jelly London are immensely excited to welcome the effortlessly cool, and highly sought after, Melvin Galapon to our exclusive roster of talent.
Melvin is a graphic artist hailing from a small town in the Northwest of England. A graduate from Central St. Martin’s, he has worked with the likes of Nike, Nokia, Wallpaper* and Creative Review to name but a few. He has been featured in various magazines & books worldwide and has exhibited in London, Singapore, Tokyo, Bangkok and LA.
Melvin is currently based in London where he spends his time working on a prolific mix of portraits, type, installations, textile & video work with a strong curiosity in interesting collaborations whether it’s brand, client or peer to peer lead. He has also branched out into setting up his own clothing label A-Ok, where he oversees all aspects of the brand.
We went behind the scenes with Melvin to find out more about him, his work, and his brief music career...
Describe yourself in 3 words, Melvin.
Someone described me as “cool, calm and collected” while I was setting up a show once, so maybe that? I’m not sure… I may even be the opposite of that.
Tell us a little more about your work.
I love shapes, lines and glitches. I’m obsessed with grids (something I’m trying to break out of) and I like to experiment with new ways of working. For me, one of my stand out pieces has to be the Creative Review Annual Cover which involved building type out of sheets of laser cut acrylic. I also loved working with Photographer Sam Hofman - I’m trying to develop this style further.
What’s a typical day like for you?
That’s one of the fun things about doing what I do, there isn’t really a typical day. One day I could be sat at my desk sending emails, while chatting to my best friend in Manila and working in illustrator drawing vectors. The next, I could be on location installing some work, or in a studio shooting/filming. I like to always challenge myself and try new things out, it keeps my thinking fresh.
What would be your perfect brief or dream client?
The prefect brief for me are the ones where the client trusts you enough to give you the freedom to do what you do and deliver great work. In terms of a dream client, I’ve always wanted to be able to do a Selfridges window display.
What product could you not live without?
Sad to say, but I guess it’s my iPhone. I love taking photos and posting them up on Instagram.
What product hasn’t been invented yet that would make your life/job better?
A Teleporter. I would make visiting people you really want to see much easier.
What do you listen to whilst working?
I have a pretty eclectic taste in music overall, but Electronic music really seems to help me get my head down and work. Think Flying Lotus, Shigeto, Bonobo…
What’s your favourite snack whilst working?
Chocolate digestives, but I’ve avoided buying them for a while as I ate too many of them!
What work has inspired you in 2015?
Photography is becoming a bigger part of my practise, building type sets and moving into doing more video projects. I’m finding Ben Stockley’s photography amazing and inspiring at the moment, I met him a few weeks back and I’m just waiting for the right project for us to collaborate on. I’ve also recently been working with photographer Gyorgy Korossy, his work and our conversations always inspire.
Which fictitious character do you most relate to?
Probably Dr. Peter Venkman for his sarcastic sense of humour.
If you could have dinner with any well-known figure, dead or alive, who would it be?
Jimi Hendrix as I used to be obsessed with him when I played guitar.
Tell us one unknown fact about yourself.
I sang vocals on a track that was played on BBC Radio 1 once, quite a few years ago.
Wow! What was the track?
Listen here.
Want to work with Melvin? Get in touch! [email protected]
Check out more of Melvin’s amazing work here.
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