HOW DID YOU FIRST GET A PASSION FOR ART AND MUSIC?

When  I was young I was heavily inspired by pirate radio. It was the late 80’s and the warehouse rave scene was coming in, I loved the work of people like Dereck Yates from Soul II Soul, and Trevor Jackson who were doing amazing things with art and music.

I went to my first rave when I was about 15; it was amazing to see both art and music fuse together so effortlessly- it’s always been in my blood, I try as much as possible to mix the two in my work. With regards to the music, I think it was my sister who had a great effect on me- she used to babysit me and from the age of about 8 I used to spend all day in Loppylugs record store in North London, trying to look cool, but failing miserably! In my early teens  I remember hearing 'Who is it? by Mantronix, It blew my mind and I was like ‘I really want to do something with music’.

I always thought I’d go into fashion because that was another big inspiration. I remember Karl Lagerfield was on the television and my mum said, ‘I don’t care what you do as long as you don’t end up looking like him!’ It was kind of a blessing – as long as I don’t look like Karl Lagerfield I’m gold! I thought it was going to be fashion but it just ended up that I initially went down the illustration and painting route.

WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR GREATEST ACHIEVEMENT TO DATE?

The Comme des Garcons stuff was great for me, that kind of took things on to the next level, to go from where I was and what I was about in London to suddenly being used by a major Japanese label was quite surreal.

HOW DID THAT HAPPEN?

It was linked through Adrian Palengat, a real larger than life character, everyone calls him the 'Governor' in West London, he used to run a gallery in Portobello. I met him when I gate-crashed one of his private views about 10 years ago, we became really good friends, he has a lot of contacts in Japan and Junya (Watanabe) went to one of his shows and saw one of my pieces. We did a first season with a few other artists, he liked it so much that he wanted to go to a second season. With the second season I had my name on everything, which was great, that went really well so a third season came about, that was the one that Kanye West bigged up.

WHAT CAUSED YOU TO SKIP SCHOOL TO GO TO SOUL II SOUL’S OFFICES TO SELL YOUR PIECES? WERE YOU SCARED THAT IT WOULDN’T WORK OUT?

I didn’t really care, when you’re that age your pretty fearless anyway. I probably wouldn’t do it now, I was a bit ballsy at that age! I think it was because they were really blowing up on an international level and starting to get really big. Their office was in Camden, so I just kind of turned up and was like, ‘yeah, why not?’ I was a pretty average student so always took time on my art. That was quite cool, that made me realise that I could do it, and try and do it for a living.

DO YOU THINK GRAFFITI ART IS HAVING AN EFFECT ON THE WAY PEOPLE VIEW ART, HAS IT MADE IT MORE ACCESSIBLE?

I had always been inspired by crews like the Chrome Angelz, I am not from a graffiti background and I never went on the streets, so I can’t really comment on that front. Regarding all the stencil work now on the streets, I definitely think it has changed a lot because of all the blogs and since 'Stencil Graffiti' came out that was kind of the defining book, a lot of big artists were name checked in there and I think a lot of people jumped on the bandwagon. I should have done it really, I could have cashed in!  A lot of guys I know, when that book came out, just pounded it and did really well out of it. For me, I think about 15% of stuff out there is wicked and then the other 85% is ripping off that 15%, but there is still some good stuff out there, there’s a hell of a lot of Banksy rip-offs still, it’s crazy.

WHAT TAKES THE MOST PRIORITY IN YOUR LIFE, MUSIC OR ART?

It’s art now, it was 50/50 but it came to a point where I had to decide, due to time and health issues, I couldn’t give my all to everything so I push towards the art, music will always be there, and I still play out and make dubs for DJs now and then- It’s in my pulse-I really get hyped on it and it inspires me so much with the visual side of things.

YOU’VE HAD A LOT OF VARIED AND IMPRESSIVE COMMISSIONS WITH EVERYONE FROM HARVEY NICHOLS TO THE NHS, WHO HAS BEEN THE MOST EXCITING TO WORK WITH?

Harvey Nichols came about as I had worked with Freewheelin’ on an installation in their menswear department, They subsequently called me up and said they wanted me to do a display for them, I thought it was going to be small but they gave me the whole frontage. That was pretty scary, it was the first time I had done anything like that – not only to do that but to do a flagship store in Knightsbridge. That was quite stressful but I like doing work that you feel out of your depth in. I think that’s how you truly progress as a creative – if you’re in jobs like photography or writing or whatever and suddenly you’re just like, ‘how am I going to do that? I’m way in over my depth!’

HAVE YOU HAD ANY KNOCKBACKS OR MOMENTS OF DOUBT?

Every ten minutes probably! it’s not the easiest path to take. It’s tough, especially nowadays, but I think a lot of people go through moments like that and I always say to people starting up, the main distinction of your work is that you have to distinguish between yourself and your creative output – if someone rejects your work, they’re not rejecting you.

WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO SOMEONE WHO WANTS TO GO THE SAME WAY YOU HAVE?

Give up! No, no… it’s really difficult to maintain your love of art when you have to rely on it as your income, that’s a really difficult aspect, when you have to pay the bills alongside the creative stuff, so if at all possible, be a carpenter or something and satisfy your creative urges on the weekends(!)

If someone really wants to pursue the path, I would say beware- with the internet, if everybody is looking at the same blogs everyday, everyone is going to be inspired by the same thing and be exposed to the same cultural reference points, I say, whatever you’re into – Morris dancing, whatever, just find inspiration from that aswell.

I get worried about those picture blogs creatives go to for 'inspiration' it can be like battery farming, churning out the same stuff. Just try and define what makes you different and try not to be swayed by current trends.

WHERE DO YOU GO WHEN YOU NEED TO FEEL INSPIRED?

I get inspired by lots of different things, for instance, Moncler, Thom Browne did their show in Milan in huge stables, incorporating horse riders in the production, amazing. Lil Wayne, his latest tune – that beat is ridiculous. There is no direct translation stylistically between that and my work, but experiencing these things triggers something in me to create.

WHO IS YOUR IDOL? 

I wouldn’t say he’s my idol as such but I have great respect for car designer Leepu Awlia, he customises cars using tools by hand. He doesn’t write anything down, just works from the visualisations in his head. He was artist in residence at The Rich Mix in Bethnal Green. There's a story that he sculpted a Ferrari from memory, I think there’s an advert about it. That’s like some next level creative thinking.

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INTERVIEW BY EMMA HURWITZ

PORTRAIT PHOTO BY ANDREW SHAMOON