LAND: Their Hands are the Face of Your Favorite Outdoor Brand
Stay Wild
Hey Caleb & Ryan,
If you let me interview you, it might be more fun than a knife fight.
Yo Man,
Send over some questions. I’ll take a shot at ‘em. Please be a bit patient as we’re swamped!
What are you so swamped with?
Swamped with branding a hotel, liquor label,
stoked to work on more Deus doodles, and a couple of art shows with friends.
Why do you call yourselves LAND?
Caleb had just moved back to Austin and felt more connected than he had in awhile to the land and sky and space here in Texas. We were trying to find a name for joining forces and it just felt right. It’s ubiquitous enough that it doesn’t define what we do and want to do.
Where are you located?
We work in a brick warehouse shop in East Austin. The building was built in 1941 for making wire ropes and chains.
What percentage of your work is done off the computer screen?
About 50 percent. If time permits, we try to draw as much as we can; typography and illustration. In the end, it all ends up in the digital world.
What have you been drawing lately?
We’re always experimenting. Motorcycles, nudes, animals, portraits, any objects or life with symbolic value.
Can you tell me what the symbolic value of these things are?
I guess it’s like trying to talk about art. We figure the meaning we draw from an image will be different from what you might take from it. You take the chance that someone may feel your art doesn’t make sense at all, but we like that. Sometimes designers put too much concept into something and it’s a turn off. Just get weird and have fun.
The work you’ve done for clients like Poler, Patagonia, Deus, and the like has really solidified the look of this newfound outdoorsy branding. Has it been hard to keep growing your visual voice since you could basically have a seat in the throne you built?
That’s kind of you to say, but the only thrones we sit on are porcelain. Growing our visual voice is something we strive for and it does get tough sometimes to do something new that you’re stoked on. It’s all about trial and error, and the urge to progress. It’s a bit easier to do that with your own art, but getting a client on board with pushing things isn’t. Fortunately, we’ve been able to work with folks that let us run wild and trust us.
Where do you get your typography influences from?
Early American signage, even up into the 60s. Anything hand painted or hand set, so that includes anything from the Gutenberg Bible to the dawn of computers.
What would be a dream project for you? What would you make if money and time didn’t get in the way?
Weed packaging is a dream. Soon. We would probably abandon desk life in general and get into sculpture, painting more, building motorcycles or just painting with mud nude in the woods.
What’s the most wild you’ve ever felt?
Visiting the full moon under purple skies in Bali on mushrooms.