I'm Benson, the founder and designer of The Imaginary Zebra, an independent clothing brand from the golden state - California. Davis to be exact.
I'm a recent college graduate and I started off my college career with electrical engineering, but soon realized that it wasn't my cup of tea.
Programming and coding language certainly didn't taste right; I much prefer 2 tea spoons of ink and sprinkle of doodles, which eventually led to the beginning of TIZ. I started TIZ later during my freshman year while pursuing my bachelor of science degree in Managerial Economics at UC Davis. Now that I have graduated, I'm taking The Imaginary Zebra full time.
The Imaginary Zebra was my dream come true.
Equipments:
Pencil and eraser are my weapon of choice. Post-edit with Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. I built this site with Adobe Dreamweaver. I use the 2009 unibody Mac Book Pro. Most pictures taken on the site, including ones from the blog, came from my Canon T2i(550d). I own the 50mm 1.8, 24-85mm, 12-24mm Sigma, and 75-300mm lens. I've been playing around with Final Cut Pro and Adobe AfterEffect, so more videos soon.
Contact:
Personal work //
Be my friend //
Behance Portfolio //
LinkedIn Network.
I once had a tutoring job back in high school. It sucked.
I was constantly told to achieve other people's favorite career path.
But every once in awhile, I would stumble across men and women who look happier than ever giving people advise on "pursuing your passion."
Risks involves, but the outcome's far greater. Marc Ecko, Shepard Fairy, Nigo, Johnny Cupcakes, the founders of The Hundreds, Demetri Martin, Gary Vaynerchuk, and Ze Frank (just to name a few) are the people that serve as a standing proof that it's possible to pursuit your passion and influence me greatly on starting my brand.
If you have a dream, then dream like you mean it.
The Imaginary Zebra is a clothing brand that encourages the use of imagination, but there is no particular theme or notion to our apparel. the designs have always been spontaneous - from a soda can to break dancing animals. The designs reflect encounters I have at the time. Which is why, aside from crafting the apparel graphics, I heavily invest time on our blog to keep the audience connected with the design process behind each shirt and sources of my inspirations for each shirt. Our collections come out randomly with no predicable seasonal restriction. Just the way we like.
While some major brands like to see their products in various retail stores, I see TIZ differently. To maintain the personal connection with our supporters and to ensure the authenticity of our products, everything from receiving the order, packaging, and to shipping are all carried out with our own hands. So I made sure all The Imaginary Zebra products are sold exclusively on our official website.
The Imaginary Zebra is a series based clothing brand. (as oppose to seasonal based.) Seasonal collections allow companies to be organized and efficient, with each collection having distinctive features corresponding to the climate. It gives designers the opportunity to really dig deep on what they want to express every three months , but It doesn't have the characteristics that I envision for The Imaginary Zebra. With series based system, TIZ has the flexibility to create graphics and designs whenever ideas hit. There's no seasonal deadlines, but spur at the moment spontaneity.
No Reprints-In rare cases will there be any reprints on any of the designs.Those who have bought the shirts in advance, are guaranteed their shirts are now collectors items.
Exclusivity-This is the only place that you'd be able to lay your hands on one of TIZ's imaginations. Period.
Series Based Clothing Brand-Unlike seasonal based clothing companies, we put out new products randomly with no seasonal contraints. We like spontaneity.
Returns-Drop us an email and we will assist you as soon as we can!
Dream like you mean it,
