This was put under the category ‘famous dates’ because it’s the first post in a long time to this blog ‘O’ mine.

On 13 December 2006 we changed our store name from Karavane - only passin’ through to Rififi Tees. The pronunciation is like reefeefee. We changed for two reasons. First, we wanted a name that we thought people would remember. Rififi has this unique and fun aspect we liked. It seemed less plain Jane than Karavane. Secondly, it encompasses all the values and emotion we felt and still feel for karavane.
Rififi means a brawl in french. You could translate it as trouble, a commotion, hubbub, a free for all. Seemed to us an appropriate way to describe life, our relationship with each other. It also seemed to encompass all the craziness we suffer with things and ideas.

Rififi : C’est la Vie!

This first black and white drawing was originally done for a magazine article. The topic was america and it’s voracious appetite. In the end we used another image for the article, but I liked it enough to revamp it and use it on some product. I just got rid of the flag on the arm and drew in I love Mom. This is simply a fond memory I harbor from my youth of big bikers in gangs professing their motherly love. I always loved that juxtaposition of the big, tough, violent biker gang and Love. I still do.
When I started thinking about this image for product the first thing I did was add the flag colors. I just scanned my original art in and colored it in photoshop. I kept the teeth, after discussing it with other members of the studio, because it seems to me that america is still showing ‘em. Well, not america so much as its politicians. We feel today like we felt in March of 2003; there’s just no way to justify the war in Iraq.

For a second version I started adding some backgrounds. This went on for a few days and after we discussed the various solutions I came up with we decided the cityscape was the way to go. It’s always an intrigue watching humans in overcrowded cities try and get their physical excercise in. I used to marvel at all the cyclists and rollerbladers in Central Park in NY doing loops at five a.m. I once saw Madonna running on the lower loop at five thirty a.m. That was cool.

We added the text “I have no freakin’ intention of stopping…” because that’s the feeling we got years ago when we crossed some of these rollerbladers. I mean most people stopped to be friendly, but some of them, man, were they pumped on adrenaline or somethin’. So there you have it. Two designs based around the same character. We hope you like ‘em.