Images by Elliot Simpson
Mr. Phomer is a name that's being said a lot around London's creative circles at the moment. Lisbon-born, London-based graphic designer Mr. Phomer has brought his distinctive work to London and made a name for himself and his graffiti-tinged style through a mix of shows, brand collaborations and commercial design work, along with a healthy dose of parties.
Many will probably know Mr. Phomer best for his confrontations with Supreme's posters on London's streets or his collaborations with brands like S.O.O.N. and the Basement, but that's not all he does. Underneath the surface Mr. Phomer is someone who hates sitting still, and that made him perfect to include as part of SUPRA's #AlwaysOnTheRun campaign, which shines light on some of Europe's best young creatives and the hectic lives they lead.
We sat down with the man himself, to talk about where it all started, why he left Lisbon and what he wants to do next.
So how did you get started?
I started with graffiti when I was a kid, I was just skating and doing graffiti. That was cool but it wasn’t going to get me anywhere, but it got me into doing illustration, and designing T-shirts for my mates that skated, and taking photos of people skating and doing graffiti. My graffiti is not that bad actually, I still do it, but I started doing real job stuff I guess. So that’s where it started, and I’ve just been doing it up to today.
What got you into graffiti?
I don’t know, we were just kids. I mean, I was more into the punk and hardcore scene at first, but then I started really liking hip-hop. With the skate thing, you know how it is, it mixes everything, but in Lisbon it’s not the same as here, it’s small crowds and stuff, so it’s not that big of a thing. And then I started doing graffiti because of that community sense, you know? There were kids who were into different stuff the same way that I was, and then I wasn’t that bad and it was fun, and then obviously it was fucking awesome to just do vandal stuff and go and trash places [laughs].
Why did you leave Lisbon? The scene over there looks quite cool and it’s getting some attention right now..
Yeah I saw an article on people moving to Lisbon. I mean, it’s an awesome city but it’s a small circle, you know? The creative scene is really small, the industry is really small, there’s no money, it’s kind of a big crisis. We’re like Greece right now, we’re just not on the news because people don’t do shit about it [laughs]. At the time I moved with one of my ex-girlfriends and as soon as I moved in I started getting some shows around East London, I started getting paid gigs for illustration and stuff, which I already had in Lisbon, but here I was getting them within a month or something, it was so fast, I just thought 'fuck, this is awesome'. So yeah, I just stayed. I mean, I went back to Lisbon for almost half a year because I broke up with that girl, but I was still coming back every now and then. It was mainly because there was always something creative going on, whereas in Lisbon there’s always stuff going on but it’s really small.
You work a lot with brands, how did you get into that?
Like I said, I started making T-shirts for skaters and stuff, and I always did it for myself as well, not my own brand but with my signature. That kind of never stopped and lately it’s got a little bigger because I’ve been working with cooler brands. Now, every month I get brands seeing my stuff on Instagram or something and wanting to work together, and then some of them are just people that I know who have a brand and want to work together. The work I’ve done with S.O.O.N. is more of a friendship thing, but there are other people I don’t know, we just found each other on the internet. Right now I’m working with someone in Bristol who I’ve never met, but the brand looks cool.
If you’re getting a lot of offers, how do you decide who to work with?
Yeah, there’s a lot of shit stuff. The stuff I do, it’s always stuff that I would wear, that I identify with because there’s so many people doing shit stuff out there, it’s almost sad that they put money into it. But yeah, it’s just stuff that I like personally, that I would like to wear.
You’ve got five projects coming out in one month sometimes, do you enjoy being that busy?
I never like to be just sitting around, I’m always working, even if it’s for nothing. If I don’t have anything going on I just draw and design and take photos for nothing, just for myself. I like to be busy, but, when it’s work, work, work, and it’s all corporate stuff, it’s hard, because that work can get annoying, that’s the thing. It’s not about the busy side of it because if people are chill it can be super busy but there’s a good vibe going on. When there’s pressure about nothing, or a lot of meetings, that’s a different type of busy. I don’t mind being busy but having fun with it, that’s cool. I can’t deal with the business side of it, and that’s why I can’t work a regular agency job, people look busy but they’re not getting shit done and that fucking annoys me so much.
When you think about going forward do you see yourself trying to do more shows? More brand collaborations?
Lately I’ve been thinking about getting more into the art side of it, because I used to do a lot of shows, I’ve done shows all over the world, and I used to sell a lot of paintings. I have a couple of shows coming up, and I need to get back on that because it’s fun, but money-wise it’s not always sure. I’d love to go back to that. I don’t know, I don’t have a big plan. I have stuff that I know I want to do, like with the brand collabs, I want to work with some major brands because I’ve got some bigger connections now, but I want to finish this phase before I jump to the next one. Maybe that’s my next thing, just do more art shows and do more big collabs. If it works, then cool, if it doesn’t then.. I don’t know.
Don't forget to share your #AlwaysOnTheRun moments for a chance to win weekly prizes - head over to the website for details.
SUPRA's latest casual running style the Noiz is available now via Slam City Skates, other select retailers, and the SUPRA webstore.