HS: You’ve since moved away from the mixed media, to more mature and minimalist graphic design and then back again to a mix of all of the above. How important is it to keep the FALSE aesthetic going forward and changing?

Messie: I find it such an important factor to any creative, not swaying away from their message but continually re-inventing him or herself so the same message gets played in a different light. When something too good gets put out there for too long, it starts getting stale, then manipulated… like candy... too much and you just get totally put off… or worse, turn sick. I’ve brought back my style of mixed media design but use it in a different light now more I hope, “intelligent works”. You see this evident in our Season 5 to the current Everything Is FALSE line and my mockery brand Better Off Dead. I aim to make people... stop, look… then go … hmmmmmmm! To like, is each person’s prerogative. I am satisfied with any form of response.

HS: The collaborative work is always really special when it comes to FALSE products. With Fats and She One (as examples), it seems you choose people with whom you can combine expertise. And, the collaborations always appear very organic. Could you tell me a little about your collaborative process?

Messie: That’s a very precise definition! It’s really simple and at times out of the blue, I think that the best thing about a brand like FALSE is the ability to move like water, a brilliant man once said “Be Like Water…”. We usually work on a particular concept and message and move from there to a final resting place. The most important thing about a collaborative process is how the artist and FALSE see eye to eye on worldly things.

HS: Also, it seems the nature of the company allows great space for just doing something as it comes up. Is it key to keep things limited in the sense that it gives space to creative output?

Messie: Yes I think this is the most important thing that has kept us independent, the ability to “be like water…” I feel success from our creative standpoint sometimes comes from the ability to know your place, and co-exist with your surrounding nature, like a jigsaw puzzle that serves its perfect purpose, or the 1 man in the 10-man pyramid at Cirque Du Soleil. On a day to day basis we take pride in the fact that FALSE is unique in its own special way and we’re proud to have a growing demographic of brilliant intelligent supporters that consume not into a false sense of self but something they truly passionately believe in.

HS: Collaboration also takes place in different media, especially music. You worked with Lupe first on design and then also in the studio. What’s your musical background? How long has the idea of FALSE SOUNDS been bubbling?

Messie: My first creative stance would have been when I was 4 and started to draw, fast forward to 13 and I’m a learning deejay, fast forward to 15 and I’m working in an events company as a deejay, fast forward to 17 and I’m into music production and making beats and song structures. My entire foray into this creative realm would have been attributed to my skateboarding youth and my musical obsession. When those phases of my youth failed to put food on my table is when I cocooned and fell into this culture and industry. I’ve always wanted to have a career in music and it was in a chance meeting with Lupe that he’s made some of my dreams come true in the past, present and future. I’m truly blessed to have an individual like him believe in me with such high regard. We are more then friends and are like family now. We work on many things together in both design and music and it’s one of those perfect chemistry situations where we just get things done right.