interview: Aardman + Jam = GAVIN STRANGE
So, what does Gavin Strange do? Perhaps it would be easier to ask what he doesn’t do! With a day job as Senior Online Designer at Aardman, a thriving freelance career under the name of Jam Factory, his own range of Droplet vinyl toys, as well as being part of the Xynthetic art collective, the guy has a lot of cool stuff to his name! He spared us some time to tell us all about it.
You’ve had a very wide and varied career so far, but for those who aren’t familiar with your stuff, how would you describe yourself in 3 easy-to-follow steps?
Hmmm, 3 easy-to-follow steps:
- I like to make pretty things in all formats – give me a new medium and i’ll give it a shot.
- I’m powered by tea & cake. The essential ingredient for all design is a brew.
- I’m the luckiest monkey in the world, having a dream job both day & night.
Moving on from your day job though, most people will know you by the pseudonym Jam Factory. How did that all come about and what are the most enjoyable projects you’ve worked on under the name?
JamFactory has been the name I’ve gone under for over 7 years now. It started when I was in my first creative job, working as a Junior for a designer agency in my hometown of Leicester. My boss said I should buy my own domain name to use as an online ‘playground’ and experiment with what I was learning (I started as a junior graphic designer but was offered the chance to learn to be a web designer, which I eagerly agreed to).
I desperately wanted a cool name but alas I couldnt think of anything. In the end I just blurted out two words – “Jam….erm….. Factory!?” and that was that, it stuck!
From there i worked on my own projects in my own time, doing things for the sake of it, just wanting to learn and they lead onto little bits of work – little logos and small websites for people i wanted to work with, luckily that snowballed and grew to a stage where I was ready to pack in my job and go alone, taking the freelance route!
I continued this for 4 years – working with lots of cool people, making friends and branching out as much as I could. Any opportunity to do something new i’d snap up, desperate to give new mediums / new opportunities a go. Alot of the time the projects were for little or no money but I didnt care, i was just so eager to work with a certain person or be involved in a certain project, and that’s always carried on!
It’s so hard to pick a favorite project but designing my own vinyl toy has got to be top of the list, for sure! Working closely with Apple in terms of my ‘made on a mac’ talks and ‘pro’ profile have been so much fun aswell. I love everything i’ve worked on though, as I figure it’s an absolute honour to be able to colour stuff in for a living!
he Droplet vinyl toys you designed have gone on to be hugely popular and stocked in places like Urban Outfitters. What is it about them do you think that makes people love them so much?
Oh man I don’t know, I guess it’s the simplicity of them, as they’re not too bizzare that only hardcore vinyl fans could like them. They have little cute faces and everyone likes a cute face, kittens are prime examples of this.
Having your own vinyl toy range is a dream that a lot of illustrators have. What would your advice be on how to crack into the market?
Try, try and try some more! I was super lucky in being at the right place at the right time, just firing off that email to Andy @ Crazy Label and him replying to me was a huge stroke of luck! I would say make friends in the vinyl world, show off your customs / ideas and talk to the wealth of vinyl companies out there who would love your work!
you’ve also done designs for skatedecks (another illustrator’s dream)… what’s next on your hitlist of desirable items to illustrate?
Well, I’ve got a big ‘dream’ list of things I’d love to design, some of them are a shoe, snowboard, a book, a music video, a cd cover, some animation & motion graphics – the list goes on and on! Who knows what the future holds…
What sort of things are you liking at the moment? (artists, links, random stuff!)
Nice question! Stuff I’m liking at the minute…
• Gocco prints – just bought one of these beauties from Peskimo.
• Big bad Treesons – I just got sent one of these 8″ beauties as it was one of the artists who designed a ‘bubblefun’ accessory to go in his mouth! (or a Droplets bum, depends how you use it to be honest)
• Cuckoo clocks – Will always be awesome. Fact.
• Lasers – they can engrave pretty much anything and make all those things awesome.
• Gold – I’ve become obsessed with it! I’ve got a gold bike, I’ve designed a gold skateboard with limited gold postcards to accompany it, the next series of Droplets will have a special gold splash on it, I can’t be stopped with my gold madness!
• Wacom Graphics Tablets – After battling against them for years I gave in, gave it 2 weeks and absolutely love it. Wouldn’t want to create without it now!
• Hand Over Fist album – Mike mictlan & Lazerbeak’s pairing makes this one of the best albums i’ve heard in years!
• Bose headphones – make everything sound good.
Finally, what’s the one thing everybody should do today?
Go and put the kettle on, make yourself a brew and give someone a cuddle!
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