This week’s welcome to the Insta-hood is featured on Instagram account: @funwithFriday !
- Tell me a little about yourself:
“My name’s Nicole Daddona, better known as Friday to me and probably no one else… I honestly don’t know what to call myself anymore. I’m an artist first and foremost, but also a comedian, filmmaker, cartoonist, fashion designer, and toy designer. I’m currently based in Los Angeles, but I complain about the lack of seasons here almost every day so I should probably leave. I’ve made live action and animated TV and film projects with Adult Swim, MTV, Amazon Studios, AbsoLutely Producitons, and Cartoon Network. I’ve made illustrations for BUST Magazine, Cosmopolitan, and The Los Angeles Times and I’m currently working on my second feature film with my directing partner and best friend Adam Shenkman. My work has been featured in Forbes, Buzzfeed, BUST Magazine, PAPER, the The New York Daily News.”
2. What inspired you to make Magic Society?
“I first started imagining what it would be like to have my own clothing and accessories brand during my plane ride out to Los Angeles from the east coast when I moved to LA for the first time in late 2012.
I wanted to make a brand that created clothing and accessories that I’d want to wear. Because I was broke at the time, the only thing I could afford to make when Magic Society was starting out were enamel pins and patches. In 2013 I started up an Etsy store for Magic Society and the brand gained the attention of Urban Outfitters when I created Buff Benernie: A Coloring Book for Berniacs during the 2016 election. Urban Outfitters ended up carrying the coloring books and some of my pins. In late 2019, Magic Society expanded into other accessories as well as original clothing and toys. Magic Society was born out of a desire to share my art with the world in an affordable and wearable way. Magic Society is inspired by pop culture, underground comics, childlike wonder, and surrealism.”
3. What/Who are some of your current inspirations when creating your items?
“I’m always inspired by Andy Kaufman, Salvador Dali, Sid & Marty Krofft,
Dolly Parton, Andy Warhol, and Keith Haring.
I’ve been revisiting a lot of 90s films during quarantine because the fashion is so inspiring. Patrick Kelly, the famous fashion designer from the 80s, has been someone I’ve been learning a lot about lately and I’m very inspired by the colorful and bold choices he made in his fashion.
I’ve been watching a lot of videos on candle making and metal detecting lately while I pack orders for Magic Society. I’m not sure if these are inspiring the creative work I’m doing as much as they’re making me want to start a new hobby. I can see myself getting deeply committed to metal detecting, which could either be a really good look for me and make me mysterious and interesting or take me over the edge into crazy aunt territory.
I rewatched Twin Peaks recently and the mood of that entire show has been a big influence on many of the items I’ve been creating lately for Magic Society. Noel Fielding and Mitch Hedberg have been inspiring my comedy writing lately. 2020 was the year I planned to start doing stand up comedy in front of a live audience for the first time and that sort of went out the window with COVID, so I’m currently working on a comedy special that’s part stand up and part documentary that I plan to film later this year and release in early 2021. My directing partner Adam Shenkman and I are working on a quarantine feature film and we watch a movie almost every night, so we’re constantly absorbing great cinematic influences. We’re really inspired by Charlie Kaufman and lately I’ve been obsessing over the films of Quentin Dupieux.”
4. Can you talk about your mag Friday Magazine for those who aren’t aware what it is?
“FRIDAY Magazine is a quarterly lowbrow art and culture magazine. It’s been described as “What it would look like if John Waters made Teen Beat”. It’s definitely inspired by the teen magazines of yore (do people even say of yore? Cut that out if it sounds weird lol) I grew up in the 90s and early 00s and was obsessed with J14, YM, Seventeen, and Teen Beat and would spend HOURS pouring over the colorful pages. I loved the quizzes and horoscopes and interviews with celebrities. I really try to capture the vibe of these magazines with every issue of FRIDAY. I was also obsessed with Nickelodeon growing up and always wanted a Nickelodeon Magazine subscription because the issues came with extra gifts like do not disturb door hangers you could cut out and use and cut out board games. I always include bonus gifts with each issue of FRIDAY, which makes the magazine really fun to get in the mail. The magazine features interviews with amazing comedians, musicians, artists, and a lot more. Past issues have featured Oliver Tree, Dorian Electra, John Early, Chris Fleming, Johnny Ryan, and so many amazing people I’m forgetting. The upcoming issue comes out in September and features Eric Andre, Wham City Comedy, and Seth Bogart. Each issue honestly gets better and better. I hope some day that advertisers will want to advertise in the magazine because right now it makes negative money, but that’s not the reason I do it. I make FRIDAY to give a print platform to all of the incredibly talented people out there in the world. “
5. Do you have any exciting news or events that you would like to share?
“When quarantine first hit I was pretty bummed out because a major art show I had planned with a big LA gallery got postponed indefinitely. I soon realized that everyone had big plans that were being cancelled, so I pushed myself to get over that and shift my creative energy into other projects.
I’m really excited to finish up that quarantine feature film I mentioned, which features a ton of talented people including Maria Bamford. It’s a unique format I’ve been wanting to do for a while, and quarantine has ended up being the perfect time to do it. I also just finished up post production a short film Adam and I made with AbsoLutely Productions that I’m really excited to finally share with the world. Adam and I are also almost done editing our first feature film that we shot in 2018 for $10K. I’m excited to get all these back logged projects completed and out. Post production is hard!
Besides that, quarantine has been a great time to focus on growing my brand Magic Society. My Etsy shop was suspended at the end of 2019, which was actually a blessing in disguise because it pushed me to start up an online shop outside of that platform and learn how to market myself and my creations. I really dove into growing Magic Society into the brand I’ve always wanted it to be in the last few months.
I launched a blow up doll purse line called the Blow Me Bag, which is everything I love in a product. It’s both extremely weird and high fashion. I was excited that Forbes picked up on this piece and wrote about it recently. You can read the article here: https://www.forbes.com/sites/susannahbreslin/2020/07/21/meet-the-artist-turning-blowup-dolls-into-fashion-designs/#38850b18233c
I’ve also been making a ton of plush toys for my toy brand Sexy Furby – if you can even call it a toy brand..it’s honestly more like a cathartic exercise where I cut the faces off of stuffed animals and replace them with other faces (usually Furby faces). Sounds incredibly creepy when I write it out, but people seem to like what I make and want to buy it so I keep making more and more and put them up for adoption. This is either a brilliant business idea or cry for help.
Oh man! I’m working on something else. Wow, No wonder I get chronic migraines. I’m working on a music album that I plan to make into a rock opera film next year in the realm of Forbidden Zone and Tommy and that comedy special / documentary hybrid I mentioned. I have at least twenty Trello boards with a million other projects I want to do on them. Everything is so exciting right now!”
If you like to know more information about Nicole the following contact is below:
Her store:
Thank you so much for the interview!
ladycultblog 
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