About Us
Poketo is a designer of limited edition art products, accessories, apparel, and decor. Founded by Ted Vadakan and Angie Myung, Poketo promotes the work of top international artists by showcasing original artwork through their fun and accessible wares. Poketo takes art off of gallery walls and makes them a part of your everyday life. Poketo products are available internationally in fine boutiques, museums, and Poketo.com. Poketo.com houses the entire collection and artist roster, and is also a place for people to connect with the artist community. The Poketo blog and photo Flickr chronicles art events, as well as Ted and Angies travels, karaoke sessions, and latest food finds.
Poketo's downtown Los Angeles studio holds bi-monthly art shows, performances, and other happenings. Sign up for our newsletter to find out about goings on.
History
Poketo is now based in Los Angeles, but first had their roots in San Francisco. As a part of the art community in SF, Ted, filmmaker, and Angie, graphic designer, were always curating shows for artist friends. The shows were always fun and brought tons of people together, but there was one problem: no one could afford to buy art. In 2003 to satisfy everyone's art lust, Ted and Angie came up with an affordable solution; creating limited-edition artist wallets so that everyone could have a bit of the art. The wallets sold out quickly and became quite coveted. They made more. And more. Each time discovering new artists and creating new products, the process evolved into Poketo, an innovator in artist-designed lifestyle wares.
Poketo, pronounced "poh-kay-toe" got it's name through Angie's grandmother's mispronunciation of the word, "pocket." And the name just stuck. With the first product being wallets, owning a Poketo was like having your own traveling art show-- and it still is.
Poketo has grown rapidly since then. Poketo collaborates with hundreds of international artists, and has been commissioned by museums (San Francisco Museum of Modern, The De Young Museum, Creative Growth Art Center) and bands (The Arcade Fire, Weezer, The Postal Service, The Shins) to create exclusive products. Ted and Angie have conducted design seminars for Parsons School of Design and served as guest jurors for American Illustration's Annual 27. Poketo was invited to participate in the Glasgow International Festival, Scotland's equivalent of Whitney Biennial in 2008.
Famous Friends and Press
Collectible and unique, its no wonder Poketo is a favorite of singer Neko Case. Their T-shirts have been spotted on singer Jamie Lidell, Dominic Monaghan of Lost, and even Blake Lewis of American Idol. Poketo has been featured in press internationally: The New York Times Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, Dwell Magazine, Readymade Magazine, and Giant Robot to name a few.
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