Shirts – made with tiny paws
Welcome to my small design den called REYKJAVIK in Germany.
Every design begins here. Every stencil is digitally designed and cut in-house before a shirt is painted entirely. Made with tiny paws.
No two shirts are ever the same. Every piece becomes an original through its individual brush strokes, sprays, unique color transitions, and special pigments such as metallic, color-shifting, fluorescent, phosphorescent, and photochromic paints.
Almost like a Kimono
Years after developing my own painting technique, I discovered something fascinating:
Traditional Japanese kimono artists use a remarkably similar method. Like me, they work with cut-stencils and paint directly by hand instead of using conventional screen printing. The paints, fabrics, and final applications are different, but the underlying process shares many surprising similarities.
Neither technique was inspired by the other. Japanese kimono craftsmanship has existed for centuries, while my own method was developed independently. Discovering these parallels was both unexpected and inspiring, and today this connection naturally finds its way into some of my Japanese-themed artwork.
Go beyond
Jumping headfirst into the snow isn’t just a funny-looking hunting technique where a fox dives into the unknown.
Coming up with a new design also takes a lot of trial and error to discover new ways of creating new looks. Sure, I could make it easy by simply sending my designs to a screen-printing company, throwing money at it, and letting them do the work. But that’s not my way. Creativity shouldn’t be limited by the artboard or by the fact that no one has done it before. Sometimes a stupid idea turns into an entirely new technique. Drum Painting, for example, allows artwork to flow seamlessly beyond 360°, wrapping around the garment.
A stencil or a brush is just the tool – not the limiter. The only limit should be imagination.
What’s the catch?
Not just some lemmings, that’s for sure!
I’m using paint, not ink. And that’s where the difference begins. Paint has a much higher pigment density, which allows me to apply it directly onto the fabric. Unlike ink, it doesn’t require a white base layer, special pre-treatment, or other tricks when printing on colored garments.
It also opens the door to pigments that ink simply can’t achieve in the same way: metallic, color-shifting, fluorescent, and phosphorescent pigments can be combined to create extraordinary depth and vibrancy. Only pure color applied directly to the fabric can unleash its full potential and truly come alive. It transforms a simple piece of clothing into a play of colors inspired by nature itself.
Nothing but colors.
But will it … glow?
Yes! And not just in green.
After years of experimenting, I developed custom paint mixtures that glow after exposure to daylight or UV light. Today, glow-in-the-dark pigments are available in red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, pink, and white—far beyond the single green glow most people know – simply because the industry hasn’t evolved yet. For red and orange, I deliberately avoid traditional sulfide-based pigments. Instead, I use modern strontium aluminate technology, offering a safer handle and also a saver glow.
Together with metallic, color-shifting, fluorescent, and photochromic pigments—which change their color under UV light—every artwork can reveal a completely different appearance depending on the lighting conditions.
Wear, enjoy, wash, repeat
These shirts are designed to be worn, not hidden away.
The paint bonds deeply with the fibers instead of simply resting on the surface. Over many years, natural wear may give the artwork a subtle vintage character, but the colors themselves do not simply fade away. Following the care instructions will preserve the artwork for a very long time.