Greetings.
My name is Gamal Prather and I currently live in Los Angeles, California. The Original Article (OA) is my design company. It is unrelated to the episodic Netflix Series called "The OA" and while similar - yes, my logo did indeed precede that of the show... #legal?
I tinkered often as a child, which ultimately led me to graduate summa cum laude from Florida A&M University a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering in 2002, which I followed directly with a Master's Degree in Industrial Design from the University of Cincinnati in 2005. After a decade of designing consumer products, packaging, mobile apps, interiors, soft goods and footwear for corporations, agencies, and start-ups - and also co-founding a boutique creative agency at the beginning of 2012, I decided to make OA an official venture in 2015.
The Original Article is a brand that I conceived originally while I was living in New York City and upon relocating to the West Coast in mid-2011, it took shape more concretely as I was exposed to a more diverse set of creative media and inspiration. To boil it down, OA is about pulling back the curtain on "design as a lifestyle" as well as democratizing Design-captial-D for the masses. I believe that we're all artists or creatives or designers or makers or problem-solvers. Semantics aside, I believe the capacity for creativity resides innately within each and every human. My plan is to stoke our collective flame and make the world change for the better as a result.
OA is a one-man show - and that is very much by design. My intention is to keep it simple and transparent. As I move forward, practically speaking, I'm interested primarily in the following:
▲ Working with Artists who are keen to blend digital and traditional media
▲ Collaborating with clients to create ground-breaking concepts at warp speed
▲ Speaking engagements, especially with students, about the value of Design and Entrepreneurship
If you're interested in a collab or commission, then just ring me on 310-227-2113, easy breezy. Elsewise, send me an email - Gamal@TheOriginalArticle.com.
Cheers and Be Well.