Artist Kevin ObregonKevin Obregon Octopop

“It has been a joy and honor to work with Nikki Duong Koenig in this unique collaboration. The challenge for this design was to have at its core, an idea that represented the number ten, for the number of years Cykochik has been working its magic. The genesis of the eventual winning idea, which by the way I felt was the winning design before I ventured off into other avenues, was to exemplify growth of the entrepreneurial spirit and the nurturing of artists, which Nikki wholly embraces as part of her ethos. I wanted to see a dynamic design that when all the bags were de-nested, would represent these two ideals - plus a play on what these bags are used for individually. Collectively, the design seems to come across successfully, wherein the larger tote bag is the source (read: root/foundation) of the other bags in the set, ending in the "clutch" (read: hands) - which was my idea to add into the collection. The tote design bridged the gap between growth and the full bloom of the idea of making things by hand - locally. Being that I have been a designer for many years utilizing the computer to help execute my visions for logos, murals, concepts and my writings, it felt poetic that the "trunk" design bifurcated into two working hands. This seemed to reinforce the idea of embracing technology which the binary numbers "1" and "0" fortuitously read as "10", while also befitting the functionality of what the tote was designed for. In the end, the sketch came together with seamless flow of idea, while staying true to the over-arching theme that emerged as seen in the hand-drawn sketch: 'The root of all things for the digital world is STILL in our hands'."

Fifth-generation Texan Kevin Obregón is a full-time Dallas-based site-specific sculptor, painter, writer, poet, muralist, percussionist and artist’s advocate who founded Cliffwalls Mural Projects, was instrumental in developing artist’s programs for the artist residency, LaReunionTX, where you can see two of his sculptural installations on the 30+ acres of property near the Oak Cliff/Cockrell Hill border. Obregón was responsible for the color transformation of the West Dallas industrial neighborhood at the base of the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge and serves on the Board for the Ft. Worth Avenue Development Group.  He was the co-curator & artist liaison for Art Conspiracy for three consecutive years. His fine art sculptures, drawings and paintings have been shown in the Mary Karam Gallery, Dallas Contemporary, Kettle Art Gallery, Kirk Hopper Fine Art, The Public Trust, Rising Gallery, The McKinney Avenue Contemporary, Ro2 Galleries, Artizen Fine Arts, The Gallery at Midtown and numerous other fine art establishments in the DFW area. 

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