The Rumplo T-Shirt Blog

We recently came across the storefront of designer and illustrator Tim Lahan and admired his design style, his work, and his first solo T-shirt (we think), "Mr. P." We love it when great designers and illustrators venture into T-shirt territory so we stole a few minutes of Tim's time and asked him a few questions about his T-shirt plans. Enjoy.

Rumplo Hi Tim. So, we came across your T-shirt shop the other day and really got a kick out of your "Mr. P" T-shirt (Shop link - Rumplo link). What's the story here?

Tim As far as the shop goes, I was just looking for an outlet for some of the work I make outside of the commercial realm. I started accumulating a lot of graphics that I made in my down time, and really wanted to get some of it out there for the public to check out and possibly make a little money from it.

With Mr. P, I've spent the last four or five years surrounded by pigeons. Living in Philadelphia and now New York, I've spent years trying to just walk down streets or trying to eat lunch in local parks and its nearly impossible to keep those damn birds away. I sorta realized that pigeons are inherent to cities. The Mr. P graphic is a way of glamorizing the pigeon, and what better way to say someone's "the boss" than to reference Mr. T?

Rumplo (chuckles) Clever. How do you think Mr. T would feel about this? ; )

Tim I'm not sure. I would hope he'd get a chuckle, but something tells me that dude's got some nasty lawyers. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

"It's always really gratifying as an artist to know that your work has been produced or is tangible, so I wanted to take that into my own hands." Tim Lahan

Rumplo We'll back you up. On a more serious note, though, it's not hard to see how a talented designer and illustrator like yourself came to make T-shirts, but can you tell us a bit about what inspired you to make your first Tee? How's it working out for you? Would you recommend it to other designers or illustrators?

Tim It was an experiment more or less. It's always really gratifying as an artist to know that your work has been produced or is tangible, so I wanted to take that into my own hands. Not to mention that I was getting a lot of positive feedback from random people about wanting to purchase the shirt. Knowing that there's a demand is always encouraging to actually take the initiative and make something from it.

The response has been great. I've sent out a lot of the shirts to people internationally, which is really interesting to me. It's cool to know that I've made something that references this old American icon that people in Belgium are also hip to.

I would totally recommend other designers and illustrators to do up some shirts. To be honest though, the graphic t-shirt medium has become a little saturated with so many small "street" brands taking up space, but as long as you believe in your work and want to smack it on a shirt, I'd say go for it.

Rumplo Do you think the explosion of places to promote your work on the web (e.g. places like Rumplo, we hope!) in particular will make T-shirts more than just a once-in-a-blue-moon thing for you? In other words, do you think the growing influence of the web and social sites has changed how you work and what you make?

Tim Definitely. Since the Mr. P thing, I've been kicking around the idea of producing more shirts and possibly building up a brand. Seeing other artists and designers go this route, I'd say it has definitely influenced me to take it further. We'll see, though. I'm still testing the waters at this point.

Rumplo Got any new tees in the works that you can tell us about?

Tim No details yet. I'm trying to keep it under wraps for now. I'd like to be a little more spontaneous about the next one, and just make it available in the shop in the near future. Gotta keep 'em curious. Stay tuned!

Rumplo Looking forward to it. Thanks for your time Tim!

→ Check out more of Mr. Lahan's work on his website, Trademark TM, we think you'll like it.