Thursday, January 31, 2008
Monday, January 21, 2008
THINGS TO "LOOK AT" FOR IRIS '08
Dropping February IRIS will release their first design for '08..."Made U Look". This shirt is definitley going to be one for the collection. They collaborated with the late great Norman Rockwell to bring you these promotional ads for the upcoming design. Enjoy!
Thursday, January 10, 2008
An interview with Tango
Happy belated New Year everyone.
As a part of our new year, we're going to post interviews with people
that we feel are important to the IRIS movement. To start we have
an indepth interview with our man Merv/Tango.
Aight, so for the people that don't know you, introduce yourself to the nation...
My real name is Merv Maranan. Some people know me as Tango or
Merv Gotti as of late (thanks GGM, my bad). I am the Creative Director
and 1/4 of the company IRIS.
Cool. Now tell us a lil about yourself; your background, influences, etc.
Well I'm a bboy at heart, and I believe it shows in everything I do.
I have background in a lot of things, but my main focus is design.
I don't think I can confine myself to one type of design, I really just
go with the flow. What else? I'm an avid skater/snowboarder,
I'm into music, art, culture & women (laughs).
I guess that sums it up.
Now down to business; describe IRIS and how you came up with the name?
The name IRIS is an acronym for I Rock Interpretive Style.
Originally it was intended to be a boutique, but naturally things
progressed otherwise, and here we are today. I thought of using
the acronym from an old friend Impakt from Bag of Trix.
He used to write the name IRAC (I Rep/Rock All City) and when
thinking of a name, IRIS stuck in my head. I thought of the name
then plugged the meaning.
and "A Brain Candy Co."?
The tag line is really just a reference for the type of shit we like to put
out. Thought provoking work that's true to us as individuals. Really,
I just put a spin on the whole ear/eye candy thing and flipped it.
Take us through your design process. What comes first,
the concept or the design?
Concept! Always concept. Me and Mike Deadly are the designers
behind IRIS. We've known eachoher for a long time now, going
back to our bboying days. So we've always had that madd creative
vibe. Coincidentally when I asked him to be a part of IRIS, that vibe
continued. We always talk/vibe like crazy when it comes to this shit.
We go off all the time thinking craziness. Sometimes we get so ahead
of ourselves we gotta archive our thoughts/concepts. I'd say we have
a few seasons worth sitting in our vault.
Where do your inspirations come from?
We draw inspiration from everything. The best tho is through
conversations. Like I said, we'll talk about the craziest shit sometimes
and those usually draw up the best concepts/ideas to run with.
We bounce ideas off eachother all the time. I'd say designing comes
second to us talking smack...(laughs)
So explain your products. You guys started off with just tees & sweaters?
Pretty much.
Can you elaborate on the Guggenheim Collection?
Well the Guggenheim Collection is a messed up concept. Straight
DIY shit. I have all these crazy concepts in my head about design
and clothing, stuff that just comes to me by thinking or looking at
something. Being that we’re new, it’s all about making due with
what you got. I’m also a nut when it comes to my work, pure
perfectionist. I have that mentality, “If you want it done right, you
gotta do it yourself.” And that’s exactly what I did. The whole thing
was freestyle.
Okay, what do you mean?
Almost a year ago, I got sick of coming up with ideas and not being able
to produce anything, so with the help of my sister who’s a seamstress,
I drafted up a couple samples and started sewing.
At first, I only made sweaters for our crew, but they started catching on
with some of our close friends and soon there was a small demand.
One sample I made, I went off and started messing with checkers, all
individually cut and strategically placed on the sweater. That sample
caught madd looks and I knew I came upon something crazy I can mess
with, so I did.
Rather than creating a line of one style, I took each sweater as if it was
a design by itself. So in reality, there’s 15 separate designs. There’s no
base, just similar cuts (all crewneck) and everything else from there was
straight freestyle. Right before I start, I have one or two ideas in my
head and I just go from there. Kinda like bonsai tree esthetics…lol.
The name Guggenheim is in reference to the museum obviously.
Me and Mike Deadly were trying to come up with a name and he was
saying that each one was like a work of art. A couple minutes later
someone muttered, “GUGGENHEIM.” It just sounded dope and we ran
with it.
That's crazy.
Yeah I never thought...lol.
What else do you do aside from IRIS?
A LOT. Those that know me think I have A.D.D. I'm a graphic/web
designer by profession. When I'm not doing that or I'm stressed,
I skate/snowboard. Those are true passions and I do them both
heavily. I'm also a barber. Been doing that for the past 12 years.
I love working with video/editing. For a long time, I was dancing
heavy with bboying, so I was even doing choreography. I read a
ton of shit; newspapers, books, magazines. Travelling is always
good.
Cool. In close, what can we expect from IRIS in the future?
Well the site will be up real soon (thank God, lol.) but in general;
more designs, more products, and more concepts involving other
elements. We're looking to offer our customers and friends the
complete IRIS experience. Overall, some good shit (fingers crossed).
Any last shoutouts?
All friends & fam, you know who you are. To all those that support
and will support IRIS; thank you. To my IRIS brothers...thanks for
putting up with me and you the reader for making it this far.
"SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL SWEATSHOP!"
As a part of our new year, we're going to post interviews with people
that we feel are important to the IRIS movement. To start we have
an indepth interview with our man Merv/Tango.
Aight, so for the people that don't know you, introduce yourself to the nation...
My real name is Merv Maranan. Some people know me as Tango or
Merv Gotti as of late (thanks GGM, my bad). I am the Creative Director
and 1/4 of the company IRIS.
Cool. Now tell us a lil about yourself; your background, influences, etc.
Well I'm a bboy at heart, and I believe it shows in everything I do.
I have background in a lot of things, but my main focus is design.
I don't think I can confine myself to one type of design, I really just
go with the flow. What else? I'm an avid skater/snowboarder,
I'm into music, art, culture & women (laughs).
I guess that sums it up.
Now down to business; describe IRIS and how you came up with the name?
The name IRIS is an acronym for I Rock Interpretive Style.
Originally it was intended to be a boutique, but naturally things
progressed otherwise, and here we are today. I thought of using
the acronym from an old friend Impakt from Bag of Trix.
He used to write the name IRAC (I Rep/Rock All City) and when
thinking of a name, IRIS stuck in my head. I thought of the name
then plugged the meaning.
and "A Brain Candy Co."?
The tag line is really just a reference for the type of shit we like to put
out. Thought provoking work that's true to us as individuals. Really,
I just put a spin on the whole ear/eye candy thing and flipped it.
Take us through your design process. What comes first,
the concept or the design?
Concept! Always concept. Me and Mike Deadly are the designers
behind IRIS. We've known eachoher for a long time now, going
back to our bboying days. So we've always had that madd creative
vibe. Coincidentally when I asked him to be a part of IRIS, that vibe
continued. We always talk/vibe like crazy when it comes to this shit.
We go off all the time thinking craziness. Sometimes we get so ahead
of ourselves we gotta archive our thoughts/concepts. I'd say we have
a few seasons worth sitting in our vault.
Where do your inspirations come from?
We draw inspiration from everything. The best tho is through
conversations. Like I said, we'll talk about the craziest shit sometimes
and those usually draw up the best concepts/ideas to run with.
We bounce ideas off eachother all the time. I'd say designing comes
second to us talking smack...(laughs)
So explain your products. You guys started off with just tees & sweaters?
Pretty much.
Can you elaborate on the Guggenheim Collection?
Well the Guggenheim Collection is a messed up concept. Straight
DIY shit. I have all these crazy concepts in my head about design
and clothing, stuff that just comes to me by thinking or looking at
something. Being that we’re new, it’s all about making due with
what you got. I’m also a nut when it comes to my work, pure
perfectionist. I have that mentality, “If you want it done right, you
gotta do it yourself.” And that’s exactly what I did. The whole thing
was freestyle.
Okay, what do you mean?
Almost a year ago, I got sick of coming up with ideas and not being able
to produce anything, so with the help of my sister who’s a seamstress,
I drafted up a couple samples and started sewing.
At first, I only made sweaters for our crew, but they started catching on
with some of our close friends and soon there was a small demand.
One sample I made, I went off and started messing with checkers, all
individually cut and strategically placed on the sweater. That sample
caught madd looks and I knew I came upon something crazy I can mess
with, so I did.
Rather than creating a line of one style, I took each sweater as if it was
a design by itself. So in reality, there’s 15 separate designs. There’s no
base, just similar cuts (all crewneck) and everything else from there was
straight freestyle. Right before I start, I have one or two ideas in my
head and I just go from there. Kinda like bonsai tree esthetics…lol.
The name Guggenheim is in reference to the museum obviously.
Me and Mike Deadly were trying to come up with a name and he was
saying that each one was like a work of art. A couple minutes later
someone muttered, “GUGGENHEIM.” It just sounded dope and we ran
with it.
That's crazy.
Yeah I never thought...lol.
What else do you do aside from IRIS?
A LOT. Those that know me think I have A.D.D. I'm a graphic/web
designer by profession. When I'm not doing that or I'm stressed,
I skate/snowboard. Those are true passions and I do them both
heavily. I'm also a barber. Been doing that for the past 12 years.
I love working with video/editing. For a long time, I was dancing
heavy with bboying, so I was even doing choreography. I read a
ton of shit; newspapers, books, magazines. Travelling is always
good.
Cool. In close, what can we expect from IRIS in the future?
Well the site will be up real soon (thank God, lol.) but in general;
more designs, more products, and more concepts involving other
elements. We're looking to offer our customers and friends the
complete IRIS experience. Overall, some good shit (fingers crossed).
Any last shoutouts?
All friends & fam, you know who you are. To all those that support
and will support IRIS; thank you. To my IRIS brothers...thanks for
putting up with me and you the reader for making it this far.
"SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL SWEATSHOP!"
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