Meet Roxanne and Philip Patmon | Toy and Fashion Designer, entrepreneur, and Firefighter and Sales (respectively)

We had the good fortune of connecting with Roxanne and Philip Patmon and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Roxanne and Philip, let’s talk legacy – what do you want yours to be?
Put simply, We want our legacy to be that we had a positive impact on the people and world around us. We are acutely aware of the unfairness of life, how people are pretty much born into situations that either limit their opportunities in life or give them opportunities in life. We want to do what we can to level the playing field. One area we are most led to try to make an impact is in the failed criminal justice system…both the pipeline to prison and the ability to make a life upon exiting the system. This is also a big contributing factor to us creating this business. We partnered with Home Boy Industries Art Academy so that a portion of our sales goes to their organization and we hope to collaborate with some of their artists for our line and eventually be able to grow and hire from this community that has such a brick wall stacked against them.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
From an early age I was both curious about how things were made and had a desire to draw and design. I just wanted to make beautiful things. And from there I wanted to make functional things that were beautiful. I put myself through Art school and studied Fashion Design and thankfully, have continued to have work from Costume and fashion design to toy design and hobbies as jewelry design. I see challenges as opportunities. I’m a big risk taker in all I do and I think this has been both a blessing and a challenge for me. It has led to a couple patents and award-winning products I have created in the Toy Industry. It has also led to some fabulous sky diving and rock climbing adventures as well as a bad motorcycle crash and as a kid, trying to fly out of a tree house and literally falling off a cliff. So you can see, I can sometimes be impulsive and not consider all the risks before diving in. This is a tendency I realized I have to fight against. This is where Philip and I are a great team for this business. He is much more practical and thoughtful in his approach, which I guess comes naturally being a fire fighter, and he also has a business background. So together we are able to take more calculated risks and test the waters a bit before diving in. A problem I noticed in my profession is the lack of credit that artists generally get, especially in the corporate world. I also recognize there are many fine artists and street artists that share their vision and beautify our city but rarely received much reward or recognition for it. This was part of the motivation for taking the step to create our company, Art Drip Studios, to celebrate the artists. This is the accomplishment I am most proud of. But I strive to never stop growing and learning, enjoying the journey and striving to have a positive impact along the way.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
This is a hard question because there are so many fabulous things to do in Los Angeles…and thankfully we are able to enjoy them all again. We would probably need to go at sunset on Friday to eat at Sea Level in Redondo Beach to enjoy the wonderful seafood and scenery. Saturday, we would have to hit the beach…bring our boogie boards and get some waves. I love all the beaches from RAT (Redondo and Torrance beach) all the way up to Manhattan Beach. Saturday we could start the day going down to the arts district, checking out all the amazing street art and visiting the Container Yard, and support buying from local artists. In the afternoon we could go to the Treehouse Rooftop in Chinatown, DTLA and where @Lajuntala often has daytime dance party events with Afro-Latin music and all kinds of cool people. Then we might want to get some food at Joey’s DTLA location. The food is so good! If we have the energy, we could go one of the Afrika Gold presents events, such as Afrobeats, which is usually at Los Globos theatre in LA and dance and melt into the music.
Sunday would be great to start with brunch at Rebel Republic in Redondo Beach for brunch. Then we would have to hit the beach…bring our boogie boards and get some waves. I love all the beaches from RAT (Redondo and Torrance beach) all the way up to Manhattan Beach. I’m sure no matter where we go, if we will meet a lot of fun and interesting people….Los Angeles is full of them.

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?
God for always leading us down the right path, no matter how bumpy it may be and each other for always encouraging and supporting each other.

Website: artdripstudios.com and Dawnroxdesign.com

Instagram: @artdrip_studios

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dawn-roxanne-patmon/

Facebook: @artdripstudios

Other: Tik Tok: @artdripstudios

Image Credits
Alejandro Reyes Fabian Fioto