A love of cats and a decided talent with a paintbrush as well as a computer have yielded recognition from
an unexpected quarter for Bowling Green’s Adrianne Lee.
She was recently notified that she is one of the top five winners of a national product design
competition, for which she has been awarded a $5,000 small business grant.
Lee won the contest by designing an iPhone cover that features her original painting of a whimsical
long-necked cat.
Call the creation "Kitty Blue."
The competition, sponsored by the Fresh Step Cat Litter Company through its Feline Art Grant program,
called for entrepreneur-artists nationwide to submit cat-theme inspired product designs. The five
winners were asked to use their $5,000 to produce, package and ship their winning product to the company
for distribution.
Lee was up for the challenge and ended up creating 300 units of her iPhone case.
It was only by accident that she found out about the contest.
"I literally Googled ‘illustrated contests’ and that came up," she said. "I love cats so I
thought ‘this might be something I’d enjoy.’ So I submitted" a painting of a cat with a feminine
personality in what she considers her trademark "loose style."
That was sometime last summer, and months went by with no word.
"I had actually forgotten about it" and when an email showed up in her mailbox in late November
with a ‘You have won…" message, Lee nearly deleted it, thinking it was spam.
"I was absolutely shocked and floored when I found out I won. I had to read it three times" for
the news to sink in.
A 2002 Bowling Green High School graduate, Lee has a bachelor’s degree in apparel merchandising and
product development from Bowling Green State University.
She knew she had no time to sit and gloat. She had to produce those 300 iPhone covers – and fast.

"I had to find a printer within the cost they would allow. I actually had my family helping with
assembling them," including the boxes for shipping. She even made stickers for the label.
"At BGSU I had been doing product development, and that knowledge really came into play."
So did experience gained during two different periods when she lived in New York City.
The first was while she served an internship at Harper’s Bazaar, the illustrated fashion magazine.
After graduation she returned to New York for about a year, during which she did freelance fashion
assisting, "helping different companies with fashion shows" and the like.
While working at J Crew headquarters "I got to see enough of how product development comes
together" to give her still more clues for to producing those iPhone covers.
"Being an artist, you don’t always have a steady income, but I’m pretty thankful the company was
giving prizes away. It really helped."
For Lee, the route to success is clearly entrepreneurial, as she has started not one but two solo
businesses.
The first is Ninkybink, an apparel and accessory design business she’s been running out of her home since
she was an undergraduate. Ninkybink started with her original designs for handbags.
More recently she launched an illustration business called The Critic’s Darling.
This isn’t the first time Lee has won a national competition. In 2008 she won $1,000 in a contest for
college students for a rainwear design.
"I designed a ‘collection’ – raincoat, umbrella and boots. I got to go to Charleston to receive the
prize."
Being her own boss suits Lee’s personality, she said, and so does life in Bowling Green as opposed to the
Big Apple.
She works a regular gig as a morning barista at the Perrysburg Starbucks "and I have the rest of the
day to catch up with my creative ventures. I went ahead and made Ninkybink into a real business so I
have access to wholesale."
A lot of that business is devoted to buying T-shirts and doing original screen designs, then selling them
at regional events.
She’s a regular participant in the Downtown BG Art Walks, and has been a vendor at Handmade Toledo’s
Maker’s Mart, "a wonderful event that started recently." It’s held each spring and fall.
Lee is also a semi-regular at monthly art and wine events at the Dirty Bird restaurant in downtown
Toledo, across from Fifth Third Field stadium.
"They just started it as a spin-off of ArtWalk. When ArtWalk stopped at the end of summer, they just
kept it going."
Lee also sells her products on her own websites – www.ninkybink.com and www.thecriticsdarling.com.
"I’m moving from having ready-made inventory to doing illustration work and textile design on
demand, as a service."
Included are illustrations for cosmetic products, bedding designs, and fabrics for clothing and home
interiors – art applied to all different surfaces and textiles.
"I would love to do more things like this cat litter company’s cell phone covers."
Anyone who loves her cat iPhone case will have to become a frequent buyer of Fresh Step kitty litter
products as the company is distributing the cases as a redemption reward for those who accrue a certain
number of "paw points."
But "I do sell the prints of that painting on the website ninkybink.com," Lee said.