Crafty with the kids

Launching campaigns for brands including Lee, Wrangler, Jackie E, Contiki, and Zimmerman, Bashful is a creative/strategy shop that specialises in youth and popular culture. Creative director Emil Vrisakis (ex- Spin communications and joint-founder of Bowl-A-Rama) along with senior creative Garreth Wills share their insights on advertising, and the hierarchy of ideas.

How did you get into the creative industry?

EMIL: Growing up I was a disciple of skateboarding, and my bibles were Thrasher and Transworld magazines. During this time David Carson was art-directing Transworld and there was one cover in 1986 that blew me away. That was when I knew what I wanted to do.

GARRETH: I was designing fashion, working on my own collections in Japan, and then realised I was only making the clothes so I could shoot them. I later discovered this was called art direction and I could get paid to do that instead.

How did we meet?

EMIL: A mutual friend, David Bonney, had been bragging about Garreth for a long time. I saw one of his Mambo campaigns one day and had creative envy – I wish I had fucking done that! When I was working as creative director of Spin we got him in on a freelance job.

GARRETH: Hey, a buck's a buck. I was looking for new opportunities and the same friend told me to call Emil.

What were your first impressions of each other?

GARRETH: Very tall, and very smiley – not what I expected.

EMIL: He was shorter then me and had more hair.

Annoying habits?

GARRETH: Emil's brain works so fast, when he asks a question, or starts a sentence, he's moved on before he even finishes it.

EMIL: He has too many obscure and poignant references. And he can't keep up with my brain.

How do you approach the task team of collaborating jointly?

GARRETH: We work on a level field, there is no hierarchy, and it's about the ideas, not who owns them. You need to overcome or at least control your insecurities in this regard. I find the ideas are always improved by sharing them, bouncing them back and forth.

EMIL: We both like to start the morning by ourselves to get anything inside our heads out onto paper. Then it's about sharing the love. We start the conversation "how about this", then there's usually some lengthy pauses, followed by "hmmm".

Then comes the fight to the death, where we try to murder each other's ideas. If an idea can't be killed then it's usually a winner. It is definitely a team effort, but when I say team, it's not just the two of us, we run ideas past everyone in our office.

What frustrates you about advertising?

GARRETH: Of course, when the potential for an idea is so much bigger than the budget will ever be, but really it's those times a client can't believe in something they haven't already seen. And that paradox of having to show what the campaign will look like when we haven't even shot it yet. Sometimes clients can be very literal.

EMIL: No craft. We believe there should still be an element of art in all advertising, whether it's writing, typography, photography or music. Everything we do should have a degree of style, taste and integrity. Never underestimate the intelligence and aesthetic of the people you are communicating to.

Where do you look for inspiration?

GARRETH: Contemporary art, music videos, and the internet is full of weird and wonderful stuff, if you can spend enough time to tune out the noise.

EMIL: Everywhere and everyone, especially my wife.

What are your respective strengths and weaknesses?

GARRETH: I take time on things, mull it over, consider it and revise it. I wish I could make those creative decisions more quickly. I admire creatives that can be satisfied and just move on when they're working.

EMIL: I do everything at a hundred miles per hour. I wish I could slow down.

bashful.com.au