32 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY MAY 18-24, 2023 www.montereycountyweekly.com FACE TO FACE Derek Hanneman is an artist, designer and screen printer. He also invented a word, “engrafft.” The non-existent word became the name of his clothing and merchandise line based in San Francisco, where he sells T-shirts, hats, patches, stickers and more—all bearing his original graphic art. Hanneman can also be found at festivals and markets in San Francisco and throughout Monterey County, including events at Custom House Plaza and at the West End Celebration in Sand City. Most of his designs are concise and monochromatic. He gets his inspiration from the sea, science and science fiction. His designs often begin with sea creatures like a giant squid or manta ray. They may also evolve from structures such as a floating windmill that appears like something from a vision. Art has been a part of Hanneman’s life since he was a child. As a teen attending Pacific Grove High School, he started doing graffiti. From spray-painting walls he moved onto fabric, creating colorful and cartoonish designs to customize shoes and T-shirts for his classmates and others who noticed his work. This sparked his interest in designing wearable art. After high school, Hanneman took graphic design classes at Monterey Peninsula College to expand his skills. In 2014 he began his own clothing line in Pacific Grove. “I enjoyed making my art wearable, and I decided I was going to start this clothing line that was an extension of my art,” he says. Hanneman spent a year contemplating a business name until he chose Engrafft. He says this name connected all the aspects he wanted for the brand. Weekly: You spent a long time searching for the right name. What does Engrafft mean to you? Hanneman: It means to graft together. I translated that so I would be combining the different art forms and art styles that I do with clothing and goods, conceptually: parts of plants being grafted together into a new hybrid form, and from that combination it grows and evolves in all these different directions. I’m engrafting my art on people’s minds and bodies, aiming to make a permanent mark. Your designs—even the ones based on structures—have an organic feel. Do you gravitate to that? I work in organic and digital mediums. Nature and the ocean are definitely some of my biggest inspirations, and that I think comes from being fortunate enough to live on the California coast my whole life. And the ocean theme that I explore is very much influenced by living in Monterey Bay and all the ocean research that happens in Monterey Bay. You don’t use many colors in your designs. I like to work in a single color, mainly because it makes the viewer focus more on the composition and the line work. I think it just looks bold and strong with that contrast of the black and white, or just a single color on a different color background. Your designs are also visually balanced. Is that what you strive for? I’m big on seeking balance—in all areas of life, really, but in my designs, and particularly my graphics for clothing and goods. The way that I arrange the graphics on the clothing pieces, if I’m putting a graphic on the left chest, then I’m going to put the sleeve print on the right sleeve. I don’t want the designs, the prints, to be too heavily weighted to one side or the other. On your website it says Engrafft is a “Living Styles Movement.” What do you mean by that? The living styles are the living graphic art styles that I create. They’re the parts I’m morphing to greater shapes and forms and designs. They’re the core building blocks of all the different graphics and my Engrafft line. And then with the living styles movement, it’s like a dual meaning of how, as I’m spreading the art and the living styles, more and more people are wearing Engrafft and becoming engrafted and helping the art-infused clothing and goods and the living styles spread around the world. Which is your favorite sea animal? The giant squid. Why? Because I like how mysterious they are and how sightings of them are so rare. They just represent how the ocean has these mysteries and these giant, massive creatures that lurk in its depths that emerge and are just so fascinating and incredible, and that shows how there’s just so much that we may or may not know about what lives in the depths of the sea. Find Engrafft merchandise at Habitat, 169 Fountain Ave., Pacific Grove. Learn more at engrafft.com. Wear It Well A local artist uses unique graphic design to create a line of clothing and other items. By Celia Jiménez Derek Hanneman grew up in Pacific Grove, drawing inspiration from nature—especially Monterey Bay. He began sketching as a child and has now turned his work into wearable art, like this hoodie. DANIEL DREIFUSS 831.200.9700 • www.gocatrescue.org Your VerY own eLSA Oh, just look at that adorable face! Stunning Elsa is about 7 years old and, like her namesake, has captivating blue eyes and a gentle demeanor. She came to us from our local shelter, where she was turned in pregnant and very, very thin with an unkempt coat. Elsa is active and playful and needs a child-free home and adopter who can read cat body language. Won’t you give this lovely lady the home and TLC she desperately needs? If you want to help Elsa, please fill out an adoption application at www.gocatrescue.org. If you would like to sponsor our next ad, please contact us! Indie Want to meet Indie? Please fill out our online adoption questionnaire. Things to love: 2 years old - 34 pounds - female - Queensland Heeler Having “only” three legs doesn’t slow this girl down in the slightest. She loves to zoom around, enjoys treats like no other, and likes to stay close to her human, so she knows she’s not alone. With tender loving care, you will form an incredibly strong bond with Indie! Ad Sponsored by Judy LeRoy With Lasso If you’d like sponsor our next ad, give us a call. 831-718-9122 | www.PeaceOfMindDogRescue.org P.O. Box 51554, Pacific Grove, CA 93950
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