Rare Cool Stuff Vice President of Packaging and Print Media Gary Gonzales is a specialist in all forms of packaging and print media production.
Part of Rare Cool Stuff’s mission is to design and produce compelling, unique and collectible packaging for music and film media in the most environmentally friendly way possible.
To that end, Gonzales also specializes in sourcing certified sustainably produced paper for use in green print media, and oversees production of all Rare Cool Stuff projects in the U.S.A. and using FSC-certified paper whenever possible.
Gonzales is also an expert in co-branding selected music projects with environmental groups and sustainable paper mills worldwide, and with major corporate sponsors.
No-Plastic Packaging Pioneer
With a lifelong love of music and pop culture and nearly 30 years’ experience in print and digital media in Los Angeles and San Francisco, Gary Gonzales broke into music CD packaging in 2003 by promoting non-plastic packaging solutions for new releases by Neil Young (Reprise Records).
Gonzales managed and produced the sustainable packaging and contents for Young’s “Archives Vol.1” CD boxed set, which earned the 2010 Grammy award for music boxed sets for co-designers Young and famed art director Gary Burden.
Gary Gonzales Co-Founds Rare Cool Stuff Unltd.
Gary Gonzales met Grammy-nominated graphics designer and record producer Geoff Gans in 2004 and they worked on their first project together in 2005. Two years later, Gonzales and Gans decided to combine their talents, skills, experience and passion for pop culture by founding Rare Cool Stuff Unltd., and formalized the partnership in 2009.
Among their first Rare Cool Stuff collaborations were Bob Dylan’s “The Collected Single Sleeves” and “Time Passes Slowly” books, both part of Sony-released box sets; the “Prestige Album Cover Collection” book in partnership with Concord Music Group; and “The Singles Collection” vinyl boxed set for Creedence Clearwater Revival and CMG.
More recently, Gonzales and Gans have also co-produced photo books for the Morrison Hotel Gallery’s publishing wing, including Ken Regan’s Rolling Thunder Revue exhibition folio, John Botte’s “The 9/11 Photographs” book and photographer/MHG co-founder Henry Diltz’s “Unpainted Faces.” Gonzales also produced Jenice Heo’s “Neil Young Series” book for the gallery.
Gonzales Connects with Dorado
In 2012, Gary Gonzales joined Dorado Music Packaging in North Hollywood, a company FSC-certified through Smartwood, a division of the Rainforest Alliance. At Dorado, he also specializes in producing classic-style “tip-on” vinyl jackets and direct-to-board jackets in 7,” 10” and 12” sizes.
In addition to working with indie music labels and their art directors to produce reissue record jackets, Gonzales has worked on Neil Young’s recent vinyl packaging, including the reissue vinyl boxed set collecting the albums “Zuma,” “Time Never Changes,” “On the Beach” and “Into the Night.”
In 2013, Gonzales and Gans collaborated on the coffee-table photo book “If These Walls Could Rock” for the Sunset Marquis Hotel, and in 2014, the “LO & Behold” companion book for Bob Dylan’s “The Complete Basement Tapes,” also printed by Dorado.
