While doodling on her math homework in the seventh grade, 2016 Marshall graduate Quiana Dang designed a character: a cat with human legs. When Dang was a student at Marshall, she and her English teacher Mathew Horne thought of the idea of screen-printing the catman onto t-shirts. From this idea, Dang and Yale graduate Jack Wolfe created Blubwear.
“I was friends with [Wolfe] a long time ago,” Horne said. “We were in kindergarten together so we are always sharing ideas and one of the things he has always wanted to do is have a clothing company.”
Enter Blubwear, an online streetwear brand designers and artists produce in New Haven, CT, New York, Fairfax and Los Angeles.
Blubwear began as a group of friends, all from different industries including architecture, industrial design, education and art.
“Although all of us work in creative industries, we wanted to work together on a project that was distinctly our own,” Wolfe said. “We all have different backgrounds and a diverse pool of influences in art, music, design and graphics. But our ethos is always to be wacky and fun-loving.”
Dang said the creation of this clothing came from both their desire to express spirit and because it is a form of art.
“I think the motive behind Blubwear boils down to the reasoning Mr. Horne, my friends and I had as part of [Marshall] when screen printing those shirts all those years ago,” Dang said. “It’s really abstract […] but the apex of it all is that you look at a Blubwear item and think, ‘This is so absolutely strange.’ But in a way, you feel some sort of kinship with the creature.”
Wolfe said they used the word “blub” because it is fun to say, but he also said it is not trying to be cool or self-inflating like some other brand names.
“It is quirky and strange while also being cute and approachable,” Wolfe said. “It [displays] this line really nicely and I think that is what makes it so iconic and memorable.”
Wolfe said Blubwear is interested in the notion of making the everyday extraordinary and about the creative mind re-imagining the mundane and regular as exotic and exuberant.
“We don’t take ourselves too seriously and try to convey a style that is playful, light-hearted, whimsical, but also a little off-kilter,” Wolfe said.
For Wolfe and his team, Instagram is a platform for creating an excuse to make ridiculous animations, rather than merely promoting their products.
“The Blubgram is all about fan engagement, so we remix posts and photos that blubbers send us to take them to new places,” Wolfe said.
2019-02-15