Animal Planet Showcases Art Inspired by Furry Friends

Animal Planet Showcases Art Inspired by Furry Friends

Animal Planet showcases a young artist, her beloved Himalayan and the trendy product designs he inspired

BURLINGTON, Vt., Nov. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- On December 13, 2008, at 8 p.m., Japanese graphic designer Sachie Tani will appear on an episode of the Animal Planet show "Cats 101" with her Himalayan cat Goma.

Like its companion show "Dogs 101," "Cats 101" spotlights animal breeds and the people who love them. But 30-year-old Sachie isn't your average cat person. She's an accomplished designer for Burlington, Vermont-based Jager Di Paola Kemp Design, which has used her artistic and marketing skills to turn her long-haired, flat-nosed 2-year-old cat into a brand ... and maybe soon into an empire!

Who is Goma? He has a blog that gets over 12,000 hits per month from 40 nations. He has a Facebook fan club (which is how Animal Planet found him). He's a YouTube sensation with 75 videos to his name: 90,000 viewers have tuned in to the epic battle depicted in "Cat vs. Cotton Candy."

You can find Goma zipping down the slopes on a Burton snowboard, and see him on a Flip Video Camcorder and a forthcoming Microsoft Xbox 360 Live packaging graphic. He's not just a cat; he's an icon. Sachie has used her design and web savvy to put her pet on everything from comics to computer desktop wallpaper, making him a Hello Kitty for the Web 2.0 generation.

In short, Goma's masked mug just might soon be everywhere. "Cats 101" captured the multimedia star's quieter side, at home with the doting owner who blogs his every quirk, whether he's peeking from a soup pot or licking canned salmon right off his paws.

This is the story of a young animal lover and the cat she turned into a celebrity. Are you ready to be a citizen of Planet Goma?

About Sachie Tani

Sachie grew up in a small town in Kyoto, Japan. At 21, she moved to the U.S. After attending the Maryland Institute College of Art, she got a job as a graphic designer at JDK Design, where she produced innovative designs for clients like Burton, Microsoft and the Nature Conservancy.

Sachie has been an advocate for wildlife and conservation since age 15. She writes: "Our environment has been suffering from damages we have created for years. My biggest mission as an artist is to inspire and educate people about our nature and wildlife."

Photos:

http://www.ereleases.com/pr/2008-SachieTani.jpghttp://www.ereleases.com/pr/2008-SachieTani2.jpg

Links and resources:

Goma's blog: http://mycatgoma.com/

Goma's YouTube videos: http://www.youtube.com/user/sachiedayo

Goma's fan club on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6653968094&ref=share

Goma in a music video with cult indie rockers The Smittens: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyoR7Pch6Uo

Goma showcased in an episode of "Stuck in Vermont," a video blog series from Vermont's award-winning alternative newsweekly: http://7d.blogs.com/stuckinvt/2007/11/my-cat-goma-55.html

Goma Art:

Burton Chicklet Snowboard: http://www.burton.com/

Flip camcorder: http://www.theflip.com/store/

Sachie Environmental Art:

The Nature Conservancy - http://shop.nature.org/category/show/5498

Sachie's art portfolio available upon request.

For interviews, please contact Sachie Tani at:

Cell: 802-310-0458
Work: 802-864-5884
E: sachietani@gmail.com

This release was issued through eReleases(TM). For more information, visit http://www.ereleases.com/.

Source: Sachie Tani

CONTACT: Sachie Tani, Cell: +1-802-310-0458, +1-802-864-5884,
sachietani@gmail.com

Web site: http://mycatgoma.com/

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