This is one of the many upcoming profiles of our neighbors in the Arts District of LA. It’s an area of Downtown LA that has seen a huge explosion of growth recently. Residents, creative business’, artists, designers, and entrepreneurs have been moving into this once sleepy district. Everyone living and working here are naturally bonded, there is a strong sense of ownership, a sense of looking out for each other and supporting each other here to make sure our community thrives. Once an area that was mostly manufacturing and warehousing, it’s now a mix of artist studios, restaurants, coffee roasters, bars, cafes, boutiques, lofts and a renowned architecture school. We are seeing it grow and it’s nothing but exciting.

Poketo has been operating from a loft here since 2007, right before many of the current business’ moved in, right around the time change was happening…and if you may or may not have noticed on our Instagram, Poketo will be opening its first brick and mortar right here in the heart of it all. But, more on that later.

This is Jeremy of District Millworks. He runs a custom fabrication shop here in the Arts District, specializing in acquiring and breathing new life to reclaimed wood from across the country. Whether it’s wood from railroad depots in Alabama, old barn siding, bowling lanes in Nebraska, or old homes that no longer have a life… that wood ends up here at District Millworks. It’s right here in this seemingly cavernous, endless warehouse that he and his team design furniture and objects for homes, retail, restaurants, and commercial properties. Their latest endeavor, that newly opened, much talked about UMAMIcatessen in Downtown LA.

We got a rad tour of District Millworks… or rather, we ended up walking aimlessly and getting lost in the myriad of rooms in this huge space.

A view into the open sky courtyard…

We stumbled into areas most people won’t see. If you do go and visit (and you should), you’ll walk through their storefront showroom and will be instantly surrounded by beautiful, handcrafted furniture, tables, beds, and even a playful swing hung from 20 + foot tall ceilings. District Millworks designs and fabricates all their pieces here. You can pick what you like from their showroom, or you can come in with an idea… they’ll help you envision it… they’ll make it come to life.

More at DistrictMillworks.com.

Summer’s been on everyone’s mind while working on our most recent wallet series. For Los Angeles-based artist Nick Lu, it meant swimming deep into the heart of the ocean. We took some time to ask this Art Center grad whose work has been seen in the New Yorker, The Globe and Mail, American Illustration and many more a few more things about his work and his passions. Read on:

If you only had three words to describe Nick Lu, what three words would those be?
Positive, creative, sporty

How did you discover your love for illustration?
I’ve been drawing since I was a kid, so it’s been a pretty organic process.

Could you share your favorite illustrations (of any kind). How did they make it on the “favorite list”?
Anything with a cool idea catches my eye, I don’t really care too much about style.

What or who are your current inspirations?
Polish book covers, Tatsuro Kiuchi, Michael Swaney, Gary Panter.

If you had one dream project, what would it be?
Something with a huge circulation, like stamps or currency; collaboration with fashion brand; more editorial illustrations for major magazines would be nice.

Could you tell us a little bit about your wallet design for Poketo? How did you come up with it and what’s going on in the scene?
Hm… let’s see, it was so awesome Angie gave me total freedom on this one (thanks Angie!). I think it was one day a friend asked me what new things would I want to try, I said scuba diving, and we talked about how cool it would be and the fear of being so deep under water, that’s where the image came from.

What a great way to spend a summer day! Thanks for chatting, Nick!

Check out Nick’s wallet at poketo.com
Find more of Nick at nicklu.com

There is something so exuberant about Tad Carpenter’s work. When you see it, it feels like everything is going to be okay. Perhaps it’s his Kansas City roots or maybe it’s just his obvious love for the art and artistry of children’s picture books. Either way, we’re simply lucky to have his bold, joyful work on Poketo. Meet Tad Carpenter!

Tell me a bit about yourself without using the words illustrator, artist, designer.
I am a very disciplined person and love being active. I work out everyday and love that feeling. If it is running, weights, biking whatever I love to be active.

I am all about my family. I am an only child so I am very close with my mother and father. I also have the best wife in the world. Those 3 people mean a great deal to me.

I collect a lot of vintage goods like vintage advertising memorabilia, vintage toys, mid-century books and furniture, old globes and signage. I just love to dig and collect.

What words describe you best?
Disciplined, optimistic, softy, dreamer, glasses, structured.

Your work is full of bold colors and happy monsters. Could you share a few of your illustration inspirations?
I love color. I really try to work that is fun, whimsical and full of optimism. Growing up my favorite thing in the world was picture books. I feel so lucky to be working on my own books now. When I work I think back to some of how Bill Pete‘s drawings made me feel. Or Maurice Sendak, and try to captre a similr sentament.

When I was 5 or 6 years old I met Maurice Sendak and that always stuck with me. His ability to tell a story with made up creatures is amazing and something I try to do as well. Using a fictitious character makes it easy to get your own point across. All preconceived notions that a person or animal has are lost.

I think I slept with my signed Sendak doll for a month after I met him.

You have a diverse career working in illustration. What’s the biggest challenge you face at work?
Time management. When you run your own company you have to do it all. Take out the trash, write proposals, invoice and actually design and illustrate.

You really have to be able to multitask in a major way. But I would not change anything and am a bit of a control freak so having my hands in several things at once is fine with me.

What’s your philosophy on work?
If you don’t love it, don’t do it. Plain and simple.

What has been your favorite project so far?
That is so so hard to say.

I have been branding a restaurant out of Atlanta called Yeah! Burger which I am very proud of. Actually several of the restaurant brands I have created come to mind. I really love branding on that scale.

I am working on several children’s books right now that I am ecstatic about.
Also several smaller projects like the Zion snowboard line, my Holiday Homies and personal holiday cards each year…not sure I can ever pick one. I would say whatever piece is the newest tends to be one of my favorite.

You’ve always lived in Kansas City. Could you tell us a little bit more about Kansas City and share some of the reasons why it is home?
I actually live in Kansas City, Missouri. I love this city, I actually really love the Mid-West in general. Sometimes I feel like Kansas City is secret. A place that people have not tapped into yet.

What I love about Kansas City is pretty simple. Yes, it is obvious the Mid-West is a much lower cost of living than the coast. But, what is amazing about Kansas City is the high level of art and design. A city where Walt Disney lived and created what would eventually be Mickey Mouse, a school like the Kansas City Art Institute that had teachers and students like Robert Rauchenberg, Thomas Hart Benton and John Stuart Curry.

And most important for KC is this is the birth place of the greeting card and Hallmark Cards. Hallmark is still world head quartered here employing hundreds of artist, copywriters, designers, stylist and photographers from all over the world. Because of Hallmark alone a smaller city like Kansas City is loaded with talent.

Tell us a bit about your wallet design for Poketo.
It’s pretty simple. Sailing and boating is an amazingly fun hobby and something that seems like a great get away. This past summer it was so, so hot and all I wanted to do was just get away from the heat. In my mind the idea of a night boat ride under the moon and stars sounded like the perfect remedy for the awful Mid-West heat wave. The closest I came to that night boat ride was this wallet. And that’s just fine.

What do you wish you had the nerve to do?
Become a boxer, skydive or pick up and move to Europe for half the year. Any of those sound so fun to me and totally outside what tend to do.

Did we mention Tad also designed the blue version of the Artful Flyer?

What’s next for Tad Carpenter?
I mentioned several children’s books I am working on. So excited for those. I have a holiday based book I wrote and illustrated , a 4-book board book series I also wrote and illustrated a poetry book all releasing in 2012. I really hope people will like these. Have been so fun to work on.

We’ll be seeing more of you in the bookstores then! Thanks, Tad.

Check out Tad’s wallet at poketo.com.
Find more of Tad at TadCarpenter.com.

By now, you’ve gotten a load of all the new wallets we have, designed by female comic book artists.

It’s hard to choose which of these ladies make us snort and smile the hardest, so we decide to let you decide by asking each one of them to do an illustrated interview. (Warning: may contain mature content.)

Lisa Hanawalt is an artist, cartoonist and illustrator living in Brooklyn. You’ve probably seen a lot of her many drawings of animals in people clothes, but if you’re more of a girly-girl you could have also chanced by her stuff in Glamour or maybe the New York Times, for intellectuals. Without further ado, let’s have Lisa Hanawalt!

Find more of Lisa on lisahanawalt.com.
Check out Lisa’s Hanawallets and mousepads on poketo.com.

Stay tuned for more illustrated interviews!