Spotlight on Metropolitan Designs

Art Business News, Sept, 2003 by Carol King

Life has come full circle for Pop artist Debbie Brooks. Brooks, who is known for her whimsical 3-D motion wall sculptures, published through Metropolitan Designs, earned money during her teenage years by making hand-painted. clothes and selling them to her schoolmates as well to boutiques in New York City.

Playing off the success of her wall hangings and whimsical cartoon-like characters, Brooks is receiving success in areas outside the gallery. Her artwork has evolved from limited editions, furniture and handbags, to include an audience in the fields of apparel and jewelry. Plans for a children's book with an accompanying doll are also in the works.

"I grew up financially challenged," said Brooks. "Because of that, I made my own clothes, hand-painting jean jackets and t-shirts. When I wore them, people really took notice and commissioned me to create clothes for them. I did amazing things that ultimately paid for my art supplies and my prom dress."

Her talents gained her a scholarship to Pratt Institute in New York from which she received a bachelor of fine arts degree, majoring in communications and advertising.

After graduating from Pratt, Brooks spent a summer semester at the Royal Academy of Copenhagen. "I took on a graduate program from Pratt, studying furniture design. I also was able to roam the streets with my sketchpad and unleash my true passion: people. I met and sketched people from all walks of life."

After returning home, Brooks went to work as a designer at FAO Schwartz in New York. This opportunity guided her toward her artistic niche.

"While at FAO Schwartz, my colleagues took notice of the cartoons I sketched during staff meetings," she said. "I designed a series of animated cartoon characters for the store. A woman, who resembled one of the characters I drew, saw the display and commissioned me to create a piece for her. She encouraged me to do limited editions. She told me that if she liked my work, others would too.

"At that same time, FAO Schwartz was so happy with my work, I was sent to Universal Studios to design a store for them. While I was in Los Angeles, I was introduced to the animatronic masters and got a tour of their back lot and the design studios. I thought, 'How cool would it be if I could make my displays move, too?"'

With the help of her husband, Paul-Philippe d'Auirac, an engineer and businessman, she learned to apply movement to her own cartoon creations. For the past eight years, Brooks has produced a line of limited edition 3-D wall art.

Published in editions of 250, the works depict fun-filled scenes, such as a joyous shopper with moveable arms waving her bags of goodies. "If the Shoe Fits" shows a gleaming woman in a shoe store whose leg moves up and down in giddy enthusiasm as she tries on shoes.

"[The wall art has been] embraced by a very large audience," she said. "I am fording that adults and children like them. They have evolved into commissions for original works. For instance, Morton Swinsky, a Broadway producer, hired me to create a Times Square piece that features the Statue of Liberty with her skirt blowing up, and I incorporated the billboards of all 20 of the plays he produced. I was also commissioned to do a piece of Elvis Presley, with his pelvis thrusting, for a private collector in Las Vegas"

Her newest artwork evolution is her Evening Bag Collection, which launched at Henri Bendel in New York recently. The bags, which feature her characters, took the accessories market by storm. "I had no intention of marketing the handbags," she said. "But I did create one for myself that I wore to a gallery show. Everyone loved it and wanted to know where to get one.

After the event, one of Brooks' suggested she pitch the line to Henri Bendel. "They loved them," she said. "They said that I captured the spirit of the women who shop there. We are now at Bendel's as well as 150 boutiques around the country."

The rest, as they say, is history. Cindy Adams of the New York Post dubbed the collection "the hottest 'must-have' handbag," and, as a featured gift at the Tony Awards Talent Lounge, they were scooped up by celebrities Sarah Jessica Parker, Melanie Griffith, Bernadette Peters, Chita Rivera, Jane Krakowski, Barbara Walters and Bebe Neuwirth. Owners of the handbags also include Toni Braxton, Cameron Diaz, Star Jones, Carol Alt, Cyndi Lauper and Marisa Tomei.

She is presently expanding her handbag collection to include leather bags and knapsacks with matching scarves and belts to complement her existing creations.

Her publishing company, Metropolitan Designs of Gardiner, N.Y., is manufacturing a line of high-quality t-shirts incorporating Brooks' artwork. The company is offering licensing opportunities for a new "diffusion" line of Debbie Brooks.

"Just like Donna Karan has DKNY, we are working on a DB & Co. for a mid-tier mass distribution line similar to the high-end line," said d'Auirac. "This will be a licensing-only line created for other manufacturers to distribute to [stores] such as Kohl's, Bloomingdales, etc., in various product categories."