Paul Frank (full name Paul Frank Sunich, born August 29, 1967 in

Huntington Beach, California Huntington Beach is a seaside city in Orange County, California, Orange County in Southern California, located southeast of Downtown Los Angeles. The city is named after American businessman Henry E. Huntington. The population was 198,711 duri ...

) is an American

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and ...

, artist and

fashion Fashion is a form of self-expression and autonomy at a particular period and place and in a specific context, of clothing, footwear, lifestyle, accessories, makeup, hairstyle, and body posture. The term implies a look defined by the fashion in ...

designer. He is the creator of all the characters from Paul Frank Industries, including Julius the monkey.

Early life and education

During the 1990s, Sunich was an art student at

Orange Coast College Orange Coast College (OCC) is a public community college in Costa Mesa in Orange County, California. It was founded in 1947, with its first classes opening in the fall of 1948. It provides Associate of Art and Associate of Science degrees, cert ...

Costa Mesa, California Costa Mesa (; Spanish for "Table Coast") is a city in Orange County, California. Since its incorporation in 1953, the city has grown from a semi-rural farming community of 16,840 to an urban area including part of the South Coast Plaza–John Wa ...

Career

He bought a

sewing machine A sewing machine is a machine used to sew fabric and materials together with thread. Sewing machines were invented during the first Industrial Revolution to decrease the amount of manual sewing work performed in clothing companies. Since the inv ...

in order to complete small projects. One day, he used some spare orange vinyl to create a wallet and after seeing his work, his friends expressed interest in other accessories, so he began to sew items such as guitar straps and backpacks. A few years later, Sunich formed Paul Frank Industries (his first and middle name) along with his partners Ryan Heuser and John Oswald, in order to keep up with the demand for his products. He worked at another job during the day, but sewed and sold his products during his spare time. The company expanded, with collaborations with many bands, artists, and companies. Sunich left Paul Frank Industries in November 2005, in a dispute with his business partners. His first clothing design project after leaving the company was a brand licensing arrangement with the Boone's Farm beverage company. Sunich owned and headed his own design studio Park La Fun. In February 2016 he returned to Paul Frank Industries, now owned by Saban Brands.Michelle Mills
"Designer Con toys with art at Pasadena Convention Center"
''

San Gabriel Valley Tribune The ''San Gabriel Valley Tribune'' is a paid daily newspaper located in Monrovia, California, that serves the central and eastern San Gabriel Valley. It operated at the West Covina location from 1955 to 2015. The ''Tribune'' is a member of Souther ...

'', November 16, 2016.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Frank, Paul 1967 births 20th-century American Jews 21st-century American Jews American cartoonists American fashion designers American graphic designers Living people Orange Coast College alumni Place of birth missing (living people)