'I didn’t think I earned the right to be called an artist so I didn’t promote myself.' Says Saffy the South London designer who owns and has been running her own label GoldmiineLABEL since April this year. She creates and deigns a wide range of items from logos to wall paintings, posters and clothing and has had the pleasure of working artists and designers such as Mista C'mon, Boost and James Rotimi and hopes to design for Mishka in the future.
I thought i'd catch up with Saffy herself to find out more about where it all started.
’I'm an artist from South London and I design a variety of different things for a range of clients; anything from logos to wall paintings, posters, clothing and fashion designs and story boards'. Saffy originally put her creative career on hold to study Sport Science at college, but she soon realised that 'art was something people appreciated'. She says 'I was always a good artist but never thought I was good enough to do something with it, people started coming to me for designs and after hearing a sermon in church about your skills and gifts making a way for you, GoldmiineLABEL began! I made a twitter and clients started pouring in, it’s been going well ever since!'
She feels her work has 'the ability to speak all languages and touch all people which she think is 'awesome' and the reason why she started GoldmiineLABEL. When ask what her names represents she says 'There's no particular reason, I just feel that art in general is like a pot of gold you find at the end of a rainbow, so i named it GoldmiineLABEL'. She says 'I think I follow a certain form of art, but my crazy imagination and personality make my artwork unique and distinctive. My collages are quite popular and I think have become my trademark. A guy I designed a logo for said he looked at my art and saw me which I thought was a really great compliment!
She says that sports, writing and having a good time are three of the most important things to her, but like many she has overcome a number of obstacles to get her to where she is now. The lack of confidence she had in the beginning as well as maintaining a steady image of what she wanted GoldmiineLABEL to be are two big things that held her back. She explains 'I didn’t think I earned the right to be called an artist so I didn’t promote myself which kept GoldmiineLABEL off the map, so no work was coming in. I overcame it by simply pushing that negativity to the side, taking on board all of the compliments and advice I was getting. I sat down and brainstormed until I figured out why I am doing this, what I want the outcome to be, what I want it to symbolize and who I want it to reach out too. I’ve realised we can sometimes be our own worst critic, so this definitely changed my mind set and now I’m confident in my skills and ability to produce dope artwork!
All in all she says, 'I’m a fan of small vintage shops but apart from them I really dig Mishka for their comical cartoony like designs. Supreme for their retro colourful apparel footwear and accessories and Obey is a really cool brand, I love their almost art nouveau type designs as well as their simple stencil prints and pop art pieces. Each brand brings something different and has what I call a real presence in your wardrobe which I think is what I admire most. It motivates me to create artwork that makes people feel like that! The mood I’m in definitely influences what I draw and my environment and lifestyle also plays a big part in what and how I choose to design things. Roy Lichtenstein has always been a big influence, I love the simplicity and boldness of his work and after seeing Chris Brown’s album cover (F.A.M.E) I’ve become a fan of Ron English’s artwork/prints.
In the past she has had the pleasure of working with loads of up and coming designers such as RedLust who specialise in retro plasteramic jewellery, she's designed logos for various dance groups and rappers such as Mista C’mon aka LOX, James Rotimi - who is the maker of College DropOut. She's currently working on designs for a rapper named Boost who will be releasing his Garshh T-shirt Line soon. In the future, she'd love to collaborate with Mishka and hopefully design some artwork for them even if it was for free. She thinks 'they’ve got a dope clothing line and my designs could totally fit in, Mishka people if you happen to see this give me a shout lol'
'I’m lucky enough to be surrounded by a lot of successful and motivated people who help promote GoldmiineLABEL to their fans, listeners and viewers. I think twitter is the best ever and if you ever wanted to start a project or business, it’s definitely the place to go! I’d also recommend you make a blog, I joined Tumblr five months ago and it’s become my online portfolio of art work, fashion and music articles. It’s a great way of connecting with people worldwide and promoting your talent'.
'GoldmiineLABEL is pretty much an artistic movement and the umbrella name for loads of different projects Saffy does. She has recently started work on a mini project called Tatted T’s, which are hand drawn vintage designs on white t-shirts - she'll basically design anything you bring to her - In the future she says we can look forward to 'a range of screen printed designs for T-shirt line ‘Goldmiine Tees’ soon out. I’m planning on customizing Vans and Converses which will hopefully blow up and get crazy attention!'
For all the latest on GoldmiineLABEL you can follow Saffy via Twitter where she says 'she'll definitely follow you back' as well as check out all her new designs on Tumblr.
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