InterView Work Stüssy UK & Nike You have reached a status where people approach you to work for them without you having to compromise much. Could you point to one incident, one moment, one project as the one which brought the change for you? The moment when you felt that from that point onwards you were 'independent'? I suppose starting Amos was significant. It meant I was no longer reliant on external influence in commissioning work. I could decide what I wanted to do myself. If I had been an Artist in a more traditional way, working on one-offs, I think that this wouldn't be so important. But I have always been drawn to mediums of mass communication: graphics, cartoons, comics. There has always been a debate about artists getting involved with 'the industry', about the possibility of being (ab)used by commercial enterprises. What's your opinion, how do you handle these two worlds - art and commerce? I don't really see myself as an Artist with a capital 'A'. My chosen mediums are ones completely dependent on some form of commerce, given that we operate in a capitalist system. So there shouldn't really be a conflict. However, I can't deny that the idea of being an Artist appeals! I like the idea of working in a large, white studio carving giant potato-heads out of granite and making big, non-linear drawings. But there is always a voice telling me that would be self-indulgent. How long did it take you to decide whether you wanted to work on this project - what were your thoughts, your ideas, maybe your fears? We made this toy because Leon, the manager of the London Stüssy shop, is a good friend of mine and Russell's, and he asked us. Your first characters came about through your work with/for SILAS. Would you say that your characters label-savvy in general? When I started out as an illustrator I used to make a lot of very specific references to 'labels'. It was a big part of my works' look. But I started to become a bit uncomfortable with this. That was when I started thinking about specific worlds for my characters to live in that were completely their own. I could play god with my potato-heads. Before, you created characters anew - from the drawing board to the real figure; you formed them and provided them with characteristics and characters so that they would get along (or not) in their respective worlds. For Leon, however, the process was reversed. You took a real person and turned him into one of your characters. How easy was this process and how does Leon get along with the rest of your folks? I think that with 'Leon' I am still doing the same thing I do with everything else: rebuilding the world in my own image. The plastic 'Leon' is his own thing entirely. He lives in plastic Leon world, not ours. Leon is a typical James Jarvis creation, the figure has your very characteristic features. How easy (or difficult) was it to get this figure to actually represent Leon, the person? I had previously made a 'Leon' figure for my Sony capsule toy series. One of the things I wanted to do with 'Leon' was re-appropriate him from that. I added a beard, because this Leon is a few years older and wiser. He is still quite angry. Which are the key aspects of the Leon figure which make him 'Leon', the Stüssy store manager? His anger, intolerance and good humour. Is Leon wearing Nike sneakers or are the Nike sneakers wearing him? Definitely the former. ...