PRODbyBAPU
MAX HITE
I draw most of my inspiration and early work from my childhood. My parents, who became ex-patriots from the United States in 1993, raised me and my two older siblings in the middle of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, for 14 years. Through car rides to school and weekly family dinner nights, they would entertain us with their tales of visiting faraway lands before I was born. In my young mind, I could picture as clear as day being at the base camps of Everest and Kilimanjaro with them on their honeymoon in 1996, or scouring through the busy streets and markets of Hong Kong and Singapore between 93’ and 95’.
Our house was adorned with art and furniture from their trips. From opium beds to no-wheels or “litter” princess carriages, Brazilian busts, Chinese art and religious Colombian pop art, no corner you turned in my house was the same. For a while, I dreamt of being able to achieve the same amount of perspective and life experience they accomplished together. I didn’t stop dreaming until I began to do it myself and incorporate it into my work.
In 2021, a week after COVID regulations were lifted in Europe, my best friend, Ian, and I traveled to Iceland where we hitchhiked almost completely across the island in 2 weeks. This was my first time doing anything like this. I had no previous experience with backpacking or hitchhiking, let alone for that amount of time on a very strict budget. However, through a fellow passenger in 25B, friendly locals, an engaged German couple, a “Mad Max” truck driver and cold handmade burritos, we managed.
I am not sure whether it was the astonishment of walking through foggy flatlands for miles to suddenly seeing a mountain or volcano 2,000+ feet high sprout from the fog like a veil or exploring abandoned fishing towns and villages built into hills, with furnishings still intact, that made me realize how unbelievable I was. Not many people get to have these experiences or have parents and siblings that went on their own adventures and taught them about the history of Japanese tiles being removed from furniture in Shanghai's finest homes after WWII or the courage of the “Little anti-imperial warriors” from the aftermath of the Great Leap Forward. I knew that I wanted to inspire and awe not just others, but myself, through meticulous processes, design, and creations.
PRODbyBAPU
What is a “Bapu”? Bapu is not a thing, at least not tangible.
Bapu is simply the username I chose after I spent three years saving up for a PlayStation4 console. Bapu is the image of a younger me with extreme passion to show the world his skills...in video games. Nowadays, he is still that same person, but has shifted his focus towards creating tangible designs ispired by memories or ideas that were born from ispirators like Naoto Fukasawa, Pierre Paulin, Dieter Rams, HiddenNY, Houseplant and more.
Bapu is simply the username I chose after I spent three years saving up for a PlayStation4 console. Bapu is the image of a younger me with extreme passion to show the world his skills...in video games. Nowadays, he is still that same person, but has shifted his focus towards creating tangible designs ispired by memories or ideas that were born from ispirators like Naoto Fukasawa, Pierre Paulin, Dieter Rams, HiddenNY, Houseplant and more.