Erik Brunetti: Behind The Doctrine | Hypebeast

You recently debuted your first piece of cinematography, what was the catalyst for making the jump into this medium?

As an artist, I wanted to challenge myself; when things become complacent in my space of work I feel the need to seek out new ventures to express myself and what I am involved with, whether it’s my brand, or me personally. Cinema is a medium that I have not worked with very much, but I have always been attracted to. I constantly think about design conceptually and literally, I think about which mediums will apply best to the idea to bring it to fruition.

Was there something that brought on this “complacency” or would you say that you had largely become satisfied with your artistic work in the past? And to what degree of involvement does cinema make its way into your everyday life? While some listen to music while they design, is a movie running in the background for you?

I am extremely satisfied with what I have accomplished in the past. I feel the industry as a whole has become complacent. I believe the Internet has sped up the selling and consumption process for brands, which in turn affects the look and design quality of the collections; thus, the product suffers. This results in every brand looking like the next with each season. No one is willing to step outside of the script or take a financial risk, therefore they look to other brands to take this risk for them. If it succeeds and is presented on the hype/sites, etc, only then will they follow pursuit. That is complacency.

I usually work in silence, never with a movie or TV on. A majority of my ideas and visions come to me when I am sleeping. I wake up and write them down. If I hear a sound or musical idea, I wake up and play (whatever instrument it is) into a four track or pro-tools quickly, then tighten it up in morning. I hear sounds that sound like other sounds, and see things that look like other things. A bus driving over a manhole can sound like a large bass drum with shakers, cars driving by my window emulate the sound of wind, sometimes sounding like loud echoing whispers. I will see a image on an object, at first glance I see it a certain way, then I look again and it’s completely different, I am seeing what my mind wants me to see. This applies to all of my work.

I have always been into film, my entire life. Bernardo Bertolucci, Martin Scorsese, etc. The early 90′s FUCT t-shirts depicted that (movie stills printed on t-shirts). FUCT was the first streetwear brand to cross-reference cinema with a garment. Now, I want to push that initial idea one step further and bring the brand to viewers via a cinematic experience.