Year One Studios

Some things are worth remembering.

Behind every established business are years of hard work, difficult decisions, and people who believed in what they were building. These are stories worth telling.

Start a conversation Read the idea

For companies with a story worth keeping

A company is more than the years behind it.

Its story lives in the memories of the people who built the place, in drawers of old photographs, and in the way things have always been done. In the early mornings, the difficult years, and the work that rarely gets noticed.

These are the things that make a company's story worth telling. And worth telling well.

An elderly shopkeeper in a hat and bow tie sits in a wicker chair in his general store, cane in hand, shelves of stock behind him.
R. B. Whitley in his general store, Wendell, North Carolina, 1939. Marion Post Wolcott.

What a story holds

The history of a company is the history of its people.

Behind every business are people who gave it years of their lives. The founders who took the first risk. The families who carried it forward. The employees who showed up, year after year.

Their work, their decisions, and their dedication shaped the company into what it is today.

Where it began

The first year, and the reasons for it.

Every company began with someone willing to take a chance. An idea, a decision, a belief that something could be done differently. Long before anyone knew what it might become.

Who built it

The families and the people who stayed.

Founders, sons and daughters, and the ones who clocked in for forty years. The people whose names might not appear on the building, but whose work is part of everything it became.

What it stands for

The values, shown in what was done.

A company's character is built over time. In the promises kept, the standards upheld, and the decisions made when the easier path was available.

Working lives

A business is never just a business.

It's a livelihood. A place where people spend much of their lives. Where friendships are formed, skills are passed down, and families find their footing.

Over time, businesses become part of the communities around them. They create opportunities, provide stability, and give generations of people something to be proud of.

The door of a truck cab painted with the name Wilson Truck Line, the driver visible through the window.
Driver in the cab of a cattle truck, Cottonwood Falls, Kansas, 1974. Patricia DuBose Duncan.
Six construction workers in hard hats and work boots sit together on the pavement eating lunch.
Construction crew at lunch, Fountain Square, Cincinnati, 1973. Tom Hubbard.
Close portrait of a smiling man in a white hard hat and a dusty work jacket.
Navajo truck driver, 1972. Lyntha Scott Eiler.
Four carpenters at work on the timber frame of a roof against a clear sky.
Framing the roof of a new condominium, 1972. Belinda Rain.

Photographs from DOCUMERICA, the 1970s photography project of the US Environmental Protection Agency, held by the US National Archives. Public domain.

What we believe

Every story deserves to be told well.

The people make the story

Behind every business are people who gave it their time, their ideas, and often much of their working lives. Their contributions deserve to be remembered.

The journey matters

The early years, the hard years, the good years. Every chapter helped shape what the company became. Each has its place in the story.

It's the little things

An old photograph. A familiar face. A story that's been told around the same table for decades. Often, it's the smallest details that mean the most.

Something to pass on

A company's story belongs to everyone who helped build it, and to the generations who will carry it forward. We believe it's worth preserving.

Get in touch

Every company has a year one. Tell us about yours.

We would like to hear how your company began, and who was there when it did.

Write to us hello@yearonestudios.com