With bright graphic designs and tongue in cheek illustrative designs, new streetwear label Lucky Edge was always going to catch my eye. Adrenaline junkie Joe Edge wanted to combine his love for boarding with his self proclaimed “over active imagination” and started painting skateboards, and so Lucky Edge Decks was born. With a collaboration with Bonnie Bling in the bag and a wee cheeky appearance in Front magazine, Edge’s hyper-real creatures have made their way from sketch-books to a range of t-shirts and stickers in a matter of months.
His deformed animals and creatures that feature throughout designs come from a range of places “My inspiration comes from pretty much anywhere in everyday life. Conversations with friends, magazines, books, shops, buildings, dreams (my dreams are quite odd), I also often imagine monsters that could be making the noises I hear while walking down the street. Quite a few of my designs have came from that.” By taking his daily experiences and surreal dreamscapes, Edge creates bright, ecclectic designs mixing neon brights and galaxy prints.
Listing some of his favourite artists and inspirations – including Waste Studios, Jonathan Bergeron, Daniel Bressette and Simon Landrein – their influences are present throughout his designs. I would say his designs appear to be an mix of Bergeron and Bresette stripped back, which feel very raw and fresh. Like most young graphic artists working with street art, Edge also acknowledges Shepard Fairey as an influence (best known for his Andre the Giant has a Posse “Obey” art work) saying ” I love how Shepard Fairey thinks. Positive propaganda is a pretty cool idea.”
I was intrigued to find out about the whole process. “I usually start with an idea in my head then start drawing and building ideas. When I have a basic layout I’m happy with I re-draw it onto a skateboard shaped piece of card. Once its perfect I start making stencils of the basic shapes of the design, spray it on the board then do all of the detail by hand. My t-shirt designs and other illustrations are a similar process apart from I use photoshop to do all of the finishing touches. My recent collaboration board with Bonnie Bling was a steep learning curve. It was the first piece of work I had done for someone else and because it was involving some of their wording, it was all done on the computer. I think I nailed it tho, I hope everyone agrees at the big release on the 1st of May at Nightwalk.”
Lucky Edge is aimed at anyone, I mean sure we all want a kick ass piece of skate board art for our wall (I’ve had my eye on a James Jean triptych for a while) – but Edge’s designs are available on stickers, t-shirts and some sweet crew-neck sweaters on the horizon. I already got my heart set on an “It ain’t easy being sleazy” tee in white. Next pay day yeah?
You can follow the happenings of Joe @luckyedgedecks or on facebook here
If you fancy scoring yourself a sweet tee, or indeed board you can purchasey and deek some more designs via the lucky edge site.
A cheeky wee thank you to Mr Edge’s better half Emma.Q for making the interview happen and sorting a sister with some images.