I was stuck, drowning in a sea of nothingness, motivation had packed her bags and left town without so much as a goodbye note, leaving me paralyzed by inertia. Sitting on the couch one day, my mind wandered to heavy metal logos—the ones so jagged and complex, they’re utterly unreadable, yet strangely mesmerizing. I thought: can I take that aesthetic and make it… cute?
French words started popping into my head. “Coucou,” “Bisou,” and then “Amour.” Love. I grabbed a piece of paper and started sketching. From paper to Photoshop to Illustrator, each small action pushed me forward. That tiny spark of inertia had ignited something—call it creativity, call it passion, I called it motivation.
The design needed a canvas, and with 15 years of screen-printing experience, a tee shirt made perfect sense. This is how the Amour tee was born, from there, I relaunched my micro brand Rawtee1 but rebranded as Jōhatsu, synonyms of starting anew!
Here’s the kicker: it all started with a single thought, a fleeting moment of inspiration that I could have easily dismissed. But I didn’t, and it led me to design more and look for real graphic artists to collaborate with (I’m excited for what’s coming BTW).
Laws of physics, if you’re still, inertia will keep you motionless, in movement and inertia will keep you moving, a property that resists change, it can set off a chain reaction. Getting started is always the hardest part.
Inertia doesn’t ask for perfection, just movement
Day 1 is where inertia breaks through. It’s raw momentum. It’s choosing the workout over comfort, it’s setting the screen printing press in the living room, opening Ableton to make tracks, or sitting up to write that screenplay you have in mind for years (more about that later シ).
Launch first, navigate later. Without being perfect, the Amour tee set Jōhatsu in motion, Inertia doesn’t ask for perfection, just movement. Your breakthrough might be hiding in the most unexpected places—like in the twisted lines of a heavy metal logo. So, the next time you’re feeling stuck, try something absurd. Mix the brutal with the cute, the aggressive with the loving. You never know what kind of beautiful monster you might create.
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Frankie
- see my post From Rawtee to Jōhatsu ↩︎