This is the post I've been putting off writing, mostly because "first" always feels
like it should come with more fanfare than I actually have to give it. But here it is:
the shop is live, and I wanted to walk you through what's actually in it and why.
What started this:
Most of what you'll find here didn't start as a business plan. The designs came first
ink brush portraits, samurai silhouettes, hannya masks, kanji that mean more to me
than I probably explain well in a product description. I kept drawing the same kind of
image over and over: something torn, something dripping, something that looked like it
survived a fight it didn't necessarily win. Eventually I had enough of them that putting
them on actual shirts stopped feeling optional.
The apparel:
Right now you'll find that ink-brush style across raglan hoodies, zip hoodies, and a few
different tee cuts , oversized, fitted, classic. Same visual language throughout: high
contrast, hand-drawn linework, the kind of design that looks like it was made with a
brush and too little patience, on purpose. If you've seen manga-style tattoo flash sheets,
you'll recognize the influence immediately.
The books:
Alongside the apparel, I'm also publishing two very different pieces of writing.
Who Is X (Volume I & II) is the more personal one , a short, two-part memoir-essay
about a strange déjà vu that followed me home from a trip to Latvia, and the questions
about memory and identity it wouldn't let me put down. It's not academic philosophy.
It's closer to a long, honest conversation than a lecture.
The Last Believer is fiction - Volume I of a planned trilogy, following a man named
Damian who gave up on faith fifteen years ago, in a city that's made a joke out of
believing in anything. Something starts following him. It doesn't end resolved. That's
on purpose too.
Why they're in the same shop:
Honestly, because they all came from the same place: I make what I can't not make, and
I'd rather put it in front of people than let it sit in a folder. The tees and the books
don't have much in common on the surface, but they're both things I made because I had
to, not because a trend told me to.
What's next:
More designs, and Volume II of The Last Believer is already in progress. If something
here lands for you, the best thing you can do is tell someone , that's still the whole
engine behind something this small.
Thanks for being here for the first one.