Happy Garaje is a Swashbuckling Creative Studio from the Island of Cebu

Founded by the swashbuckling duo of Johanna Velasco Deutsch and Mark Deutsch, Happy Garaje is a creative studio from the island of Cebu. They are illustrators, animators, designers and storytellers whose work has been recognized by the Society of Illustrators (USA), Luerzers’ Archive 200 Best Illustrators Worldwide, Semi-Permanent (Australia) and Tokyo Designers Week. The studio produces self-initiated projects and also helps brands, non-profit organizations and people of all shapes and sizes get their message out into the wide and marvelous world.

Our Story

Our Humble Beginnings
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Jo and I started Happy Garaje in 2008

We had stories in our heads and we wanted to bring them to life and tell them in many different ways.

So we set up a studio in what used to be a garage, in the street where we both lived as kids. This was perhaps the best location because much of our work was (and still is) inspired by wonderful childhood experiences.

In the beginning we did projects on the weekends and on some weeknights after our day jobs – we’d draw, paint, take photos, write stories, animate things and even made toys. Our enthusiasm for creating things was endless.

We posted some of our work on the internet and soon people came to us to share their own ideas. We were asked to collaborate on graphic design projects, offered to work on advertisements and even made 50-foot murals, like the one above.

The best thing about it was that we met a lot of great people. People who believed in us enough that they recommended us to other people that they knew.

We saw our clientele grow and began working with corporations both local and international, non-profit organizations and people who wanted us to help them get their message out.

Even as we had transformed our garage into a visual communications firm we made it a point to take time to do personal and self-initiated work. This gave us an outlet to express things that we couldn’t do with commercial work but also it helped make us better artists and designers overall.

We we were fortunate to have gotten the attention of design and graphic art book publishers. This led to us being invited to shows and exhibits in faraway places

In 2011, The Society of Illustrators in Los Angeles gave Johanna the Gold Award (1 of only 11 given each year) for her illustration work on a series of paintings called the Paper Crown Series.

People

Johanna Velasco

Co-Founder & Creative Director

Johanna spent the early years of her career in marketing and brand management for some of the biggest companies in the Philippines but later decided to return to her childhood love of painting and drawing and pursued new endeavors in communication arts.

Her work has received recognition from various illustration and design bodies from around the world including Luerzer’s Archive 200 Best Illustrators Worldwide (2009, 2010, 2011), Semi-permanent and in 2011, received the Gold Award from the Society of Illustrators of Los Angeles.

When not doing studio work, she takes photographs and wanders streets and countries in search of the strange and beautiful and the in-between places where things are not quite what they seem.

RYAN ANIN

Confederate

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