Meet Hiiro Tomita | Artist, Architect, and Realtor

We had the good fortune of connecting with Hiiro Tomita and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Hiiro, can you share the most important lesson you’ve learned over the course of your career?
The guaranteed way to lose at starting a business is to focus too much on making a profit. The more focus is spent on providing value to clients and creating the best possible experience for each order, the more guaranteed the business will grow. Word of mouth is powerful, value each transaction like it is your last.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I specialize in drawing custom hand drawn artwork on various mediums besides the traditional canvas.

I started drawing custom hats while in college and shipped my artwork to all sorts of clients across the globe in countries such as Brazil, Canada, Italy, Japan, Philippines, and Australia. I have also had opportunity to provide hats to notable hip hop artists such as YG, Kid Ink, and Curren$y. The 2 biggest highlights during that time were getting custom hat delivered to Jay-Z through help with the Rocawear team, and having a live custom hat art event at the former New Era store on Melrose in LA.

Once Kaws introduced the Hennessy bottle collaboration, I took it as inspiration to draw directly on the bottles myself to manifest the goal of having my own official collaboration bottle one day. I have since drawn several bottles for friends and clients and have even gotten recognition from brands which I can not currently disclose due to an NDA but should be able to share in the coming months.

As of now, I do custom orders for clients but also gift my custom hand drawn bottles to my real estate clients when they purchase or sell a home. I use inspiration from my clients story and character to create a personal artwork that they can display in their new home.

My mission from when I originally started my custom artwork has always been to showcase the uniqueness of each individual whether it be through the hat they wear, bottle displayed in their home, or various other custom artworks. The original team I started the business with helped me come up in the slogan which I still use today and take a lot of inspiration from.

“No canvas is impossible”

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Since in addition to artwork, I am a CA Licensed architect, I would take them first to the restaurant I helped design in Newport Beach called Shorebird so they can take in the coastal lifestyle. I also designed a watch store in Pasadena, so I’d take the opportunity to drive up and show the Socal scenery on the way.

Its definitely critical to also head up to Little Tokyo to check out my friend’s clothing store Japangeles, fill up on some good Japanese food nearby, and take a trip to Moma for a museum tour.

Last day would be dedicated to heading down to Santa Ana and treating them out to some quality shabu shabu at my friends Kaizen restaurant. Can’t go wrong going to a friend owned restaurant to make sure my guest gets the VIP experience. Indulging in great food, sake, and beer, we’ll end the trip with a downtown night out to experience the nightlife.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I would dedicate my success to my parents Hiroshi and Yuriko Tomita, sisters Eri and Yukika, and my fiance Tiffany. I would also like to dedicate a special thank you to my business mentor and broker Jud, my original supporters from day 1 Dane, Ryan, and Jonny, my INKSTEEZ business partner Nikki, and all my friends and clients who have supported my work up until now. Thank you all for being such an important part of my growth.

Website: https://www.hiirotomitastudios.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hiiro_tomita_studios/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hiiro-tomita-366b7b38/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/hiirotomita

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hiiro