Exploring Life & Business with David Kaul of Pulling Paint Murals

Today we’d like to introduce you to David Kaul.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I’ve been painting murals for most of my adult life, but it didn’t really take off until I left my agency gig as an art director and went freelance. There it really picked up, doing work for tons of different companies and individuals around Los Angeles, Seattle, Miami, and a bunch of other places around the US. I really felt like it was my calling, but it was always just word of mouth and never really being sure where the next project was going to come from. Then in 2024 I partnered up with a former colleague and long-time collaborator, Will Cassayd-Smith. He also came from advertising, but on the account and production side, and together we came up with this hypothesis around how we could reach people who might need murals. We took it kind of slow and developed a proof of concept, and then it just started accelerating really quickly. And now here we are, in our third year of business as Pulling Paint. Last year we did more than 40 projects, and this year doesn’t look like it’s going to slow down at all. It’s really exciting and a little daunting at times, but it’s so cool to be able to work with all these amazing people and paint these projects.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I don’t think that anyone would tell you that starting and maintaining a business is a smooth road. We’ve had our share of hurdles around the way, both in terms of practical concerns and larger, existential issues. It’s funny, because in the moment, the practical day-to-day concerns seem absolutely earth-shattering, but then when you’re able to step back and think about the bigger things you have to think about they’re actually pretty small and totally manageable. It’s taken a lot of practice and grit to begin to learn that when unexpected things happen you can’t just shut down, you need to just keep moving forward.

Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Pulling Paint is a hand-painted mural and signage company. We work with businesses, civil organizations, general contractors, and other clients who need highly-detailed, precise graphic painting work done. We’re experts in taking designs and painting them on walls. We’re also perfectionists, and we think that every piece we put up isn’t just a reflection of us as a company, but a reflection of the organization that we’re doing the work for, and that means a lot to us. We don’t want to do any work that we’re not incredibly proud of, and that the person hiring us won’t be proud of for years to come. We’re also huge advocates of public art: even if we don’t get the gig, as long as someone’s doing hand-painted work in a public setting, that’s a positive thing.

Alright so before we go can you talk to us a bit about how people can work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
We’re very accessible, you can call us, text us, get in touch via our website, DM us on Instagram, or just swing by our studio. We’d love to work with anyone who values hand-painted pieces, and we’re always on the lookout for other artists who might want to work with us on a wall.

Pricing:

• Pricing is based on size and complexity
• The bigger and/or more complex, the more artist hours it takes
• There’s really no one-size-fits-all pricing for murals

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.pullingpaintmurals.com/
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/pullingpaint
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/pulling-paint