ORIHON — love good color

Creating recurring opportunities for muralists and artists within underserved communities.

Laura Guido-Clark- Orihon – what is the name's origin?

Austen Chen- Orihon were books formed by folding a piece of parchment or scroll in an accordion-like format. We felt that this name was fitting given that we wanted to have a focus on building products and services that are focused on giving back and empowering voices within under-resourced communities.

LG-C Can you tell me when your organization was formed what is your mission?

AC Orihon was founded in late 2020 and is currently focused on creating new and recurring opportunities for muralists and street artists. We feel that there is a large opportunity here as many of our artist conversations have revealed the difficulty in discovering/creating new opportunities and expanding their voice/reach beyond their local communities.

As recent BLM artwork reinforced, mural/street art forms have an amazing impact at the local level and Orihon believes that we can help artists expand said impact and voice online to create new opportunities as we move towards a more remote and socially distanced future.

LG-C What was the turning point in your wanting to form this organization?

AC Quite simply, the proactive behavior of muralists in the Oakland area was the turning point for our team to roll up our sleeves and get busy. A majority of our founding team grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and we have always aspired to become more active in giving back within our local community.

When George Floyd was murdered, the entire Oakland area changed overnight. ATMs were quickly boarded up, public transportation ran significantly limited hours, and storefronts temporarily shut down. Over the coming weeks, we saw an outpouring of positivity from the artist and muralist community, using their own resources to create beautiful pieces of artwork as a way to foster empowerment, unity, and resilience.

For Orihon, we asked ourselves a simple question that is still pushing us today:

“How can we generate resources to help artists create empowering and uplifting artwork?”

LG-C Can you talk to me about some of the artists and what you have learned?

AC We’ve been incredibly thankful for the time that muralists have given us to learn more about the space. One big thing we’ve learned from these conversations is how the muralist and artist community at large is extremely collaborative and supportive of each other’s efforts.

This parallels Orihon’s own company values of partnership and collaboration as we believe that combined efforts ultimately create a healthier ecosystem for all. As the saying goes, “a rising tide lifts all boats”!

Likewise, one of the artists we’re working with, Nina Wright (aka GIRL MOBB), runs a nonprofit called Graffiti Camp for Girls and we’ve been working on scheduling fine arts classes and workshops for Bay Area youth throughout the calendar year. We’re also working with artist organizations like the Bay Area Mural Program to provide supplies which will empower their Junior Artists to create additional works of art.

LG-C What do these murals mean to the community?

AC We have a weekly meeting focused on identifying new art and other locales for future installations. Just last week, one of our colleagues spoke about how he was stuck at a location for 20 minutes as a steady stream of people kept coming by and asking for him to take their photos in front of the artwork. The recurring theme we hear from these conversations is the strong sense of identity and community belonging that it provides.

In addition to the positive effects that it has on the people, these murals also acted as a way to beautify the neighborhood, covering vacant storefronts or providing a protective layer for small businesses that were forced to close down due to the pandemic. There are so many different emotional and socioeconomic benefits to having murals that we feel that there’s a wealth of unrecognized potential in this area.

LG-C What is your latest project?

AC Our latest project involves building the first iterations of a platform that will help showcase a muralist’s portfolio and include a marketplace to connect to a larger audience. The goal is to ultimately create a platform where artists, charitable orgs/nonprofits, government, and businesses can come together to collaborate and create recurring opportunities for future installations.

LG-C What role does color play in your projects?

AC Given our recent incorporation, we’ve been spending a lot of time understanding color psychology. We recently chose purple as a core brand color given the connection to creativity.

For every person, color has a strong tie to emotions and memory. When you see a specific color, you are immediately brought back to a distinct memory that played an impact on your life.

In a similar fashion, we at Orihon work to ensure whatever project we are focusing on leaves an impact on as many individuals as possible. This is the primary reason why we are focusing on artists within the SF Bay Area, who have historically used color as a way to empower voices within under-represented communities.

LG-C What is your first color memory?

AC Blue. Some of my earliest memories are on the beaches of Santa Cruz with my Grandma and being enthralled with the clear blue sky as it met the deep ocean blue. I remember the feelings of safety and comfort that it brought being able to sit and relax. Even today, the beach operates as a “safe place” for me to find peace, reset, and center myself.