Jeff Hamada: Converse (PRODUCT) RED | Hypebeast

EK: Having seen your work for the Livestock artist series and becoming instant fans, do you feel that perhaps your work done on behalf of yourself does have a great deal of commercial factor to it? All this time it seems as though people have come to know Jeff Hamada as somebody re-appropriating the desires and themes of others.

JH: Here’s the thing – I don’t have a distinct style. Most of the stuff you’re referring to (my work for various clothing companies) I don’t consider personal work, but even in my personal work I don’t have a specific style. Maybe that makes me less legitimate as an artist, I don’t know.

Like as soon as you see the X’s you know it’s KAWS but I just haven’t been building my own visual language that way. I’m coming from a film school background so I’m not trying to be a KAWS or a Shepard Fairey, I guess I’m trying to be a Danny Boyle! Boyle directed Trainspotting and then switched it up with 28 Days Later (horror), Millions (family movie), and Sunshine (sci-fi) before making Slumdog Millionaire. I like the idea of being able to tell a story in a completely different style if I want to.

I don’t want to be known as the guy who is just “re-appropriating the desires and themes of others” but as a freelance designer you need to be somewhat chameleon-like to survive until people will hand you money and say “do whatever you want”. Which is essentially what Converse did (except for the money part – charity gig).

EK: That’s an interesting personal insight into your style. I feel as though there’s still a lot more to be seen regarding your work. Back to your Converse shoe, what was your concept behind it? What factored into your choices for colors?

JH: Well I had two concepts. The first was an image I had of people walking around carrying all these ladders. Bundles of them! There are so many ladders that people are actually just throwing them into piles and setting them on fire and burning them up just to get rid of them. Meanwhile there’s all these other people trapped down all these really deep holes in the ground and they’re calling for help.

EK: Was your goal to set out and re-create a whole story rather than a pattern, sounds pretty friggin’ complex.

JH: No no, this was just my first idea – all that imagery is just the way I feel a lot of people in North America relate to what’s happening over in Africa. Like we have all these resources and there’s people that could use the things we have access to, but we don’t give it a second thought. In the end I decided this was too negative and it really didn’t encourage anyone to get involved so I decided I would make something that showed what it would look like if EVERYONE got involved. The hands on the shoe are grayscale to represent all cultures lending out a hand towards Africa, and there’s a bit of blue in there to represent hope.

EK: Prior to the PRODUCT (RED) project, did you have a lot of awareness or first hand experience with the way of life in Africa? Aside from those Saturday morning infomercials that play on Canadian TV.

JH: Well I have had Christian friends over the years kind of get obsessed with Africa. I wouldn’t say overboard, but in a way that was abrasive and actually put me off of the idea of helping (I am not bad-mouthing Christians, I grew up Christian myself). So I have been familiar with what’s been happening over there long before getting involved with RED. For me it has nothing to do with religion or any of that, it’s just clear to me that as a human being, we’re designed to help others.

EK: Although your relation with Africa isn’t direct, I think you’ve done a good job of presenting the current situation in a light that will be relevant to others. Luckily with a brand like Converse and sneakers, you do reach a whole new demographic that might otherwise be un-educated or ignorant to exactly what’s going on outside their world. Others who may turn a blind eye when presented in a different format now find relevancy in your cause.
JH: I think most people know about what’s going on in Africa, it’s not like everyone who’s into sneakers or streetwear is clueless about things like this – its just really cool to kind of catch people off guard by having brands like Converse and stores like Livestock really push the message to their customers and say, hey we care about things like this too.