It’s easy to get wrapped up in the cool-guy-isms of Eric Elms’ body of work, a stellar list including Supreme, aNYthing, Stussy. Huge Magazine, Arkitip, colette. The usual suspects. Even Pricele$$, for the real inside streetwear heads. I guess you could say Elms’ work at Supreme and beyond set a lot of the framework for what constitutes a streetwear t-shirt, but with his laid back demeanor, he’d never admit it if he thought it even halfway true.

Sitting with Elms in his Brooklyn studio, the thing that comes across most plainly is his strong work ethic and training in the trade of design. Looking at one of his t-shirt graphics, you might not get the sense that its designer clocks some serious hours contemplating golden means and negative space, per se. That’s because Elms’ treats a t-shirt as a t-shirt should be treated; casually. However when it comes to the hallmark and landmark gigs of a professional designer slash fine artist, rest assured you’ll find Elms in his studio, cranking on ideas and executions, designer gears turning on high, be it cool-guy, corporate or personal.