Sean Woolsey: T-shirts to Lighting
Back in 2005, we did a story about Sean Woolsey's t-shirt line Status Foe, here. He had a cool graphic eye and placed prints in a way that more interesting than just a center logo. He called V-necks before they were a commonplace commodity. He's now making awesome lighting and furniture out of reclaimed materials.
Back then he said, “Every kid I know [in Orange County] wanted to either be in a band or start their own clothing line.” His tees were sold at Fred Segal, Active Ride and Habit at The Lab. I rediscovered his current venture via the boutique Aloha Sunday in San Diego. From the trailer, it appears that although the medium has changed, his philosophy is steady sailing.
In 2005 I wrote, "Woolsey took Status Foe to the Pool Trade Show in Las Vegas last August. Despite strong sales, he said he is not planning to attend the next show because there was heavy competition from the many T-shirt lines exhibiting and he would rather not be influenced by what others are producing.
'To truly be creative you have to be a hermit in some sense,” he said. “What you really want to do comes out.'"
In the dramatic trailer he pontificates, "I was once told that true artists don't wait around for inspiration. if you wait around for a lightning bolt of creativity to hit you on the head, you are not going to produce an awful lot of work."
The mismatched reclaimed wood is like downtown hipster loft meets post-apocalyptic junkyard scavenger and welding, which is a compliment. See more at his website, http://www.seanwoolsey.com/
