Interview by Rachel Gottesman

Good morning Brock! Or should I say Laser Bread? I know it's a bit early and I'd offer you a cup of coffee or something but I don't know where you are. So why don't you tell us a little bit about where you live and what you do.

Happy morning time to you! Well, I live in Minneapolis where I work as an art director / creative director at an ad agency, which basically means I sit around and think up ideas all day and if one of them makes it through the gauntlet, I get to execute it. Any job where you can wear tees everyday is a good job.



What does Laser Bread mean? Is this an invention of yours, because it sounds delicious and I hope to purchase some soon (along with a Laser Toaster if possible).

I’ve always thought lasers were pretty great, and anyone who knows me would describe me as a huge bread fan. So I just combined the two to form laser bread.



Is there anything wild and crazy we should know about you? Got any weird hobbies or special skills?

Hmmm, well, Flea from Red Hot Chili Peppers almost ran me over with a Segway a couple of years ago. He said, “my bad dude” and I said “no problem.” Then he zipped down the sidewalk. He was dressed like a Ringling Brothers knife thrower. That’s a true story.



So it's pretty obvious that you are crazy talented. This is always a plus when designing shirts. Do you go to school for art? Are you more into digital media or are you into making art by hand?

I’ve been drawing my entire life. I grew up in a family of artists and musicians. That environment was the best art education I could hope for. Later on I went to Portfolio Center in Atlanta. My cousin was a student there and I when I saw the work he was doing, I thought I would take a stab at it. The name of the school seemed kind of lame, so I wasn’t sure if a creative career would pan out or not, but fortunately it did.



As far as the work I do, I instinctively begin every project organically, sometimes it stays that way other times I merge it with digital apps. I guess I’m more inclined to hand write my own font as opposed to using a font that looks like handwriting. But I try not to think in terms of one way or the other, I look at both worlds as a means to create and build.

Sometimes I like to get freaky and use oldschool versions of Quark for projects. It’s interesting how, if you force yourself to use archaic programs with limited capabilities, you can end up with some original work. Old Quark has some awesomely bad gradients.



Do you have any favorite artists or designers, and what's so great about them?

I’m inspired by artists who strive to reinvent themselves, their work and push conventions. It’s boring to do the same thing over and over. I really like UK architect / artist Thomas Heatherwick. He’s created some incredible sculptures and structures. He did a staircase at a fashion boutique in Soho that looks like it was poured into the room as a liquid and hardened.

Alex Tylevich is another influence of mine. He’s an amazing designer and typographer. I worked with him a few years ago and I definitely took advantage of that time to learn from him. There are many others as well, too many to list... Geoff McFetridge, Kiki Smith, Paul Rand, Kam Tang, Mike Mills, The Hamburger Helper Hand...see? Too many.

Now that all of your hard work has finally culminated with a Threadless print, are you going to Disney World? Wait, no... That's not right. I'm still thinking about the Superbowl, sorry.

What I really meant to ask is, what are you going to do with your newly earned fame and fortune?

I’ve been lucky to have won some creative accolades in my job, but as I said to my friends, when I found out that one of my subs was chosen for print by Threadless, I had never been so psyched! (did I spell psyched correctly? ) (Note by Rachel: Yes you did.)

Anyway, we all know and wear Threadless tees and it’s just really cool to think that one of my designs will get to be one of them. The thought of someone seeing the shirt, buying it, wearing it until it falls apart and then using it to wash the car is pretty cool.



Thanks for chatting, you can go back to bed now!

Actually, it’s more of a couch...and I’m kind of still in it.

Interview by Rachel Gottesman

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