Tamiko Chase is a Winnipeg-based visual artist. They specialize in both physical and digital art, from painting to graphic design. We approached Tamiko to collaborate with them on our latest project, the Spirit of Community water bottle. They handled the design of the bottle, and created the amazing logo for it that captures the “spirit” of the partner organizations that the sales of the bottle will help support.
Recently, we were able to sit down and talk with Tamiko. In this interview, we talk about some of their previous work, their experience with LITE and other non-profits, and the process and meaning behind the design of the Spirit of Community bottle.
The full transcript of this interview is below.
Tamiko Chase: My name is Tamiko. I’m a graphic designer, illustrator. I’ve recently been getting into mural painting. Yeah, that’s what I do for work. I generally just enjoy making art of all kinds. Yeah. I don’t really know what else to say. I’m a recent graduate of the University of Manitoba Fine Arts program. I graduated with honors in the graphic design program. Right now I’m just working. Seeing what life after school.
LITE: Do you want to tell us about your previous work?
Tamiko: My previous work? Yeah, sure. Well, currently, right now, I’m working with Graffiti Art Programming as a visual art instructor for youth. It’s kind of like after school art programs. But art wise, I’ve worked with Artspace to create a mural for their boardroom, an indoor mural. I’ve worked with a few other organizations to create logos and branding. I do a little bit of web work as well and created a couple portfolio websites for some folks here in Winnipeg.
LITE: Now, before this project, how involved were you with the nonprofit sector?
Tamiko: I’m a little involved, I feel like I have been involved or like, dipping my toes into different kinds of work with nonprofits. But for the most part, it’s been my work has been with for-profit organizations or for just like, working for people personally. But I have worked with a couple of nonprofit organizations. And I think definitely, that’s where hopefully my work will continue to go.
LITE: Were you familiar with LITE before this project?
Tamiko: No, I wasn’t. And so kind of doing some of the research and looking into LITE, to work on the water bottle was really interesting. And I think it’s really exciting for me, I’m really happy that Winnipeg has an organization like this, and also kind of felt, not upset. But you know, just like, man, I can’t believe I didn’t know about this beforehand.
LITE: So you mentioned the bottle design, and we did get some questions on Instagram, prior to this interview. A lot of people were wondering, so can you tell us about the design?
Tamiko: Yeah, so the design was basically inspired by the ideas of community, togetherness, and also individual success. So the actual design of the Spirit text was kind of created with the idea of lots of different pieces coming together to create a whole, which is why the text is made up of kind of small little icons that individually represent things like agriculture, food security, also, like I said, community, and yeah, stuff like that.
LITE: Can you tell us a little more about the meaning of the blocks?
Tamiko: Well, some of them here are kind of like floral designs, and those ones were definitely inspired by, like I said, agriculture, which to me, kind of meant like food security, and also, you know, like, a home. a place where you live, land. And then there are other icons that kind of look like they’re supposed to represent motion and movement, and those were kind of created just to reference like forward movement and moving together. And yeah, like I said, each kind of little icon comes together to create the word spirit. The spirit being the spirit of what LITE stands for, nonprofits in general. Yeah, and I feel like it was also meant to just kind of be whimsical, fun, and just a sweet little logo.
LITE: So what does it mean for you to make a design for this kind of community collaboration?
Tamiko: Well, I definitely think it’s something that’s really important to me. I really enjoy working with organizations or groups that kind of work within the community or work for the community, rather, provide for the community. I think, like I said earlier, I definitely hope that my budding career as an artist, as a graphic designer, this is kind of a direction that I hope that it’ll take, just because I find it really rewarding to be able to put myself into something workwise that I know will have an impact on people. And like I said, I’ve worked a little bit with nonprofits. And I’ve also worked with larger, more corporate-esque office jobs. And I Just think it’s so much more fun, so much more enjoyable, to work with, like a nonprofit or someone that’s really looking out for the community that they serve.
LITE: So, what does the word spirit mean to you?
Tamiko: Well, the word to me means like something is spirited, something feels lively, has a certain livelihood to it. But at the same time, Spirit also means like, ethos, or like, the core values of something, the spirit of an organization or you know, the spirit of something in particular. Yeah, and those are kind of the ideas that I’ve tried to incorporate into design I guess.
LITE: Well, just wrap it up, where can people find you?
Tamiko: Well, you can find me on Instagram at @mikochase. And that is also the URL for my website, which is Mikochase.com. And that’s where a portfolio of my work is. You can check that out.
To check out more of Tamiko Chase’s work, visit their website at mikochase.com
Order your Spirit of Community water bottle on the LITE Shop today!