Let’s Start at The Beginning

News

STEVIE_WTVR ON OCTOBER 5, 2015

Here we are... first blog post and I have absolutely no idea what I’m about to start writing about - so let’s just see where we end up I guess.

You may be thinking, “Who is this dick and what the hell is he talking about?”.

If so…please may I indulge you.

Well, as long as I can remember, I have always been into drawing and creating stuff. These drawings would be on school jotters, desks, scrap bits of paper and the walls of the odd public toilet or two. There was no central location I would keep them, so one day I decided to get myself a sketchbook.

Fast forward to summer 2012, I was getting my bedroom at my folk's house redecorated (ironically enough, I flew the nest a few months later and my parents swiftly stole my bedroom and decorated it to their own liking. I assume they didn't want me back but that’s a story for another day). Anyway, after my room was complete, I found myself looking at the walls thinking they looked a little bit bland.

I decided it was time to start turning some of my sketch book ideas into pieces of artwork on canvas which I could hang up - so I got to work.

These canvases now litter the walls of my own house (well, at least as far as my Mrs will allow…) and have been the main inspiration behind the creation of WTVR as a project and a brand.

A lot of the time my doodles just involved a bit of a brain fart of scribbles splashed onto a page. Sometimes, however, in amongst the nonsense, little gems would appear which would have potential to be explored a little further.

So that was it, the little uninterested dude with the shrugging hands, which now forms the logo for the WTVR brand, was born randomly out of one of these scribble sessions. I just thought he looked like a little carefree guy that didn't give a shit and came up the idea for the name ‘WTVR’ (that's 'whatever' to any of you boomers out there).

I thought the concept was pretty cool and it conveyed a message that resonated with me quite a bit at the time and still does even to this day.

'WTVR' is a mindset.

It’s confronting that difficult situation head on that's been unnecessarily worrying you.

It's disregarding the negative judgements and opinions of others and sharing your passion or work.

It’s an “ah fuck it - what's the worst that can happen”.

For me, it was a bit of the perspective shift that I needed.

I had been creating these designs and drawings and hanging them on my walls but that was it – they were nowhere else for anyone to see – and the reason? Well, I didn’t think anyone would really care to be honest. Who is this arsehole and why is he polluting my newsfeed with this shite?etc. etc…

But the thing was, I wanted to get my stuff out there, and to do so I just had to overcome that reserved awkwardness and do it.

WTVR is basically the ‘who cares head’ you need to turn on if there is something that you’re passionate about, but you over worry about how other people might judge you for it.

Even though I can still fall victim to these old habits at times, being able to flick that ‘who gives a shit’ switch in the mind has had a significant impact on the way look at things nowadays.

People can get so caught up in bullshit at times that it can stop you doing what you really want to do – WTVR isn’t just a brand or a logo, it’s a way of thinking.

Anyway…That’s enough Martin Luther King speak for now – I promise.

So, where was I…it was actually about 2 years ago that the initial design for the WTVR logo was created and it just really seemed to stick in my head and I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Irritating like that bogey you just can’t quite reach, or an uncomfortably itchy bum in a public place. I was just REALLY aware of it. I knew that I had to do something with it.

And there we are…my metaphorical nose pick or bum scratch materialised in the creation of the WTVR Instagram where I started posting my artwork and designs along with any other random stuff I found relatively interesting.

2 years on and the idea still lingering about in the back of my brain, I found myself floating on a li-lo in a swimming pool in Ibiza - half-pished, getting skelped by the sun, not a care in the world - just magic.

I was daydreaming away when the realisation hit me. It just suddenly clicked and I thought to myself, imagine if you could roll all of the stuff that you find interesting into one single ‘thing’. Like a brand. Clothes, art, music, bands, DJ's, festivals, board sports, club culture blah blah blah... all rolled together under one single umbrella that you could pour your heart and soul into and it wouldn’t feel like work at all. My drunken imagination exploded with an extremely strong sense of – I need to do this!

As soon as I got home, I got to work on turning the idea into a reality. I trademarked the logo, started to create digital artwork and making all the supply contacts I needed to get going.

Now here we are, the launch of a new brand, project, website and online store. A playground where I will regularly update with sweet new threads and scribbles of random nonsense.

Hope you can join me for the ride.

Go to my store and buy some clothes. They help stop you being naked whilst simultaneously making you look pretty cool.

StevieWTVR x