Interview

S T E V E HARRINGTON

Artist Designer Entrepreneur

Steven Harrington is an LA-based artist & designer and a cofounder of design firm, National Forest. Cited as the leader of a contemporary Californian psychedelic-pop aesthetic, Steven is best known for his bright, iconic style. Embracing a multimedia approach, his portfolio includes large-scale installations, hand screened prints, limited-edition books, skateboards, and sculptures. He has exhibited artwork in LA, NY, Paris, Berlin, Milan, Barcelona, and Tokyo, among others.

Like most kids, I grew up drawing and painting. My parents really embraced that and pushed me further into it. When I hit high school, I realized that I liked drawing and painting so much that I didn’t want to stop.

So you had a plan when you went to college?

I knew that there would have to be some kind of financial reward at some point, but, to be honest, I didn’t think about it. I still feel somewhat guilty for that. I’m older now, and this is serious. This is what I do. I’ve realized that a certain amount of living off of this takes not thinking about whether or not it’s going to work. I’ve somehow managed to do it, so I’m going to celebrate that. I can say I never put together a plan or anything.

That makes sense. Not that you don’t take your work seriously, but if you consider everything you have to do to start your business at once, it could feel overwhelming

Exactly. And to this day, it can feel overwhelming. You have to invest so much of yourself into your work that if you get caught up in questioning yourself too much, then that imaginative, creative spark can easily vanish. Being vulnerable by making things is uncomfortable enough in the first place. To add the discomfort of being an adult, paying bills, owning a house, and all that other shit makes the stakes even higher.

Where did you attend college?

I went to Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. In high school, I was lucky enough to have a teacher who was really devoted to art. He taught me about Art Center, and I took college-level Art Center courses while still in high school. Unfortunately, I couldn’t afford Art Center right away, so I went to Pasadena City College after graduation. I built up a portfolio and did the whole scholarship thing to see how much money I could get from the government.

After college, you dove into design work and started National Forest with your friend, Justin. How did that come about?

I met Justin at Art Center and the two of us had a mutual passion for art, design, and drawing. At the end of college we both thought, “Whoa, we’re either going to split up right now and go work for different companies or we can do this together and try to figure something out.” It was a really big decision. We chose to put our portfolios together, create a business, and try to get jobs. And that’s what we did: we literally put our illustration portfolios together and hustled our work around.up a portfolio and did the whole scholarship thing to see how much money I could get from the government.

“All we’re looking for is honesty—that one little ounce of honesty in the world, whether it’s found within art or other things.”

What were the first years of National Forest like? Looking back, are there any practical insights or things you did to actually keep the doors open

Yeah, we cold-called various art directors and businesses. We also went out to New York. At the time, there was an editorial building where we literally walked from show our work to a bunch of art directors. We hit up pretty much every contact we had.

“…there are plenty of people who find their passions in their 50s, 60s, and 70s….It’s awesome to think that all of us could someday evolve into something completely unexpected.” Do you think one of the reasons you were able to develop such a strong voice with your personal work was because you had the commercial work as your bread and butter and there

floor to floor with our portfolio to

was no pressure no make money from the personal stuff at the start?

It didn’t cross my mind then, but it does now. I completely agree with you.

It’s like I’ve hit this weird moment of, “Fuck it, I can make this into whatever I want it to be,” because like you said, it’s art. I’m not reliant on it. Even if another Nike doesn’t come around, I’ll continue making whatever the hell I want. And you know what? It’s going to look like this weird, cartoon world. Some people are going to look at it and say, “Dude, this fucking guy is all about cartoons and it’s really naïve—is it for a kid?”

Very cool. In addition to your agency, National Forest, you do personal work under the moniker, You & I, right?

Yeah. A lot of people consider it illustration, but it goes back and forth between illustration and art. I like drawing, so my work tends to feel illustrative, even though a lot of the work is not necessarily illustrating in a traditional sense, like what Saul Sternberg did for the New Yorker. It’s more vague and surreal.

What advice can you offer to someone who wants to start a business?

I’ve recently talked to several friends about this. When we started National Forest, I thought, “We need to incorporate now, get the tax dude involved now, start financial planning now, and I need to make sure I’m paying estimated quarterly taxes now.” You can get consumed by every facet of business before you jump into what it is that you’re interested in.

“What do you find yourself doing or wanting to physically do? I’m not talking about something you wistfully daydream about. There’s a big difference between what you actually enjoy doing and the daydream of what you want your identity to encapsulate.”

It’s hard to decide what to focus on career-wise straight out of high school. You don’t necessarily know what your contribution is yet, or you don’t know what you’re good at because you haven’t tried enough things. How do you determine what to focus on?

I figured it out through experience. What do you find yourself doing or wanting to physically do? I’m not talking about something you wistfully daydream about. There’s a big difference between what you actually enjoy doing and the daydream of what you want your identity to encapsulate

For example, if you don’t constantly pick up a pencil to draw and want to do that for large periods of time, then chances are that you don’t like drawing that much. If you don’t pick up a guitar or find yourself attracted to music and surrounding yourself with people who make it, then music probably is not for you.

Steven partnered with Roshe One designer, Dylan Raasch, to design a Nike Sportswear pack, which includes the Roshe One and a Nike slide, now at select stockists worldwide

“What’s most important to me is to remember that this is my passion. Even if I was working somewhere else, I’d be trying to do this, so I might as well try to do it for myself.”

Being real about our struggles makes us feel vulnerable, but it’s important. I love that you embraced your anxiety and used it to create art. In showing the series and talking to the press about the pieces, what kind of response have you had?

It was interesting because when I put that show together, I thought, “Man, this is so strange, and it’s definitely opening up this very personal thing.” But I got great feedback from the show. There were so many people who came out and took photos with the work who completely related to it.

What I enjoy about painting and art is that it can lead to conversation It might lead us to talk about death or being afraid or anxiety, and then hopefully it will get us to ask the larger question about what the human experience means to each of us.

“After making one or two paintings, I realized they were totally about these weird, anxious moments I was having. Through the paintings [in the Wavy Days series], I was creating practical jokes on these emotions in hopes of not only shedding light on them, but also getting my brain to not take the anxiety so seriously.”