{"id":319347,"date":"2020-03-18T06:00:20","date_gmt":"2020-03-17T20:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=319347"},"modified":"2020-03-18T06:00:20","modified_gmt":"2020-03-17T20:00:20","slug":"where-you-are-from-makes-who-you-are","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/where-you-are-from-makes-who-you-are\/","title":{"rendered":"Where you are from makes who you are"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-319347 gallery-columns-3 gallery-size-thumbnail'><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon '>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/where-you-are-from-makes-who-you-are\/hood-pix-1\/'>HOOD-pix-1<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<figcaption class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-319348'>\n\t\t\t\tHOOD CNMI boasts of exclusive and one-of-a kind handmade designs. (Contributed Photo)\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon '>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/where-you-are-from-makes-who-you-are\/hood-pix-2\/'>HOOD-pix-2<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<figcaption class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-319349'>\n\t\t\t\tThis was the artwork done by the students at Saipan Southern High School\u2019s National Arts Honor Society and revised by HOOD CNMI.  (Contributed Photo)\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p>There\u2019s a new kid in the neighborhood and it goes by the name HOOD CNMI. This new brand is proof that streetwear is our part of the CNMI\u2019s norm and lifestyle. Owner and creative director Chris Chang believes that the company\u2019s purpose is to give the Commonwealth its own streetwear identity.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI believe where you are from makes who you are. Our pride and dignity can influence the world. The designs we create are either inspiration from the sceneries of our beautiful tropical islands, other cultures in CNMI, or student\u2019s work\u2026 the Californian and Hawaiian streetwear such as the Hundreds have strong usage of graffiti and surf culture in their streetwear,\u201d he said<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe don\u2019t have a surf or skating culture so I wanted to create something that is hip but has an identity of our own. I utilized paddling and Carolinian dance costumes in my illustrations to show the world what kind of cultures we represent and do it in a very trendy manner so that the brand can be visually amicable worldwide,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>Born and raised on Saipan, Chang is a graduate of Northern Marianas College and pursued a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Graphic Design in Rhode Island School which he finished in 2012. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cAfter working in Digital Media Lab as a UX\/UI designer in Korea University and graphic design freelancer in South Korea for three years, I decided to move back home to give my services in teaching art in the Public School System. During my teaching experience, I saw many students having interest in the T-shirt business\u2026. I wanted to teach students that they can financially support themselves through creative professions and decided to open up a T-shirt design club in the school I was teaching at,\u201d Chang said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe participated at Flame Tree Festival as a middle school club and sold student-designed T-shirts. This led me to open up HOOD CNMI\u2026 my designs are never seen, one-of-a-kind because I create them myself. It has a very unique style because we mix different cultures that reside in the CNMI other than Chamorro\/Carolinian so you can see different Asian imageries juxtaposed with local images,\u201d Chang added.<\/p>\n<p>The name HOOD CNMI was inspired by Chang\u2019s close association to the islands specifically Tanapag where he used to teach. \u201cIn creating my brand, I came across keywords such as family and neighborhood which I personally thought were some strong characteristics of our village. In a neighborhood, it doesn\u2019t really matter where you are from or who you are, but the fact that you are part of the community is enough,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am Korean-American born on Saipan and just like me we have many other groups of people here who are not Chamorro or Carolinian but still love where we are from and love the culture here. Unlike other brands who strongly target specific groups, I wanted to target everyone who is associated with our islands,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>Established in January 2020,  HOOD CNMI currently offers T-shirts and Chang said that expanding to other fashion is in the works. \u201cI believe we are nowhere near being famous compared to other fashion streetwear brands but what makes us very unique is that I hand draw all my illustrations and digitize them myself.  All illustrations are exclusive and it stands out compared to other designs here,\u201d Chang said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI also do many collaborations with non-profit organizations mainly in education and with local businesses to promote and support local. I want to help out the student body here in the CNMI so that they can have a future in creative fields without leaving the island. Although we don\u2019t have enough resources and aren\u2019t financially well-off yet, we try to help out students in any way using what we have,\u201d Chang added<\/p>\n<p>Future plans include beefing up their online shop, bringing HOOD CNMI to DFS T Galleria, making souvenir collaborations with local businesses, and putting up a studio that can teach students different creative skills that can later help them get jobs after graduation. \u201cHOOD CNMI is all about unity, equality, and anti-discrimination and I wish people who wear my designs practice that,\u201d Chang said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI hope people who wear my products respect other cultures and consider them equally special rather than excluding them because they are different\u2026I wish people here would be more accepting to changes and welcoming to new ideas so that our community can grow and advance,\u201d Chang added.<\/p>\n<p>For more information, contact HOOD CNMI at www.hoodcnmi.com Facebook: HOOD CNMI Instagram: guahu_si_hoodcnmi and see Chang\u2019s personal portfolio www.petitechoco.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There\u2019s a new kid in the neighborhood and it goes by the name HOOD CNMI&#8230;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":315782,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-319347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=319347"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319347\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/315782"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=319347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=319347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=319347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}