D&AD New Blood Shift: Meet Christopher
Introducing the Shift New York Class of 2020
My name is Christopher Martin and I am a creative entrepreneur looking to leave my mark on the world. I currently own and operate two brands, Cmarty’s Jerk & Cmartymar. I started off in the fashion world trying to find my voice with my clothing brand, Cmartymar. Through fashion I learned the importance of staying true to your core. With that ideal I went back to my roots with cooking and started my second brand, Cmarty's Jerk, a West Indian spice distribution & catering company.
As a kid I grew up in the kitchen. Through the fashion world I learned the importance of branding and curation. Over the past year I’ve decided to merge the two worlds and create a new environment for my creative explorations. With my connections in clothing, I started to cook for my friends and host the food at their pop up events.
Over the past 2 years, I began catering the major events I attended for fashion and shared my family recipes with that audience. From catering, I began to do pop up bbqs all over the city. Now I’m taking that information and applying it to my new seasoning line. By taking the branding experience from clothing and applying it to my culture and food, I’ve been able to create my own lane. Fusing Jamaican food with streetwear, sneaker culture, music and adding myself into the mix.
At the moment we’ve currently done an event for Nike, Liberty Fairs, Capsule Tradeshow, collaborated with Alumni Sneaker boutique, Extra Butter Sneaker boutique, been featured in Dazed Digital for my clothing brand, hosted clothing and food pop ups for Hester Street Fair, and currently have a pop up restaurant residency at a local bar in Crown Heights, King Tai Bar.
My goal here with D&AD is to extend my professional network, gain more creative experience, collaborate, and learn how to take my businesses and creativity to the next level.
Our Shifters have been honing their craft, pushing and polishing their work and now they are ready to take their talent further. Explore more:
Christopher Martin
www.cmartymar.com
