You can wear your heart on your sleeve but Grant Cole wants you to wear what you love on your chest. The artist, marketer, graphic designer and now fashion designer has created a line of customized T-shirts, Top5DesignTees, featuring your personalized list of the places you love to love. Cole will be on hand at the Robert McLaughlin Gallery RMG Friday celebrations Feb. 5, 2016, custom-printing Tees on-site. The shirt has been a (runway) runaway success but its not this creative entrepreneur's first foray into business. In 1998 Cole incorporated and traded under the name TopFive to design and manufacture accessories for Jeep and off-road enthusiasts. He followed that with TopFive clothing apparel. He then became involved with Toronto Fashion Week in design, marketing and production. Cole was also involved in the Oshawa Space Invaders art initiative and has had several exhibits of his artwork, most recently at the LOAG in Sonderland, Ont.
All along he has been creating his own shirts featuring his own content; one with a list of his favourite Blue Jays, another with a list of his favourite skateboarders and one with a list of his favourite places in his hometown, Oshawa. He is now offering that service to others and he has already had quite an enthusiastic response on social media from those also fond of their hometown, and wishing to shout-out the places they appreciate. Cole calls his design the "What's Your Everything?" shirt.
He will be joined at the RMG Friday by many other hometown boosters including Oshawa mayor John Henry and representatives from UOIT, Durham College and Trent University to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the monthly creative community gathering. RMG Fridays feature live music, exhibit openings and presentations from community organizations. There is a cash bar. On Feb 5, Annie Sumi, a singer/songwriter from Whitby will perform followed by percussionist Jamie Drake. The O'Neill Dance Ensemble and Museum Hack from New York city will be present interactive movement. Artist JR Hunter will live paint. The RMG Fridays events are free and run 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. The official afterparty is held at the Moustache Club, 15 Simcoe St. N.
