About

Dana Tanamachi is a graphic designer and custom chalk letterer living in Brooklyn, New York.

Thursday
Feb092012

The Ace Hotel + Martin Greenfield Clothiers

Yesterday, I was honored to collaborate with the fine folks at The Ace Hotel as a part of New York Fashion Week. Not only was it great fun, but it was a treat to be surrounded (and inspired) by beautiful suits and fine fabrics all the while! The Ace called me in to create a piece for their partnership with Martin Greenfield Clothiers—an esteemed artisanal tailoring house, the last of its kind in Brooklyn.

Today, The Ace & Martin Greenfield are offering personal fitting sessions in the hotel Boardroom. Make an appointment to get fitted (lots of fabrics & linings to choose from!), enjoy some whiskey and/or Stumptown coffee, and get a glimpse of the piece I installed yesterday!

Here is a time-lapse of the new installation (featuring friends from The Ace Hotel!):

 

Friday
Feb032012

Rogers + Abero Wedding

Though I don't do weddings, I couldn't resist for fellow ADC Young Gun, Andrio Abero, and his lovely fiance Caroline Rogers last October. With Andrio being an incredible graphic designer and the ever-stylish Caroline working in fashion, this wedding was bound to be beautiful from the start. It certainly did not disappoint! View the complete photoset on Style Me Pretty.

Monday
Jan162012

o magazine february cover

O Magazine, February 2012 | Photo: Ruven Alfanador, Set design: Sam Cook, Lettering: Dana Tanamachi

Happy New Year everyone! Just off the coattails of a mini-sabbatical, I'm honored to share my newest project with you: O Magazine's first hand-lettered cover! Departing from the traditional Valentine's Day-themed cover art for February issues, the folks at O called me up to collaborate on something a little different—and that we did!

A few months back, I showed up to the Chelsea studio where the cover shoot would be taking place. I arrived in the early evening and immediately got to work. The brief: Express Yourself! And so I did. Thanks to the team at O for basically letting me doodle whatever my heart desired. I was later asked to be present at the photoshoot in case any minor adjustments needed to be made—it was a lot of fun watching from the sidelines. Seeing Oprah stand in front of my work was something I never expected to see in my lifetime, that's for sure.

I have to give a shout-out to the O Editor at Large, Gayle King, for taking me under her wing and inviting me to participate in the shoot. If it were up to me, I'd be hiding behind a curtain somewhere in the back (I may or may not have been guilty of that). Gayle made it a point to introduce herself and offer many words of encouragement.

Oh, and she made sure this happened:

Photo courtesy of George Burns

Page 18 of the issue features a behind-the-scenes look at our collaboration

We had so much fun doing the cover, that I was called back in to create another large-scale piece for the feature story. There are also several other smaller pieces smattered throughout the subsequent article. I was also honored to be interviewed by O Magazine and featured on the issues' "Behind the Scenes" page (pg.18).

O Magazine, February 2012 | Feature Story Opener Spread

A terribly faded picture of me working in the studio (you get the idea!)

The issue is on newsstands now, so pick up a copy if you see it! Many thanks to Chris Pino and Eric Ryan Anderson for their skills. Happy February to all!

Sunday
Nov062011

Dana Tanamachi + West Elm

Big news! Today, I'm finally able to announce my collaboration with the lovely folks at West Elm! It's been a long time coming, but I couldn't be more thrilled to share our little secret with you...

I was honored to work with West Elm to develop a set of Alphabet Paperweights—the perfect gift/stocking stuffer for for any typography lover. I had way too much fun drawing letters all over my wall for this project!

I'm also thrilled to show you a sneak peek of West Elm's 2011 Holiday Catalog—lettered by yours truly! Be sure to pick up a copy at your local West Elm later this month!

And, last but not least, you can see my handiwork at select stores nationwide—such as this one at The Galleria in my hometown of Houston, Texas:

Many thanks to my new friends at West Elm for letting me have fun and for supporting independent artists! Happy Holidays to all!

Sunday
Nov062011

garden & gun

Here is the time-lapse video of a new piece I did for Garden & Gun Magazine's "50 Best Southern Foods" feature. Yeehaw!

Garden & Gun from Dana Tanamachi on Vimeo.