For nearly seven years, Jyothi Tatter has been working as a filmmaker and creative director. He developed his own brand, Forever Pure; he’s done music videos for established artists, shot weddings, created promotional content for ComplexCon and recently started to work on adding a clothing brand to the mix. 

But this is a version of himself he would have never expected, especially as a young high school kid back in the late 2000’s. 

He recalls his time in high school which made him realize the conventional academic path wasn't for him. 

“I wasn’t the greatest student when it came to math and science; whatever your parents look at or your parents focus on. I was always the kid that was good at art or sports. Those were the two things, that’s it.”

He remembers back to when he would skip out on homework to play hockey and when he would skip out on in-class work to draw or use his mind in an artistic capacity. Tatter never thought his path would take him to the joint film and business program between the Toronto Film School and Ryerson University. 

This is a reality for a lot of Asian students who don’t fit the stereotypical description of being “book smart.” Pressures for success don’t often include pursuing a career in the arts. But Tatter considers  himself lucky for having an interior designer as a mother who understood art as a career. He said between his mom and his friends, he had the support to feel confident about where he was going. 

Today, Tatter has created visuals for artists such as Nav, Tory Lanez, Sidhu Moosewala, Byg Byrd (who happens to be his cousin), Sunny Malton and Ramriddlz just to name a few. He also stays busy with working countless weddings every wedding season, and he continues to work as visuals and sales at Moncler. 

Needless to say, Tatter’s visual inspiration spans into many different facets. But it makes a lot of sense seeing as some of his biggest artistic inspirations are Kanye West and Nipsey Hussle, two men that ventured from music into multiple different streams. That’s why he’s excited about launching his own clothing collection. 

Released as an added branch to his production company, Tatter decided to pursue a clothing collection as a way to delve into his longtime-love for fashion and not limit his artistic endeavors. 

“A lot of people are confused right now,” he says. Tatter speculates that a lot of his social media followers probably think it’s just merch for his video production company. 

“It’s bigger than that.”

In fact, Tatter had been toying around with the idea of releasing his own clothing line since he created a prototype shirt for his brand Forever Pure back in 2017.

 

“Jealousy will bloom like flowers but will never look as pretty,” reads the back of the shirt. After getting a lot of compliments on the prototype and the quote that went with it, he wanted to echo a similar sentiment in his official release.

“I wanted to make awareness not only for the brand but for life,” says Tatter. 

And that was how he came to create the first piece of his collection: a European made, oversized shirt with a boxy fit. The shirt includes a skeleton smelling a rose with the quote “give people their flowers while they can still smell them” which was released on Oct. 31.

Tatter says this is his way of promoting awareness to be kind. “There's a lot of hate, there’s not enough love in the world.” 

“You put on a hockey jersey, you’re proud to wear a hockey jersey because of the team you rep or even the player, you support that player, that player means something to you. That's how I want people to feel when they wear the shirt or the pieces. I want them to feel ‘wow, this shirt is amazing, the quality is amazing,’ but also to be proud to wear it because there’s something there to remind them to show a little more love to the person walking by,” says Tatter. 

He wants all of his garments to evoke this type of emotion, so he plans on holding off on a full release until early next year. He says he’s hoping to figure out the best way to display the products without being too cliche. 

Planning out unique visuals kind of speaks more to his Kanye side. But, there is also the side of his inspiration that comes from Nipsey, a humble man who was motivated to not give up on his aspirations. And for a brown boy who easily could have let his head inflate, Tatter finds humility in the way he was raised and the work he does.

“All of this can be taken away, so you gotta remain humble at all times and live it day by day.”

Tatters story serves as a reminder to young brown boys that don’t feel that they fit into a pre-established box, that there are careers and paths out there for them, that are greater than what they could’ve imagined. 
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