Every 90s kid is familiar with the name Lisa Frank. She is the creator of the nostalgic and brightly colored school supplies that all of us just had to have to get through the school year. However, how much thought have you put into the woman behind the mania? Obviously, her name is Lisa Frank and here are 18 facts that you never knew about her.
She’s 61-years-old and she has stayed away from the limelight of her epic creations.
Now, here are some interesting facts about her:
1. She is from a wealthy family in Bloomfield Hill, MI.
2. Her love of painting began in high school and during her senior year she even sold $3,000 worth of her art at an art show during her senior year. This included a painting of Lee Iacocca.
3. She was attending the University of Arizona when she started her company.
4. When she was 25, she renamed the company Lisa Frank in 1979.
5. That same year, Spencer Gifts put in her first million-dollar order.
6. Her empire is located in Tuscon, AZ.
7. She hardly ever appears on camera or does any interviews.
8 Her privacy stems from the fact that she’s worried that she won’t live up to her fans’ expectations.
9. She was always coloring when she was young and loved girly girl things.
10. She defines herself as “crazy” and “lunatic”.
11. Hunter (the leopard cub) is her favorite character and also Forest (the tiger cub) because they were inspired by her two sons.
12.The names of her characters are based upon real people in her life. For example, Markie (the unicorn, one of her very first characters) is based on a friend who died of a heart attack.
13. Although she is a dog person, she says that she is most like her character Purrcilla (the white cat) saying, “But Purrcilla is a lot like me, because she is very into glam and glitz and jewelry and everything very girlie. And some of the jewelry in the illustration is even my own jewelry.”
14. The process which creates her iconic bright color is a complete secret.
15. She has always dreamed of being an artist.
16. She would like to make Lisa Frank a theme park.
17. She started a smaller company back in the day and called it Sticky Fingers in which she created plastic jewelry with a glue gun. The company was sold to Urban Outfitters over 20 years ago
18. There are only two photos of her online.
This is one of them:
