A Child of the Jago

I've been quietly watching the dandy sophistication of A Child of the Jago for a few years now, and I'm definitely a fan. Jago is the English label that Joe Corre and Barnzley have created and evolved into a strange mixture of luxury fabrics, exquisite craft, and raw, provocative imagery. Not surprising, I suppose, after considering both the genetic background and subcultural heritage of the two masterminds...

It was a great surprise last night when a +44 number appeared on my phone, and the voice on the other end was Barnzley himself. We had a great conversation about all things Zoltar, Special Needs, 33, Peoples Republic, Agent Provocateur, House, Sex/Seditionaries, World's End and the like. Hopefully we'll be able to work together in the near future.

"No rubbish."

Thanks, Barnz!

House Industries Trailer

I'm not secretive about my fan-boy enthusiasm of nearly every piece of work that exits the Yorklyn, Delaware offices of House Industries, and their new short reinforces such enthusiasm. From a myriad of pencil roughs, to hand-crafted screenprints and brushed-ink illustrations, not to mention the phenomenal collections of typography, this crew does it all with integrity, pride, care and a healthy dose of humor.

Cue up a kaleidoscope of House Industries techniques, substrates, disciplines and muscle memory compressed into high-definition pixels and actively matrixed through modulated electroluminescence with an audio lesson from The Bird and The Bee. Many thanks to Inara George and Greg Kurstin for loaning us their Polite Dance Song (under license from EMI). The House Industries trailer is directed by Andy Cruz and filmed by Carlos Alejandro.

A chin-strokey nod goes out to the entire House crew: Andy, Rich, Dodde, JD, Brian, Ken, Adam, Chris, Ben, Bonde, Carlos, Angelo, and everyone else over there.

A Graphic Biography/Falcon Motorcycles

What is required to take an idea from a thumbnail sketch all the way to a final, finished, physical object? Besides some patience and persistence, there is always a lot of trial and error involved. During the process of design, multiple and alternative solutions are always revealed/discovered, and it's important to explore those options as they're revealed. Conversely, it's also important to remain focused and not to be distracted or overwhelmed by the infinite possibilities...

The above design for Falcon Motorcycles began as a variety pencil roughs, and originally intended to be executed as a quart-sized, steel can paper label wrap. I started the first thumbnails whilst on vacation, and that initial concept quickly evolved to a relatively tight, inked mock up. After returning home, I submitted the inked idea and some of the roughs to the folks at Falcon Motorcycles. They were delighted. They provided some feedback and wanted to see the graphic polished up...

Scanning the sketches and bringing it into the realm of digital syntax (via vector program) was the next step. Despite the simple composition, the craft of translating that analog idea into a tightly-kerned, well balanced and aesthetically pleasing piece of vector took many patient hours. Subtle variations on several of the letterforms were explored, as well as an endless amount of ruled borders, holding shapes and figure/ground, negative space/positive space dynamics. Key pieces of more presentable vector solutions were presented to the client, who was able to visually compare each subtle tweak, side-to-side. Or, as I always like to say, 'A/B them'.

With some gentle persuasion and guidance from the designer, Falcon was free to choose their favorite version. A final piece of vector was laid out onto a new artboard, with all of the paths compounded, joined and cleaned up to exist as an uneditable, and nearly tamper-proof, master file, bound for production with various vendors.

The physical form of the completed graphic now exists in two media, as a woven label that is attached to all Falcon Motorcycles cut-and-sew apparel; and as a small, semi-precious, die-cast metal lapel pin, with a contrasting finish of brushed nickel and black enamel.

The entire, above process spans from the first sketches, dated 10.6.2010, to the final, production wovens and die cast pins, which were approved and photographed in mid-December 2010.

FACTORY FALCON

I've been working with Ian Barry and Amaryllis Knight at Falcon Motorcycles for several months now and I can finally share a few behind-the-scenes photos. Above is a sneak peek of new, hand-pulled, screenprinted packaging that I recently concepted, designed and executed for Factory Falcon, a division of Falcon Motorcycles.

The FMC online shop just went live earlier this week, featuring cut and sew tees, stickers, die cast lapel pins, a variety of serigraphs and other bits 'n bobs.

So, any of you Triumph enthusiasts out there that purchase a pair of velocity stacks for your Amal carbs, it will be shipped and delivered in these simple, but elegant, boxes....

Subliminal Projects/ The Big Picture

Opening this weekend at Subliminal Projects here in LA, The Big Picture is an Art of Elysium event featuring work of the legendary Mark Mothersbaugh (DEVO) and Shepard Fairey (Obey Giant).

Above is one of many, retired Obey Giant stencils that will be on display and available for purchase.

An Object of Beauty/Darren Booth

...Found some great creative process photos by typographer/illustrator, Darren Booth. He is responsible for the jacket design on Steve Martin's An Object Of Beauty.

I always find it (somewhat) reassuring to see that there are still a few creatives that:

A.) Use pencil and paper to concept/execute

2.) Bother to develop more than one solid, graphic solution to any given assignment

Nice work, Mr. Booth.

As for Mr. Martin's book, I haven't read it yet, so I can't vouch for him....

CLASH POWER

Featuring vignettes and montages from their legendary 13-consecutive-show run at Bonds in NYC, This Is Radio Clash from 120 Minutes.