Photography and video by Stephen Tilley Video edit by Jacket Productions
On being creative…
As a child, I was always doodling. Before I was five years old, I remember using my Nana's typewriter to type up little sentences, and then I’d illustrate the other side so I could make little books. I remember that quite vividly – I was always drawing or colouring-in or copying something.
On launching Flox…
When I was in art school, I played around with spray paint and street art. I was having little exhibitions, and doing my thing. After graduating in 2003, I enrolled myself in a business course and Flox was born.
On being a commercial artist…
The journey has fully been up and down, but it's also just been an absolute dream! When I finished art school, like everyone else in my class, I was like, "What am I going to do now?" I knew I was someone who did well with momentum and I needed to keep up the momentum of creating. I said to myself, "I can't wait around for something to fall into my lap. I've got to take this into my own hands and I've got to make some stuff happen on my own.” It wasn't like I had decided at that point, "I am going to be my own boss and that's going to be my destiny and that's going to be my forever." I just took it day by day and projects started coming in little by little as I kept the doors – opportunities – open.
On what makes artwork distinctly Flox…
My work is predominantly inspired by nature. So it's very much a geographical thing. But when I approach set briefs and projects like big outdoor murals, I am researching geographical, historical and cultural attributes of that specific location. I want people to resonate with my work, aesthetically speaking, but on a more important note, I want them to resonate with the concept – I want people to connect with it.
I always go back to The Arts and Crafts Movement, William Morris, ornamentation – it’s been a huge influence on me since art school. I love colour and I love busy-ness. I appreciate the whole stripped back, peeled back, crispness and graphic-ness of classic design. But I also absolutely love a decorative approach.
On challenging oneself…
I always try and push myself out of my comfort zone as I think it's easy to get complacent. That's kind of my biggest fear actually - to look like I'm not really moving or doing new things or being innovative, I guess. Yeah. Movement is key and maintaining that sense of versatility. When I look at artworks that I did 10 years ago, I'm kind of like, "Oh God, I could do so much better than that now." But I think every artist is like that. It's like that self-critique. You'd hope that people ask me, "Oh, what's the best piece you've ever done?" and I say, "I hope it's the one I did last week." Because I always try and outdo myself.
On advice to someone starting out in the creative arts…
Don’t pigeonhole yourself into one artistic discipline. I think nowadays there are a lot of crossovers: you can study to be a fashion designer, but you end up doing product design or why not do both, or why not find a way for mediums to work together? It's about keeping those doors open.
