Randy Laybourne Interview

Q: How did you link up with Livestock?
A: A few years ago I was able to meet Garry, through Chris Allen, on one of my trips back home from California. Around late 2004, I had a couple small-run tees and he took a few and sold them at Live Stock. One said “Make Crime Your Business” and Garry said a few guys wondered if it could be done in gold foil and XXL size.

One of the first tees that Livestock carried around 2004.

Q: How do you keep motivated to produce/create?
A: I just don’t stop or can’t stop. A friend recently sent me an interview with Milton Glaser and in it Glaser mentioned a quote from John Cage, the composer, who said “Never have a job, because if you have a job someday someone will take it away from you and then you will be unprepared for your old age.” That made total and complete sense. So I just keep doing.

Q: Do you think your work has evolved since you started in the business?
A: My work has evolved just in the last couple months with the opportunity to do some fun things. These tees for example are a continuation of a manner of making images I’ve just started trying on a bigger scale. For some desktops I have in the past composited my own drawings. But now I’m trying to make them more and more complicated. It makes the image very flexible so that it can be applied to different media. I also did guest Art Direction for the second issue of King Shit. I did unique drawings for almost every column page.

Q: What would you consider your background to be?
A: Pretty pasty and burn easily in the sun. It is coming up on almost 20 years of being out of high school and I’ve been fortunate to have done a variety of stuff so far. Way back in 1992 I travelled Europe for exactly a year. It helped me grow up and get a little less shy. I found out I had a Canadian accent. It was a shock.

Q: Did you have youthful aspirations to be doing this or is it just something you fell into?
A: I keep falling… Since moving back to Canada from California it has been pretty amazing that my wife and I have been able to live and survive through doing a variety of different gigs. The fear of not having medical costs does set the mind at ease.

Q: Do you have any formal training, if so was it of any value?
A: I did seven years of post-secondary education and landed up with a Bachelor of Fine Arts, a Bachelor of Visual Communications (both from NSCAD) and a diploma in Graphic Design. Of course my parents joked with that amount of time I could be a doctor. With how working in the US works, it makes it very simple, but still not stress-free, to work as a graphic designer. One of the degrees is almost worn out from the many times it has been handled by the US border agents. The actual education part was good as well and still count my printmaking instructors Ed Porter and Bob Rogers as friends. They both know more about design than most graphic design instructors.

Bob Rogers (left) and Ed Porter (right) taught me more about design than any other professor and they were my printmaking instructors.

Q: How has the internet helped your company/work get to the level it’s at now?
A: The internet helps for sure but it still doesn’t take the place of meeting someone face-to-face and becoming friends with them.

Q: Do you think brands and individual items become popular solely on hype or do you think peoples taste still governs how well something does?
A: A brand might be able to get by for a few years with hype and lies but eventually they burn out and become less relevant to culture.

Q: What’s next for you?
A: The Mumble Agency with Bob K. is still getting ready to launch but we both have some other projects to get running on auto-pilot first. Personally I have more drawing to do and more photos to take. It is getting close to a year of being back in Canada but it doesn’t feel like it. I guess it is because I land up going back to California every second month for an art show, freelance design work or friends and family. I’m organizing a group show for November here in Vancouver with the Walrus shop on Cambie. And more and more drawings to do…

Randy is holding up one of the NEW Livestock x Randy Laybourne tees. Available now at all locations.
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