Interview: Chris Gray
Works by designer Chris Gray from Weshallsee.co.uk, “Seymour” & “WWW Project”.
Chris Gray is a graphic and digital designer hailing from Manchester in England, and amongst others he’s done work for Absolut Vodka, Umbro and Doc Martens; either under his own design motif ‘We Shall See’, or as a collaborative efforts with his design buddies such as Love. Creative, where he works.
Chris also put together an off-kilter t-shirt line, called “The Amazing Shape“, and occasionaly finds the time to blog at both Love. Creative, and the design blog FormFiftyFive. I caught up with Chris to chat about his past and future work, his background in the design world, and his blogging regime.
Q: What’s your name / age/ location?
A: Chris Gray / 23 / Manchester UK
Q: How did you get into the world of art & design?
A: Blimey, I don’t really know. I tried doing a lot of things before I start doing design. I was really into computers as a kid and wanted to make computer games. I did an A-Level Music Technology which I failed after some awful midi alternatives to famous tracks (I was into really experimental music at the time). I nearly gave it all up and applied for a job in a cheese factory which I didn’t get. Im still bitter about that.
Monster creations by Chris Gray: “After watching some old favourites (tv shows) like Trapdoor / Stopit and Tidyup I managed to work up these little beasties.”
Q: You blog on your own site and also on FormFiftyFive, LoveCreative and the Amazing Shape; how did you get into the world of blogging and link-up with those people?
A: I always hated the term Blog. In fact I still kind of do. It implies you have nothing better to do apart from write about yourself which nobody (apart from yourself) reads. I met Jack on a design forum and asked if I could post some stuff on the website as I spend loads of time cruising the web throughout the day and thought it worth while to use my bookmarks for a good purpose. The LOVE blog is mostly written by the copy writer as he’s far wittier then I am. I have written a few posts about how cool moths are and why I don’t understand why all designers tilt their head when working.
Q: What are you working on just now…
A: I’ve just finished a 64 page book for a Selfridges pitch to hopefully design all of their Manchester based store 10th Birthday. Apparently they thought it was great and I’ve got the go a head. I’ve also got a brief to do a piece of art relating to football from Nick Knight for Nike. Thats some tongue twister isn’t it! I’m really excited about it apart from I only have 6 days and like always I’ve given myself far too much work to do.
“Chopped Piegon Head” (my title), from The Amazing Shape t-shirt range.
Q: The designs on the Amazing Shape t-shirt range are awesome; can you tell me a bit about that project?
A: Im really fussy when it comes to t-shirts. I can’t help it. My girlfriend reckons I’m worse then a women with shoes. There seems to be endless t-shirt websites at the moment but the standard of the majority is terrible. So I decided I would have a go as I’ve always struggled to make shirts as the design has to look good even when its floating in empty space. So I thought I would do one a day to break out of the habit of fussing for days over something that turned out not to be that good. I’ve had some great feedback on the result so I was really chuffed that it’s possible to design something really simple without spending weeks on it.
Q: Is there anything else you’d like to mention / where can people check out your work?
A: Tough one. I always wanted to be one of those people that would leave you with a thought that would make you stop and a think but as soon as I started to write about it it ended up becoming long winded and boring. I guess the one thing I’ve learnt over the passed year is that when you have fun and enjoy what you do then it really shows in the result. My website links are below!
Thank you Earz Mag!
“Had and Sappy” toy, and “100 ways of saying Hello” project with illustrator Deanna Halsall.
Links!:
Posted in Art & Interviews by Martin Skivington on April 2, 2008.
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Howies | Blogblogblog says:
05.13.08
[...] Et spændende interview med ham findes her: Chris Gray Interview [...]