The story behind C&W

Cruikshank & Wallace is dedicated to the life of John Wallace Skinner, a World War II veteran, who, at the age of 17, helped liberate the Buchenwald Nazi concentration camp in Germany. After the war, John returned home to Ohio, where he became the Director of the Salvador Dali Museum in Beachwood, the Director of the Cleveland Aquarium and proud owner of an independent book and print shop in downtown Cleveland. It was at this shop where C&W founder Ralph Cosentino met John Wallace Skinner. After attending The Cleveland Institute of Art, Ralph landed a design job at the studio above John’s book shop. After one visit, the two became lifelong friends. – John Wallace Skinner remained a great influence on Ralph’s life, artistic style, and his view of the world. John introduced Ralph to 18th-century British cartoonist and book illustrator, George Cruikshank, who also would become a source of inspiration in Ralph's career. – The logo for Cruikshank & Wallace of a bird fleeing its cage captures the feeling most people experience when they reach for a book off a shelf: the ability to escape from reality—if even for a brief moment—and let their imagination bring them somewhere new and unfound.