DR.ME

Where did you study and what were some of your first jobs?

We both studied at Manchester School of Art on the design program, we were paired together on the very first day for a ‘get to know each other’ brief due to our names being next to each other on the register. I guess we had all manor of ‘first jobs’, but only one that really mattered, we both applied to intern with Mike Perry who is an incredibly prolific illustrator based out of crown heights in Brooklyn, NY. We were only there for 2 months but learnt so much with Mike. He was and is a huge influence on us, not that our working styles are particularly similar but just the attitude he goes into each project with be it for a big client or a small personal painting is really positive and open to exploration both technically and creatively.

Any passion projects you would like to share?

We have an ongoing digital publication called ‘FIN?’, as a studio we are fairly prolific in the amount of work we make for any one project, this, of course, leads to a great deal of work that ends up on the cutting room floor. We decided last year that it would be interesting to create an outlet for this rejected, unrealised, unfinished, unseen work to give it a life beyond a file that would at some point be deleted or forgotten about. We have so far released seven copies of FIN? (all available here), we were charging a small fee for them initially but we’ve since changed tack and decided it’s more exciting to reach more people regardless of their budget by making it a free project. If you order FIN? you will receive around 20 print ready A3 pieces via WeTransfer to your inbox to do what you want -- be that having an impromptu paste up DR.ME exhibition in an unused street near your house to simply having a free background for your desktop. Every 6 months we’re going to choose our favourite work from the past 6 issues and publish a physical copy, the first physical copy is available from our shop but also in great shops around the world like Printed Matter, Draw Down, Commend, Actual Source, Good Press, Village, and Magma.

What advice would you give students starting out?

I think simply to trust yourself. When we started we essentially knew very little - some would argue that we still do - but we went on a great deal of gut decisions whether that were choosing who we would work with or the style of work we would create. Everyone is different and there should never be one piece of advise as doctrine for everyone. If we were pushed on advise though…. Being smart is good, read loads, go to galleries, eat healthy, exercise, don’t do hallucinogenics in a strange place, the normal stuff.

What has been your highlights since you started out?

Just being able to turn up every day and do what we want is an outrageous privilege. This aside and more specifically, probably curating a group exhibition at Mike Perry’s ‘Wondering Around Wandering’ gallery in 2012, it was called ‘Happy Accidents’ and featured a mixture of friends and heroes from around the world. Some of our nearest and dearest came with us and we had the most incredible time. Work-wise it was a super proud moment when we published ‘Cut That Out’ with Thames & Hudson last year, it continues to be exciting as friends go to prestigious galleries around the world and photograph it on display in the book shops! Other highlights worth mentioning have included record sleeves for Mick Jagger, being flown to Miami by Young Turks to talk about creativity on stage with Dev Hynes (Blood Orange) and Ezra Koenig (Vampire Weekend), being trusted with the creative direction of Midi Festival (a music festival on the French Riviera), being commissioned by the Tate to create a poster. Moving into a giant studio in Manchester called The Engine House with a host of talented friends.