, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, Harman Kardon, and the Detroit Institute of Arts.

In 2014 he established 12 Acre Studio, where he is the creative director, bookkeeper, receptionist, and daily dog walker.