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‘I began to collect vintage t-shirts. I would see cool Lake Tahoe and Mount Fuji t-shirts from the 70s and 80s and think to myself, what if these were Lake Sevan and Mount Ararat t-shirts instead?’ the designer says. A graphic designer by trade, Shamlian earned his bachelor’s degree in Graphic Design from Middlesex University in London. He turned to t-shirt design initially as a side business while studying at university, creating designs mostly to wear himself. ‘I wanted designs that weren’t available already – what was out there wasn’t enough.’
Like many Armenians, Shamlian’s ancestors fled Armenia after the Armenian Genocide began in 1915. They moved to Cyprus and formed a base there, before relocating to the UK in the 1960s. His designs are clearly the result of a strong attachment to his Armenian roots and a desire to re-define how people perceive Armenians and the Armenian tragedy. ‘Armenians are a very proud people whose long history includes many tragedies. That pride manifests in different ways. At times it can be over the top and as a result quite nauseating. But we’re scattered all across the world from Beirut to Cyprus to Iran and cultivating and maintaining our cultural heritage is important,’ Shamlian explains.
He says understanding Armenia and Armenians is important, ‘because so much has been lost along the way, whether it was due to genocide, immigration or war. I wanted to give people a different way of being proud. I wanted to open their eyes to more than just the tragedy.’ Home to one of the largest Armenian communities in the world, Los Angeles’ year-round warm weather and the city’s influx of Armenian businesses and culture has proved to be the perfect home for the Ara the Rat line.
Shamlian tends to find design inspiration wherever he goes, whether through a simple trip to an Armenian grocery store in LA or extensive travels to Armenia and Georgia. His Goris t-shirt features a metal gate from the Soviet era that Shamlian stumbled across while scouring the southern Armenian city of Goris. It’s these small touches that make Ara the Rat more than just a label designed by an Armenian.
The brand, like the designer, has a solid Armenian heart and soul. Unlike most t-shirt labels, Ara the Rat is about much more than just looking cool. ‘For me personally,’ explains Shamlian, ‘designing was a way of showing I was proud on my own terms, not someone else’s. It was my narrative, not something that had been thrust upon me. I wanted to present a different perspective when it came to Armenian identity, and Ara the Rat turned out to be a good outlet to accomplish that.’
The Ara the Rat line currently consists of ten vintage-esque silkscreen-printed t-shirts with original illustrations from Armenia’s visual identity, such as famous monuments, statues, heroes and slogans, as well as a canvas shopper bag that reads shnoragalutyun (thank you) in Armenian. Although many of Ara the Rat’s customers are either Armenian or have some Armenian affiliation, the line has garnered fans outside the Armenian community, namely celebrity comedian Conan O’Brien who famously wore the Yerevan t-shirt on his late night comedy show, much to the delight and surprise of his Armenian fans.
Ara the Rat is currently sold through the company’s namesake website (www.aratherat.com) and is also in talks to sell at the Yerevan airport in Armenia. In addition to adding a few more designs to his increasingly popular line, Shamlian hopes to start designing t-shirts for kids, in addition to greeting cards and posters in the near future.Beyond his t-shirt range, his illustrations run the gamut, from comical caricatures to cool cartoonish creations, and are as whimsical as they are creative.
Most recently, Shamlian was commissioned to create poster designs for a series of folk rock concerts in London and has also exhibited a selection of his photographs from Armenia in Los Angeles. His illustrations stay true to his self-proclaimed Soviet-era graphic design aesthetic. ‘I like things to be simple, clean and modern with a healthy dash of vintage,’ says the designer, who counts Alvin Lustig, Milton Glaser and John Baldessari as some of his favourite artists.
Although Shamlian’s t-shirts have proven to be a success, the young talent sees himself first and foremost as a graphic designer. The t-shirts simply serve as a medium for his artworks. ‘I think there’s an art to curating what design goes well with what medium. I just thought t-shirts would work best because it makes the designs accessible.’
[split]
‘I began to collect vintage t-shirts. I would see cool Lake Tahoe and Mount Fuji t-shirts from the 70s and 80s and think to myself, what if these were Lake Sevan and Mount Ararat t-shirts instead?’ the designer says. A graphic designer by trade, Shamlian earned his bachelor’s degree in Graphic Design from Middlesex University in London. He turned to t-shirt design initially as a side business while studying at university, creating designs mostly to wear himself. ‘I wanted designs that weren’t available already – what was out there wasn’t enough.’
Like many Armenians, Shamlian’s ancestors fled Armenia after the Armenian Genocide began in 1915. They moved to Cyprus and formed a base there, before relocating to the UK in the 1960s. His designs are clearly the result of a strong attachment to his Armenian roots and a desire to re-define how people perceive Armenians and the Armenian tragedy. ‘Armenians are a very proud people whose long history includes many tragedies. That pride manifests in different ways. At times it can be over the top and as a result quite nauseating. But we’re scattered all across the world from Beirut to Cyprus to Iran and cultivating and maintaining our cultural heritage is important,’ Shamlian explains.
He says understanding Armenia and Armenians is important, ‘because so much has been lost along the way, whether it was due to genocide, immigration or war. I wanted to give people a different way of being proud. I wanted to open their eyes to more than just the tragedy.’ Home to one of the largest Armenian communities in the world, Los Angeles’ year-round warm weather and the city’s influx of Armenian businesses and culture has proved to be the perfect home for the Ara the Rat line.
Shamlian tends to find design inspiration wherever he goes, whether through a simple trip to an Armenian grocery store in LA or extensive travels to Armenia and Georgia. His Goris t-shirt features a metal gate from the Soviet era that Shamlian stumbled across while scouring the southern Armenian city of Goris. It’s these small touches that make Ara the Rat more than just a label designed by an Armenian.
The brand, like the designer, has a solid Armenian heart and soul. Unlike most t-shirt labels, Ara the Rat is about much more than just looking cool. ‘For me personally,’ explains Shamlian, ‘designing was a way of showing I was proud on my own terms, not someone else’s. It was my narrative, not something that had been thrust upon me. I wanted to present a different perspective when it came to Armenian identity, and Ara the Rat turned out to be a good outlet to accomplish that.’
The Ara the Rat line currently consists of ten vintage-esque silkscreen-printed t-shirts with original illustrations from Armenia’s visual identity, such as famous monuments, statues, heroes and slogans, as well as a canvas shopper bag that reads shnoragalutyun (thank you) in Armenian. Although many of Ara the Rat’s customers are either Armenian or have some Armenian affiliation, the line has garnered fans outside the Armenian community, namely celebrity comedian Conan O’Brien who famously wore the Yerevan t-shirt on his late night comedy show, much to the delight and surprise of his Armenian fans.
Ara the Rat is currently sold through the company’s namesake website (www.aratherat.com) and is also in talks to sell at the Yerevan airport in Armenia. In addition to adding a few more designs to his increasingly popular line, Shamlian hopes to start designing t-shirts for kids, in addition to greeting cards and posters in the near future.Beyond his t-shirt range, his illustrations run the gamut, from comical caricatures to cool cartoonish creations, and are as whimsical as they are creative.
Most recently, Shamlian was commissioned to create poster designs for a series of folk rock concerts in London and has also exhibited a selection of his photographs from Armenia in Los Angeles. His illustrations stay true to his self-proclaimed Soviet-era graphic design aesthetic. ‘I like things to be simple, clean and modern with a healthy dash of vintage,’ says the designer, who counts Alvin Lustig, Milton Glaser and John Baldessari as some of his favourite artists.
Although Shamlian’s t-shirts have proven to be a success, the young talent sees himself first and foremost as a graphic designer. The t-shirts simply serve as a medium for his artworks. ‘I think there’s an art to curating what design goes well with what medium. I just thought t-shirts would work best because it makes the designs accessible.’