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Danny First
"I've been sketching and painting practically since the day I fell off the diaper changing table," says Los Angeles-based pop artist Danny First, who credits much of his creativity to his father, a longtime art collector.
In 1983, Danny developed his now ubiquitous Danny and Sally stick figure characters, based on childhood drawings found years later tucked away in an old desk drawer. He soon transferred the creations to T-shirts, and his line of colorful, innocent designs quickly became a hot property for kids of all ages.
Danny's international presence flowered in 1987, when he produced French versions of his designs in conjunction with a Paris T-shirt company. Today Danny's designs, showing his sweet, childlike characters are produced in a variety of items ranging from leather jackets, bath accessories, candy, cookies, to a full line of clothes including socks, denim goods, backpacks, and accessories. This endless line of products is sold at the DANNY FIRST Boutiques (in Hawaii, Guam, and Japan) and in prestigious boutiques, duty-free shops and department stores, internationally, from Los Angeles to Tokyo, New York to Paris, Guam to Tel Aviv. Clients who order Danny's exclusive designs include France's Gallerie Lafayette department store chain, D.F.S. stores worldwide, as well as the Los Angeles Dodgers, Los Angeles Kings, and Anaheim Mighty Ducks. These sports teams asked Danny to specially create designs for their merchandising programs.
Danny attributes the success of his free-spirited designs to consumers' sense of nostalgia. "People see the happy faces I draw, and they feel happy like kids again," he says. "My characters have universal appeal. Everyone likes to smile."
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