“MONK” File 002: The Creation

"MONK"
May 23
2 min read

What’s up. Bernardo, founder of “MONK”, here again.

Has the year already started over there? Fresh energy?

It has over here. And we’ve already gone back to doing what matters: creating.

That’s what this File is about.

File 002 — The Creation

The idea of creating t-shirts wasn’t new.

It had crossed my mind many times before.

The brands I liked and wore the most never really represented me that well. I was constantly walking around with surfboards and skateboards printed across my chest and back.

Nothing against it — honestly, I wish I had surfed more than 15 times in my life or at least learned how to land an ollie.

That was never the case.

There are only two things I remember doing since forever: drawing and writing.

Oh, and listening to The Beatles — thanks mom for turning “Yellow Submarine” into my childhood version of “Baby Shark.”

I could genuinely spend hours sitting quietly, drawing. Creating stories, comics, characters, entire families (I loved drawing families for some reason — if you’re a psychoanalyst, feel free to explain why).

Now, looking back at our first t-shirt collection — very creatively titled First Session — I can see that every graphic there translates a little of who I’ve always been and couldn’t really find elsewhere.

One of the defining characteristics of the first graphics I created was the text.

Like Benji’s first appearance (t-shirt #5) — which was literally the first t-shirt I ever designed.

Or the Michelangelo one (t-shirt #7) — whose story sounds absurd, but is actually real.

Or the James Brown one (t-shirt #3) — which was supposed to feel like a slightly nonsensical conversation between two stoned friends.

It was through creating the t-shirts that “MONK” started taking shape. Coming alive.

And, little by little, pushing me to explore more deeply the subjects that genuinely interest me.

So here’s a simple invitation: revisit some childhood habits once you become an adult.

Drawing, for example. You’ll realize the pleasure is still exactly the same — except now you have far more references, far more experiences, far more things to say.

References. Questions. Experiences.

And I hope you find a piece of yourself somewhere within our graphics too.

See you in the next File.

And don't miss the future

"MONK" FILES.