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Portfolio of the Week: Beefchunk - Mad and Magical Things June 05, 2009

You may recognize our new Portfolio of the Week artist, John Wood AKA Beefchunk, from our last design competition "Always Open," where the MINI Design Team awarded him third prize. But he had already caught our eye with his crazy, joyous, explosively colorful designs.

Q: Tell us a little bit about your artistic background.

A: I was really interested in art, drawing, and doodling when I was young and sort of just progressed. In school I liked to draw mad and magical things on book covers. I got into designing when I was at college. It's where I really tapped into my conceptual thinking, and opened my mind to the many ways of communicating in a visual format.

Q: What are some of the projects you are working on now?

The designer in front of one of his creations.

A: I work as one half of the design duo Chimp Creative. Our products range from canvasses, T-shirts, and vinyl and plush characters, to experimental character forms made from recycled material. We also apply our style to interiors and exteriors. Some may call it street art or public art, but it's actually everything mixed together, a real expression mash up. We have just been working with the National Health Service here in Liverpool, UK, spearheading a new project named PARTIA Arts in Health. It's a program to enhance the patient and staff experience in hospitals, creating uplifting spaces for everyone to engage with and enjoy.

Q: Tell us about some of your inspirations.

A: Inspiration is a must for any designer. There are a lot of crossover points and copycat junk but the true quest is to push your own boundaries. If you can ultimately express your invisible thoughts in a physical manner and then apply that to an appropriate context, then you can communicate on all levels. What I am doing now is not what my design lecturer imagined for me. Until 2007 I explored many forms of design without a real pinpoint style. Now my style has no boundaries or limits. All the things I see, hear, and imagine are funneled down through this idea of a fun machine and out pop these beefy, chunky, happy worlds and characters...

"always open your bon bon bag," submitted to our Always Open design competition.

Q: How do you decide where your work goes? Do you mean for a lot of it to be part of a viewer's everyday experience?

A: We sometimes like to approach property owners and shop owners and ask them whether they would consider allowing us to juice up their wall or interior. We really like to cut through and dismantle the mundane and sometimes shoddy environments we inhabit, giving ourselves and others the feeling of escapism.

Q: Last but not least, what's coming up next for you?

A: Big, big things, that's the quest. But it's just one step at a time, first the MINI Design Competition and then the world....