Threadless Royalty

Just ask Chow Hon Lam aka Flying Mouse. Homeboy has gotten 20 of his submitted designs published by Threadless. What’s even better: he scooped up three prizes at Threadless’s annual Bestee Awards for Most Printed Designer 2007, Newcomer of the Year 2007 and also for Best Concept For A Design 2007. “I screamed when I saw the results; I couldn’t believe it. To be recognized by them gave me confidence to design more,” says the artist who never went to design school.

Currently, Hon Lam is committed to a personal project called FM365. This ambitious endeavour requires him to produce one design a day for a year, with hopes that each design will eventually be turned into a T-shirt. With the money he received from his Threadless submissions and awards, Hon Lam also launched his online store to really get the Flying Mouse name out there as a reputable brand and designer.

With so many of his designs in the market, one wonders what Flying Mouse’s signature aesthetic is. Hon Lam replies, “Story telling. All of us like a story and I tell mine through T-shirts.” We’re listening.

Visit his online store at www.flying-mouse.com and check out FM365 by searching for Flying Mouse2007 on Flickr.

Text  Sarah Chan Photo  Courtesy of Flying Mouse

Article taken from KLue magazine Aug 2009, issue 130.