New Ink

Sorry I've been away for a while. I wanted to update you on my tattoo. The original date I was scheduled to get this tattoo was on November 14. Luckily I was on the cancellation list. The nice folks at Chalice called me on Friday and asked if I wanted to come in on Saturday and take the canceled spot. I responded without hesitation a "hell yes!" The tattoo is a triple headed elephant and was designed by my friend Tokio and the lotus was drawn by Andrew, my tattoo artist. I'm so happy about how it turned out! The triple headed elephant symbolizes the 3 former kingdoms of Laos. Laos is also known as the land of a million elephants. Elephants are highly regarded in Laos, and is very much respected. The elephant to me symbolizes, wisdom, greatness and strength. The lotus is one of the main symbols of Buddhism. It represents rebirth, purity of the mind and spirit, and elightenment. The heart represents my love for my Laotian heritage, who I am and where I came from.

Stuff Asian People Say

This is the first piece off my new series called: Stuff Asian People Say. It's a collection of hand drawn typography based on personal quotes, phrases and expressions.

I created "It's 'Cause I'm Asian, Isn't It?" because this question has basically grown to be my personal motto. I even used it in the school newspaper as my high school quote. This question often comes up in my life. Personal experiences both negative and positive has always triggered me to ask this question over and over again.

Stay on the lookout for more stuff that asian people say. Have a dope weekend ya'll, peace.

Inked Up. Color Time.

1/1 of the new series. Inked up, it's time for some color ya'll.

Chalk Typography

In the past year or so, chalk has become an incredibly powerful medium for illustrators and letterers all over the world. Their creations are both stunning and truly remarkable—especially considering the simplicity of the chosen medium. Seeing the final product is amazing, but watching the process and seeing the talent and detail that goes into each piece is really what takes the cake. So check out these time-lapse videos featuring some really talented chalk illustrators!

Beautiful Letters from Rosemary Wannan on Vimeo.

Dave Barnes - A Very Merry Christmas from Dana Tanamachi on Vimeo.

Ace Hotel + Martin Greenfield Clothiers from Dana Tanamachi on Vimeo.

A Group Of Beautiful Letters from Per Weum on Vimeo.

Sneak Peek 7.19.12

Sneak Peek

HOW Design Live Conference - Boston

Late pass on this but I felt the need to share my experience at the HOW Design Conference in Boston from June 22-25, 2012. I was pretty stoked about this trip because this was my first experience traveling that far on the east coast. Also I have been wanting to attend this conference for the past 7 years. I stayed at the Sheraton Boston Hotel which worked out great because not only was the hotel connected to the Hynes's Convention Center, but also the Prudential Center a.k.a mall. Now for all of those who know me, you know how big of a shopper I am. Don't get me wrong though that's not all that I ended up doing. Shopping was far from my mind because I was on a mission to (absorb) knowledge at the conference and eager to just explore Boston.

Boston is an amazing city with so much history. I was right in the heart of downtown and everything was so accessible. I swear there was a church on every corner so there was a lot of picture taking that went down. I had a chance to experience a lot of things for the first time including Dunkin' Donuts, Trader Joes's, Whole Foods, Johnny Cupcakes and "almost" Underground Hiphop.com (but they were closed).

I saw revolutionaries such as, Chip Kidd, Allan Haley, Armin Vit, Sam Harrison, Dan Rhatigan, Steve Matteson and many more folks actively making a difference in the design world. I had the best time seeing Aaron Draplin speak. His session was called Tall Tales from a Large Man. He spoke to a packed room and his words, and work spoke volumes to me. This dude was real and he inspired me tons to get my shit together. The exhibit halls were also great, I went there everyday to scope out paper samples and free schwag. I met a lot of amazing designers and artists, it was cool hearing their perspectives and sharing stories. This was a life changing experience for me and I'm truly inspired to do more with my skills, and to perfect my craft.

Adventures in Interior Design

Never in a million years did I ever think I was going to do interior design work. Heck, I graduated with a graphic design degree for christ's sake. Why the hell would anyone trust "me" the graphic designer to embark on such an endeavour? Low and behold this would be my next project from the months of August 2011-June 2012. It was a very long and painstaking process, but man have I learned a lot along the way.

The goal of the Norco lobby remodel was to transform the previous drab colors of the walls and furniture to the beloved school colors, blue and orange. The intent was to make the space more integrated with the "look, feel and goal" of Boise State University, and to ultimately make it more welcoming to students and patrons of the facility. Of course blue and orange aren't my favorite colors, but this is what I had to work with. I was lucky enough to work with super awesome people along the way. Sara from Crowell & Company: http://www.crowellupholstery.com/ and Niki from Office Pavilion: http://op-dundas.com/about_us. Crowell & Company did an excellent job with the re-upholstry of the furniture and the quality of their work was impeccable. They schooled me on furniture and even rebuilt one of the styles of chairs to make it more durable, at no cost! Love them!

The project finally finished up on Friday, June 29th and I immediately went out for drinks afterwards to celebrate! The pictures below show how everything turned out. I'm pretty happy with it, even though I'm not a fan of blue and orange.

In the meantime I will be working on more interior design projects. I'm the jack-of-all-trades I guess.. Stay tuned kids!

First floor lobby

 Higher elevated chairs were added to provide height and dynamic to the space. Steelcase chairs, Office Pavilion tables and Momentum fabric.

 

Two-tone chair - half Momentum fabric and half vinyl

Second floor lobby

Momentum blue vinyl and Momentum fabric solar pattern

Custom Health Services rugs