INTRODUCE YOURSELF IN TWO-THREE SENTENCES FOR ANYONE OUT THERE WHO MAY
NOT BE FAMILIAR WITH YOU AND YOUR WORK.
I’m a designer and co-founder of the Ottawa Creative Collective and a
sarcastic jerkface. I was a freelance designer for a few years and
after a couple stops at some local agencies, I’ve settled in as senior
designer at bv02 here in the Glebe.
YOU ARE A HUGE ADVOCATE FOR THIS CITY, THE CO-FOUNDER OF OTTAWA
CREATIVE COLLECTIVE (OCC)- CAN YOU HELP US EXPLAIN TO EVERYONE OUT
THERE WHY OTTAWA?
Ottawa’s home. That’s really all there is. People can bitch and moan
all they want about Ottawa being a government town and how it lacks
inspiration, but they’re just not looking hard enough. I’ve become
super driven to improve my own quality of life here, and to help do
the same for others. Ottawa has so much to offer, I want to be able to
highlight that as much as I can.
WE KNOW YOU’VE GOT A MUSICAL SIDE TO YOURSELF, CARE TO ELABORATE?
I used to be in a band called Old Crowns. We did some touring and
played some fun shows. But being in bands is tough work and it became
a second full-time job and the design side of things was getting a
little hairy, so the band decided to hang things up and we all went to
focus on other things. I still write and play, but just as punctuation
marks in between designing.
BECAUSE OF YOUR MUSICAL GENIUS WE ARE HOPING YOU CAN FILL US IN ON
WHAT YOU’VE BEEN LISTENING TO LATELY?
I’ll give you five songs that I’ve been into recently. Old Pine by Ben
Howard. I Was Only Going Out by Loney, Dear. Light Show by Plants and
Animals. I’m Your Man by the Wooden Sky. And I just heard Sail by
Awolnation and thought it was pretty great.
WHAT KEEPS YOU GOING? WHERE DO YOU FIND YOUR INSPIRATION?
What keeps me going is the desire to keep improving. I’m a self-taught
designer, and maybe I feel the need to over-compensate with the amount
of magazines and books I devour. It’s the need to do good work for
good people. I find my inspiration from a lot of places, but like a
slew of my design heroes, I love looking back at the classic design
aesthetics found in the 50s and 60s (and even before that). They
didn’t have the tools we did and designed by necessity with no
extraneous elements, and that’s how we should all look at things, I
think.
THIS ISN’T YOUR FIRST COLLAB WITH SLAYSH, WHAT ELSE HAVE YOU DONE IN THE PAST?
I was lucky enough to be able to do a window display late last Summer.
I collaged two giant canvases with old road maps of Canada and painted
the phrase “Don’t find yourself, you are right here” across them. I
had never done a piece like that before, that’s why I wanted to do it.
The best part of it, though, was once the install was finished, Slaysh
auctioned off the piece and we raised some serious coin for art
supplies for a local school.
WHAT DREW YOU TO WORK WITH SLAYSH?
Everyone associated with Slaysh shares the same values as I do. Work
hard. Do good work for good people. And they love the city. They’re
constantly giving back to the community and you can see the pride in
what they do.
ARTIST STATEMENT FOR THIS UPCOMING COLLAB:
Skaters don’t stay young forever. They become husbands and wives and
mothers and fathers and deal with mortgages and soccer practices and
routines. The idea here is that it’s OK to let loose from time to
time. It’s ok. Get a babysitter, grab your board and hit the streets,
even if its just to coast for a bit. You’re allowed to have fun when
you get old.
Blog: http://stevestp.tumblr.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/stevestp
Dribble: http://dribbble.com/stevestp
