My 88th Co. Story

Early 1990s, Sunday Morning: 

I came across this scene of a strange flying dark blue fighter airplane flown by a bunch of cool dudes dressed with some of the coolest gear I have ever seen. Wow! I wanna know more! What a shape for a plane, what a damn beautiful color! And what are those markings? I must go to the library to know more about this!

-I had no idea that Sunday morning, the F4U Corsair and the Baa Baa Black Sheep TV series just changed my life. It was my first open door to design and history.-

Still in the 1990s, Summer Break:

I’m going to build my miniature airfield in the back of my garden! I don’t have any airplanes (I only have a yellow F-15 and tons of Lego), but I will cut them in cardboard and paint them with anything I have! I will also plan the airfield design on my computer by using Paint. Even if I’m a little sad that the toy store doesn’t have any WWII airplane, I don’t care, since I can imagine anything, I can see it and built it!

-My career as a digital designer has started with Paint on Windows 95. It really changed how I made art, because it helped me better understand scale, 2D and colors. Today, I love to use both traditional methods and technology to get the best design! I can paint on a canvas or on Photoshop, it really doesn’t matter! The sky is the limit!-

Early 2000s, End of School Year:

I’ve watched Indiana Jones, Castle in the Sky, tons of anime and read French comics. But what makes me very happy are video games. I can finally fly a B-17 and do some historical missions. Jane’s WWII fighters has the most incredible home page I’ve seen! There’re airplanes seating in a hangar, just like a museum! I love staring at those beauties!  I really love how movies/games tell stories, the history, costumes, drawings and anything related to vehicles. It’s really awesome! I’m graduating from high school soon and I know I will study design, but I have no idea how I will include my passion for military design in my art. Especially as a girl, I worry to be misunderstood…

-In high school, they always try to put you in their box, even if you don’t fit! However, in college, I had some amazing teachers that slowly guided me to where I am today. It took time and courage to create 88^th Company. I had to fail a few times at jobs that I really hated! It was boring and there was nothing as cool as military fashion or design. So, in 2013, I made the decision to never ever work in corporate design and create 88^th Company. There’s so much I want to do and create and I shall get there!-

Many things inspired me to choose the 88 number. First, I really love the mighty’s 8th emblem and their incredible stories. Second, I think the number 8 is a cool design on its own. It has many different meaning to people, such as infinity and so on, but for me it’s an homage to my two brothers and mom who have been supportive into making 88th Company a reality!