Lemon Twist | Graphic and Fashion Dynamic Duo

One of the great pleasures of my job with Mavi Jeans has been participating in collaborative projects with different artists. One project in particular was with the Lemon Twist Studio, a San Francisco-based design studio and fashion retailer. Owned and operated by Eric and Danette Scheib, Lemon Twist is part graphic art and photography springboard for Eric (who along with being a cornerstone within the Bay area art community, his art and product creations are being represented across the U.S. as well as Tokyo and Europe), and part fashion design house for Danette (whom the International Herald Tribune called “one of the best designers in San Francisco”).

In the fashion industry, as part of the design process, design teams go “shopping” to various cities around the country and world to see what other people are doing. California cities are always a destination, especially when researching for Spring. When in San Francisco, the Hayes Valley area is a definite destination. On a trip a couple years back, we hung a left off of Hayes onto Octavia and luckily stumbled upon Lemon Twist. The whole district is quite nice, but Lemon Twist really caught our attention for it’s clever modern approach to retro looks, color usage, graphics and a welcoming fresh and pleasant attitude. They seemed to be the perfect people with which to collaborate for a design project. So, after a couple phone calls and emails with Eric, working out the theme for the graphics, we settled on Brazil and it’s imagery. From there it was Eric and his magic that brought it all together. Some of the designs are below:

A women’s floral design proto and original stenciled art.

Stenciled Parrot

Stenciled Rooster

Stenciled Carnival Dancer

Stenciled Snakes

Stenciled Hummingbird

Below is an assortment of Danette’s Lemon Twist designs for the collection “Outfit 42″, in which she creates and offers to the public a new original design every 42 days. Being in the fashion industry myself, I can honestly tell you that designing a new garment and getting it to market every 42 days is no small undertaking.

Eric is busy 7 days a week creating an ever-expanding body of work. A sampling of which is below:

The above mini-series are precursors to a commissioned group by a Tokyo-based outfit that fell in love with Eric’s work and wanted MORE! They got an eyeful of the above crosses and wanted something even more in-your-face religious and more rock-n-roll. I can’t wait to see the rest of the pieces destined for Tokyo- if they’re anything like the above, I’ll want them all.  A small taste:

Please be sure to stop by Lemon Twist when you are in San Francisco. And if you can’t make it in person just now, please visit them online at http://www.LemonTwist.net

Eric and Danette Scheib