About Vice Merchants:
Vice Merchants is a design collective and lifestyle label like no other. Inspired by the beauty of the female form, Vice Merchants shirks cultural taboos and infuses sensuality and sexuality into a line of luxury home décor. The brain child of former hedge fund trader Jake Katz and veteran fashion designer Ryan Rock, Vice Merchants is a uniquely perfect blend of risqué subject matter and high-end style.
Emblematic prints and patterns showcasing scintillating sirens and lascivious lovelies engaged in scenes of amour are at the core of the brand’s collection. A team of skillful illustrators brings these signature designs to life in the form of luxe bedding, wall paper, curtains, and much more. From “Poppy Playground” to “Pearl Divers,” each print is part of an exclusive, limited edition collection produced in fine fabrics by top-quality manufacturers.
Vice Merchants embraces the forbidden and celebrates the seductive. Founded on the belief that every lair needs a dose of lewd and every bedroom needs a bit of bawdy, Vice Merchants’ collections are for the hot-blooded progressive provocateurs hidden in all of us.
VICE MERCHANTS ARTS COLLECTIVE
About Amanda Lanzone:
Growing up in New York, Amanda Lanzone tried her hand at all kinds of activites, from selling Thin Mints to rocking out on the drums. Inevitably, she would always return to her first love, drawing. After graduating from the School of Visual Arts at 22, Amanda has been rapidly honing her skills as an illustrator. An extensive portfolio showcases a remarkable talent and a thirst for creation, highlighted in fun illustrations of a zombie marching band and a sexy nude Lady Godiva, riding a carousel with reckless abandon. Amanda’s illustrations showcase a stunning visual vernacular complimented by a naturally playful take on subject matter.
Amanda has been drawing nude figures for years and first embraced erotic themes with a series on Greek Myths. She created red-figure style plates that depicted different scenes inspired by Zeus and his paramours. Amanda’s illustrations showcased a naughy glimpse of a 2011 Mount Olympus. Erotic mythic couplings were portrayed with a heavy dose of humor, sexual tension, and youthful angst. Amanda regards the series as the perfect primer for entre into the world of erotic art.
Motivated by illustrators such as Aubrey Beardsly, Daniel Egneus, Takato Yamamato, and Yuko Shimizu, Amanda is also inspired by the everyday beauty found in street culture and urban life, from graffiti and neon bodega signs to pin-up girls, retro video games, Japanese woodblock prints, and even artfully decorated confections found in NYC bakeries.
A multi-award winning illustrator, Amanda has done everything from editorial art for the media, provocative graphics for beloved roller derby team the Botoxic Avengers, and seductive fashion illustrations.
Founded on the firm belief that every sanctuary needs a dose of sexy, Vice Merchants with the help of a roster of hand-picked artists, plans to infuse a little lustful flavor into the world of interior design with their rebelliously risque collection of home goods and accessories. Amanda is the newest member in their arsenal of talented artists. In June, the company launched its premier collection of stylishly racey luxury bedding.
When Amanda isn’t at her drawing table, she enjoys dodging cabs while biking around the city, co-writing a teen rebellion novel, and hanging out with her skater-photographer boyfriend.
About Meegan Barnes:
San Francisco based artist and designer, Meegan Barnes has always been inspired by women. While she has built a remarkable design career, with heavy hitter music and fashion industry clients, like MTV, Zoo York, and Levi’s, her true passion is creating signature offbeat yet feminine illustrations and artwork. Meegan often juxtaposes an unconventional kind of pretty against human imperfection. Her characters are fraught with exotic, offbeat loveliness, and natural sex appeal. Filtered through her irreverent sense of humor, Meegan has developed a perspective that is entirely her own, and it has gotten her noticed.
When asked as a kid what she wanted to be when she grew up, Meegan would look up from her crayons and say “either a weatherman or an artist”. It was written early on that the latter would win out. After graduating from the California College of the Arts with a degree in Illustration, she moved to New York City, worked in the art department for PAPER, and as an illustrator for VIBE Magazine.
Meegan developed a name as a bold, young talent, and entrepreneur in 1998, when she Co-Founded Femme Arsenal, a fashion forward lifestyle brand known for pioneering a new niche of hip hop inspired cosmetics, clothing and accessories. The company ignited a media frenzy and Barnes was featured in outlets like Harper’s Bazaar, WWD, TONY and more. With major national and international distribution, Femme Arsenal helped catapult Meegan to a new level of success. In 2005 she and her partner sold their company to Ecko Unltd and Meegan spent time traveling, teaching art to women in favelas, painting, studying Afro-Brazilian dance, and surfing.
After four months living in Brazil, Meegan couldn’t help but return to her home town of San Francisco newly inspired. She embarked on a new creative path and began sculpting voluptuous women’s bottoms, in all shapes and sizes. The beautiful curves and cheeky undertones (no pun intended) of her work quickly attracted a devout following of collectors, resulting in commissions for all sorts of wild creations as well as local gallery shows.
Meegan’s interest in feminine curves and all things voluptuous was the perfect fit for Vice Merchants. In 2011 Meegan was scouted out by the hot, new design house. She quickly signed as one of their featured artists. Founded on the firm belief that every sanctuary needs a dose of sexy, Vice Merchants plans to infuse a little lustful flavor into the world of interior design. Vice Merchants prides itself on finding astonishing creative talent and fostering their designs for use on a bold and rebellious collection of home goods and accessories. In June, the company launched its premier collection of stylishly risqué luxury bedding. With Meegan on the roster, Vice Merchants has big plans in the pipeline for an artistically driven, lifestyle collection sure to turn heads.
With Vice Merchants, Meegan looks forward to creating amazing art, laden with bawdy burlesque beauties, futuristic femme fatales, steamy bohemian girls, wild style motorcycle chicks, nudie cutie pin-ups, and whatever else she can dream up. She is eager to continue her exploration of female sexuality, from a woman’s perspective.
In her spare time Meegan likes to take her Jack Russell terror Alvin to the beach, host drawing saloons, and make short films with her “crazy Italian husband.”
