Words and Interview The Kanto team
Images Lei Melendres for New Era Philippines
Professional ‘doodle’ artist Lei Melendres has spent over a decade organizing other artists’ work as founder of Doodle Art Enthusiasts, once the Philippines’ largest doodling community. So it comes as no surprise that when New Era CO11ECTIVE’s 11th anniversary capsule collection paired four Filipino artists with four core values, Melendres received Collaboration; for the veteran community-builder, this was familiar territory. His artwork, Cosmic Synergy, shows three distinct characters working on something together, each bringing their own style into one composition, mirroring the kind of creative friction he’s spent years learning to both manage and nourish at scale.
In our conversation, Melendres talks through what Collaboration looked like alongside Jethro Olba, Nicolo Nimor of Nick Automatic, and Raco Ruiz, and what he hopes it teaches the next artist too afraid to ask for help.
Infinity Mix is built on compacting seemingly endless, disparate elements into a scene until they read as a single composition. Did this same instinct guide how you thought about “Collaboration” as a value before you even started sketching?
Lei Melendres: Yes. My style works best when I’m able to include a lot of elements in a piece. In a way, I see my artworks as puzzles where every element has a purpose, working together to complete the whole composition. The concept behind my Cosmic Synergy piece shows three distinct characters collaborating on a work in progress, each bringing their own style and personality. Those differences clash, blend, and eventually come together, and I think that creative process is where the real magic of collaboration happens.
You founded Doodle Art Enthusiasts back in 2012, essentially organizing other artists’ collaboration from the very start. How much of that experience shaped how you approached your New Era pieces, versus your usual solo practice?
Lei Melendres: As a former head of an art community, one of the biggest challenges was finding a way for everyone to showcase their individual strengths while contributing to a single piece. The goal was to let each artist shine while still supporting one another throughout the process. I approached my New Era piece the same way. I wanted it to complement the other featured artists’ works without sacrificing what I think gives my style authenticity.
The commemorative tee folds all four artists’ interpretations into one design. What’s the hardest part of making your own linework legible and yours inside a piece that has to share space with three other visual languages?
Lei Melendres: I think that’s the beauty of what all four of us created. We ended up with a harmonious overall look without even planning for it to happen. We created our artworks without knowing what the other three artists were working on, yet they still looked like they were made together. New Era’s in-house artist brought all four artworks together into a single design. We were actually surprised that despite the clear differences in our personal art styles, we honestly loved how it turned out.
New Era’s core values: Individuality, Authenticity, Pride, sit right next to Collaboration on this same collection. Where does your piece actually need those other three to make sense, versus standing on its own?
Lei Melendres: To me, those values naturally go hand in hand. Collaboration only works when everyone brings their own Individuality and Authenticity to the table. If we all approached things the same way, there wouldn’t be much to collaborate on. Pride also plays a role because every artist wants to contribute their best work. I think my piece can stand on its own, but its message becomes stronger when you see it alongside the other three artists’ interpretations, because that’s exactly what collaboration is about: different perspectives coming together to create something bigger than any one of us could have made alone.
You’ve built a real community around doodling in the Philippines, which is no small accomplishment. What do you hope another local artist sees in your New Era CO11ECTIVE piece that makes them want in on a collective like DAE, or a collaboration like this one?
Lei Melendres: When I started my career, I was afraid to ask for help and thought I had to do everything on my own because I believed that was what it took to succeed. Especially today, when a lot of success stories shared online make it seem like people got there purely through individual hustle and hard work.
Being part of an art community completely changed that perspective. I realized that surrounding yourself with like-minded people opens doors to new opportunities, experiences, and ideas that you probably wouldn’t discover on your own. I hope this piece encourages other artists to be more open to collaboration, because sometimes creating something together can take you much further than trying to do everything alone. •
New Era Philippines turns 11 this year, and celebrated with New Era CO11ECTIVE, a capsule collection handing its core values, Individuality, Collaboration, Authenticity, and Pride, to four different Filipino artists to interpret however they saw fit. The result: a red 59FIFTY carrying tonal embroidery and an undervisor combining every artist’s work, a deep green Camper with swappable Velcro patches, a navy 9TWENTY embroidered with all their visual languages at once, and a commemorative tee that folds each artwork into a single design. Every purchase also comes with a blind pack, a randomly selected print from one of the artists, while supplies last.
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