A young artist thought as he debated throwing away a pile of Disneyland plastic bags. Not wanting to feel wasteful, he knew there had to be a way of giving these bags a new life.
Grant Fukui is a Japanese American, born and raised in Hacienda Heights. Since a young age he has had a passion for all things creative. As a child he was drawn to watching his grandmother sew projects from scratch and unknowingly took after her technique of creating patterns from paper bags.
One year, he helped her create a costume based off of the book “The Rainbow Fish.” Although he was not eager to wear it, he was enamoured by the process.
His passion for creating combined with his love for all things Disney led him to his quarantine brainchild. Countless purchases at Disneyland left him with a room full of various types of Disneyland shopping bags. He felt it was “mottainai” or wasteful throwing them away. He experimented with repurposing them and created a jacket and pants out of them. While they were awesome, he knew that there weren’t many brave enough to wear them (see picture above).
Then came his “aha” moment and an idea that would stick: a canvas tote bag made with Disney shopping bags! Now he needed a place to showcase them and a clever name. His playful sense of humor led him to the Instagram name @grantfart (Grant F. Art).
Durable and stylish, @grantfart’s tote bags have canvas lining and straps. The outside design of the bag is the repurposed Disney shopping bag that is reinforced with vinyl, which allows for easy cleaning. Each bag is individually hand-sewn with great attention to detail that he takes a lot of pride in.
On ww.grantf.art, there are five different designs of tote bags for sale, with plenty more on the way. Grant’s next release is on Christmas Day at 1 p.m. PST, when he will feature a new concept called “Build a Bag.” This is his creative spin on a customizable tote bag where you can mix-and-match colors and bag designs.
Aside from creating products for his website, Grant also loves pushing the idea of using non-conventional materials in a more experimental way. He has made some extremely creative totes such as one made out of Disneyland Fastpass tickets and another with bags full of candy.
You can keep up with him on his Instagram, @grantfart, or on his website, www.grantf.art, to see what crazy ideas he has in store!