OxCreative

Interview With Dynamic Design Duo… Tado!

This Month OxCreative managed to get their grubby little hooves on the minds of Design Legends, Tado, for an exclusive interview!

For those who don’t know who Tado are (unlikely), they are a deliciously dynamic design duo from sunny England……ermmm well England at least. Their work has inspired a new generation of budding illustrators, designers, artists and animators across the globe and in fact, back in the early days offered me valuable advice which even lead me to focus on a career in design and illustration!

Tado’s menagerie of monsters has lead them to work with the likes of Nike, BBC, Kidrobot, Toy2r, Microsoft and many more – they even designed a nursery for Christina Aguilera!

We thought we’d ask them a few questions about themselves, the industry and which of the pair is the bossiest!

OxCreative:

Well Mike and Katie, it’s been a long time since we last spoke… how have you been? We see you have finally succumb to the world of twitter… what took you so long!?

Tado:

we’re very well thank you, bit frantic but we can’t complain. As for twitter, we’re always very slow on the uptake of anything new and quite frankly we lead very boring lives so we dont have much to twit on about! that said we decided it was time to get involved and try and get more followers than our friend jon burgerman – bwhaha! only 2400 to go!

OxCreative:

What have you been up to the passed few months?

Tado:

We’ve been head-down working on a big web-project for an american client that has taken up about 70% of our time. We’ve also been busy with a new collection for Gola, some new poster prints and a lot of stuff for Kidrobot.

OxCreative:

Nice… we’ll keep a look out for the new stuff! What’s all this private panda club business? It all looks a bit kinky!

Tado:

The private panda club was our installation for Pictoplasma 2009 – it was basically a parody on Japanese maid cafes/cosplay and soho all mixed into one with a big does of interactability (new word!) and sillyness.

OxCreative:

Cool… so Fortune Pork 2 has just been released and we are eager to get our hands on them! We know it’s a bit early but we are always looking for our next ‘Tado fix’, so is there any more Fortune Pork stuff in the pipeline in the pipeline?

Tado:

We have several bits and pieces in the pipeline at the moment but we cant say much more than there’ll be something at the end of the year from Kidrobot

OxCreative:

We’re look forward to it! Working in a design duo must be pretty cool but I imagine that working together so much would lead you to have certain traits. Which of you fit into the following traits:
Who is the bossiest?

Tado:

whoever made the tea last.

OxCreative:

Who is the most immature?

Tado:

hmmm… that would depend again on who’s turn it is to be the bossy one!

OxCreative:

Who is the laziest?

Tado:

we’re equally sloth-ish but in different ways. mike is lazy at the end of the day, katie at the start!

OxCreative:

Spending so much time together must lead to a few fights now and again (someone leaving the lids off the paints and not washing out the brushes properly!)?

Tado:

not really! we squabble a bit about work stuff but thats it really! any disagreements are easily solved with fistycuffs.

OxCreative:

You should get some gladiator-style pugil sticks! There’s alot of competition in design now even in the less densely populated areas… we are only a stone throw away from the folks at Ilovedust! From what you’ve seen is there any rivalry in the industry?

Tado:

Of course there’s always rivalry but we’re sure its all very good natured and banterous! we’re friends with a lot of other folk who do similar stuff and its never been seen as ‘rivalry’ at all. theres plenty of friendly mick-taking tho!

OxCreative:

If there was a industry-wide “royal rumble” fight, who would you most want to be on the same team as?

Tado:

Ilovedust without a doubt. we know what they’re capable of and they definitely don’t fight fair.

OxCreative:

Scandalous! What’s the worst practical joke you’ve ever played on anyone?

Tado:

can’t say – they still havent realised its a joke and we’re sure we wont live to tell the tale when they do!

OxCreative:

We already know that you’ve inspired alot of artists and designers around the globe, but it would be great to know who inspires Tado?

Tado:

each other mainly! (barf!) aside from that, we love reading blogs about weird stuff and anything vaguely natural-history related and watching anything by studio ghibili of course.

OxCreative:

Barf indeed… none of that soppy stuff here! You seem to be oozing alot of creativity in everything you do… do you ever run out of juice and get creative block?

Tado:

of course! its a lot harder for us to get a block as there’s two of us, but we do get run down and burned out like anyone else. a couple of days of happy-walks in the peak district or playing with cars, bikes or animals soon sorts us out.

OxCreative:

Does alcohol ever play a part in the creative process for you or is it a strictly ‘tea and biscuits’ affair?

Tado:

we’re pretty much a tea-total-tado! mike likes the odd real-ale but not very often!

OxCreative:

There have been some important issues in the UK recently, like the return of the Cadbury’s Wispa (chocolate bar) and the return of the original Monster Munch (crisps/potato chips) – what item from your childhood would you most like to see the return of?

Tado:

Werebears!! we just re-discovered mike’s little sisters one in a cupboard.

OxCreative:

Nice… I used to sit with my orange WereBear reading along with the book and pushing the button when the book said to so it howls! My dog chewed it’s claws off

Without sounding sordid, what would £1000 get me in terms of Tado Time or Artwork?

Tado:

depends who’s asking. what are you wearing…??

OxCreative:

well me and i’m wearing… whoah going of the point… Finally, what advice do you have for any budding artists and designers out there?

Tado:

work hard, research, research and research some more, find your own style and brush your teeth before a meeting.

OxCreative:

Well folks there you have it – Design Gods Tado on WereBears, fistycuffs, tea and biscuits and a little bit of kinkyness!
Fortune Pork Series 2 are available now from Kidrobot and don’t forget to check out Tado’s Website.