OUR STORY

My goal was always to create something that was uniquely my vision. In college, I studied animation/illustration where I dreamed that one day I’d have my own show. Something that was my own creation with characters I made up. After I graduated, I immediately went to look for work in the animation industry with the idea that I’d work my way up from the bottom and eventually get to tell my stories.

I’d do freelance gigs here and there and come close to landing gigs on well-known shows on well-known networks but after a short while, I realized my options were always going to be limited to other people’s visions if I continued down this path and anything I do would be in service of somebody else’s dream. Not that I believed you couldn’t do good work or be creative in this capacity but if the ultimate goal was to put my own ideas out into the world, why wait around for someone to give me that opportunity. From then, I figured I might as well start right away and spend my time making what I wanted to make and create something of my own.

ORIGINS OF “NORA INU”

“Nora Inu” means “stray dog” in Japanese. Inspired by the Kurosawa film of the same name. I liked the image the phrase conjured up of a character on the outskirts doing their own thing. It spoke to the type of stories I wanted to tell through my designs and is something I can relate to in my own life and approach to my work.  

“RECKLESS WILDNESS”

The phrase “reckless wildness” refers to the the method we take when coming up with designs. It’s the state of mind that we’re trying to tap into so we can create with complete freedom and work with no limitation. The “anything goes" approach so we can embrace the imperfection and flaws that are inevitably part of the process.