I would love to have one of those.
You already know Stefan Frei as the goaltender for the Seattle Sounders, but did you know that he also has a huge creative side? If you are a longtime fan, you probably already know that. Last year, he designed a beautiful match day poster for the Sounders game against San Jose. Dubbed Posters by the People, the design was hailed as a fun and playful piece with a dark twist that fit the teams perfectly. Although he created the piece digitally, he is also talented with simple pencil and paper. Frei is also known for his incredible tattoo work, where his body is his canvas.
This year, Frei has just designed a fun limited edition t-shirt for fans. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a very exclusive item: you could only get one if you attend the Jersey Launch Event at the ProShop on CenturyLink Field. Only the first 500 people to line up were able to purchase one of the shirts.
Frei says that he loves working digitally with a pen and tablet to create his designs. He describes himself as an artist getting lost in his work: “Sometimes when you don't have any deadlines and you're doing it for fun, you spend hours on a project and at some point, you just give up. It never turns into a complete project.” Frei also expressed how much he loves developing new art, saying, “When you know people will see it ... I embrace these opportunities because it encourages you to push through it and it helps me to grow as an artist. It's a huge honor to be able to make some art and so far, the response has been great. I'm enjoying myself.”
Fans may notice that much of the design is similar to the new adidas kits that the team will wear during 2016. Frei, however, only just saw the unveiling of the full designs along with everyone else, so they do not completely match up. He says that to him, the blue is the team and the green represents the Seattle fans. All of it connects together to form the image.
Even if you weren’t able to acquire one of the limited edition shirts, Frei is making sure that every fan can see and use the design. In fact, you can download it right here to use as a screensaver or background on your computer. What do you think of Frei’s design? Will you be downloading it to use it as a desktop?
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia