I’ve met a lot of people with great ideas. Unfortunately very few of them have the guts and follow through to make them happen. Brad Hodgskiss is a little different. A little over 2 years ago Brad packed up a very promising (and already pretty successful) career in advertising and decided to start a company to bring the world limited edition and wonderful design , and he would do it by forming a loose collective of designers and creative contributors. Brad found some time in his hectic entrepreneurs schedule to tell us about his young company, Mingo Lamberti, and their awesome t-shirts. Enjoy.
Mingo Lamberti . Can you share the background story about the name and explain the concept in general to the nice folks in interweb land?
Mingo Lamberti was my grandfather. He was a good man and believed in doing a good job at whatever he did. I try bring same principle into the t-shirts and designs. Well, there really is no massive concept behind the brand. Other companies have been making well designed t-shirts for ever. What I am doing is not new and that’s what encouraged me to do a good job at it, to make it stand out. It’s pretty simple how things happen. After many hours of begging designers to work on a new range, I send them a very open and inspiring brief to go crazy on and come up with some original and creative designs that the world has never seen. The designs all look different, because of the different interpretations of the brief and that produces a unique range of shirts.
You have just launched your 3rd collection. Tell us about the inspiration behind each of the three collections ?
The first range was the nature range. Pretty straight forward as to the inspiration behind that range. Nature is such a wide and rich area to draw inspiration from. That went down pretty well. The second range was the electric range and the main inspiration behind that was the electric moves of the new wave era. The 80's new wave era was where a lot of today’s trends began. The third range was a competition with Biblioteq, vida e caffe and one small seed. The range was called Far Far Away and took inspiration from children's stories, daydreams and things that happen far far away.
You mingled successfully in the advertising game for some time (and you are still called on for a wise word occasionally), how did that experience help shape Mingo Lamberti.
Yeah, my first job was in advertising and it taught me a lot of the skills I use today. It exposed me to the world of design, which became my favourite area and resulted in me having the confidence to start Mingo Lamberti. It also gave me the confidence to start designing. I met many great designers and they helped me with the first range. Nice one guys.
The designers you work with -how diverse are they? Where do you find your contributors?
There are so many great designers in South Africa. Most of them working in the commercial side of design, but have amazing creative talent that they can't use on a day to day basis. With Mingo they have the opportunity to be as creative as they like. You just have to look at the designs in ranges to see how diverse they how. The brief is pretty open, so they really have alot of scope to go places that they like.
I was lucky enough to partake in your first briefing. I remember thinking you'd really brought the brief to life. What's the secret to inspiring such a diverse group of creatives?
I don't think many designers get to use their talent to the fullest when working on commercial jobs, so when I hand them a brief that gives them a rich creative area to draw inspiration from and doesn’t restrict them in anyway it allows them to wonder off and use all they’ve got. I think my briefs are designer friendly because I have some knowledge of design. I just think of what brief would inspire me and go from there. I think it’s got a lot to do with the tone of the brief. Mingo briefs are never too serious.
You could be described as the Curator for the collections. How do you decide what makes the cut ?
Hmm, at the least I have to want to wear the design. I like working with the designers so we arrive at a place where we have discussed and its not a massive surprise when the final design is sent through. I send my designs to other Mingo designers to get approval as we all know that it’s easy to fall in love with your own designs. Simone, my girlfriend is Mingo Lamberti's self appointed creative director. She is a great help on all designing for Mingo and giving advice on the designs.
Where can we get our hands on the very rare and limited new range?
The Electric Range will be available in London in about a month at vida e caffe in Regent street. It’s very exciting to see how the overseas market responds. In South Africa at astore, lover, sowerto, the wardrobe & vovo tello.
Finally can you share a few of your favourite online spaces that keep you inspired and tickle your fancy?
Crystal on 14/01/2009
I am in London,love to keep up with Migo growing here.Inspired!