KAWS, the man behind the hype. Artist, Original Fake founder, Collaborative genius (see Nike, Supreme, Vans, Bape, Comme de Garcon, etc), friend of Pharrell & overall trendsetter. Whether or not you have heard of him, you’ve more than likely seen or worn his work.

We were given the opportunity to sit down with KAWS just before the opening of his installation “Saturated” at Galerie Perrotin Miami. We weren’t able to get much information about the exhibit (but we did sneak a few photos!).

This is what he had to say:

You go by KAWS, what exactly does that stand for or mean to you?

Just a name. You know, when I was younger I was doing a lot of graff and those were letters that I like. I put it together and never really thought to change it.

So you’re from Jersey/NYC area?

I grew up in Jersey City.

So, there are literally thousand’s of artists in that area, what do you think you did to stand out?

I don’t know if it is what I did, or how much I did it? or, basically, I don’t know, I just have always been working, you know, improving on what I do, persistently.

Was there any point where you were like “Okay, this is it. I am now established as an artist.” ?

No! I still don’t feel like I am at that point. Wait, you know what, that’s not actually true, because there was a point when I realized that - I stopped caring. I just stopped caring about if people would be into what I do, or get it or not get it. I just realized, I’m always going to create stuff. At that point I figured ‘I’m doing this today, I’m going to be doing when 50, successful or not. It’s just - fuck - yeah this is what I’m doing.’

You’ve had a lot of indirect influence on pop culture through your work with Nike, Supreme, Vans, Bape, Commes De Garcon and what seems to be close ties to Pharrell & Kanye. Speaking from narrow experience, do you think that your automatic influence/acceptance puts a damper on your creativity?

I don’t think people necessarily automatically accept the work. That sounds kind of strange to me. I’ve been very fortunate to meet people, that have helped promote/push my work. I’m very lucky to have done those collaborations early on.

The name of this exhibit is “Saturated”. You seem to have a trend of building off of mainstream cartoon characters (Mickey Mouse, Smurfs, Spongebob) is this on purpose, or does the dynamic nature of cartoon characters inspire you?

It’s just really the stuff I relate to visually and what I like working with. There are times I might work with something and not be into it. Other times I might start working on something, like Spongebob and I’ll see all of these possibilities.

It goes from making an image to making a series. That is kind of what this show is a result of, like I started doing a few pieces for Pharrell, some of which are pieces in this show, and there was just more I wanted to do with it.

A little off topic, but what advice would you give yourself, 10 years ago?

I don’t know. I wouldn’t want to alter anything. I consider myself lucky to be where I am.

Original Fake is a big deal in street wear. You have to sell babies to get your hands on it. Will you be making it more available to fanatics any time soon?

(Paraphrased) I don’t know about that. I kind of started that business as a result of some of my collaborations with some people in Japan. It has grown to a very comfortable size and I don’t see that happening any time soon.

What can we expect from KAWS in the future? More original fake? more collaborations? I’ve heard of a Takashi Murakami collabo…

There is no speak of that! (Takashi Murakami collaboration). Immediately after this I’m working on a show for New York, then I have a show in L.A. in February.

Within all of this is of course, more original fake releases. There is more collaboration stuff, but it is not Murakami…yeah, you know I hate to talk about things before they are released so… (you’ll have to wait and see).