BELOW: Engelman and guests Christina Kortum and Melanie Melanie; conference room; lobby; contributing writer Martha Calhoon (left) and guests

All photos by Cori Stoddard

Posted: Wednesday June 08, 2011

Key Publishing Group—publisher of Make-Up Artist magazine and its affiliated websites, and producer of the International Make-Up Artist Trade Show—opened the doors to its new location on June 7, 2011. Approximately 60 people, including local make-up artists, came to tour the facilities, meet the staff and mingle with families, friends and colleagues.

"We brought everyone together to help celebrate our new digs and give them a chance to see where we work and what we do," said Make-Up Artist publisher Michael Key. 

Leonard Engelman, the veteran make-up artist and governor of the Make-Up Artists and Hairstylists branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, was on hand to celebrate the opening.

"This magazine is a great tribute to the art of make-up and that's one of the reasons I think it's so fantastic," said Engelman in a toast to Key and the staff.

"In 1997, we had just one trade show. Now that we're up to six, we needed to expand our staff—and our workspace—to handle the ramped-up production schedule," said Make-Up Artist managing editor Heather Wisner. "We now have a conference room and multimedia center as well as a make-up room where we can do demos and tutorials. Having more room and updated facilities will help us expand the reach of our magazine, our shows and our websites."

Key Publishing Group is now located at a 4,500-square-foot building at 12808 NE 95th Street in Vancouver, Washington, after nearly six years at the previous location, which was nearly half that size, at 2,800 square feet. The company has grown from its initial roster of a half-dozen people to the current group of 14.

KPG publishes Make-Up Artist magazine, which is read in more than 70 countries and was created in 1996 by Emmy Award-winning make-up artist Key. Make-Up Artist has been producing IMATS since 1997, with shows in London; New York; Los Angeles; Vancouver, B.C.; Sydney and Toronto. For more on the publication or IMATS, visit www.makeupmag.com or www.imats.net.