Briefing: I often stumble across the various Instagram accounts owned by clothing brands and say to myself “Wow, so this is basically Virgil Abloh’s influence in the flesh”. But the day I stumbled across UNDER CONSTRUCTION, I was screaming at my phone. The aesthetics, the company message, and the product stood out in the best possible way. In design and clothing, that’s like the holy trinity. Not only was I immensely impressed, I was also very inspired.
I’ve been following UNDER CONSTRUCTION on Instagram for about a year now, and it has aged so perfectly. Mind you, I have not met the owner of the brand, and have exchanged only a few messages through this year. I reached out because I have full respect and appreciation of this amazing brand. I have full confidence that they will be an influential factor in streetwear and with their credo to spill outside of producing clothes (as mentioned below), I’m sure that they will help inspire the next generation of curious artists. Check out their interview as well as UNDER CONSTRUCTION's ten track playlist below!
UNDER CONSTRUCTION went through some cosmetic rebranding a few months ago. What inspired this shift in color palette?
I treat the brand as an extension of myself and as an individual my goal is to learn, apply and grow. Orange was and still is a color that shifts my mood; it’s the color of creativity but where I am now in my life I needed something that reminds me to push forward and that’s what yellow is for me. Reminding me of discipline and will-power.
Who works on the brand day-to-day? Is it a one-man band or do you have a team?
Officially it’s just me working on the brand right now, but there are few creatives that I work with on a regular basis. I love aligning with creatives on a philosophical standpoint before we actually brainstorm and execute ideas. It makes the process seamless.
For those who haven’t had the privilege of seeing your work in its entirety, describe the brand and its overall vision.
I think of UNDER CONSTRUCTION as a mentality more than anything. I believe we as people are a product of our programming. As children we were programmed to believe things that are simply not true about ourselves.
“UNDER CONSTRUCTION is the glitch, that interruption in the audience's pattern and habits that hopefully helps them realize the truth about themselves and deconstructs the lie within their story.”
Right now the brand’s business model is educating and relating through merchandise (clothing) but the goal is to expand into wellness activities, therapy, coaching sessions, community retreats, and other products that can help heal trauma and change the story.
Describe the moment you decided to start this journey. Was there one significant moment that made you create UNDER CONSTRUCTION?
There were many moments in my life that led me to starting UNDER CONSTRUCTION but the kick starter was the summer of 2018. I was on tour with a well known artist managing their merchandise and pop-up shops in Australia, New Zealand and Japan. I travelled ahead of the tour because my job was to have the pop-up shops ready on the show dates so I basically traveled by myself. I had a lot of time to reflect on my life, mistakes I’ve made and who I was becoming. Previous to this tour I read a book called “The Desire Map” by Danielle Laporte and it put my passions in perspective for me. One passion in particular I uncovered was my need to be creative. In the midst of doing all this internal reflecting, I slowly got back into creating. While I was in Japan I got inspired by all the construction that was going on and it just hit me. This was my reason for creating, to help people, to inspire people, to change the story.
Humans have the fortunate ability to feel different emotions. That being said, not all moments in life are full of smiles. As a company that promotes mental wellness, is it difficult to create when you personally are not feeling 100% happy?
I will say it’s extremely difficult to create for me when I’m not inspired. I can be angry and still be inspired to create. Therefore I do my best to do different things, read, watch interviews, go outside and be curious.
“I think the main driver of creativity is being curious and being open. Be open to every emotion that comes because emotions are ENERGY IN MOTION. Use that energy.”
The graphics and aesthetics of the brand are incredible. Take us behind the design process. How do you plan and curate your social media content?
Thank you, that means a lot. I push myself beyond my comfort zone of what I think I’m capable of. I love learning and applying what I just learned. Sometimes it doesn’t come out the way I wanted it to but I truly love the process of learning and applying. I have a bunch of quotes and ideas from podcasts and books that I read in my notes on my phone called “NOTICES”. I do my best to create with the intention of educating and stimulating the mind with graphics that would catch my attention. I don’t really plan my content, I tend to just go off of what inspires me that day and share it. Hopefully it inspires the next.
How do you plan and design your products? What are the physical essentials (besides graphic design and production tools) do you need at arms reach when working?
I always start with intention. What am I trying to express? what is needed; From there I search for visual inspiration that is inlign with the message I want to share. Sometimes it could take days, or even months to come up with something product wise but then things click and flow and I just let the inspiration take over.
How has Los Angeles shaped your brand? If you were to move across the country, to let’s say NYC, do you think the brand would adapt to the east coast lifestyle in any sort of way?
Los Angeles is definitely an influence of the brand. It’s my environment so I take my experiences of Los Angeles and put them into the brand. If I were to move to NYC I would have different experiences and the brand would reflect those experiences. Sort of like how the brand was conceptualized in Japan.
What are some things, moments or people that inspire you daily to get your message across?
Perspective. I love hearing new perspectives. It’s fuel for me. Being able to see something from another point of view truly gives me excitement. It allows me to look at the same thing that I’ve been looking at for years in a whole new way. It makes it new for me.
Any advice to fellow creatives that want to take a step into the world that we live in (in regards to design and fashion)?
Don’t believe the lies in your head. Don’t believe the lies anyone else tells you. If you feel something, move towards it and flow with what life gives you. Never resist the UNIVERSE. It will always win.
UNDER CONSTRUCTION CURATED
Check out these ten tracks, curated by UNDER CONSTRUCTION!
