MUNKEE
My entire life I have wanted to create my own clothing line. It took me a few months to come up with the idea but as time went by the process became stronger and my clothing line evolved. I knew I wanted to incorporate some kind of animal but I was not sure what animal would be most appealing to the demographic I was trying to attract. It finally came to me so I took my artistic talents and followed my dream to make munkee.
I have always beeninterested in creating art. I’ve had an obsession with making things my wholelife. Whether it was crafts, painting or even drawing, I was constantly doingit. I wasn’t always great at it, butI still tried my best. As a childmy biggest inspiration was my 3 rd grade art teacher, Mrs.Sullivan. She really made me fallin love with making art and I looked forward to her class every day. I also wanted to make my mom happy so Iwas always trying to make her new and exciting things for her to hang up. As Igot older my artistic skills became stronger and I began to develop my ownpersonal style. I was really interested in urban art and graffiti. I would always look forward to thesound of a freight train because I knew they were covered in graffiti and Iwould get to experience so many different styles of work in one place. This wasa huge inspiration for me and I still get excited when a train passes by. It’slike one big moving piece of art with endless different creations.
Manypeople frown upon graffiti because the majority of the time it is doneillegally. I always made sure to get permission before creating street art; butalso found other ways to apply graffiti that wasn’t considered vandalism. Iwould create my work in sketchbooks or on skateboards, and sometimes myfriend’s bedroom walls. As time went on, I developed a broader knowledge ofmaterials and started creating custom painted trucker hats for friends andfamily. I experimented with numerous different materials and becamefascinated by them. I produced these designs daily until I came to SouthernIllinois University. I stopped making hats when I first got to SIUC because Iwasn’t sure what people would think of my art. I was also trying to focus onschool, which consumed most of my time.
Aftera few months with no creativity I decided to start painting hats again. I madea couple unique hats for some new friends I had met in the residence halls. Once students saw us wearing them I beganreceiving requests to make more custom hats. It was exciting at first, but Ihad no idea what I was getting myself into. After I finished the first few requests, I started gettingcalls and text messages from random people, asking for their own custom hats. Iwas shocked that so many people liked my style! I had created my own unofficialbusiness. Within a few weeks, word was out that I was making graffiti hats, andpeople stared wanting me to incorporate their personal interests. Everyoneseemed to love them, and the calls kept coming, so I continued making them.Soon my hats were all over Carbondale; I was overwhelmed with requests but veryhappy to see my artwork all around town. People knew me because of my hats and itmade me feel famous. After making all these hats and looking at the uniquedesigns I had created, it made me realize that design was what I wanted to dofor the rest of my life. I really wanted to take it to the next level, so Ichanged my major to Communication Design. After studying design for a few years, I learned about somany different styles and techniques around the world and soon realized thatthere was so much more out there than just designing hats, the sky was thelimit!
AsI began this project, I knew I wanted to showcase my hats somehow but I wasn’tsure exactly how I wanted to incorporate them. At first, I considered showingmy experience with graffiti, but I soon realized it wasn’t the direction that Iwanted to take for my senior thesis. After much consideration, I eventually decidedto create my own clothing company and produce t-shirts, posters, hats and more.I spent a lot of time looking at different clothing line designs andthinking about how the designers manufactured products towards specificdemographics. Even though theclothing line industry is competitive, I felt that I had to take a shot at it.I began designing a style that was contemporary, memorable and, hopefully,inspirational to others. Being able to produce successful designs that alsoinclude my desire to be an artist is very rewarding. I see myself doing thisfor a long time.
Manypeople frown upon graffiti because the majority of the time it is doneillegally. I always made sure to get permission before creating street art; butalso found other ways to apply graffiti that wasn’t considered vandalism. Iwould create my work in sketchbooks or on skateboards, and sometimes myfriend’s bedroom walls. As time went on, I developed a broader knowledge ofmaterials and started creating custom painted trucker hats for friends andfamily. I experimented with numerous different materials and becamefascinated by them. I produced these designs daily until I came to SouthernIllinois University. I stopped making hats when I first got to SIUC because Iwasn’t sure what people would think of my art. I was also trying to focus onschool, which consumed most of my time.
Aftera few months with no creativity I decided to start painting hats again. I madea couple unique hats for some new friends I had met in the residence halls. Once students saw us wearing them I beganreceiving requests to make more custom hats. It was exciting at first, but Ihad no idea what I was getting myself into. After I finished the first few requests, I started gettingcalls and text messages from random people, asking for their own custom hats. Iwas shocked that so many people liked my style! I had created my own unofficialbusiness. Within a few weeks, word was out that I was making graffiti hats, andpeople stared wanting me to incorporate their personal interests. Everyoneseemed to love them, and the calls kept coming, so I continued making them.Soon my hats were all over Carbondale; I was overwhelmed with requests but veryhappy to see my artwork all around town. People knew me because of my hats and itmade me feel famous. After making all these hats and looking at the uniquedesigns I had created, it made me realize that design was what I wanted to dofor the rest of my life. I really wanted to take it to the next level, so Ichanged my major to Communication Design. After studying design for a few years, I learned about somany different styles and techniques around the world and soon realized thatthere was so much more out there than just designing hats, the sky was thelimit!
AsI began this project, I knew I wanted to showcase my hats somehow but I wasn’tsure exactly how I wanted to incorporate them. At first, I considered showingmy experience with graffiti, but I soon realized it wasn’t the direction that Iwanted to take for my senior thesis. After much consideration, I eventually decidedto create my own clothing company and produce t-shirts, posters, hats and more.I spent a lot of time looking at different clothing line designs andthinking about how the designers manufactured products towards specificdemographics. Even though theclothing line industry is competitive, I felt that I had to take a shot at it.I began designing a style that was contemporary, memorable and, hopefully,inspirational to others. Being able to produce successful designs that alsoinclude my desire to be an artist is very rewarding. I see myself doing thisfor a long time.
