By Linda Badger
Derek Hanneman likes to draw since childhood. In the high school, the other children asked him to adapt their sneakers with his complicated designs. He loved it and hoped to turn art into his profession.
Hanneman was born in San Francisco and has never been far from the ocean. He lived in the city, Pacific Grove, Monterey and Mendocino County. His drawings reflected on all the living things he had to love – wafer -thin Jelly -Fisch hovered in the surf and high -towering redwoods that were deeply rooted in the earth.
As an adult, Hanneman never stopped painting and drawing and developed his own style or his own brand “living art”. His dream was to do something sensible in his life that affects his natural designs.
Hanneman built a basis for his dream and spent more than three and a half years of art, graphic design and business on the Monterey Peninsula College, while he never forgot the joy he adapted to his friends' shoes. In 2014 he started his own brand of portable art. He called it “engraft”. The title says everything for Hanneman.
“Transplanted means to convey,” he said. In horticulture, the “transplant” refers to placing part of one plant on another so that a new plant is generated when the two grow together.
“As art sustainable, steadily implanted art or” dug art in/into/into the heads and bodies of the people “, Hanneman hopes to” inspire the world and save them permanently “.
In order to bring them to life, Hanneman learned how to print clothes in a friend's garage. He prints his designs by hand on Premium, Super Soft, Unisex, T-shirts, sweatshirts and hoodies. He started selling them at street fairs, farmers markets and festivals on the California coast. Hanneman returned to his roots in San Francisco and was regularly on the Farmers Market and Mercantile outdoor set, where he was able to continue his business during the Covid 19 pandemy. He developed a supporter for his unique and stylish clothing.
The art that Hanneman transports into his clothes shows other secular sea creatures, such as the difficult giant ink ink, which is hidden in the deep sea, and the umbrella-shaped medusa jellyfish, which are described as “immortal” because it regenerates after death. Other natural miracles recorded by his designs are trees with underground roots, mushrooms and the human brain with countless furrows and wrinkles. Hanneman's designs continue to develop and grow again and again and constantly change and inspired by his interest in science and nature. He fascinates the possibility of life on other planets, he recently added designs that show extraterrestrial structures to the engraft line.
“In view of the huge cosmos, it would be ignorant to believe that we are the only ones out there,” he said.
Engraft also has a clothing that is San Francisco. One of its most popular design shows the majestic Golden Gate Bridge with “wire drops” or “root balls” that fall deep into the bay. It has a similar design with the legendary Sutro Tower.
In 2021, Hanneman said that he “made a leap” and opened his first retail business in Clement Street. He has deep roots on Clement. As a child, he remembered that his mother brought him to the Wing Lee Bakery for pork rolls and asked him to bring him to the Sixth Avenue aquarium business to see the sea creatures. He loves the character “Little Big City” by San Francisco, especially the mood, culture and small businesses of Clement.
In his location on a quieter clement block, Hanneman has everything under one roof. In the back office he has his “factory”, in which he sets all his clothes and art by hand. Before that, his retail space is located in which he shows his creations. Hanneman worked six or even seven days a week and built a successful business even though it was not easy. The cost of business in San Francisco is a challenge, but Hanneman has rooted and plans to stay for the drive as long as possible.
Engraft is located in the 934 Clement St. to learn more, visit engraft.com.