Hello Bikram Yoga and Goodbye Veganism

Since moving to Brooklyn, it’s been difficult to find a routine with a very busy and chaotic schedule-balancing Natty Paint and a part-time MBA all while in a new city with so many exciting things going on. Two things that were constants in my life in Baltimore while Natty Paint was starting up were my diet and exercise:being vegan and Bikram Yoga.
I’ve decided after much deliberation, I don’t want to be vegan anymore. I like having many more food options available and miss things like eggs and greek yogurt. And now I can eat other things! Like goat cheese! The list keeps going… But milk will not happen, EVER. I hate milk.

I have also decided it’s time to pick up Bikram again, as it is the ultimate way  to destress, relax, and clear my head.  Today was my first day returning to practice Bikram Yoga. Luckily, there’s a studio super close by in Williamsburg! YES!

After getting back from class, I see I’m tagged in new pic on Facebook of a Bikram yoga instructor wearing a Natty Paint custom Bikram Yoga Hampden shirt, standing next to Bikram Choudhury himself!  EPIC!

We’re going to work on getting Bikram his very own shirt to wear at teacher training. Bengal tiger strength, bulldog determination!

The Geometric Period

Since moving to Brooklyn, there’s been a lot in the works for Natty Paint. A lot of goals have been made for us for our first year in New York. It’s going to be a year of starting over again, making new contacts, making new designs, getting new exposure. This is all on a much different level from when we started out in Baltimore, because here in NY, everything is bigger and more intense! Natty Paint is evolving this year into a fashion label, while still maintaining it’s bold aesthetic and green roots. Instead of craft fairs, we plan to do trade shows to sell wholesale to buyers all over the US, focus on online sales and marketing, and gaining capital for expanding and outsourcing production through grants and investors. It’s going to be a lot of work!

I spent yesterday at the Strand Bookstore by Union Square, scouring the shelves for images for inspiration. First, I made a list of all the sources of inspiration I wanted to investigate: Art Deco, Art Nouveau, Pop Art, Mayan, Columbian, Native American, Weimar Republic, Bauhaus, Josef Albers, Greek & Roman Art. The conclusion of what draws me to these and ties all these together in my mind: geometry. All of these art styles feature shapes interacting with each other in bold colors with high contrast.  I came across the title “The Geometric Period” while perusing the Greek vases section, and had an ahah moment.  Stripes, checkers, zig zags, triangles, which a few representational objects, mostly animals.  This is Natty Paint.

Note: black & white/cream, stripes & triangles…

Note: circles and stripes in the hair and the left side eyelash design…

Note: stripes in different directions, bending & warping.

This reminds me of the NP business card!!

I wish my house looked this like this.

Hmmm… Idea for an in-house NP photoshoot?

FYI. cadmium red + black + geometric shapes = ALWAYS IN.

cadmium red & navy + geometric shapes!

GEOMETRIC ANIMALS in cadmium red & black!

I’m planning to spend the next few weeks visiting libraries, museums, painting with black ink and white paper, and also of course, doing some investigations with Illustrator.  I look forward to presenting you the next set of designs for Natty Paint.  Stay tuned!

$12 T-Shirt Sale

This is the last chance to get any of these Natty Paint designs before we release our fall/winter line!  All tees are now $12 and all tanks are $10.  There’s something for everyone! Tell your friends, family, pets, enemies! Check it out at www.nattypaint.com

Williamsburg Fashion Weekend

This Friday and Saturday from 8pm-4am, 14 local and national designers will be showcasing their pieces at Williamsburg Fashion Weekend. The focus is on young up and coming designers who make one-of-a-kind garments or small-run collections, with an emphasis on fair-trade, eco-friendliness, and artisan techniques celebrating the handmade and the visionary.  Natty Paint can’t wait to go and make some new friends!

Glasslands Gallery. 289 Kent Ave. Williamsburg, Brooklyn on September 17th and 18th. Doors open at 8pm. Entry is $8.

Natty Paint’s first Fashion’s Night Out in NYC

Sorry to have disappeared under the radar for a bit, but we were occupied with packing, moving, unpacking, arranging, and rearranging! We are happy to report we are now based out of Brooklyn, NY!  And what great timing to move to NY, in the middle of Fashion Week. We took to the street last Friday for Fashion’s Night Out, and as if the stars were aligned, we ran into Tim Gunn of Project Runway exiting Kate Spade. Check out the pic!

We were hoping to reach him in time to gift him a Natty Paint neck tie, but alas, he turned the corner too quickly. Next time! Tim, if you’re reading this Natty Paint has a tie just for you!

Our next adventure involved stopping into ILORI on Spring St to check out the silkscreening demo they had in the window. Turns out the team were fellow Brooklyners!  Kayrock, of Kayrock Screenprinting, was silkscreening totes in the store window to give away with a sunglasses purchase. What a great idea to bring in people.

And then we headed back to Brooklyn for the tail end of a party hosted by Alter, a clothing boutique located in Greenpoint. They have a great logo, check it out:

Things are looking promising for NP in NYC!

Women Entrepreneur Feature

Natty Paint has been featured on the home page of Women Entrepreneur, an offshoot of Entrepreneur magazine.  The article examines our guerrilla marketing strategies to get our product in the hands of celebrities such as Lucy Liu and Animal Collective.

Check out the article at http://www.womenentrepreneur.com/2010/08/a-gangbusters-growth-model.html written by our marketing intern Ellice Yi and Thomas Hintze.

Front Page City Paper!

Natty Paint is making strides in Baltimore!  We’re on the front page of this week’s City Paper, which is available for free all over Baltimore! This is a huge honor for us and great exposure.  Thanks everyone for the support!

FRONT PAGE!

Click HERE to read the article online.

Greater Homewood Community Corporation, a local non-profit organization for which we designed and printed shirts for this past fall for their 40 Trees in 40 Neighborhoods initiative, congratulated us for the feature in City Paper on their blog.

In celebration of the feature story, they are offering the Natty Paint 40 Trees tees  at a special discounted rate of ONLY $15 for one week only! Each one was hand-printed by Natty Paint on organic cotton with eco-friendly inks and can be purchased at their online store. All proceeds go towards GHCC’s efforts to plant 1,600 trees by Spring 2011.

Help our web designer win!

Carlos, our website designer, has entered a design contest for a Mimobot flash drive.  Check out his entry, “Tony Blenderhead” and vote here! Voting ends July 30th!

T-shirts for the Dogwood

We just finished whipping out shirts for The Dogwood, a restaurant located in our neck of the woods, Hampden! The Dogwood specializes in sustainable American cuisine.  The shirts are the new uniform of the servers and bussers, and are also on sale for ONLY $20.  We dropped them off yesterday and already a bunch have sold.  Stop in ASAP to grab a bite to eat and a shirt.

Awesome at Artscape

This past weekend was Artscape in Baltimore, which meant tons of people enjoying every art form imaginable!  We came, sold, and conquered in the blazing heat at our DIY booth.  We sold over 100 pieces of clothing and got our name out. Make sure to like us on Facebook!

Here are some pics from the weekend.

We had all three lines out for sale.

We got a bubble machine for the booth, which little kids really enjoyed.

The reworked vintage skirts, selling for ONLY $24 were a hit!

Fellow designer Virginia, of Deda & Young, stopped by to say hi.  She was a tad taller than we remembered.