Couture Cult flipped over this line by artist Mathieu Missiaen (Ndeur). The Paris born Toronto native began his line when a local Toronto shop recruited him to paint a wall in their store. After checking out his work, they came to him with their idea: paint his designs on their stock of sneakers. When they sold out only a few weeks later, they gave him another shot with a stock of vintage shoes. We were inspired enough by him and his art to do our very first interview!
(CC) How did you get started doing art? What is your favorite medium? (MM) Canvas and oil, I started 4 years ago.
(CC) What different types of art do you do besides the graffiti on the shoes? Street art? Painting? Design? Music? (MM) A lot of painting , customisation , furniture design , inside decoration, show orgnisation, web design , graphic design , almost everything around picture and space in fact.
(CC) How do you feel about response your shoes have gotten so far? (MM) Just crazy , I just start 4 month ago , and i've now (got shoes selling in) 6 shop around the world (berlin , helsinky , toronto , montreal, tel aviv ,athen) and a lot of new proposition , media feedback...
(CC) I read you are coming out with a t-shirt line. What can we expect from it? Will the designs be similar to what you paint on the shoes? Will the shirts be handpainted as well, or screenprinted? (MM) In fact t-shirts were just a try , I don't really want to keep doing that.
(CC) What do you see happening in the future with your art in general, and in specific in regard to fashion? Do you plan on designing a clothing line? Will there be more than t-shirts and shoes available from you at any point? (MM) I've got a lot of idea's but don't plan anything at all. I just want to enjoy what's happening right now, try to work as much as possible and participate to a lot of different project right now (flyers , website , stickers for ipod and stuff, furniture customisation), so I really want to expand a style through everything fashion , graphic , illustration ,decoration , I love everything and I really want to be a multitask artist.
(CC) Will you be linking up with any major brands to get your designs out there on a larger scale? (MM) I don't know, it depends, why not... maybe a little bit afraid of that but yes of course if the project is (interesting), of course!
(CC) How important is fashion to you as an art form? How do you like to dress? Did you plan on mixing your art with fashion all along, or did that randomly come to you? (MM) I really love fashion but I don't attach too much importance in what I wear. No, maybe maybe i'm lying! I'm really into vintage, black t-shirt's with wolf or cheap tiger, classic levis red shoes . But I don't know why but since I began I always worked for fashion designer or myself in fashion, I really take it as a real medium like water color or pastel , it's just a way to do something with my art.
(CC) What kind of music do you listen to? (MM) Mainly electronic music and jazz , this days I want to say DJ Drastik , Institube and Ed Banger (of course, I'm French!) , Chic Corea and Bill Evans.
(CC) What inspires you? What inspires your designs? Who are some artists you love? (MM) I love so much artist and in fact I love everybody who creates , but I've got to say Jean Rustin , Vladimir Velikovich, Caravage , Skwak , 123 Klan , Kid Robot , and in fact a lot of stuff in the street. Simple stuff like the front side of a retro pizza place , or the fashion in the street , Di Genovo , vintage t-shirt's...
(CC) What do you want for the future in regard to your art and career? (MM) Like i said, I really want to be everywhere, but not like some rapper who does fashion and music... but to be respected as an artist in all kinds of medium. I really love everything, so i hope that in a few years I can be famous as an illustrator but also as a decorator or designer.
(CC) What kind of person/style do you create your designs for? Who do you want to see in your designs the most? (MM) Here I've just talked about the shoes but I think that a lot of diffrent people like my work ( I hope :) ) but mainly I think that my main customer are people how go to club's and listen to Justice and buy their clothes at Vallue Village ......fluokidz
(CC) Do you plan to bring your art or designs to stores in LA? (MM) When you do you want?
(CC) Do you plan to sell your work from your website? What can we expect from the site? (MM) Not forever, I think. Here I do shoes but when I go on canvas for example, the process is different because I've got to find a gallery and do an exhibition. I really wish to sell other stuf on this website , and i think the next step is furniture customization .....
I was so truly impressed that I have offered to rep this line in Los Angeles, because I really think it will catch on here! So if you are interested in seeing a line sheet and would like to request wholesale pricing please contact me! I expect to see great things from this guy! And did I mention he is only 25?
ALANA JOY Los Angeles, CA alanajoy.tumblr.com
I work in the fashion industry in Los Angeles. This blog is a place for me to talk about all things fashion and beauty related, hopefully touching on the real art, emotion, and sometimes humor of the industry as a whole.
