Actual Source

0:04Right it's time now for our fourth and and final speakers of the evening comprised of davis narupay and jp haney actual source is a utah based design studio that's built a worldwide reputation together and with their community of collaborators they design across a spectrum of visual communication. And in recent times they've become just as well known for their publishing imprint and their shop as well through this aspect of their practice davis and jp collaborate with contemporary artists designers and writers to publish limited edition books fonts clothing objects you name it I'm delighted to say that they're joining us today.

0:39And we're just going to have a bit of a chat really about their their work their creative practice and and what they're working on now so davis and jp please turn on your audio and video when you when you can hello there hello greetings how's it going good yeah going well thank you I'm listening to everybody yeah yeah. I was saying before that you're I think the first speakers we've ever had nice tuesdays from utah and I hope not the last but yeah it's quite a quiet thing.

1:14So I guess yeah I mean I'm keen to kind of get get stuck into some questions that I have but if the chat is up and working for people please do put some more questions in there.

1:23And I'll try and add them to the list as well as we as we go but first off I think it might be good to give our audience a little bit of a background a potted history of you guys and and your working relationship really you kind of went to different colleges but you still maintained a friendship and exchanged thoughts on design over over email on the phone is that is that a fair summary yes but matt hang on we actually wanted to introduce katrina who works with us yeah oh yeah please talk about all our work has been working katrina for about five years hi and so we wanted to kind of shout her out really quick before we keep going so amazing oh hi hi katrina yeah nice to see you I'm sure everyone at home is also saying hi as well yes I just kind of wanted to start with that I guess a bit of a potted history of how you guys met and how that working relationship started really.

2:15So I moved to utah for college actually when I was in back in 2004 and jp and I we met like the first week I came out here with the same with the same group of friends and we were both roommates with a guy named barty hillie who introduced us to graphic design and that was kind of like the beginning of our interest in graphic design I ended up going to school in la and jp stayed at school went to school in utah we kind of just kept in contact and went back and forth with projects that we had in school.

2:49And then our emblem our interests like actually just like built were very similar and they like we built them alongside each other yeah davis's education was like different from mine mine's sort of centered on like along with the lines of more american style graphic design which is really kind of based in illustration.

3:07And I'm not an illustrator by any means and so kind of opened my eyes like no you can have a career in graphic design you know by pursuing typography and books and we we really kind of came together talking about books yes separately we were both had a strong interest in books before school during school sorry and then once we started working together it was kind of one of the things that got us to start working on projects together right here after school. And I got a job at a tech company where we hired jp on while he was in school we worked there for a few years we left there worked for another company remotely in utah together then we left that about five years ago and started actual source since 2013 never not work together yeah very nice that's great yeah I should say as well we're going to be watching kind of a a slideshow of amazing work kind of up on the screen as we talk and this kind of really shows yeah it shows the audience a bit of the breadth of stuff that you've worked on over the years which is amazing and but going back to kind of the early years I mean it seems to me like that exhibition you did at yumoka in 2015 that felt like a very big turning point for you as a studio I mean why do you think that was such a defining moment I guess that was like a couple of years after you'd started working together yeah.

4:34So I think originally you know when they approached us to do a show they they gave us a healthy amount of time.

4:41So we had six months to kind of really explore we we spent six months putting together a process book for the show and during this time working together sitting side by side every single day talking about what we're going to do ideas and I think the show sort of was the catalyst for us to develop our own vocabulary you know kind of identify what our like mutual interests were and then visually kind of how we wanted to proceed yeah and it was also like not just our vocabulary but also like help redefine like the way we would work together kind of in the future is it was like the beginning it was the first big project we kind of did together we'd done some small books and stuff previous.

5:32But this was like the first big project we've done together we still kind of draw on that show from time to time now even just some things that we did then yeah definitely and it's also where the name actual source comes from I think isn't it because before that you were called number four and then yeah actual source came from that that exhibition.

5:53But I'm not sure where where the name comes from what why did it strike such a chord with you guys so we we were called number four because we met in 2004 and we also sort of felt like it was cool like it was a jersey number or something right yeah and the domain was available so now we got a domain name yeah but actual source sort of the so without going too deeply into the show because it would take a while to explain but essentially we spent six months working on this process book.

6:28And then we decided to make works based on this book as a as an object so the sort of like a sculpture and so each move we made was sort of like a distortion from the original idea or the contents in the book.

6:44But we never showed the inside of the book at all we still never never shown it here's actually a good time there's the book right there the forage yeah. So we never showed that.

6:57So the actual source as a name came about from like this these layers of distortion that we were adding so we would take a photograph we would put the book in a bag and then we'd photograph that. And then we would we framed it.

7:11But we separated the image into two different frames and so it's sort of like adding layers of yeah distortion and separation separation from the actual source of the work yeah.

7:25So we were in number four and it just kind of made sense we like the name actual source that was the name of our store at the time as well because coming from the show. And it made sense for us to kind of just go completely under the name action source makes sense it's a great name yeah I guess like over the years since then I guess you've kind of grown actual source to incorporate so many different outputs which yeah as we're seeing on screen you know there's clothing there's products there's exhibitions there's obviously publications as well which we'll talk about in a second but was that always the plan for you guys to create this kind of hybrid multi-faceted studio or did that just kind of happen fairly naturally as you met people and collaborated with different people I definitely don't think it was our it wasn't our plan we've always had a lot of interest but it was something that kind of came naturally for us yeah like I think we took a lot of inspiration from people like etudes who are able to incorporate all of their interests into one sort of avenue and I think we kind of felt like if it's of interest to us we will pursue it.

8:37And it can fit under this umbrella because it's for us. And so you know. That's I think that's kind of been the kind of the idea.

8:50And then also you know as a way of sort of creating the work we want to create you know so like originally we wanted to work in designing books and so we decided to start publishing our own as a so you know we kind of just started to find these different projects pursue them put some put our money behind them.

9:19And then release them as a way of kind of yeah putting out our interests into the world sorry somehow share them so some someone could see what the work that we were doing out here in utah we didn't know how to we didn't know how to get our work out there other than make our make our work and share I mean it seems amazing to me like and I'm sure people will agree it feels like so much of what you guys have achieved has been kind of self-initiated from the start I think you know lots of people feel like they get led by what client work comes in and that's kind of what they end up doing but you guys have really kind of taken yeah I guess like taken the lead and done things that you are interested in first and foremost and then.

10:01That's kind of grown I guess as as the studio has grown but I guess where do you think that freedom comes from I'm sure people want to know like how they get a bit more freedom in terms of what they end up doing do you just have to kind of invest in making time for it I guess there's definitely that investment that that needs to come in I don't actually feel like we have much tons of freedom we have to like really set aside time work on on these projects that we're we have a bad chocolate we have a bad lifestyle man we're a bit we're very busy it's hard to find time to do the things you you you want to do not a bad lifestyle it's just you know sort of exhausting but yeah we really have to find the time and devote the time to to work on especially the shoplifters but as far as like doing projects for yourself I mean for some reason in school.

10:55That's like not seen as a valid thing like you know you go to try to get a job and people are like well yeah you did this project for yourself but this you didn't do this for a client so how can I know.

11:09But I actually feel like it it takes quite a bit of discipline to create your own projects you're def it's definitely how you learn and establishing your own practice finding your interests and pursuing you know putting putting your time and energy into something that you love is never never wasted I don't think also look we've always wanted to make books like since the beginning since we were in school we loved making books but in order to make books you have to have a reputation of someone who knows how to make books you know how to you know there's it's there's a lot that goes into designing a book and getting the book.

11:51Actually produced in a nice final product and so I feel like at the be like we're constantly we're still learning and it's something that the only reason we're getting book projects is because we've made we've done so many of our own book projects and then gotten other book projects therefore we're becoming better at making books yeah and we're also like asking a lot of our favorite designers questions that like obviously we don't know everything about making books so like oftentimes we'll hit up like ella's studio like steven serrado from ls studio ask him so many questions hey you need to know like we have so many questions about this this. And this and they're so generous to like kind of help us yeah and they have been over the past few years generosity is key I mean you touched on something there which I wanted to to touch on I'm sure people know this about you.

12:44But it feels like collaboration is such a huge part of what you do you know the list of artists and designers that you've worked with over the years is pretty awe-inspiring I guess yeah what do you think collaborating does kind of bring bring to your work collaborating particularly across you know disciplines and across different outputs as well we think that the most important thing is just sort of this friendship like network of people that you can kind of count on or you know email or sort of champion what you're doing and then you can kind of do the same for them obviously the project is really fun those are like great memories but meeting people through projects is really just so nice yeah I mean and at the very beginning to be quite frank we felt so like somewhat I don't want to say iceland but we were here in utah we felt like outside yeah outside of some of these bigger cities where it was harder for us to maybe meet people collaborations was kind of an easy way in a few years back and has really kind of stemmed like jp was saying a bunch of these relationships and friendships that we now have that have continued that you know we're constantly still working with a lot of the people that we've featured in shoplifters and and some of our other projects fantastic I mean I guess it's essentially you kind of mention shoplifters there.

14:10I think that's probably one of the things that a lot of our audience will know.

14:12And I guess it's also one of those those passion projects which we were talking about before and you talked about it as a kind of necessary outlet for your creativity as well I'm really keen to hear kind of how you work on the publication alongside everything else it sounds like from what you said earlier it's it's a challenge it's a big challenge yeah it is a challenge but it's it's so it's yeah it's really just about scheduling time you'll you'll never have any time if you don't kind of put it on the calendar and but it's funny that we're talking about this right now because this is something that we've been putting off for a couple months this has been on the calendar and we haven't got to it yet our next issue so it's like kind of burning up the to-do list it's really sitting on top and we haven't been able to kind of really focus on it yet but but we're all we're missing our own deadlines at all times but we appreciate the gentle reminder so thank you thank you yeah you know they're the easiest ones to put off guys and I I'm here to kind of you know just make sure that you stick to the deadlines I mean I guess there's one thing you know yeah you kind of talked about shoplifters there. And I think I'm just curious how many times something that you've tried out or you know experimented with in that publication has then gone on to feature in another project I mean you know there must be quite a good dialogue between some of the more commercial work that you do and that thing that you do which is basically a passion project for you guys it's definitely been like the way that we learn about the craft of bookmaking you know our issues have definitely come a long way since the beginning kind of understanding that process and so we definitely bring that to our client work.

16:00But we were saying we think that a lot of kind of client work that gets missed or maybe like put aside or like ideas that we've had with other projects we're like oh well I mean I guess if they don't like this idea we still like it like maybe we can use it and shop workers we'll cycle that recycle that like one of the biggest things with I think benefits for us from shop workers experimentation wise is more actually just learning about the printing process and who we're using as printers we've kind of we probably used five different printers to the point that we're at now and every single time it's a little learning process and we've kind of figured a lot more out.

16:45And that's kind of been the best learning experience on our end it's a lifelong pursuit though for sure just kind of constantly learning about production and research like how to be the best and have the most knowledge about how to make the best thing fantastic I mean on the publication side I think it's fair to say one of the kind of more interesting clients you've had in recent times is a24 which I think for any film lover would be a dream a dream client I guess yeah what's your approach been with them on the work that you've created for a24 it feels like I don't know just like a fascinating project to have been doing for so long definitely a dream client but I think a lot of the successes also have to do comes from a24 we work with uh zoe over there who's their creative director who zoe buyer what's up zoe yeah what's up zory shout out to me who's I mean she's kind of the mastermind behind a lot of what she's done she's got vision and like she she just kind of cold emailed us because she saw that we were pursuing the type of projects that she was trying to pursue with the 824 shop so like apparel and different products and books and then she had this idea to do these screenplay books and then together we kind of figured out the format and kind of how we wanted to treat each book.

18:17And then it's kind of developed into this beautiful working relationship and we've been really lucky to to keep going with that in fact we have a book released today already yeah a new hereditary book available so we're really really excited fantastic and yeah I mean I've seen a few of those those kind of publications they look just so stunning I'm getting I guess that kind of leads me to my next question which is what are you working on.

18:45Now I mean it sounds like you just just put to bed that one what's coming up that you can kind of tell us about anything we should keep an eye out for get excited about us I mean we've talked about shopify we're working on the next two issues of shoplifters next year yeah very slowly issues 10 and 11 which we're very excited about also actually some 824 books that can't really talk about what we're working on.

19:07But I think over the next year there's some really good stuff that will be coming out through that as well yeah a lot a lot of a lot of publications and different branding projects and then yeah stuff for us too we we have carved out a little time for new new apparel projects things that are coming in the falls which is really fun for us okay amazing well listen guys I think unfortunately I mean we could chat for ages I'm sure but unfortunately I think we're out of time but thank you so much for for your time and for answering our questions yeah great great to see you guys and thanks so much for yeah for joining and amazing to see all that work as well kind of flowing past our eyes you