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, United States. The city was originally called Pacific City, but it was changed in 1903 to be named after American businessman Henry E. Huntington. The population was 198,711 as of ...

) is an American advertising artist and

fashion Fashion is a term used interchangeably to describe the creation of clothing, footwear, Fashion accessory, accessories, cosmetics, and jewellery of different cultural aesthetics and their mix and match into Clothing, outfits that depict distinct ...

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 college, public community college in Costa Mesa, California, 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 Ar ...

Costa Mesa, California Costa Mesa (; Spanish language, Spanish for "coastal tableland") is a city in Orange County, California, United States. Since its incorporation in 1953, the city has grown from a semi-rural farming community of 16,840 to an urban area including ...

Career

He bought a

sewing machine Diagram of a modern sewing machine Animation of a modern sewing machine as it stitches A sewing machine is a machine used to sew fabric and materials together with thread. Sewing machines were invented during the first Industrial Revolutio ...

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 Saban Brands was an American brand management and production company and a defunct subsidiary of Saban Capital Group based in Los Angeles, California. Founded by Israeli American media mogul Haim Saban as a successor to an earlier company he co-f ...

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

'', November 16, 2016.

References

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