Straw Castle
Straw Castle is a brand by designer/illustrator Derrick Castle. It includes t-shirts, embroidered patches, and original block prints.
Derrick has created designs for a wide range of clients including Nike, Miller High Life, Disney, Crate & Barrel, and Under Armour, as well as merch companies Live Nation and Uprising Creative, who represent most of the top acts in the music industry.
Straw Castle designs are based on the block printing aesthetic. For years, Derrick has been developing his own unique vision in the design community, experimenting with a variety of methods for creating reproducible art and design. His favorite, he found, is block printing, a primitive form of relief printing where an image is hand-carved into a material such as wood or linoleum, then coated with a thin layer of ink, and pressed to paper stock or textiles.
“The hand-crafted nature of block printing, with all its imperfections, gives each print so much character,” says Derrick. “People want products created by artisans, not cheap, mass-produced designs. The booming popularity of the craft beer and distilling movement as well as local crafts and artists prove that people are drawn to products made with passion and care. That’s why I believe my block prints resonate with people.”
