Kevin’s cultural references blow my mind – he is an extraordinary observer, storyteller, and interpreter of life in his designs. His ADD seems to work for him, because I have never come across anyone who marries function, form, fable and fashion quite like he does. His own clothing line, Origami Clothing: Fold Your Paper, is a play on words and the ancient folk art that his Chinese grandfather taught him as a kid while hanging out in the family’s laundromat. As he explains, origami is the art of paper folding, and you have to make money, or fold dollar bills, in order to buy his clothes – did you get that? The origami grasshopper logo for his clothing line pays homage to René Lacoste crocodile, the first appearance of a logo outside of clothing (he likes getting inspiration from the people who did it first). And just in case that isn’t enough, the insect is also a reference to David Carradine in old Kung Fu movies, where the apprentice is called the “young grasshopper” and tries to grab the stone from the master’s palm in order to get to the next stage of enlightenment. The fabric for his collection was chosen because of its paperlike consistency and its reversible watermelon print. In case you weren’t aware, there was a $1000 bill made back in the 1800s called the Grand Watermelon – it had three zeros on the back that looked like watermelons, bringing it all back to paper again.

In his spare time, when not making a deep and complex statement with fashion, Kevin is making one as a graffiti artist, influenced by the art he would see on his drives from his home on Staten Island to Brooklyn, where his grandparents lived, as a child. “[Graffiti] is a form of expression, like getting dressed.” His graffiti tag is SAER, for “Slanty Asian-Eyed Rebel,” or ” Setting An Example Righteously.” Kevin’s tattoo represents his birth in the year of the horse. The following is an explanation I came across for people born in the year of the horse, and I feel like it sums Kevin up perfectly: “exciting and extroverted, vivid and animated, the Horse is the life of any party he attends. He is bursting with energy, always looking for the next place to kick up his heels and hang loose. He entertains friends and strangers alike with his humor and appeal.”

If you like Kevin, you might also enjoy Jose Pozo, Matt Parrotti, or Erica Yarbrough.