By Madison Schmakel
Photography by Stephanie Herring
His artwork is made to fit your body. It’s bold, it’s deep, and it can be seen walking down M Street.
Jake Couri, a sophomore jewelry and metalsmithing major took his first art lesson five months before coming to Syracuse. Now, after only three semesters, he owns an online clothing company with his mother. The two started selling his designs in January at J Michael Shoes on Marshall Street and at Society, a boutique in Westwood, N.J.
The artistic process starts with a sketchbook. “We look at one word that I write down, or that my mom writes down,” Couri said. “A statement, a short sentence, it really starts with text. Then it goes into sketching.” Eventually, they narrow it down to their favorite concept. “We both take that one thing and expand it to a full-scale drawing. That’s the longest process right there.” The mother-and-son team uses Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop for the design, then saves the finalized artwork on a flash drive.
After the Couris give the design a thumbs-up, they decide on colors, placement, size, and positioning on the garment. They meet with the screenprinter to explain everything thoroughly. American Apparel hoodies are shipped to the screenprinter, printed, and then boxed for retail.
“All of our designs have double meanings,” Couri said. “You can view it one way, and another person can view it another way. It’s like a piece of art.”
Couri’s favorite design is called “Bang,” a white zip-up hoodie. “Go out with a bang” shouts black text across the front. The word “bang” is emphasized in red, and a headphone-esque drawing decorates the hood with an original drawing on the back.
Couri said the double entendres make his art intriguing. “Some people interpret it [literally] as ‘go out with a bang,’” Couri said. “Before you die, you want to go out strong. So we kind of played with that idea by using a headpiece.”
The headpiece on the hood is a rather dark and menac¬ing red blob. This is because the drawing was made to look like either a headpiece or a head wound.
“Basically, our interpretation is to live life to the fullest,” Couri said. “Like every day is your last day. Or it could be taken as, ‘forget that, I want to party hard every single day until I’m dead.’ It can be taken from any angle.”
The design ideas may seem hard to come by in this blustery hellhole fondly known as Siberacuse, but Couri draws inspiration from anything around him. “I’ll just see something, I’ll take a picture of anything, and I kind of just put my own spin on it,” Couri said. “I’m not a photographer, but I’ll see certain things that kind of just catch my eye and that will inspire me to create something else.”
He also feels motivated when he sees fellow students wearing his designs around campus.
“It feels good,” Couri said. “It’s a sense of accomplishment. That’s just a reminder that I should continue what I’m doing because it’s happening now. It’s working.”
Jake’s Couri’s work is available at www.Jakecouri.com.
