Today we’d like to introduce you to Joseph Mattison, SummerTies.
Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
I had purchased a pair of navy blue pants with pink and white humpback whales on them from a popular store on Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket called Murray’s. I wanted to wear these pants to cocktail parties and weddings where a coat and tie are required, but I had trouble finding a matching tie to wear with them. One day I thought “well why not try to make the tie myself?”. I contacted a bunch of silk manufacturers to make a matching tie and went from there. Although I only needed 1 tie, the minimums are much higher to have the manufacturer help make the ties. I was able to sell all the extra ties in a day, Summer 2012 4th of July, and so I figured maybe I would make 6 designs for the following summer and went from there.
Please tell us about your art.
Many of the patterned designs ones sees in the marketplace are often very busy and not drawn accurate to nature. I wanted the whales on my tie to look like actual whales and not cartoons. Additionally, I wanted the patterns spaced out in line with a classic club necktie, which allows one to wear a wider variety of dress shirts with our ties. With a busy necktie your only option is a solid color shirt, but by spacing out the patterns and allowing more of the background color to be visible on the necktie this allows one to wear check and pattern shirts. Starting with neckties, we have now expanded to putting our patterns on many different men’s and ladies’ accessories and clothing. Our brand is inspired by summer style with bright colors and pastels.
As an artist, how do you define success and what quality or characteristic do you feel is essential to success as an artist?
I have always said with our designs we wanted to make fun products that we, the owners, would want to wear and would hope others would like to wear them too. I think the greatest compliment for a designer-artist is actually seeing others enjoying their art. I love seeing a picture on social media or bumping into someone in person that is wearing one of our products.
How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
The best place to see our artwork and products is our website: www.SummerTies.com
Contact Info:
- Website: www.SummerTies.com
- Phone: 877-795-2040
- Email: joe@summerties.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/summerties2012/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SummerTies2012
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/SummerTies
- Other: https://vimeo.com/summerties
Image Credit:
We own the rights to all the pictures. I can supply more as you choose what you like.
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