Edwin Himself Interview with Mr Jay –
A few days ago, John Jay invited us (w+k12) over for lunch at his private creative consultancy space, Studio J. Over that last two months, we’d occasionally get a glimpse of him through the halls at Wieden+Kennedy, but would rarely get a chance to speak with him since he’d usually be on his way in-or-out of the building. So this was our formal introduction. John Jay is currently the executive creative director of W+K and also spends time overseeing their global offices in New York, London, Amsterdam, Shanghai, Beijing, Tokyo, Delhi and São Paulo.
Studio J is currently tackling a project with the city that would facilitate the construction of a multi-purpose hostel complex. The building would house artists, designers and creative-types looking for affordable spaces to hone their craft. This would be a definite catalyst to help re-energize Portland’s Chinatown district. Word is that Alex Calderwood, founder of the famed Ace Hotel chain, will be a collaborator of the project.
I’ve been a big fan of John Jay’s work for quite some time and followed his blogs within the NYTimes and Japan’s Honeyee. In 2008, I had the pleasure of hearing him speak at Imprint Lab alongside Jeff Staple and Hiroshi Fujiwara. This was definitely a great time to pick his brain in between bites.
During our stay, John made an interesting point about being an artist (or any creative type for that matter). He mentioned that you should always be wary of getting too comfortable and that you should always be challenging yourself. His decision to move from New York to Portland baffled his former employers at Bloomingdale’s—a brand he helped shape during the 80′s and early 90′s—but it was the challenge of a smaller city and the departure from the fashion industry that allured him to Wieden+Kennedy.
Above, are bricks of soap that will eventually be cut into smaller sizes. John and his wife Janet also utilize the space as a workshop for their boutique soap collection, Pearl+. Each block is hand crafted and made out crushed pearls. The thing that’s great about running a soap operation within your studio is that your space will always smell pretty damn good. The collection is only available at small handful of places including Colette and Ace Hotel PDX.
Below is John’s art collection. Some of my favorites were done by Chris Johanson, Tom Sachs, Jun Takahashi (UNDERCOVER) and Kaws.
