Meet the artist behind the Kids Collection: Sophia Chang
Our latest Kids Collection features hand-drawn doodles inspired by the outdoors and getting out into nature with your family! We teamed up with artist Sophia Chang to create these pieces, and it was just the most magical collaboration. Get to know Sophia and her design process in the Q&A below!
Hi Sophia! We are so excited to be collaborating on our latest Kids Collection with you. We want to introduce our community to the person behind the amazing art on these new limited-edition bags — can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
I'm an illustrator and designer, and I’ve been doing this for almost 20 years now! I studied at Parsons School of Design, and I would say I'm kind of a Swiss army knife that people in the industry across the board keep in their back pocket. I’ve had the amazing opportunity to work on a lot of exciting brand collaborations across various industries, from banking and sports to fashion and apparel… I just make stuff. What I love doing is essentially communication design — storytelling through my work. A lot of times I stand between the audience and a brand with a product or a campaign or something they want to bring to life, so I help bring it to life. What's the story? How do we want to communicate it? What's the vibe? And then I create!
That’s amazing! Yep, we’ve seen your work and were just blown away — it’s so neat to have your custom pieces on some of these new bags. How would you define your art style and how did you get into this form of art?
I'm born and raised in New York (originally from Queens), and New York is just a very hyper-overstimulating environment — it really stimulates all five senses in a wonderful way… good and bad. I grew up in that environment, so I used to just have so much visual stimulation all the time. You're going to the bus… the bus stop has ads. You get on the bus… there's ads on the bus. You transfer to the subway… there's ads there. You're just constantly bombarded with images, whether it's someone raising awareness for this or just plain advertisements and it's so easy to walk past. A big part of my work and my personal goal has always been: how can we make someone stop in their steps to receive the message? So, my illustration work is a lot of iconography, phrases, text. There's a mixture of generic iconography (imagery that people can understand), but there's also little “Easter eggs”. There's a lot going on at all times, but all together, they tell a story. They share energy. You connect with it. And very quickly, when it does capture your attention, your eye kind of just weaves through all of it, and hopefully it creates an uplifting, inspirational, fun, creative, emotional lift for folks.
Do you remember the first thing you drew?
I grew up an only child. I grew up really, really bored all the time. Like, I'm sure I had toys, but the main thing I always had everywhere I went was a pen and paper. That was my parents’ way of entertaining me. And I was jumping off the walls with a lot of energy all the time. I also grew up with immigrant parents who are… you know, you’re a kid, you want everything all the time, everywhere you go, and my parents have always been on the more frugal side. They also have always been like, “you want it?”, “do you personally have the money?” So, at a very early age, it was really instilled in me: I can have anything I want, I just have to work for it, and I have to earn the money for it, which is great and kind of paid off well. Drawing became my way of having everything I could ever want, whether it was materialistic things or maybe I can't necessarily be an astronaut, but I can put myself in an astronaut suit in my illustration. So, that was my way of creating my world, of claiming what is mine, and creating whatever is mine. I feel like the term “the world is your oyster” can't be better described than having a blank piece of paper where you can create whatever it is you want. And so that's always been my approach and mentality to drawing and everything else in life.
A pen and paper really can be the start of everything. For this project specifically, what were you inspired by in creating the artwork for the collection?
When I was first approached with the opportunity, I was so excited because I recently became a mom — I have a son who's almost two, so I'm literally in it. He's toddler mode. I have been going through a slight identity crisis as someone who's accomplished so much in her career, and my whole entire world has changed. How do I transition? How do I evolve? So, I was really excited to be able, especially being someone who makes things, to get into the kids space. When I got approached with this opportunity, I was so excited. Since moving to LA from New York, I've had the pleasure of being able to visit quite a few National Parks which was so fun and very different from how I grew up. I would love to “bucket list” visit all of them before I die. So, it was really exciting to just get this prompt, and it was so clear. I related to it. It's just something I really connected with on so many levels as a parent, someone who makes fun cool things, and just wants more connection with nature and National Parks.
Connection and inspiring connection are so huge these days. How do you think working on a collection that encourages people to get outside and spend time in our National Parks can contribute to that?
I mentioned just storytelling and wanting people to feel inspired, uplifted and connected when they see my artwork. In this case, when I see this collection, I think of family, family fun (as corny as it sounds), and families connecting, building memories together. I think nothing is better for the human spirit than to just be outside. I actually don't do any screen time with my kid because, in his generation, he's going to be on the screen the rest of his life. Being a child now is really interesting. Going out to the grocery store, sitting in a restaurant, going in an elevator where everyone is just looking down at their phones. Versus, for me growing up, people had books, newspapers. So, I think there's just so much value in connecting with nature, and not to get super woowoo, but I definitely believe in just consciousness, energy, connecting with the vibrations, the natural vibrations of earth, of the trees, of all this stuff. There is something so beautiful about what can shift in your nervous system, biologically, scientifically, and also spiritually when you do spend time with nature.
And that’s why we’re doin’ this! Do you have a favorite National Park?
I had a chance to go to the Grand Canyon with my two dogs which was really cool. I would love to see more, hopefully with my kid!
CARE INSTRUCTIONS
COTTON/CANVAS PRODUCTS
- Treat with soap and water. Avoid hard cleaners and bleach-based products. Avoid using sun to dry.
- Washable Marker safe.
- Please note: like all 100% natural canvas items, these styles may be subject to slight shrinkage (that will not effect fit or function) when washed. For this reason, please wash cold and line dry.
THE CANVAS SUN HAT
- One size fits all.
- Please note: like all 100% natural canvas items, these styles may be subject to slight shrinkage when washed. For this reason, please wash cold and line dry.
- Due to the nature of 100% natural canvas, color may fade slightly over time.
THE LUNCH BOX
- Spot clean only — do not machine wash.
- Due to the nature of 100% natural canvas, color may fade slightly over time.
PATCHES
- All patches are embroidered + have 3M Sticky Backing.
- Please note: patches have an adhesive backing that we cannot guarantee is permanent. For a more secure hold, we recommend sewing patches onto your bag!
