DAVID CHUM
FOUNDER & CREATIVE DIRECTOR, DCPC
As soon as David could hold a crayon, he understood that making marks could move people. By the time he was three, newly learning English in nursery school, he was already translating feeling into form—drawing animals and gowns with uncanny accuracy. The reactions were immediate: his parents smiled with pride, teachers lingered, and his playmates watched in awe.
Art became both language
AND SURVIVAL
—a way to make sense of anxiety, androgyny, and otherness long before he had words for them. He noticed early how the smallest details could reveal the structure of something larger—and that paying attention was its own kind of art.
Born with the caul in a refugee camp during the Khmer Rouge, David Chum has always existed at the intersection of resilience and artistry. As a teenager, he taught himself clothing construction, textile manipulation, and costume design, exploring drag performance and fashion as mediums for communication, self-expression, and transformation. This early experimentation evolved into a multidisciplinary practice that fused technical skill with emotional storytelling.
At the College of Art and Design at Lesley University, where he earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts, David’s work examined ritual and transformation in the aftermath of trauma. His large-scale work combined sound, costume, jewelry, oil portraiture, found objects, lighting, and sculpture—each installation functioning as a still performance, connecting physical form to psychological truth.
After graduation, David launched his self-taught clothing and jewelry label Selahdor from his Arlington studio in 2009. After years of exhibiting work that rarely paid the bills, he wanted to create something people could actually live in. Pattern-making and clothing construction became his new obsession—the thrill of mastering a craft he barely knew was addictive. His only goal was to sell one dress. Then DailyCandy featured his work, and everything changed. Within weeks, Selahdor was garnering press in outlets like Boston Magazine and US Weekly, carried by independent boutiques, and represented in showrooms in Boston and New York. The momentum eventually led to national recognition when David appeared as an early fan-favorite designer on Project Runway Season 9. The exposure cemented his reputation as one of Boston’s most distinctive emerging designers, known for his modern tailoring rooted in narrative, emotion, and self-possession—pieces that carried the quiet authority of personal transformation without spectacle.
These experiences naturally led to cosmetic tattooing, where his expertise in proportion, symmetry, and detail found its perfect medium. With a meticulous eye and an understanding of facial harmony, David approaches each set of brows as more than just a cosmetic enhancement—it is a reflection of identity, confidence, and the quiet power of refinement. Blending modern luxury with a deep respect for individuality, his work offers a tailored, elevated experience that leaves clients feeling effortlessly polished and transformed, but unmistakably themselves.
That focus on refinement as service traces back to his father’s earliest lesson: if you find something that helps people, something useful, you’ll never lack for purpose—or success. Through every medium he’s touched, David has pursued that ideal, creating work that restores, elevates, and, in its own way, serves.