We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Todd Dever. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Todd below.

Alright, Todd thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

First let me give you a little backstory. My background is in motion graphic design and video production. I have been working in the creative arts for years and in addition to being a motion graphic designer and animator, I was the Creative Director at Fuel TV-a channel dedicated to action sports, for several years. I have also designed many typefaces (fonts) over the years. I am basically self-taught at all this stuff and enjoy learning new skills.

I started PinTiki when Don the Beachcomber in Sunset Beach CA closed, and I could not find a real high quality enamel pin to show my love for the place. (Did I mention that I’m also a Tiki fanatic?) So, I did some research and decided that I could figure out how to turn my designs into pins and jumped in with both feet. That first pin was a big success and so I started designing more enamel pins to honor other recently closed and historic Tiki bars. I found manufacturers and developed relationships with the ones that did good work. As I have become more well known, I have been approached by some famous Tiki bars to design pins for them too.

In addition, I have branched out into designing Tiki related t-shirts, aloha shirts, and recently have been designing, building, and selling custom Tiki lamps. It has all been a lot of fun. As far as skills go, I think the biggest thing has just been to be open to trying new things, and make sure you create products that you yourself would want.

Todd, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

As I said, my background is broadcast motion graphic design. So, I had developed the graphic design skills already before I started PinTiki. The thing that was different for me in this venture was actually creating physical products and marketing them. It’s really the first time I used social media to develop a following and to really try to build my own brand. One thing about Tiki fans is that they really look for authenticity. They also have a great community, both online and in person. So, it has really been great getting to know so many like-minded people and to learn the history of this classic American phenomenon that was started by people like Donn Beach and Trader Vic in the early-mid 20th Century.
I am really proud that I have been able to build up such a great following and there’s nothing better than making your customers happy. I really haven’t approached other businesses about working for them, most have come to me because they know I do high quality work and love to be supportive of the Tiki Ohana.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

When building my social media presence, I have tried to avoid just doing promotional posts. I like to get to know my audience and they like to get to know me and I am always surprised when I meet people in person who remember things from my Instagram posts. So I try to share about event and places that I go that my audience would like. Nobody wants to be sold to all the time.
My advice on building social media presence? Interact with your audience. Be as responsive as you can. Make it fun. My other piece of general advice is to build your email list. Social media is great, but your email list is just as important. I can’t believe how many artists I talk to that don’t have one.
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What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

I love it when I see the connection my art has for some people. There’s nothing better than seeing someone go “what? … this is amazing I’ve gotta have this!”. A happy customer makes my day. We all love when something is a big seller, but I also love the pure creative expression and will put something out there for those few people who are gonna be blown away, even though most people won’t get it.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://pintiki.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pintikipins/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PinTikiOfficial/

Image Credits

all images ©Todd Dever