Two jacket stories and two campaigns

Icebreaker and Champion

Someone asked me about style the other week. I flashed to a memory of being 13 going on 14. It’s 2002 and my hometown had one of the largest skateparks in New Zealand. And like Adidas, all day I dream(t) about skateboarding. I couldn’t quite nail tricks like some friends were at the time. But I weirdly could inward heel flip before I could kick flip. However, the fear got me pretty early, and tbh, I just enjoyed observing it all. I’m glad I ended up with a camera in hand.

Anyway, I bought this book called Hardflip. It was all about skateboarding in Aotearoa. Naturally, there were pages of some of the best captured moments over the years. But one image stuck out to me. It was a photograph of one of the photographers, standing on a set of stairs holding his camera. He wore baggy Boom denim, perhaps a pair of Circa’s, I’m not entirely sure. But, where my eyes went to was this coach jacket / spray jacket he wore that was unzipped 3/4 of the way down, so it splayed open to show the t-shirt underneath. The way the sleeve sat, half off his shoulder, left this imprint. I immediately wanted to copy it. My mum had taken me shopping for my once yearly ‘you can buy two new things’ outing. And I bought this no-name grey coach/spray jacket. I never bothered zipping it all the way up. It was stuck at the exact 3/4 mark.

And what solidified this moment of expression for me was being taken to my friend’s weed dealer’s house. Older guys who skated well, who I thought were the shit. We opened the door, and this dude goes, ‘who’s your mate? Damn, he’s got the style with the half zipped jacket’. I was a quiet kid. I smiled on the inside and followed my mate into the house.

That moment made me think about the details. The small moments that make something have a particular expression, feeling, or style.

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I have a few new campaigns out.

Champion - Through It All.

I have another jacket story. I bought a Champion coach jacket in Japan in 2014. I still wear it today ten years later. I have tried to find a replacement without success. But this jacket, like the one when I was a teenager, has really defined a lot of moments for me. And have had a few encounters where people have asked where it was from. And so working on this campaign gave me some good feels.

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Icebreaker - Move To Natural - Global Campaign.

A huge one to bring to life. I’m beyond stoked with this, particularly with how much of a mammoth effort it was. Shooting stills and film campaign simultaneously is a different type of energy.

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Extra bits

I have two new films launching soon (May and June). One with an accompanying photobook. Perhaps one of the most ambitious projects I’ve worked on to date. I’ll update more on launch dates and screenings soon.

Thanks for reading.

I love answering questions about my process. Ask away!

And for all commercial bits. Hit up my agent.

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