Local artist stoked with surfing brand collab

Wednesday 27 May 2020

A logo designed by a local creative for a popular St. Ouen surf shop has been picked up by a Californian clothing brand for a range of vintage tees.

When Andrew Hosegood and Dan Harris asked graphic designer Jonny Swift – aka Swifty – to create a logo for The Surfyard, they never imagined Vissla would ask to feature it on a line of t-shirts.

When it came to rebranding, The Surfyard, Andrew and Dan were keen to find someone who was familiar with the surfing culture. 

“When you go to an anonymous graphic designer, it can be a bit formulaic in the way they do things, whereas a surfer understands the history and heritage,” Andrew said.

The pair eventually picked Swifty, “a big surfer” and friend of Dan’s, and developed the logo with his help.

Shortly after the final design – which features waves rolling in front of an outline of the shop – was released, Vissla got in touch asking if Swifty would be up for a collaboration on a line of vintage t-shirts. 

All three were pleased with the recognition, especially since, as Andrew says, Vissla is “probably best surf brand in the world at the moment”. 

 

 

 

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Always dreamt of designing t-shirts and this doesn’t get much better! So lucky and stoked to collab with the amazing international surf brand @visslasurf and @thesurfyard on these beauties!!! Go get em @thesurfyard yewwww #vissla #visslasurf #thesurfyard #surfing #illustration #dreamsdocometrue #surfing #surf #surfer #jonny_swifty #surfart #surfwear #tshirt #beachclothing #beach #beachstyle #beachlife

A post shared by Swifty - Artist (@jonny_swifty) onMay 20, 2020 at 5:17am PDT

“Vissla is a real brand connected to the real people on the beach,” he added. “They have done this with other surf shops around the world. Our little surf shop in the bay ended up on their radar and got recognised for what it’s doing. 

“We are in the middle of one of the most beautiful bays in Northern Europe. You can’t get better than that, it’s like being on the Gold Coast or Huntington Beach.

“It’s just a recognition for a local surfing artist in St. Ouen’s Bay.”

 

 

 

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A post shared by The Surfyard (@thesurfyard) onMay 20, 2020 at 5:01am PDT

Pictured: The tee shirts designed by Swifty.

Swifty jumped on the chance to work with Vissla, whose ethos - "we are creators and innovators" – he enjoys. The collaboration even helped make one of his childhood dreams come true. 

“Growing up as a kid, out west around the bay, I was always involved in surfing culture, wearing El Tico t-shirts,” he explained. 

“It’s always been a bit of a dream to design a t-shirt. It’s such a cool space to show your work, it’s a bit like a moving canvas.”

The graphic designer quickly got to work, slightly amending the original design for the shirts. By “pure fate”, he ended up being in the bay the very day they got delivered. 

 

 

 

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I’m so stoked I thought I’d explain a bit! Having designed the new logo for The Surfyard I was then asked by the guys last year if I could design a T-shirt for a collaboration with VISSLA! I’ve loved this brand their ethics(creators and innovators)and really it’s a dream job, making art and having it on T-shirts was one of the things that I dreamt of doing as a kid after seeing and wearing all the cool(now retro) designs on all the surf t-shirts I grew up in! I’ve always seen t-shirts as a canvas that moves!!So having this chance, I got to work ,taking the elements from the already designed logo for the surf yard and re-gigging them to suit this project! So yesterday by fate, I was cycling for a surf check to El Tico, I saw the delivery Lorry pull up and was amazed when dan said ‘it’s the shirts’ so I was there to open the boxes! And there was waves so I went surfing...good day all round...Stoked with how they’ve come out and can’t wait to see them out and about #visslasurf #thesurfyard #surflife #surfing #surf #surfwear #beachlife

A post shared by Swifty - Artist (@jonny_swifty) onMay 21, 2020 at 12:54pm PDT

“I had the week off work and I went for a little surf check and to get a coffee from El Tico,” he explained. “Just as I got there, a lorry was pulling up and Dan said it was the t-shirts. I got to open the box, it was a bit like Christmas! 

“They are such good quality t-shirts. I had been looking at the design on the iPad - it was the first time seeing it out of my head and on the t-shirt.

“It was very cool to see it in its proper form.

“It will be nice to see the t-shirts out and about, it will be a nice conversation starter.”