Perhaps you've already read it: Digital Stories has turned one, and it's time for presents—themed T-shirts, hand-painted with the project's logo. And not just any T-shirts, either; it's time you found out what makes them different. In search of the answer, we set off far, far away, into the middle of the desert…
…You can imagine my amazement when, in the morning, I was woken by an odd little voice.
It said:
“If you please… draw me…”
…A T-shirt. Yes, it could perfectly well have a sheep on it, as the original quotation would go on. And it's no accident that the owner of that odd little voice—the Little Prince—is one of the first characters to appear on the T-shirts we're about to discuss.
Invisible to the Eye
Narisuvai Mi (“Draw Me”) is a (for now) small but very charming platform that has existed for only a few months. Its goal is to help Bulgarian artists who paint on fabric.
“Our blank canvas is the T-shirt,” goes the motto of Ivaylo and Elena, the founders of the initiative. He studied journalism and has a colorful background in marketing—he has worked for the Union of Bulgarian Motorists and for the most visited Bulgarian website about cult TV series. She is a puppeteer by calling, creates digital content for a real estate platform and crafts her own jewelry.
A chance conversation brought them together on this venture. They have been friends for 10 years and had long been looking for a project to do together. It turned out that both of them were taken with self-taught artists who create their work on T-shirts, and they decided it was time to build a platform. That way they could help these original works of art reach more people. So that everyone would have the chance to own a T-shirt no one else has. Just like the Little Prince and his rose…
My Flower Is Somewhere Out There
Why are they doing it? Because they believe the future belongs to sustainable fashion, not fast fashion. Because the T-shirt is a universal garment we all associate with ease, comfort and freedom. And lately it has become much more: a way to express yourself with an original message.
These days people search online for lots of handmade jewelry, objects… and all sorts of knickknacks; it's no accident that Etsy has grown into a huge platform that gives all kinds of makers a chance to sell their products. Even so, most creators of original applied art choose Facebook. They set up profiles, but have no time for a good website and presentation… Nor the energy and skills to create an Etsy profile and grow it, which definitely takes marketing know-how as well.
One way or another, the online world is returning to works that are unique in some way, something we'll muse on in a future Digital Story. Meanwhile, Narisuvai Mi has arrived to fill a meaningful and original niche.
Ivo and Elena built the site to offer the “paintings on T-shirts” by the people who had impressed them. And to invite more artists working in this genre to reach a wider audience.
Yes, it's an online store, but one that sells only hand-painted T-shirts. Every purchase is created beneath its author's brush or markers and goes through special treatment before setting off to its future owner.
Let's Go and Watch a Sunset…
Four artists joined at the start, two more were added recently, and the palette is only going to grow, because the founders of Narisuvai Mi are in talks with 30 artists, many of whom will appear on the platform. They choose them by a very simple criterion: whether they themselves would order one of their T-shirts. Then they make an effort to get to know each other, because only if the relationship works out properly will the platform work too.
So you go to the platform, pick a T-shirt, order it and… receive something different from what you saw, not an exact copy. Because the core idea is that every T-shirt is unique, painted specifically for that particular buyer. Yes, if you choose a given design, you'll get something as close to it as possible, yet not the same, pixel for pixel. Because…
Because She Is My Rose
And if you browse the T-shirts (you'll like them), you'll also see… completely white ones. What could they be for?
As Ivaylo explains, this is exactly the foundation of the venture. Not so much choosing a picture you'll receive, even if painted especially for you. But rather putting forward your own idea and receiving a unique T-shirt painted to your concept alone. A great gift that stands out, whether for a close friend or for yourself.
To the founders' surprise, few people have chosen this option so far; most buyers settle on the designs already on offer. Soon the T-shirt created especially for the giveaway and the friends of Digital Stories will be there too, ready to be chosen.
Invisible to the Eyes
As we talk, Ivaylo shows me a picture of his new T-shirt featuring characters from the series Breaking Bad. He had seen the idea on the official site, but it didn't ship to Europe. The only alternative was printed versions, which always look a little artificial. And so… he ordered it through his own platform.
2 leva (about $1.10) from every order goes to a charitable cause. The money is meant to provide drawing lessons for children with autism.
The artists create, while Ivaylo and Elena take care of presenting them in the best possible way, photographing the T-shirts or selecting from the photos they receive, and handling all the communication with buyers, which is often the most complicated task in the whole puzzle and the one that slows the process down most.
Words Are the Source of Misunderstandings
The artists who make the T-shirts are colorful people in all sorts of roles, united by the fact that for all of them this is a hobby. For example, the creator of the “digital” T-shirts works behind the profile Narisuvai Mi Usmivka (“Draw Me a Smile”). She is a young mother whose profession is quite far removed from this venture. After giving birth to her little girl, she had more time to draw for pleasure, something she had loved since childhood. Many of her friends supported her and asked her to make them T-shirts like hers. That's how she turned in this creative direction.
It's no accident at all that she is also the creator of the Little Prince T-shirts we started with. We set her the serious challenge of painting quite a few logos in a hurry, but the venture is worth it.
One of the newer artists is only 12, yet the pictures he “puts” on fabric are so skillful and mature you'd hardly believe it.
The artists supply the T-shirts themselves, but the founders are responsible for quality and have set clear standards. The garments are 100% cotton and machine washable, as long as you follow a few basic rules described on the site.
Special paints or markers are used, applied in several layers. Then the design is sealed with an iron, and as a result the painting becomes durable, ready to make you stand out in the crowd. Of course, the T-shirts aren't eternal, but they are no worse in quality than all the others that come off the template and the printing press.
And yet they are different, which is why I'm telling you about them on a site where you will never see advertising, paid for in any form whatsoever.
If I Want to See Butterflies…
Since Digital Stories has come up, now is the moment to join the giveaway for the project's first birthday, which gives you a chance to win one of these unique (cliché-free) T-shirts.
What is your favorite Digital Story?
Answer on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.
Which Digital Story would you like to read next?
Suggest it on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.
The more channels you join in on, the greater your chance of winning. And every one of the T-shirts is a different painting, not stamped from a template or rolled off an assembly line, but made by an artist's hands.
So That I May Forget
Small differences make the big difference today, in an age ruled by templates. In everyday life, in the news, in clothing. Narisuvai Mi deserves to succeed because it offers meaningful small differences on both sides—giving each of us the chance to paint ourselves onto the garment we show the world in, and giving artists the chance to connect with the people who can appreciate their work.
“People,” said the Little Prince, “rush into express trains, but they no longer know what they are looking for. And so they start moving, but they just go round and round in circles…”
