From the Team Room to Team Room Design: An Operator’s Creative Journey
Service members, without fail, find creative ways to reuse the things and places they hold most dear from their time in service. In this case, one Special Forces team sergeant decided that Team Room Design was the perfect name for his company.
A Special Operations Team Room is, essentially, an ordinary room used by a group of not-so-ordinary men for everything from hangouts to sleeping, from getting ready for ops to debriefing.
“When I was stationed in Germany with the Crisis Response Force, I was the plaque guy,” Benny said. He's the creative force behind the company, and no, you can't know his last name.
“I got tired of seeing really good dudes put years of blood, sweat, and tears into a company and leaving with an 18-by-24 plaque that basically said, ‘Thanks.'"
“It drove me crazy to see that,” he added. “I believe a going away plaque should be a dedication to an individual and everything they did at a unit.”
So, he put his art skills to work and started making them himself. After PCSing to Fort Carson, Benny continued creating plaques, and in 2020, his wife Arrycca convinced him to turn it into a business. Arrycca is now the owner and CEO of Team Room Design, managing the business and running all of the operations.
“[Arrycca] is a rockstar, handling the business on top of being a full-time stay-at-home mom,” Benny said. “I’m just the artist.”
The whole idea of Benny’s company was born in a team room; the hope is that the community of a team room is carried over as their company grows.
“My wife and I have the hope that we’ll be able to bring our friends into the company, offer different job opportunities, and bring them together,” Benny explained.
“I want guys to be able to say that they’re heading up to the team room, knock some work out, and then head to the range to decompress.”
The company’s offerings have expanded since Benny has access to tools that he didn’t have in Germany, like metalworking and woodworking tools, plus polyresin customization options for his plaques and creations.
In addition to the plaques, Benny creates shirts and stickers. This part of the business started with Benny simply creating shirts for himself and his unit.
“I wanted clothes that I wanted to wear,” Benny said. “ I felt like I could design things more to my taste than what I saw available.”
After meeting Black Rifle Coffee Company founder Evan Hafer at the 2019 SHOT Show, the two kept in touch via Instagram.
Last year, Hafer asked Benny to design stickers for the BRCC Sticker Club. A few months ago, he contacted Benny again to bring him into the BRCC Shirt Club.
“When it comes to veteran artists, it’s clear that Evan gives a shit,” he said.
As a previous sticker collaborator with Black Rifle Coffee Company and the designer for his own company, Benny is no stranger to the creative process.
This time, he's kicking it up a notch by teaming up with BRCC for a unique, limited-time BRCC T-shirt design that’s only available to BRCC Shirt Club members while supplies last.
“Since BRCC is founded by operators, it seemed like a no-brainer to highlight an operator on the shirt design with a cup of coffee and a skull head,” Benny said of the illustration on the back of the exclusive shirt.
“I think about post being on-target — the first thing to come off is your helmet, and then you grab a cup of coffee and decompress.”
The quote on the shirt, “For we may be few, but our impact will be felt by all,” also relates to Special Forces, which have a presence in more than 200 countries. They go on missions in small numbers and try to make an effect on the largest group possible.
The concept also aligns with Team Room Design, a small company hoping to connect veterans with a community after their time in service comes to a close.
Photos by Kurt Frasier
Coffee or Die is Black Rifle Coffee Company’s online lifestyle magazine. Launched in June 2018, the magazine covers a variety of topics that generally focus on the people, places, or things that are interesting, entertaining, or informative to America’s coffee drinkers — often going to dangerous or austere locations to report those stories.
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