Here’s a tidbit that probably escaped you in middle school: A lot of people assumed Frank was high on psychedelics or some other interesting drug when she created her eccentric art. More: 15 tweets from people who truly understand the cable company struggle No, she wasn’t on drugs Then I thought wait a minute this is commercial art. “At first I didn’t want to do unicorns,” Frank said. And even after realizing she had a “commercial sense,” as she told Foundations, she had trouble allowing herself to create the unicorns that every girl wanted to buy. Those unicorns we love? Frank was totally not into them at firstįrank was a serious abstract artist inspired by masters like Jasper Johns. Her line was so popular it was even picked up by Bloomingdale’s and Neiman Marcus. Had Shark Tank existed back then, a 20-year-old Frank would have wowed all of the Sharks with her Sticky Fingers plastic jewelry collection, which consisted of the usual Frank suspects like technicolor charm bracelets with plastic fruit. Frank’s first business idea was for colorful plastic jewelry When she realized they were just eating up all of the cute teddy bears and unicorns, she actually started giving the artists advice on what they should create. Frank proved she could hustle when she began selling Native American jewelry she found in Tucson for even more money to folks back home in Michigan. It’s one thing to be creative and quite another to be both creative and have a nose for business. She knew right away her bears and unicorns were special Though she was born and raised in Michigan, Frank moved to Tucson, Arizona, to attend the University of Arizona, and her company’s headquarters are still situated in the city. She was just 24 years old in 1979, when she founded Lisa Frank Incorporated. She founded her company before she turned 25įrank was too busy getting her boss on to suffer a quarter-life crisis. More: A little girl got pulled over by the cops and the photos are absolutely priceless Before she even packed her bags for college, Frank had pulled in $3,000 in sales from her artwork. So much for waiting tables after school - Frank was instead making a killing in the ’70s by selling her art to bigwigs like Lee Iacocca, the former CEO of Chrysler. Frank was an art star before she graduated high school Surprise, surprise: Frank described herself in an interview with Urban Outfitters‘ blog as a “girly girl,” who was super into coloring. As a child, both of her parents set an artistic example by collecting and creating art, and she was sent to art classes from the time she was 5. Her parents were artistic and she enjoyed a privileged childhoodįrank was born in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, and attended the elite Kingswood School with fellow famous alum like Mitt and Ann Romney. Here are 11 facts you may not know about Frank. In the meantime, let’s celebrate the woman who got us through middle school by acknowledging that she is a very interesting person, indeed. Frank’s coloring books won’t be available until next month (when they will be sold at Dollar General). It makes total sense that the artist and businesswoman who spoke to us when we were little girls could continue to hit a nerve with us today - and I can’t think of a better alcohol-free way to de-stress than by taking a brand new Crayola to one of Frank’s iconic unicorns. More: Making my kids buy their own toys has changed them for the better Even when you were having a bad day, which probably happened a lot in seventh grade, you could count on Frank’s psychedelic, upbeat images of bunnies wearing tutus, butterflies and panda bears to remind you that California was a real place and you could pack up your bags and move there as soon as you turned 18 (anyone else share similar Frank-induced hallucinations)? If you were a tween at any point in the late ’80s or ’90s, there’s a solid chance you carried around your Lisa Frank Trapper Keeper or lunchbox, as if the crazy-colorful image on the front was an extension of who you really were on the inside, behind all that preteen angst.
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