June 2016

Seattle temporarily, working on 420 label designs for companies. It was a strange chapter in my life because I wasn’t fully “gone” from New York, but I also wasn’t fully present in it either. I was bouncing back & forth like a commuter between two realities. Seattle became the work zone; New York was still the heart zone. I’d fly back to NYC whenever I could, partly to see Gloria, partly to keep my basement apartment situation alive, & partly because New York wasn’t just where I lived… it was still where my identity lived. This was also the beginning of Selfies at Tiffany’s, still a primitive prototype at the time. 

Even though I was away, my mind stayed in motion the whole time. This wasn’t a “vacation” phase. It was a grind phase. I was designing constantly, pushing through projects, building skills, building my range, experimenting with layouts, typography, shapes, symbols, all of it. The kind of work that sharpens you. The kind of period where you don’t even realize you’re leveling up until you look back & see you became a different version of yourself.

I remember feeling like the art was multiplying faster than I could even keep up with. It was a time of artistic proliferation. Ideas were arriving in waves. I wasn’t just designing for clients; I was developing the internal muscle that would later become my full artistic language. When you’re locked in like that, everything becomes a tool. Every sign, every street, every texture, every logo you see becomes inspiration. Your eyes become a scanner. Your brain becomes a sketchbook.

There was something powerful about being in a different city too. Seattle had a different rhythm than New York. It was calmer, quieter, almost like the volume was turned down. That contrast gave me space to focus on craft. It gave me room to create without the daily NYC chaos pulling me in ten directions. And at the same time, it made me appreciate New York even more, because I knew deep down that no matter where I traveled, the real mission would always be rooted back home.

So June 2016 was one of those transitional months where I was hustling in a new environment, while still keeping one foot firmly planted in the city that raised my ambition. I was building something bigger than I realized at the time. I was learning how to work anywhere, under any conditions, & still produce. Still create. Still move forward.

Looking back, it really was a season of momentum. A season of output. A season where the work stacked up quietly in the background, like bricks being laid, before anyone else could even see the building.