The brilliantly named Woody Pirtle is leaving Pentagram after eighteen years to go upstate and make his own stuff under his own company, Pirtle Design. He'll still be a consultant, but mostly, he'll be in New Paltz making work similar to that he made for his recent show Object Lesson #1. Here's why they're gonna be sad:

Pirtle joined Pentagram after running his own firm for 9 years in Dallas, Texas. He was recruited by Pentagram founder Colin Forbes to help build the firm's New York office, and has been associated with some of Pentagram's most visible design work, including work for Pantone, IBM, Champion International, Callaway Golf, Amnesty International and the American Folk Art Museum. Pirtle is a member of the Alliance Graphique Internationale, has design work in every major museum collection, and received the profession's highest honor, the Medal of the American Institute of Graphic Arts, in 2003.

We hardly--okay, not at all--knew him. But a friend of our friends is a friend of ours. Good luck, Woody. Rock it well.