I have had a good bunch of emails recently asking how I go about running suffoca, hopefully this will give you a bit of an insight.In the few years I have been running this business, there has been a stable three points which i’ve encountered, stuck by and learnt alot from. First is organisation, its not 100% always needed, as its fun to do things out the blue but it will make alot of things in your business easier, setting out times and lists of tasks to tackle. The second, be about your brand, stick by your work and really involve yourself with in what you do, get to know other companies which mix in the same circle of product and show yourself off. Lastly, is something you hear from everyone, you have to take risk’s and make mistakes to learn from, build up from and create a history to your brand.

Recent sketches for a big visual of the Suffoca world coming to life.

Ive spent the last week traveling around Ireland and Scotland with Professor Green and the rest of team green, documenting the adventures and antics we got up to. I have never been to Ireland or Scotland before so I was super stoked to go explore. 

DJ IQ prepping for stage.

First stop, Ireland, I don’t know what I was expecting, but what I discovered is some really inviting people and some neat buildings, great meat places to eat and of course the stereotypical homely irish pubs with locals who walk slightly like what you imagine a leprechaun to walk like… ha
After stopping over in Dublin and Cork for a few nights we set off to grab are kilts and raid Scotland. Taking the ferry over let us get a great view of the Scottish coast and oh man is it beautiful, defiantly a place I want to revisit in the future with friends.

Felix Billion, hyping up the crowd with IQ.

It has been really nice getting time on the road to hang out with the team, telling stories and listening to some of the mad experiences some of the guys have had through there careers, with playing with some absolute legends to just some bizare moments with crazed fans.

Stephen moments before heading on stage.

I had an absolute blast traveling around with team green and appreciate the opportunity. I really admire the whole journey of touring, from working hard to produce your product then going out there and really sending the message home, its defiantly a concept I want to take on with Suffoca, and see where it takes us…

By clicking Wandering Slizzled legs you’ll download a neat zip of three new collectable wallpapers, for you to enjoy and share with your mates.

Meeting up with some awesome characters this coming week, I’ll be sure to keep you guys posted via Instagram (Suffoca) & Twitter.

The Wander print is not only one of my favourite pieces I have ever created, but it also has a lot of great meaning behind it. People often ask about my process of work, so below I will let you in on the very beginning of this piece to end.    

The designs themselves are a tribute to three of the biggest influencers on my work. Lewis Carroll, Dr Seuss and Walt Disney of course, so let me explain:

The Suffoca stories are all about the adventures of a group of characters, some of which are loosely based on the people around me, myself and my imagination. So what better way to do a tribute then wonder up what it would be like, if all three of these creators met up, what they think up, the stories they would tell and how their work reflected in themselves as real life characters.

So i took a look at the Suffoca crew and with some positioning i think i cracked it on the head. At the bottom of the front design is Glump, one of the most peculiar characters from the bunch with only one eye and a slight obsession with poems he is definitely a good match with Dr Seuss. Day dreaming on the top, probably of some sort of musical scene, where birds are wearing wet suits & dancing in the snow, is Carny who plays the great role of Lewis Carroll.

Then you might be thinking, what about Walt? well he sits on the back of the shirt, I was first tempted to have a character with a neat little moustache sitting on a book, (maybe ill save that for another time) instead i created a Suffoca silhouette of him to be a famous sidekick alike Mickey Mouse.

There are few other subtle details which reflect these characters, but ill leave that up to you to find.

Prosper, the superhero dreamer of the crew. His identity is hidden, while his painted city pieces hypnotise you, your eyes feel heavy and your legs strain to lift your shoes, this an announcement is by only 1 view, your free to take the risks you please, plunge in to the dreams of your dreams, make what you want come true, work beyond your limits and keep your head afloat and remember these words Propser wrote, The best preparation for achieving your dreams tomorrow, is to start achieving today.

Bean paints are the most useful of all, perfect for a Suffoca tribute across a city wall, paints set up from a colour blind creator, bold and gradient to make the piece visually greater, once set in stone thats were they stay, till passers by wander away and in there brains these messages sit, a Suffoca victory as they google it. Suffoca.com

We were recently lucky enough to get an early showing around the Harry Potter Studio Tour before it opened up to the public. It’s fair to say, we were all super excited about walking through the sets and seeing all the amazing work which transforms J.K Rowling’s imaginary world in to as real as it gets.

My family has always had its fingers slightly dipped in the film industry and I’ve been lucky enough to see a few sets, but the sheer details which have gone in to the whole world of Harry Potter, will blow everyones minds and turn your head in to overdrive for inspiration.

As you wander through, there’s backgrounds, videos and notes on the people who made which area of the film come to life,and how they tackled the biggest story ive ever known to be produced. The details of props, set finishes all make the whole thing feel so real. I’m sure while they were filming It would of been easy to convince yourself, you were in JK Rawlings head.

I don’t want to spoil the adventure for you, so I’ve chosen a small handful of shots, to show you all what made me stroll round like a sponge trying to take in as much as I could.

The recent weekend, I spent hanging out with a bunch of good friends, catching up on story’s, relighting some old ones and cooking up a huge collection of pancakes to fuel the whole thing.

Im sure you all know John by now, well its already been a whole year since he took the step of putting one of his unconventional bakery stores in London Carnaby, so just like any other special date it was celebrated in true JohnnyCupcakes fashion. As always Me and Maisie were there to lend a helping hand and have are cheeks seized up from laughing to much.

Kellen, Mikey, Josh, Q and Foday make up a group like no other, the London JC family aka “The Cray”, a group of goonies who make dinner hangouts feel like a party in my brain.

Nate dog, one of my best friends who on my first day of college a good while back, I decided to sit next to on a bench an chat away like a crazy cat lady, funny enough Nate had lost his marbles too.

Timba Smits, not only a real life version of the Jolly green giant, but a super nice guy with so many ideas in his head every now and then they accidently slip out his mouth.

Dravis, handy with his camera and his head set on business mode , his real nice to hangout with and have someone else take some sweet shots of the adventures we all get up to from a different eye.

Giles the young David Attenborough is a top notch guy, on the few times we’ve met, it’s felt like we’ve been Friends for years, and to top that all off his a gold mine of knowledge, specially when it involves a camera.

I have been hiding the past weeks, working on finalising this bunch of collectables to put on the shelves for you guys, featuring what I would call some of my strongest documentations of the characters to date and the wonder piece that is the Bean Flannel.

These stories have been saved up for a while and couldn’t be more happy to be able to release them, I will be following this post up by spotlighting some of the products and revealing the true depth of these pieces,  showing you the details from the embroidered Suffoca S’s on the flannel cuff  to back prints &  showing homage to some of my favourite creators.

Yet again I have focused on Quality over quantity, to bring all aspects up a notch and introducing a brand new product which for Suffoca is a great milestone in our production. We are still fully focused on T-shirts but really enjoyed bringing in these key products that reflect the brands lifestyle from the Silhouette hoodie, playing on the norm cut of hoodies and adding are own twist of pocket design, to the newly released  quality loop-wheel Suffoca crew’s and now are personal tailored flannels, a true Suffoca collectable.

As many of you know, I like to really search for music which connects, hand in hand, with the story I tell in the movies I make. This wasn’t no exception, I came across a preview of Ghost’s upcoming EP on Soundcloud and had it stuck in my head. It was the track I wanted to use so after a few discussions I got a pre release of the EP. The EP sounds amazing, with a real strong story behind it, so I set it up on a date with the video. The greatest thing about this whole collaboration is that not only that you can get your hands on the whole collection of music but all proceeds go to charity.  Click the picture below to get hold of the music (Out 19th), or you can listen to the preview of the full EP (Click here) and to read up on the story behind it.