PUBLISHING DATE: JUNE 2015
(Original Submission)
PURSUIT OF HAPPY GARAJE
Whimsy and vibrant elements at times crossing boundaries with dark themes and often with a punch of nostalgic fantasy narrative – this is the kind of kick that unravels from dissecting Happy Garaje’s works. The creative studio from Cebu founded by Mark and Johanna Deutsch in 2009 is born from the duo’s pursuit of happiness. The unfolding scenes from the time the couple met until the inception of their brainchild is a story seemingly lifted from narrations they fancy creating, one that is about heart, beauty, and truth.
Their tale begins at a serendipitous encounter in a grocery store that ignited a spark between the two. This was only further intensified by their common love for art and storytelling, and a walk home one day that revealed they were once childhood neighbors. The two wed in 2009 and lunged their partnership into the business realm. It was a move that spun the creative force known as Happy Garaje. “We registered as a studio in 2009, which was less than a year after we started doing illustration work as freelancers. We started it because we wanted to work on creative things everyday,” they share.
Mark worked as a graphic designer while Jo was involved in market research and branding management. Their hearts were always rooted in art despite it taking the backseat as they were growing up. Mark, a comic book collector who would sell one-peso storybooks in his neighborhood, travelled a lot as a child and documented his experiences in paintings, photography, and handmade pieces. Jo, likewise, filled her notebooks with drawings of fairytales and the people she encountered. Combining their corporate experiences with their passion, they say, “We were able to position ourselves as an illustration-based studio that understood the marketing and branding process.”
Happy Garaje began in an actual garage they fashioned to mirror their creative fascinations. Today, it is an art studio, visual communications agency, and store with outfits like Folk Fiction, Barrio Peligro, The Land Of Flying People, Geeks On A Beach, and Weekend Barista Club. From their humble beginnings, the duo now works with a team involved in Product Development and Web/App Design & Development. They’ve done projects with companies here and abroad, with notable ones including Disney, The Four Seasons Hotel (Marrakesh), Raffles Praslin (Seychelles), and Mead Johnson (USA). Some of these are encounters that blossom from their hard work. “Sometimes when people you do good work for move up into the world, you find out that they make an effort to make it happen for you too,” they share. Keeping a good balance for their projects and maintaining personal discovery through experimentations, they’ve come up with solid work that have earned international accolades from the Society of Illustrators Los Angeles, Luerzer’s Archive in Europe, and Tokyo Designers Week among many others.
Spending even their breaks on art-related pursuits like playing musical instruments, reading, or drawing, they also turn to travelling and spending time with their daughter Summer to reboot from their work. In any case, it’s a partnership that works because it’s essentially grounded on love. “It’s a true collaboration process. Sometimes an illustration project comes and one of us will feel really strongly about it and will take the role of art directing it. There are also times when we pass the paper back and forth. It works for us because we have an understanding as to what the other person might think but at the same time we are not together 24/7 so the influences can vary. That balance of dependability and unexpected randomness is good,” they end.
PURSUIT OF HAPPY GARAJE
Photo from happygaraje.com
Whimsy and vibrant elements at times crossing boundaries with dark themes and often with a punch of nostalgic fantasy narrative – this is the kind of kick that unravels from dissecting Happy Garaje’s works. The creative studio from Cebu founded by Mark and Johanna Deutsch in 2009 is born from the duo’s pursuit of happiness. The unfolding scenes from the time the couple met until the inception of their brainchild is a story seemingly lifted from narrations they fancy creating, one that is about heart, beauty, and truth.
Their tale begins at a serendipitous encounter in a grocery store that ignited a spark between the two. This was only further intensified by their common love for art and storytelling, and a walk home one day that revealed they were once childhood neighbors. The two wed in 2009 and lunged their partnership into the business realm. It was a move that spun the creative force known as Happy Garaje. “We registered as a studio in 2009, which was less than a year after we started doing illustration work as freelancers. We started it because we wanted to work on creative things everyday,” they share.
Mark worked as a graphic designer while Jo was involved in market research and branding management. Their hearts were always rooted in art despite it taking the backseat as they were growing up. Mark, a comic book collector who would sell one-peso storybooks in his neighborhood, travelled a lot as a child and documented his experiences in paintings, photography, and handmade pieces. Jo, likewise, filled her notebooks with drawings of fairytales and the people she encountered. Combining their corporate experiences with their passion, they say, “We were able to position ourselves as an illustration-based studio that understood the marketing and branding process.”
Happy Garaje began in an actual garage they fashioned to mirror their creative fascinations. Today, it is an art studio, visual communications agency, and store with outfits like Folk Fiction, Barrio Peligro, The Land Of Flying People, Geeks On A Beach, and Weekend Barista Club. From their humble beginnings, the duo now works with a team involved in Product Development and Web/App Design & Development. They’ve done projects with companies here and abroad, with notable ones including Disney, The Four Seasons Hotel (Marrakesh), Raffles Praslin (Seychelles), and Mead Johnson (USA). Some of these are encounters that blossom from their hard work. “Sometimes when people you do good work for move up into the world, you find out that they make an effort to make it happen for you too,” they share. Keeping a good balance for their projects and maintaining personal discovery through experimentations, they’ve come up with solid work that have earned international accolades from the Society of Illustrators Los Angeles, Luerzer’s Archive in Europe, and Tokyo Designers Week among many others.
Spending even their breaks on art-related pursuits like playing musical instruments, reading, or drawing, they also turn to travelling and spending time with their daughter Summer to reboot from their work. In any case, it’s a partnership that works because it’s essentially grounded on love. “It’s a true collaboration process. Sometimes an illustration project comes and one of us will feel really strongly about it and will take the role of art directing it. There are also times when we pass the paper back and forth. It works for us because we have an understanding as to what the other person might think but at the same time we are not together 24/7 so the influences can vary. That balance of dependability and unexpected randomness is good,” they end.
0 comments:
Post a Comment