Greazel Design Chris Greazel. Design – Illustration – Fine Art

My primary areas of expertise are industrial design, graphic design, illustration, model construction, and project management, including team leadership resulting in successful realization of design intent throughout production, both on-time and on-budget.

I’ve been involved professionally in the design field for nearly two decades. After graduating from the University of San Diego High School, I moved north to study Product and Transportation Design at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, by way of Illustration and Engineering courses at California State University, Fullerton first.

After Art Center I did technical drawings and illustrations for aerospace companies, and design work for Hot Rods by Boyd and Radica Games among other clients.

I then worked several years designing for the Harley-Davidson Motor Company, through their OEM-Tier 1 master supplier Colormania’s studio in Huntington Beach, originating dozens of designs including graphics and logos for their Radical Custom accessories programs. Largely this involved limited-edition custom painted sheetmetal components and parts sets which were available only through the H-D Genuine Motor Accessories dealer catalogs each year.

Eventually I became Managing Director of Styling and Design, leading a ten-person design and prototyping team. I worked closely with the H-D Product Development Center in Wauwatosa, annually flying there to present hundreds of our new design renderings, from which they would choose for the next year’s production. We would then create the painted prototypes, which upon approval were also then used in the catalog shoots.

All of our production work consistently sold out within days of their debuts at the dealer shows.

We also designed various additional motorcycle accessory parts for other H-D suppliers, and each year I created several complete concept bike designs as well.

Many of my designs and those of my team were in production for at least seven model years, including H-D’s centennial.

During my time there, the number of designs we generated increased 400%, and Colormania’s annual revenue increased over 1400%, to $10.4 million.

Several of my designs were reproduced as Harley-Davidson licensed diecast scale models by Maisto, Mattel, and the Franklin Mint.

Ultimately the H-D contract was sold, and at this time I was approached by a former Harley-Davidson executive to co-found a new design, graphics and show quality custom paint company, which became Antares Design in Anaheim.

Our clients at Antares included Yamaha, Indian, and Polaris’ Victory Motorcycles. I continued to design logos, graphics, paint schemes, parts and accessories, and concept bikes. I also wrote our products’ ad copy for Yamaha.

After Antares, I co-founded Defiant Customs, where we designed, built and painted our own brand of custom chopper rolling chassis.

During this time I also designed and worked on customized and hot rod cars and trucks. Often my sketches and renderings were used as a sales tool to help our clients envision additional possibilities for their projects, and thus generated more production work and revenue.

When the chopper market became saturated, I began working for Minot’s Light, Inc. (MLI) of Irvine and their various subsidiaries.

In addition to projects for defense contractors, much of my later work there was designing consumer products, many of which were wheeled or lighted. Some of these were intricately cut out with a CO2 laser that followed the path of my vector drawings, then hand-assembled.

We also used the laser in the fabrication of custom vehicle parts, corporate art installations, and themed wall-sized donor recognition displays that I’d designed for our clients.

I was with MLI for 3½ years. Many of my designs remain in production.

Along the way I’ve done various freelance design, styling and illustration work–ranging from baby strollers, watches and lamps to Class 8 trucks, motor yachts and starships for online games.

Much of my work has been in the automotive aftermarket industry, which includes designing restyled body kits, wheels, interiors and lighted custom sound system enclosures for high-end coachbuilder clients and SEMA-bound show vehicles, often with the cooperation of the original vehicle manufacturers. Some of this–and other OEM consulting work–remains confidential.

I’m often seeking new challenges. Please inquire as to my availability to work on your next project.

Thank you.