During the winter of 2015 while settling into my Creative Director position. I was thrilled to be at the helm and guide their creative team and help launch their activation for "Motel 7" which took place in a huge warehouse/soundstage over looking the manhattan skyline with about 10,000 guests attending.
We met with the launch team, who were busy designing the event, and needed some assistance with promo. They asked for fresh ideas and we came up with with a scalable design for use as posters, live screen printing, giveaways (large & small).
Sell Sheet for the pitch.
Mock ups
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THOUGHTS TURN INTO THINGS
SELECT ART FAIR & GOWANUS PRINT LAB RESIDENCY
While I was maintaining The Art Department at Omni, my boss Brian came to me and expressed that he was planning on moving his company to NJ next year. He then asked me what I'd like to do? So I wrote up a plan and strategy for his design studio/gallery Gowanus Print Lab, which also shared the building with us. He then promoted me and signed off on any ideas I had planned out for the next few quarters. It was a dream come true.
That winter Select Art Fair reached out to us with an idea they had been kicking around to showcase Brooklyn artists within their structure, and I came up with the idea on the spot to accompany theirs to create a residency at the print lab and to put out a call to artists within our Community.
The awarded resident would get a full studio of their own at the lab, access to our studio and all amenities, classes, and a chance to be featured in our booth in the upcoming Select Art Fair in NYC.
We had a pile of applications to process and narrow down to a top 3, of which we awarded classes to. We delightfully ended up choosing Dave Ortiz. My boss had no knowledge of Dave's previous life at "Dave's Quality Meats" and "Zoo York ". We chose Dave based on his enthusiasm and positive energy to learn something new. His fervor was undeniable. And to Dave's credit he never mentioned who he was in our initial or onboarding interviews. It turned out to be a great match and its something I have always been proud of.
It is pure testimony to the power of working with your hands, learning something new, and how creative sparks don't always come from places you think they will. Here is an interview The Hundreds' did on Dave on his time at the print lab.
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After Jonah Hill came to the studio to visit Dave, my boss Brian asked me " Is Dave kinda a big deal?, I said yes, yes he is. He has inspired a whole generation just being him self." He looked me square in the eye, put his hand on my shoulder and said, "Good job Nacona, good job". Insert welp emoji here______.
Which led to this.....
