Atari Collab
How this collaboration came about, what L’s I took and what I learned
I moved to Los Angeles, CA in January 2019 with $450 in my bank account and I was solely living off custom orders I had built-up from when I lived in Milwaukee.
A stylist from Milwaukee, Super Dope Q, hit me one day in February to come to a Woah Vicky Music Video shoot in Inglewood, CA. He told me to bring whatever I had on deck.
At the video shoot there was another designer there, Sara Rose.
I wanted to introduce myself, and also establish a real relationship with a local designer because I knew no one.
I brought a cross body bag made out of recycled backwoods wrappers to the video shoot and Sara got hella geeked over it!
Backwoods Bag recycled out of 8 wrappers
I think when she saw my work her interest became more mutual…I was transparent saying things like:
“I just moved here from Milwaukee”
“This is the first time I’m on an official music video set”
“Wow, you’re fucking killing it…how can I get like you”
We talked about our respective design processes and how she got so many music video placements.
We did the classic IG exchange and I asked, “…what do I gotta do to work more with you”
Sara kept it cool, “ …you live downtown? Come through tomorrow I’m working on pieces for a Gunna promo shoot…”
Geeked!
The next day I went to Sara’s and helped make some last minute looks for the Gunna shoot (more on that later).
I knew I could offer labor…I don’t mind working for knowledge and relationships in return.
As we kept working together Sara put me on big time introducing me to more designers, stylists and artists. Legend.
Early March 2019, I made a rose pedal mask for Sara’s new collection. She brought me to the photoshoot where I met Ben, photographer/Atari creative director.
I always make sure to introduce myself to everyone in the room. If you just break ice with people you can get down with anyone.
I’m geeked up so I’m joking around with Ben saying, “…my shit cold bro, fuck with me…lets shoot…ill whip you up something crazy…”
The next day Ben DM’d me:
About a week later he sent a package to me via Uber and asked me to repurpose an old Ammo Stilo Belt into a new camera strap.
24 hours later the finished piece was back in Ben’s hands.
Camera strap made out of an Ammo Stilo Belt
Ben asked, “How much do I owe you”
I said, “ Nothing…It’s on me, lets shoot and plug me to some artists you been shooting”
“Bet”, Ben replied——For context: Ben shoots alot of poppin’ artist.
A few days later he had me come to his crib to grab some old pieces he set aside for me to repurpose into a personal piece. In the midst he dropped the bomb on me that he was a creative director with Atari.
I’m like, “ Yooooo how can we collab…like officially”
Ben said something player along the lines of, “Yeah, that’s why you’re here”
Ben had piles of unreleased Atari merchandise. He takes pictures of that merch on as many “lit” people as possible. Being their creative director Ben saw that there was an opportunity for me.
Atari has a lot of social cache…you know what it is even though you probably haven’t seen a console in over 20 years, maybe ever. Their mission now is to further restore that social awareness through merchandising and product placement.
Ben had the idea to make a streetwear type piece by repurposing the unreleased Atari merch. This would ensure that the piece we made would literally be the only one in the entire world and irreplicable.
Ben gave me these unreleased garments:
And a few days later I created this super-sized fanny pack for Atari, totaling about 6 hours of work
I sent the exclusive Atari bag to Ben so he could do his thing and he began shooting.
The plan was never to sell the bag but to use it as content. Atari can showcase the bag and its a beasty talking point. The bag shows cool ways Atari is choosing to recycle.
I received several shout outs from Atari via IG/Twitter and got a lot of “clout points”…but I received zero dollars in making the bag for the collaboration.
This is a HUGE “L” in a lot of people’s eyes…and yes, it is through a financial lens.
I was so geeked to work with a big brand I would do anything to have it on my resume. So, at this point I made 2 items for free…but that’s 100% on me because I didn’t ask for money.
I wanted the working relationship over anything. And that was cemented. I hooked Ben up with a custom camera strap and we made streetwear history via Atari. I knew he’d plug me forever and he has to this day. He’s brought me over a dozen jobs, photographed a lot of my pieces and intro’d me to several poppin’ artists. Legend.
I learned that my work can get me in any door I want…but I have to know exactly what I want before going in because a lot of times I get overly geeked and just agree to everything while losing on the financial side.
However, there’s always a silver lining: on top of establishing an on-going working relationship with Ben, I was one of the first independent artists to collaborate on merchandise with Atari.
