Home Base: Los Angeles
Main Gig: Design retailers
Husband-and-wife team Ted Vadakan and Angie Myung started what Vadakan calls an “accidental business” in 2003 when they launched a line of artist-designed wallets for fun.
That billfold has since blown up into an indie-minded brand called Poketo, a collaboration with more than 200 artists on lines of wallets, stationery, housewares, accessories and apparel.
“We want to make sure that high-art contemporary design is accessible for everyone,” says Vadakan.
Poketo products are available at Anthropologie, MoMA, CB2 and elsewhere.
The pair recently opened a retail shop/event space in downtown LA as well as a store in The Line Hotel, a new boutique hotel in LA’s Koreatown.
—Michelle Enger