Living in the in-between
Local designer finds inspiration in water-strapped western La Plata County

Nestled between the desert sage blooms of New Mexico and the boundless San Juan Mountains is the “Dryside,” a local term of endearment that describes the southwest corner of La Plata County. The Dryside is an area rich in cultural heritage, sparsely populated and scant of natural water. It’s a maze of county roads stretching across wide-open prairie – the no man’s land of Southwest Colorado.

For local designer Jake Polster-Sadlon, the region is a sacred liminal space between scarcity and abundance. The land serves as the wellspring of inspiration for both his Dryside Design services (think branding and logos) and Dryside Supply Co. (think shirts, hoodies and a whole lot more).

For its 2nd birthday, Polster-Sadlon’s company got a beautiful, brand new downtown location at 145 East College Drive. The store itself is full of wares and sundries from the intersection of traditional Americana and Southwest modernism. In a sea of dozens of downtown t-shirt shops, what’s happening at Dryside is something our town can truly be proud of. I recently sat down with Polster-Sadlon to learn more about his story and the Dryside.

Where did you grow up?

My family moved to Durango at the end of 1992 from San Francisco, and I grew up here. I consider Durango home, for sure. I graduated in 1999 from Durango High and did two years at Fort Lewis. And then I finished at Colorado State in 2005.

I had two good friends who moved to San Diego, and I ended up moving out there and that’s when I started my career in account management and sales for four- and five-star hotels. It was a lot of contract work. A lot of sales work. A lot of meetings. By the end of an 11-year run, I was flying about 80,000 air miles a year. Suit and tie. On the road. In and out of airports every 48 hours or so.

How did you find your way into design?

I was always exposed to the brand teams of these luxury hotels. I was really attracted to the power of the global brand, what’s possible in the branding world and how it goes from one small core team of people to spreading across a couple hundred properties in a cohesive way. I just thought that the creatives behind that, the depth of conversations that had to happen to execute those kinds of strategies, was always really fascinating to me. I think branding is a really powerful thing. It can live forever if you do it right.

I ended up cashing out and explored creative things, leaning on photography, teaching myself web development, doing some promotional design and packaging design, and doing what I hoped would lead me to a creative career.

Tell us about Dryside, both your graphic design service and your store. 

The design side and the store side are really intertwined. After about five years of helping clients develop identities, I felt confident in my process, and I felt like I also needed to scratch my creative itch for myself. So, in 2020, we all found ourselves with some extra time on our hands. I had a buddy who was moving to the Oregon Coast and gave me some screen printing equipment, and that’s how Dryside Supply Co. was started. It’s been a cool, natural evolution – starting with a couple of shirt designs, selling them online, putting money back in the business and eventually being able to afford a 300-square-foot-space. 

The brand itself is a local reference to the southwest corner of this county. It’s where my parents live. It’s always felt like this in-between place. North of that area we have insane economic wealth and natural abundance, whereas south of that area we have incredible poverty and a pretty harsh desert. However, it’s surrounded by amazing cultural heritage, but we’re in this town where those traditions don’t mean too much. It’s important because it’s a really rich story that people across the country can relate to. The story of being in between.

What’s been the biggest surprise for you since opening Dryside?

The thing I least expected was community. Meeting people. A physical space where you get to meet people from all over the place. As you meet people and get to share your story and learn theirs, it creates a cool relationship, whether that’s a five minute relationship or an ongoing relationship and that breeds deeper community.

What makes a good logo?

Memorability. Simplicity in the way the design can be scaled. There needs to be some cohesion between a logo and a product or service that a company is offering. The logo for Dryside, that was a logo that came from an exploration of mine, and it carried this particular graphic energy. Almost streetwear, almost cryptic.

What are your hopes for Dryside?

To give the community something it can be proud of. And, actually make a tangible, measurable impact on issues we have in our area, like water. It seems like a very natural next thing.

Visit www.drysidedesignco.com and www.drysidesupplyco.com to learn more.