Darren Romanelli
Darren Romanelli (DRx, Dr. Romanelli) is a Los Angeles based designer, marketer, and director.
Career
Designer
Romanelli is best known for creating series of customized, limited EDition clothing, furniture and toys. He adds his signature (DRx) to each project and has been involved with all levels of a project's development, from inception to display to promotion. Romanelli has had collaborations with Converse, Pete Wentz from Fall Out Boy and Looney Tunes.
Collaborations
- Jaeger LeCoultre — Reverso Romanelli (2006) — Romanelli designed a limited edition watch for luxury watch brand, Jaeger LeCoultre along with a black and white leather jacket which integrated a wrist attachment for the watch.
- Looney Tunes — What's Up DRx (2007) — "What's Up DRX" depicted the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes characters as mad scientists for a clothing line and limited edition toy.
- Fraggle Rock — Dr. Doozer (2009) — A line of high-fashion t-shirts and toys featuring Jim Henson's Fraggle Rock characters.The line was sold at high-end stores such as; Kitson in West Hollywood and Colette in Paris.
Marketer
StreetVirus is a marketing agency in which Romanelli is co-owner. The agencies client roster has included; Disney, FOX, Warner Bros. and Converse. Romanelli and StreetVirus have aligned brands with specialty boutiques in cities around the world such as; Maxfield Department Store in Los Angeles, Colette in Paris, and Barneys in Tokyo.
The Pancake Epidemic, a division of StreetVirus, is a creative agency which focuses strictly on content creation. The offices are located directly above the iconic IHOP in the Miracle Mile district of Los Angeles and officially opened its doors in September, 2012.
Director
In 2011 Romanelli directed, "Dawned On Me", a music video from American alternative rock band Wilco. The song came off their Grammy nominated album, "The Whole Love," which was released in September 2011. This was the first video for the band since 1999.
Romanelli conceived the idea of the video - a black-and-white vintage cartoon which features Popeye and the likeness of Wilco frontman, Jeff Tweedy, along with the rest of the band. The video debuted in January 2012 and this collaboration with King Features whom sydicates the comic strip, presents the first hand-drawn Popeye cartoon in more than 30 years.
In 2012, Romanelli was called on to direct another music video, this time for Los Angeles based singer, Ryan McDermott whom at the time had recently signed to Kanye West's G.O.O.D Music. The video was for McDermott's first single, "Paradise", and came off his album, "Ryan vs. The Sandman."