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 paint-
ed 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.