Uncommon iPhone Cases

I recently teamed up with Uncommon and submitted some re-worked Mama graphics for iPhone cases. Unlike skins, Uncommon actually produces hard cases so your equipment is protected and looks fly.

It’s exciting to see my graphics on something other than t-shirts! If you want to cover your iPhone in style, you can get the cases on the Uncommon website.

Uncommon Phone Cases: Gabriella Davi-Khorasanee

Uncommon Phone Cases: Gabriella Davi-Khorasanee

Project: Uncommon iPhone Cases
Role: Graphic Designer
Notes: I teamed up with Uncommon to apply the graphics I created for Mama to a new canvas, iPhone cases.

I mentioned last week that Mama was featured in (and on the cover) of Protest T-Shirts, a book that reviews t-shirts with a political point of view. Well, it seems people are taking notice - Protest T-Shirts was recently featured on Nylon’s website. If you want to get a copy, you can get yours on the Graffito Books website.

In 2008, Mama was featured in a book, Protest T-Shirts: Designs From the Cult Independents
, and a Mama tee was featured on the cover of the book.

About a year and a half ago someone contacted me about including some of my Mama tees in a book they were putting together about protest tees. The tees I did for my Operation: Saigon Sunset collection were perfect as they were born out of the frustration with what was going on in Iraq and were inspired by the social movements of the late 60s-early 1970s.

Fast forward to last week, and I finally received Protest T-Shirts:  Designs From the Cult Independents in the mail. Not only was I happy to get the book, but I was ecstatic to learn that a Mama shirt was on the cover! Many thanks again to the lovely ladies in the photos - Reina, Mayra, Ashley Candee, Lexx for set design, and last but not least, my favorite photographer, Amanda Lopez for shooting the look book photos included in the book.

If you’re a regular reader on the blog, you’ve probably noticed that my posting has slowed down a bit.  2009 is Mama’s 5th Anniversary, and after 5 wonderful years, I’ve decided to take a break from Mama.  I’ve actually been on “hiatus” since March ‘08 but since I design my collections a year in advance, I didn’t want to announce my break before all of my collections had been released.  I want to thank everyone that’s supported me and Mama these past five years - from the customers, store buyers and press - it’s been a wonderful journey that I will always remember fondly.

You’re probably wondering why I stopped, and the simple answer is:  It wasn’t fun anymore.  I’ve had a lot of help but Mama has always been a 1-woman show.  I decided to stop after my best tradeshow ever - sales and the number of accounts were growing - but with that came more work.  I’m not afraid of work, but more and more of my time was spent dealing with issues like sales, production, and order fulfillment, and I had less time to work on the design and marketing - the two reasons I started Mama to begin with.  It was a difficult decision to make, but I felt I had given Mama everything I had, and that I had done all I could on my own.

For the past year, I’ve been focusing on M.I.S.S. (Mama’s International Secret Society), the website I co-founded, with Liz Baca, that covers women’s fashion, art, design, music, culture - basically a curated collection of the things we love.  I love working on M.I.S.S., as I feels it marries the two parts of my brain - the creative side and the nerdy side.  I also love that I get to cover many brands from sneakers to high-end, as my love of fashion is vast, and when you have your own line you are always reppin’ one thing and M.I.S.S. gives me the chance to rep everything I love.

M.I.S.S. also gives me a lot of creative freedom to work with other companies on a consulting basis.  We have projects lined-up that will start rolling out next year - it’s too early for me to speak about them now, but they are definitely something that we are very excited about.

In September, I also joined the Upper Playground team in San Francisco and I handle all the PR and Marketing there.  It’s a great honor to work for UP as I have tremendous respect for their work and their product.  I’ve had the chance to develop great collaborative projects for them and have worked with some of the most respected contemporary artists in the world.

As you can see, I’m not less busy, just re-focusing my efforts on things that I feel will help keep me on the path of happiness.  I won’t lie, the transition took some time and the decision was difficult - I put my heart and soul into Mama.  But, I feel like I’m now in a place where I know that I can have more impact as a writer/critic than as a designer of one brand.  I have so much to say and share, and I’ll be doing it daily here.  I hope you enjoy the new site, and thanks for reading.

Marco Svizzero of Vimby came by Mama’s Kitchen to chat with Liz and me about Mama and M.I.S.S.   Many thanks to Marco, and all the people that are featured in the photos including Amanda Lopez, Liz, Ben Mayorga, Ali, Toofly, Kim, Jenni, and of course, my lovely Mama models: Reina, Mayra, Ashley, Candee, and Vanessa.  Check out the video below!

Marco Svizzero of Vimby came by Mama’s Kitchen to chat with Liz and me about Mama and M.I.S.S. Many thanks to Marco, and all the people that are featured in the photos including Amanda Lopez, Liz, Ben Mayorga, Ali, Toofly, Kim, Jenni, and of course, my lovely Mama models: Reina, Mayra, Ashley, Candee, and Vanessa. Check out the video below!

M.I.S.S. MAFIA has a new gig in addition to being the First Lady of Sneaker Freaker - she’s also writing for one of Australia’s most well known blogs, The Vine, and she did a piece on Mama.  You can read the full interview here.  Thanks MAFIA!

M.I.S.S. MAFIA has a new gig in addition to being the First Lady of Sneaker Freaker - she’s also writing for one of Australia’s most well known blogs, The Vine, and she did a piece on Mama. You can read the full interview here. Thanks MAFIA!