Inside Apollo Ink Printing: Craft, Color, and Creative Edge

Spend a few minutes talking with Jason T. Graves, owner of Apollo Ink Printing, and you start to piece together a very cool story. There’s the art school background. The early “out-of my-garage” days. The nearly twenty years of building Apollo Ink Printing from the ground up. And then, almost in passing, stories about projects you may actually know… murals across Denver, national brands, local brewery swag, large production runs, rock star collabs, all shared so conversationally you have to interrupt and say, wait… what did you just say?

The Artist Who Chose Ink

Jason studied printmaking at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, drawn to screen printing before it was trendy. Warhol. Punk flyers. Graffiti posters. The real-time gratification of ink hitting fabric and flatstock. 

“I was obsessed with screen printing,” Jason says. “It’s an instantaneous process. You don’t have to sit there and paint for a week.”

After college, he moved to Colorado with a loose, but very real plan: figure it out, screen print, build something. Before opening his own shop, Jason was learning the trade in other print shops—pulling squeegees, troubleshooting technical print requests, and figuring out how to do it better. Apollo Ink Printing officially launched in 2006, first in a garage, then in a gritty Boulder space, then steadily growing through economic downturns, mentorships, 14-hour days, and a lot of persistence and strong relationships.

Today, you won’t find a warehouse operation overseen by production managers. It’s a creative print shop run by a master printer and lifelong fine artist. Jason wasn’t trained just to execute a file, he was trained to see. Composition. Balance. Color relationships. Proportion. And his customers’ visions. That artistic instinct shifts the entire experience.

“We Make Things You’re Proud to Wear”

The sign of good work? “We want people to be proud to wear what comes out of this shop,” Jason says.

That’s a very different philosophy than uploading a design to a faceless online platform and hoping for the best. If something feels off, he will say something. If a design needs a little push, he’ll help refine it. If it’s solid and ready, Apollo Ink Printing will execute it beautifully.

And this shop can handle just about anything. Screen printing is done in-house with professional-grade inks that hold up through wash after wash. Embroidery is digitized and stitched with precision. They offer design support, custom and easy-to-use (and manage) e-storefronts for schools and businesses, and production runs that range from small batches to large-scale national orders. They print for startups, established brands, people with pet projects, and serve as the printer for CU Athletics, producing everything from coaches’ sideline outfits to team warm-ups.

But it’s not the service list that makes Apollo special. It’s the person creatively directing it and his team.

More Than a Print Shop Owner

Jason isn’t just a print shop owner. He’s also an accomplished muralist with more than 150 public art projects under his belt over the past decade. He designed and co-created the original “Love This City” mural for Visit Denver… the one you’ve probably seen (or photographed) without thinking about who painted it. From Crush Walls Festival to Art Basel in Miami to a twelve-mural installation in Arvada that took years to plan and months to execute, his work spans scale and locations.

These large-scale and highly visible pieces become catalysts for new projects, such as when a mural caught the attention of an interior designer working on apartment developments. That connection led to ongoing collaborations bringing his mural artistry into newly built affordable housing communities. Thoughtful, joyful art in places where people live their everyday lives and that turns a space into a place you are proud to call home.

For Jason, the throughline between murals and print is simple. “I get to do something I’m good at and provide a creative service to people, through varying mediums.”

Public art at that scale requires stamina, precision, and a deep understanding of how color and composition function in real space. The same eye that considers how a mural reads from 40 feet away is the one reviewing a logo on a hoodie. The scale changes. The standards don’t.

Mission-Driven

The name Apollo has a bit of a cosmic edge to it, but it’s really about something more grounded: mission. “Your mission is our mission,” is a phrase the team uses internally. That mindset shows up in how they work with schools, small businesses, and clients new and returning. It shows up in the care taken with every order, whether it’s 24 pieces or 60,000.

Pop into their new Lafayette building and you feel the difference immediately (and maybe a little bit of cosmic edge). The space is awesome. The artwork is unmissable. Geometric studio works throughout, a wall-to-wall muraled screenroom, and Jason and his talented staff laser-focused on their daily tasks of bringing their customer’s vision to life. Jason describes Apollo simply as “professional and confident.” We would say “yes and…” it’s a vibe. You may want to hang out and watch how the magic happens.

After years in Boulder, he chose Lafayette for home, drawn to the community and the long-term roots he wants to plant here for his business and family, including his one-year-old son. There’s something about this town that attracts creators like this. People who operate from personal passion rather than simply capital pursuit. Apollo Ink Printing is built by a fine artist who runs a print shop. A muralist who prints event tees. A master printer who mentors young creatives and hasn’t “had a job” since he was 27 because this never felt like one.

Apollo Ink Printing
📍 207 N Carr Ave. Lafayette, CO 80026

Explore their work or start your next project:
🔗 https://apolloinkprinting.com/

Get inspired:
📸 @apolloinkprinting / @jasontgraves

Old Town Lafayette is counting its lucky stars to have Apollo Ink Printing in its orbit.