After earning his BFA, David founded the label Selahdor in 2009. What began as a self-taught pursuit in pattern making and garment construction grew into a fashion brand featured by DailyCandy, Boston Magazine, and US Weekly, with showroom representation in Boston and New York. That momentum led to national recognition when he appeared as an early fan-favorite designer on Project Runway Season 9 and became the inaugural recipient of The Emerging Designer Fund in 2010.
He later built a strong track record in luxury retail, learning how desire is shaped, how trust is built, and how visual decisions influence what people choose, value, and remember. That knowledge now lives inside DCPC.
Today, he applies that same eye to cosmetic tattooing through anatomy-led assessment, pigment knowledge, and an individualized approach to shape, density, and long-term wear. His permanent cosmetics work includes brow restoration, alopecia support, and refinement of previous brow tattooing, always with the goal of creating results that feel integrated, believable, and true to the person wearing them.
Brows are one entry point. The larger work is about image, perception, confidence, and what happens when a person’s authenticity is finally supported in form, presentation, space, and timing.
ABOUTDavid Chum
Some people know exactly what feels off. Others only know they are tired of being overlooked, misread, or asked to work too hard to be understood.
That is where David Chum begins.
Through DCPC, he helps clients bring what is true on the inside into clearer form on the outside — starting with the face and expanding into image, style, environment, and personalized timing systems when needed. His work is built for people who understand that presentation shapes perception, confidence, opportunity, and how a person moves through the world.
Born in a refugee camp at the end of the Cambodian Genocide, David has always lived at the intersection of survival, artistry, and transformation. His family’s story shaped his understanding of what it means to rebuild, adapt, and create meaning through form. His father taught him to turn talent into service. That principle still drives the work today.
David is an artist, designer, stylist, and licensed Body Art Practitioner whose practice brings together fine art, fashion, cosmetic tattooing, interior design, and personalized timing systems through one lens: how people are seen, and what changes when that read becomes more accurate.
His relationship to beauty and personal presentation began early. Drawing became a language for observation, emotion, and self-expression. As a teenager, he taught himself clothing construction, textile manipulation, and costume design, using fashion and drag to explore identity, transformation, and self-possession. He knows what it is to be misread. He also knows the power of finding forms that let a person come into clearer focus.
At the College of Art and Design at Lesley University, where he earned his BFA, David’s work examined transformation in the aftermath of trauma. His large-scale portraits combined sound, handmade costume and jewelry, oil painting, found objects, and sculpture, connecting physical form to psychological truth. His work is held in the collections of Samuel Adams, Jinx Nolan, and John Lester.
After earning his BFA, David founded the label Selahdor in 2009. What began as a self-taught pursuit in pattern making and garment construction grew into a brand featured by DailyCandy, Boston Magazine, and US Weekly, 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, and he was the inaugural recipient of The Emerging Designer Fund in 2010. His work became known for modern tailoring, strong visual identity, and refinement without excess.
These experiences naturally led to wardrobe styling, and eventually cosmetic tattooing. David applies design-led thinking to the human face through anatomy-led assessment, pigment knowledge, and an individualized approach to shape, density, and long-term wear. He approaches each brow as more than just a cosmetic enhancement—it is a reflection of identity, confidence, and the quiet power of refinement. His permanent cosmetics work includes brow restoration, alopecia support, and the refinement of previous brow tattooing, always with the goal of creating results that feel integrated, believable, and true to the person.
Clients come to David for many reasons: brow loss, old PMU work, asymmetry, a major life shift, a wardrobe that no longer fits, or to prepare for high visibility moments. What they are often looking for is the same thing — the confidence to take up space, to be seen accurately, and to move through life with certainty.
Based in Boston, Massachusetts, David operates a licensed body art studio in Belmont, MA and works by appointment.
FEATURED IN BOSTON MAGAZINE | US WEEKLY | PROJECT RUNWAY SEASON 9
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