When a Tool Becomes Part

When a Tool Becomes Part of Your Art

People sometimes ask where my work belongs.

When I studied craft design, every project had a clear purpose. It had to solve a problem.

Later, when I studied fine art, I was expected to express my own world. Learning to write artist statements was one of the hardest parts for me. I grew up in an education system where expressing your own thoughts so openly wasn’t something we practiced very much.

These days, I realize I’m standing somewhere between those two worlds.

I build my own little world through LALATOWN, but I also keep making the tools I wish I had.

That’s how my brushes began.

And recently, that’s how these color palettes were born.

While painting, I kept stopping.

“Not this color.”

“Not that one.”

I would spend one or two minutes searching for the next color instead of painting.

Eventually I realized the palette itself was the problem.

So instead of creating another pretty collection of colors, I designed a working tool for myself.

LALATOWN Flow Palette was arranged so neighboring colors naturally work together. Moving across or down the palette feels intuitive, letting me spend less time searching and more time painting.

Then I created LALATOWN Hidden Colors.

These aren’t louder colors.

They’re the ones I always found myself wishing existed—the in-between greens, unusual blues, softened purples, and quiet colors that are surprisingly difficult to find when you’re in the middle of painting.

My earlier palettes were created simply because I loved beautiful colors.

These two are different.

They were built to save time.

They help me stay inside the creative flow instead of interrupting it.

Sometimes the things I make for myself become the things I end up sharing.

Welcome to my little general store.

Welcome to LALATOWN.