The Jam Factory Interview

Matt Riley

Since kicking off Idea bounty I've been following the interesting goings on of one @Jamfactory. I've been blown away by how much the guy was getting up so I decided to investigate - and I'm very pleased I did. Mr Gavin Strange is the man behind Jam Factory and he turns out to be a hell of a nice guy with a lot of amazing work, and dare I say, a few words of wisdom.

I chatted to Gav about what makes him tick (and asked some odd questions) and he kindly agreed to put his hustle machine on pause and tell us how he keeps so busy and seemingly so stoked. Enjoy.

You get stopped at customs and they ask you ' What is a JamFactory ? ' - you say what ?

I'd say "It's a codename for a terrorist cell" and see how long it takes for me to be shot / shipped to Guantanamo (although now Obama's got rid of that, maybe they'd just send me home?). Haha, no seriously, I'd say "It's the artist name I go by and my business name"

You seem to be doing a lot of stuff. Can you give us a little breakdown of your roles at Aardman , Xynthetic, and the happy world of Droplets ?

I try and do as much stuff as possible! I'm living the dream, getting paid to make pretties, so I want to take full advantage of that in the relatively short time we have, AND there's always a young whippersnapper coming up who is 100 times better than you, so I need to get in and do my thing fast!

At Aardman I'm the 'Senior Online Designer', which is an absolute honour to be working for the kings of claymation! I primarily do web design for Aardmans external clients such as Cartoon Network, BBC etc aswell as design for our own properties like Wallace & Gromit. Aswell as the web design I also do a little Graphic Design when the chance arises, we're like a little design agency within Aardman, which is great.

I started Xynthetic, which is a creative collective of people, many moons ago, when it was just me spraypainting skateboards in my friends garage! Since then it's evolved and expanded beyond me, taking on lots of new members in all fields - artists, designers, skaters, filmers, photographers etc. We collaborate together for exhibitions and shows aswell as documenting all that on film and photo!

More and more I'm taking a backseat and creatively directing it rather than it being about my work - everyone who's part of the fam is so hyper talented, they don't need my crap getting in their way so I keep it running smoothly and every so often chuck in my own work for a show.

And Droplets are my very own vinyl toy, which come in 5 different colourways and are blind boxed. It's an absolute honour and dream come true to have my own toy, I still can't quite believe it!

What's the Droplet story? They are in Urban Outfitters now so i guess they are officially a success. Where did the idea come from?

They came about from a lucky email I sent to Andy Woo, owner of Crazy label toys, simply asking if I could make a toy! Luckily, emailing at the right place and right time meant he liked my ideas and it was settled, we were going to make a toy!

It was a pretty organic process, just sketching out lots of ideas and refining them with Andy's feedback, they kept evolving until they settles on what you see today!

Nearly 2 years later, in May 2008, Droplet was released to the world! And I cant believe how well it's gone, to know the lil' fellas now grace the shelves of Urban Outfitters... well, i'm over the moon!

The Xynthetic collective seems to be pretty organic unit - doing what comes naturally (urban/bike/skate inspired) . How much of being successful as a creative is about hustle and hard work, and how much is being able to do work that you love.

I'd say being successful is ALL about hustle and hard work! There are a million people out there that are 100 times better than me at everything I do, I'm just lucky enough to be able to use and abuse the internet for my own ends basically! If you can use the internet and all the wonderful tools out there then that is definitely going to help your work get on a wider platform.

But on the flip side of that, if you love what you do then you're going to work super hard at it anyways, so it doesnt feel like work and therefore you're more than happy to put in every hour you can!

I think it's definitely a case of blood, sweat and tears!

You are pretty active on twitter, your site is regularly updated etc. Is there a set of magic rules to getting noticed when the web is so cluttered?

I don't know if there's any magic rules really, obviously the more social networking tools you use, the higher your profile will raise. But at the same time, you don't have to use absolutely everything out there, because if you're not really into using these tools then it'll show through, people will see you're using it simply as a tool rather than a platform you enjoy using.

The power of things like Twitter and Flickr is taking the control from faceless corporations and giving it back to the user, so you're talking directly to fellow artists, designs and creative folk, making digital friends in a genuine way, who will hopefully like what you create.

I've seen a tweet or two about riding into work in the British winter. Lets see a picture of the fixed-geared-steed that inspires this madness (Matt’s note - I'm from South Africa and I gave up the crazy pursuit of winter riding 4 months ago)

haha, i do indeed love my fixie, although It's not best suited to winter - I've come off mine twice in the wet / black ice and twice damaged my Macbook Pro! It's just so much fun to ride though!

I totally recommend it to anyone interested in bikes, ride fixed and you wont go back! Check http://www.mashsf.com/videos.php for some sweet videos!

Finally can you share a few of your favourite online spaces that keep you inspired and tickle your fancy?

Sure thing!! Here's a few of my favourite sites to visit...

Toys r evil blog - http://toysrevil.blogspot.com/

New Work - http://www.ilovenewwork.com/

Rebel8 (amazing brand from Mike Giant) - http://shop.rebel8.com/

Basically bike porn - http://velospace.org/node

The best and most random beautifulness from the web - http://ffffound.com/

THE best online resource! - http://www.smashingmagazine.com/

Incredible photography - http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/

Interviews

Comments

Rotub on 28/01/2009

I been following Gavin and xynthetic for so long now it's been great following the whole team

Dave Ellis on 28/01/2009

Nice interview - good to see how Droplets got off the ground!

matt on 28/01/2009

@Rotub and @Dave , thanks guys. I think I might harass Gav again - really enjoyed it.

MirazTuorials on 17/02/2009

Always nice to hear startup stories and see how others got going. Thanks for a informative interview :)

Omar Abdulla on 20/02/2009

Hi there.. Kindly have a look at the footprints filmworks website. The website has an exclusive interview with f w de klerk and mr omar abdulla. Perhaps the interview with have an insight towards the future of south africa after country's april 22 elections. Seems interesting stuff

Afsana Gani on 03/10/2009

Karma: 1
Hello Footprints Filmworks Member

Our "Feature Film" Footprints in South Africa is scheduled for release in the course of 2010 with some of the most well known South Africans participating. The film is a story about the growth and development of South Africa, post Apartheid. The film is expected to generate revenue of 10 million dollars with 50 million viewership distribution both locally and internationally.

The reason you are receiving this email is to confirm your interest in our company Footprints Filmworks as well as creating a broader market interest. We currently are in the second phase of production with advertisements of businesses and personalities currently open. It would be impossible to give a full biography and detail explanation in this email, hence we have provided a brief snapshot of the current film being produced.

We currently require addition funding of R5 million rand(Footprints in South Africa-Project) in the form of investments into the company, with holding interest for shareholders. Advertisers do not form part of our shareholders as originally stated in previous newsletters.

Here are our current advertising methods for those personalities and business people who show interest.

Advertising methods with Footprints Filmworks for September/October 2009

Option 1
50 000 email addresses Press Statement-R6700.00--Including Google, Alexa, MSN and Footprints Filmworks Distribution.

Option 2
Purchase of Footprints Chrome, which is a CD that has all 50 000 email addresses and the the http:www.footprintsfilmworks.com website all on CD. This CD is self in-stable and can be used for mailing daily advertising to potential business partners. The Current price of Footprints Chrome is R12000.00, with email database scheduled t0 reach 100 000 by February 2010.

Option 3
Option 3 includes the above two options including a banner advert for one year on Footprints Filmworks, including profiles of business directors and partners. Current price of Option 3 is R15000.00 with expiry of this Option on Dec 31 2009.

Option 4
Option 4 includes all above Options including a business film advert on Footprints in South Africa. The business advert will feature the business as well as the directors of the company promoting their businesses and success story. We normally do filming for two hours of the business, of which the advert will be edited to a three minute power packed presentation. We have the best make-up artists, video stilts, imaging and distribution in Southern Africa. The current price of an advert in Footprints in South Africa is R50.000, with 70 percent payable upon the film advert and 30 percent upon distribution of the film.

Option 5

Option 5 includes all above options including the purchase of a share in Footprints Filmworks. The minimum amount a shareholder can invest is R150.000.00 with payments divided into three years from payment. The investor receives no interest dividends from Footprints Filmworks. However, all above four options become free to him upon investment.

In conclusion of this email newsletter we would like to thank our loyal family members, staff, supporters and critics for their time investment with Footprints Filmworks.

Lastly please have a glance at our company website at http:www.footprintsfilmworks.com for more info. We are currently seeking actors/actresses/power personalities and comedians to help assist us with Footprints in South Africa.

You can also give us a shout on (012) 370 3469/ (012) 370-1984 for more info.

Thanking you and have an awesome day

Footprints Filmworks Signature:

Footprints Filmworks is an investment company that invests in internet media, print media, text media, f i l m and distribution. The company was originally created by Omar Abdulla to become a leading f i l m production company that PROMOTES INDO-ASIANS of South Africa to the world.