Tom ‘Abbiss’ Smith and ESP Merchandise Collaboration
We are printing some tee’s for Tom as part of our artist series! His designs were originally created with paper collage and mark-making which were then digitised to create a sick rainforest inspired tee.
Tom Abbiss Interview
Name
Tom Abbiss Smith
Hometown
Harpenden/Norwich
How did you get into art?
My mother is a fine artist painter so I’ve always been around art, we visited lots of galleries when I was younger. I’ve also been into skating from a young age and I think that culture naturally embraces art and creativity. I studied graphic design at college and met some really inspirational people there which really kicked off my passion for art and to pursue it as a career.
Talk us through how you developed your unique style.
It was in my final year at University that I discovered amazing poster designs by artists such as Henryk Tomaszewski whilst researching for my project on Franz Kafka – This led to exploring a whole world of design I’d never seen before which included a lot of abstract art, experimental typography and collage techniques. I think this paired with inspiration from my mother’s abstract paintings led to my abstract collage style!
How has lockdown affected your work?
Surprisingly not really, I’m very lucky to still have commissions coming in!
Are there any other artists are you feeling at the moment?
Yeah for sure, there’s so many great artists! At the moment William Luz (Studio Luz), Wouter Tjeenk Willink (Mr Nelson Design) and Brendan George Ko are killing it!!
What’s a favourite hidden gem of yours in Norwich (Not necessarily art related)?
Mousehold Heath and Soundclash records!
What charity have you chosen to donate to and why?
I’ve picked NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) as I believe this organization has good objectives and has already achieved a lot of great things worldwide.
Thanks so much for taking the time to chat to us Tom. We are very excited to see how this t-shirt turns out and looking forward to catching some of your other pieces too!
- Instagram: @tomabbisssmithart
- Email: hello@tomabbisssmithart.com
- Website: tomabbisssmithart.com
