I would like to publicly announce that I have left my position as the Executive Creative Director at New York’s interactive design studio Funny Garbage to start life’s next adventure. I plan pursue a new career involving 3D printing, teaching and writing, and am actively seeking new opportunities. This summer I will be focusing on building my new company Scan-A-Rama 3D- the portrait studio of the future. I will continue to teach in the Spring at the School of Visual Arts MFA Design Department.
My last 17 years with Funny Garbage has been an amazing journey working with the greatest team of designers, developers, producers I have ever known. We created groundbreaking projects in collaboration with some of the greatest clients ever. It has truly been an honor and privilege to work together. Since 1997, Funny Garbage has been a wonderful home and family to me, but it was time to move on. I leave behind a highly capable and motivated team and I wish them all well. Seventeen years ago I was fresh out of grad school at NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications Program with two infants and a grand total of $60 left in my bank account. My friend Peter Girardi – a graphic designer and former graffiti artist that I had worked with at The Voyager Company, had just founded a new graphic design startup named Funny Garbage with John Carlin– a lawyer who also ran the Red Hot Organization– a nonprofit that raises money for AIDS charities through a series of themed music releases. Inspired by the Residents’ Freak Show CD ROM, I had left my career as a sword swallower in Coney Island, and gone to grad school to become an digital artist in this new age of interactivity. Just as I joined FG, this new “thing” the World Wide Web began transforming the world around us. We got in on the ground floor to create groundbreaking work in interactive entertainment with some of the best brands and clients in the world. The hallmark of Funny Garbage’s work over the last (almost) two decades has been collaborations with great clients to create well designed and playful interactive experiences with personality. The numerous awards our work has won, from Emmys to Webbys is testament to our successes.
The world of apps has literally brought me back full circle to where I began in the era of CD ROM so it feels like a fitting time for a change. In the aftermath of last year’s Coney Island Scan-A-Rama Kickstarter, my fascination and love for 3D printing has beckoned for full time attention. Both my children are now off to college. Its time for a major life metamorphosis. There are numerous opportunities for personal growth with 3D scanning and printing, so I am taking a giant leap of faith that the universe will take care of me. So here goes with my next venture- Scan-A-Rama 3D!
Frederick G. Kahl 
You’re awesome, Fred! I can’t wait to follow you on your adventures and I’ll be pointing at the TV to my kids one day and tell them I used to work with that guy and he’s a friend! I’ll leave out no details: freaky and awesome and strange and a lot of fun.
It was great to be around you, Fred. I learned a lot about work and life just by seeing you do your thing.