Dominic Padua (aka Dom Chi) does many things very well, including the art of marbling.

Steffan Chirazi visits his Sebastopol, CA, studio to learn more.

Dom Chi is a man in perpetual positive motion.

His eyes sparkle incessantly, and even when calmly standing still, you sense that a cocktail of ideas and curiosity is constantly flowing through him. A glance at his body of work thus far tells you that this combination of seeking knowledge and finding avenues of expression has seen him express his talents in some unorthodox areas. Take his development of fermented hot sauces (Kim Chi Sauce) plus Kim Chi sauerkraut, motivated by a combination of cultural roots, dietary necessity, and pure curiosity. I arrived at the store (Dom Chi Designs), which he and his wife Brena run in Sebastopol, to dig deep and tell his story. I soon discovered that his story is best told by him via a series of somewhat chronological thoughts. Truthfully, I’m not sure any “stated story” is ever going to fully explain who Dominic Padua is, because he is an artist in constant motion and elemental immersion, from the waters of Tomales Bay to fermentation to playing music to experiencing whatever the moment has in store for him. It’s no surprise that Dom’s spectacular “marbling” style of artwork—which he most frequently creates on baseball caps—has drawn the attention of many, from the Laguanitas Brewery to F1 racing to Tommy Hilfiger, and most recently, Metallica. Dom’s work resonated with James Hetfield, sparking this collaboration.

We have to start with that mind…always moving, always seeking, always challenging, a byproduct of his childhood without a shadow of a doubt…

“I was born in Germany in 1983. My father was an audiovisual specialist, a civilian contracted with the army. He's from Vallejo, Bay Area, actually, and got a job at Mare Island, taking photos of the build. From there, in that government service, he got some cool work. I was born on, I think, his third tour in Germany, and then ended up moving every other year. We lived an hour outside of Nuremberg in a very small town; I remember that every windowsill in these old, small houses had the most amazing flower boxes…”

How great to hear that recognition of the beauty of nature and color at such a young age. That’s the thing with Dom; you realize quickly that his wider senses were set to “permanently engaged” very early, something that his army-life childhood fed constantly. He bounced between Germany and the US for a while before an entirely new set of adventures happened as his teenage years were revving up.

“I started high school in Ohio as a freshman. Then, I went to Japan for my sophomore year and Korea for junior year: Tokyo and Seoul. To me, Seoul made Tokyo seem small, and that's quite something because Tokyo is massive. But Seoul just seemed over the top. It felt immersive, and that's where I really had the most freedom. I don’t know how, but my mom let me run the streets, and I got involved with inline skating and a skate shop.”

What happened next would be too weird in most tales; however, after a couple 
of hours experiencing how Dom Chi effortlessly flows, it makes perfect sense.

“I went to school in the military base, but so did some Korean nationals, as they would get signed in to go to the English school. So, this lady sees me and says, ‘Hey, you're cute. You want to be on TV? You fit the part and we're looking for somebody like you.’ I looked at her; she was a tall Korean lady in high heels and cheetah print, not a normal Korean look. So, the next thing I knew, I auditioned for this part, and I got it. It was teaching English to kids on TV. So, you could flip to channel 17 and catch me dancing, singing, and speaking very simple English. Only two people spoke even broken English, so my Korean got very good. Then I learned how to eat the food. I'd never seen any of this food. So, then I learned how to order for my family when we’d go out to eat in Korea and stuff. So, it's where ‘Dom Chi’ originated because of my appreciation or love for understanding that stuff.”

This is all part of Dom's perpetual burning interest in learning more about himself in all manner of ways: health, food, culture, experiences, art, and how they all inspire him as one crazy conglomerate.

“I didn't understand it then, but it was fermentation. The way that it develops flavor and layered flavor. And that didn't make sense until much later when I moved here, did some digging, and realized something was missing in my life. It wasn’t as effervescent. Not as bright. And I started realizing all the culture and things I was immersed in—the food, the arts, and the entertainers on the street—were so important to me. And so, I felt it was maybe my duty to try to figure out how to bring some of those experiences I had overseas to the American world that I am now part of. I feel I moved back ‘home’ to America to go to college, but I really lived my whole life overseas.”

In both an intuitive and tangible sense, “gut feelings” figure heavily in Dom Chi’s life.

“I just met a Peruvian artist who explained that, in their culture, they consider the gut the big brain. They’re not wrong… intuition, your gut feeling, and all that. Much of that also has something to do with my relationship to food and understanding how it makes me feel, and how that makes me feel is then inspirational. I think making early connections on that front helped me with all kinds of things. I always joke, but it's true, that with fermentation, you're layering. Even with cooking, you're sort of layering flavors. And the way you layer them could potentially create these magical flavors at the end of the day. Same with colors. If you don't layer them right, you end up with brown. So, let's just mix them all…”
 

The sheer lack of fear versus enlightened comprehension in this guy is somewhere north of stunning. Take this turn of events when considering university back in the US.

“I was actually headed to an art school, and I realized right before I went that it was gonna be $28,000 a year for tuition. I turned around and thought, ‘Wow, in four years I’ll owe something like $100,000 for an art degree.’ And I thought I could make art my whole life, that I didn't need to go $100,000 in debt to do it. I had visited another college here, Sonoma State, while visiting my grandma in Vallejo, and I clearly remembered the oak trees that we have here [locally], how cool they looked, and how their arms hung; it was just a really big picture in my mind. Another reason why California was appealing was because of the alternative food culture and my chasing access to real food. It’s how I ended up on this farm when I was going to Sonoma State, Laguna Farm. They did a veggie box subscription where you get a box every week of whatever's in season, and I couldn't afford it, so I ended up working/volunteering once a week to get that box…”

There is much more to know, of course. How Dom essentially learned to be a steward of the land and an agriculturalist, the pathway to that knowledge being forged in hours and hours of manual labor. How all of it, indeed, everything in Dom Chi’s life, is neither trial nor tribulation. It is an opportunity.

Somewhere in this journey came his trademark craft of marbling and the caps. I watched him demo his work and technique for me (and for you, too). It was at once mesmerizing and defied logic.

 

“You draw on water which is actually thickened with a powdered seaweed (Carageenan) and that creates a surface tension, and means this seaweed water is your ‘canvas.’ That’s what allows you to float dye or paint. I think it’s important to get across that you can paint precisely to a degree, but no two pieces are going to be the same because there are so many variables which make each one unique.”

The collaboration with Metallica features those incredible, bespoke hats. You won’t be surprised to learn that Dom and music have been creative buddies for some time.

“Music is a big part of my artwork. Dad was a drummer, and I played trumpet through grade school, plus guitar and keyboards for social type of fun, as well as making beats. So, it was really exciting to hear that James had come across my work. And yes, I absolutely got inspired by Metallica's music. ‘For Whom the Bell Tolls’ is a big one, and obviously other classics, but I also really got into the Load album. Ultimately, what stood out to me, especially while trying to make these pieces with inspiration from within the music, was that the songs are an epic journey. When he would go off into these cool solos, my marbling would go off from what I was planning into catching inspiration from the flow of the music.”

Besides all we’ve discussed, Dom Chi’s also into (or been into) airbrush art, ink, mushroom foraging kits, wood etching, customized drumheads, a plethora of clothing, shoes, kitchen supplies, murals, and doubtless something else as you read this. Ladies and gentlemen… I give you Dom Chi, as authentic and inspirational a Renaissance man as I think I’ve ever met.

SHOP DOM CHI X METALLICA