Former ILM and Kerner Optical employees have banded together to launch a new company at a familiar address in the historically significant building at 3210 Kerner Blvd in San Rafael.

32TEN Studios is employee-owned and offers both a sound stage, for model-making and miniatures as well as for rent to outside projects, and a digital VFX studio, to enable practical shots to be finished internally.

"The studio will be all in one footprint: one building with one stage," says 32TEN Studios president Tim Partridge, who formerly oversaw the practical effects and 3D technology at Kerner. "We plan to use the incredible talents of practical and digital artists in the area to work on projects as we get them. Thanks to Lucasfilm and ILM, there will be a lot of talent to draw upon, from people who have worked at those companies."

Members of the 32TEN Studios have created practical FX on this same stage for movies such as The Empire Strikes Back, The Return of the Jedi, Back to the Future trilogy, Pirates of the Caribbean series, War of the Worlds, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Transformers and dozens more.

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