When George Lake was a kid growing up in Baltimore, he wasn’t dreaming of baseball or bikes; he was dreaming of Jacques Cousteau. Getting his first home aquarium at 10 and a marine tank before he was a teen, he filled his head full of ocean facts and fish lore. As a Marine Biology student in college, he helped to get a bill passed designating the Baltimore Aquarium, then under construction, the National Aquarium and he became a charter member once it opened.

But his journey didn’t end in a lab.

Today, George and the Ocean Vista team channel that deep-sea obsession into wearable art for your favorite ocean-loving nerds (including ourselves). Every design we create is rooted in a genuine appreciation for all life in, on, and under the seven seas (whether it has gills, tentacles, a scientific Latin name longer than a subway sandwich, or lives in mythical sea monster lore).

The Designs

Our inspirations range from:

  • 📚 The meticulous taxonomic drawings of 16th–18th century naturalists and ichthyologists

  • 📸 Real photos snapped on coral reefs and kelp forests

  • 🧜 Mythical tales of krakens, sirens, and deep-sea dragons

  • 🧠 Our own college Marine Biology notes (some of which were weirdly artistic for lab diagrams)

Most of our apparel starts with centuries-old scientific illustrations, painstakingly scanned at ultra-high resolution. From there, we manually edit out smudges, ink bleeds, and 400-year-old blemishes, pixel by pixel, then restore any missing lines or limbs (turns out, sea creatures are even cooler with all their appendages). Once each masterpiece is clean and digitally reborn, we remove the background to create a versatile, transparent image ready to pair with modern colors and sustainable fabrics.

The result? Apparel and accessories that are smart, sustainable, and scientifically delightful.

The Process

Every item is printed on demand, minimizing waste and maximizing impact—because we’re krilling it on conservation, too. Many of our pieces are made with recycled materials, and we’re always hunting for even more eco-conscious options (without harming a single nudibranch in the process).

Ocean Vista Apparel Is For...

🧪 The science teacher who wants her wardrobe to spark curiosity
🐙 The octopus-obsessed nephew who thinks tentacles are peak design
🌊 The beach-loving, eco-conscious shopper who’d rather wear a mola mola than a logo

If you’ve ever googled “cephalopod facts” at 2am or corrected someone’s pronunciation of “coelacanth,” you’re in the right place.

Welcome to Ocean Vista Apparel, where vintage art meets sustainable style.
Science never looked this good.