Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Jadon Allen of Guilt!
873 Plays1 year ago
Jadon Allen is the founder of Guilt! or guiltpdx, a streetwear and street art company based out of Portland, Oregon with the main goal of pushing creative boundaries.
Guilt! produces a plethora of goods including unique clothing, colorful artworks, photography, and videography sold both online and in local Portland stores. More work can be found @guiltpdx on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to the Podcast
00:00:01
Speaker
You are listening to something rather than nothing. Creator and host Ken Volante. Editor and producer Peter Bauer.
Guest Introduction: Jaden Allen
00:00:16
Speaker
Hey everybody, this is Ken Vellante with the Something Rather Than Nothing podcast. Super excited to have Jaden Allen here. Does design work, fashion, guilt, which I followed since I met him. We met at an Albany art type of thing, Albany, Oregon, and it's great to see you again, Jaden. It's great to see you too. Thanks for having me.
00:00:42
Speaker
Yeah, everybody, there was a design that Jayden did commissioned for the show. Tough to describe, you know, but in the style that I see it of yours. In my head, the name that I've attached to is kind of like Jayden's
00:01:01
Speaker
voodoo character design or something. It was great. I've had a few commissions, but just really loved your style and loved to connect with artists and local artists. So going back to that, your art and you're at the table and stuff, why don't you tell listeners what you do, why you set up a table, what you design?
Design Inspirations and Influences
00:01:31
Speaker
Yeah, so I design all sorts of streetwear and street clothing, inspired by graffitis, murals. My biggest inspiration is the artist Takashi Murakami. So I pull a lot of inspiration from him and incorporate it into my works. And I love to do markets because it's a great way to connect with people like you who have a strong passion and understanding of art. And we sort of just get to talk about and build the connection that way.
00:01:56
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, I really like it. I've been excited. One of the things on the show is I cover a lot of artists and designers and stuff. And in the background, people wouldn't necessarily see the different type of artists where I look at myself, OK, I'd have a propensity to go to this or that. But one of the pieces I've been really fascinated with and bringing some artists on is thinking about fashion, design,
00:02:22
Speaker
streetwear, um, you know, I'm around events, uh, my kids' skateboarders and, uh, like I love the vibrant feel of
Social Media's Role in Fashion
00:02:32
Speaker
all that. And, um, even in my travels kind of bump into people like yourself, you know, designing things graphically and then thinking, what does this look like on somebody, you know, and, and, and, and modeling.
00:02:44
Speaker
in fashion. So on that bit right there, I've seen your stuff on TikTok and social media really dig on it. What's that whole element like for you trying to establish like, my shit's cool, like check this out and you know, wear it. What's that dynamic things like?
00:03:05
Speaker
So social media plays a big role if you want to be anywhere in today's world. Pretty much if you don't use social media, you're going to fall behind and people aren't going to take you as credible. So it's sort of something you have to do. Instagram is a great tool for that, TikTok, YouTube, and it's important to be consistent. And I'm slowly trying to build a name for myself throughout Portland, throughout Oregon, throughout the United States.
00:03:33
Speaker
And social media is just a tool to do that. Another tool is the markets that I go to. So it's great. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. There's something about it. Connecting to fashion stuff. I remember I was out visiting my brother out at NUM.
00:03:51
Speaker
out in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and ran into a younger designer. I got some shorts here. It was an interesting experience because I observed fashion and style. I really like this unique
00:04:10
Speaker
piece of clothing, art, like, I like having that piece that's a unique piece. So I'd like I'd like that, like the feel of that. So with that, is that the kind of the focus of your efforts, like establishing, you know, the brand style and have people say, hey,
00:04:32
Speaker
Yeah, yeah.
Artistic Style and Individuality
00:04:33
Speaker
Yeah. I think it's really important to try and sound out from other creators and whatnot. Nowadays, you see everyone on TikTok posting the same two or three designs that everyone's done a million times. So I think developing your own style is really, really important. And plus, it allows you to express yourself. At the end of the day, it's art, and that's what art's all about, expressing yourself just raw human emotion.
00:05:01
Speaker
Yeah, I like, you know, some of the visuals, of course, get to hear some of the music, a big music fan. I know I've heard some suicide boys and some great. Yeah. I noticed that boys. Yeah. A lot of inspiration from them for their videography too. So I love what they've done with all their music video work. So definitely pull from that too.
00:05:23
Speaker
Yeah, my, my child Aiden's a big fan. It's like one of those things as far as a music lover who hasn't, I haven't shut off my mind is I get my, I get my like influence of stuff that I listen and plus new stuff, but I get the new stuff from, from my, from my kids too. And I get, I get really into it. I always would be one of those where I was like, Oh, what the hell is this? And I
00:05:47
Speaker
really really dig the um the intensity the intensity yeah totally yeah suicide boys are great i've been to like two of their concerts so far it's the best thing ever i love how connected music and art can be that's that's what you said right there like the music our experience and like the experience of um
00:06:08
Speaker
of that show, let's say in a particular band. Absolutely. Yeah, really, really great stuff. We're talking art, Jaden, and got a couple of conceptual questions. I don't know if I started talking to you about them when I first met you. Hey, what do you think? But one of the ones I wanted to ask is, you know, you've practiced the study art, have a passion for it.
Art as Expression and Connection
00:06:35
Speaker
What is art? You know, like, what is art for you?
00:06:39
Speaker
For me, art is what I do to stay sane. It's a creative outlet. It's a way I can connect with people. Yeah, just human expression. Art is beautiful in the sense that it can be photography, it can be video, it has so many different mediums, music as we spoke on. Yeah, art can be anything, honestly. It's all about perspective.
00:07:06
Speaker
What do you think the role of it is? I asked this question too with a little bit of caveat nowadays because I think there's a challenge, you know, like climate change, that made political uncertainty. Like, all right, strange stuff is going on in the world. People feel it. Something has changed. Does that change the role of art or you think like, you know, art's just art-ing and doing what it always does?
00:07:34
Speaker
I think politics plays a very heavy role in a lot of artwork from different artists, whether it be intentional or subconsciously. Personally, with my artwork, any political messages are always subconscious. And when people speak on them and point them out to me, it kind of like opens me up more. And I learned more about myself that I didn't realize that I put that intent into a piece.
Challenges in the Fashion Industry
00:08:05
Speaker
What about with fashion and streetwear? You mentioned like one of the things as far as
00:08:23
Speaker
like one of the things that that that fashion can run into is like the perception of like mutability that's gonna change quick that you know and I know the world I know the world is like that do you think when it comes to
00:08:40
Speaker
I don't know, maybe even the topic of fashion or designing clothes, uh, for somebody being some, you know, for yourself and somebody else being something, uh, different. Do you, do you find that there's a, a challenge, uh, within that? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
00:08:59
Speaker
In the fashion world, it's really tricky. You have a bunch of supporters, but also a bunch of haters. And that's kind of the cool thing about the art world. Some people get what you create and others don't. And sort of back to the politics, I feel like you can find that a lot in fashion. You see companies like Zara, H&M, Forever 21, pumping out fast fashion, and their whole brand is built off of staying on trend.
00:09:28
Speaker
and providing the customer with whatever article of clothing they want at a cheap cost just to look fashionable for a piece that may be popular just for a month. Yeah. Yeah. So I think establishing your own unique style that you can build off and stand out from the crowd is honestly one of the only ways you can do it if you want to survive and build a strong brand that will last a while.
00:09:55
Speaker
Yeah. Well, it's like a whole different arena. I mean, it's same within art, but there's a different history tied to it.
00:10:08
Speaker
Um, what about, you know, so just as far as going back and forth, uh, like, you know, I saw some of the stuff you designed, draw, lay out and all that stuff. And obviously there's a strong applicability to that, those images showing up on, on clothing. Do you, do you show, do you still, do you work in the terms of like, I'm going to create this kind of like static piece or print or do you still kind of like.
00:10:34
Speaker
view yourself and move in kind of between both art piece, producer, design, fashion.
00:10:43
Speaker
Got you. So I feel like I definitely shift between the two worlds, depending on what I'm feeling on working on more. It tends to be I create stuff more intended for clothing. But a lot of the times I'll start out with a painting. For example, the commission I did for you, that one started out as a painting. You really liked the character that you saw on it. So we built off of that and created a digital piece.
00:11:12
Speaker
And a recent t-shirt in my newest collection, it was the Spring Summer 2023 collection. It's called the Cloudy Tea. That one started out as a painting as well. It was a little character on the painting. Everyone who walked by the booth commented on how much they liked that character. So I figured I should really make it as a t-shirt because the emotion in that character was really strong. So just translate that into clothing. It was perfect.
00:11:42
Speaker
the character themselves. I love when artists start to drop and talking like that. I talk to writers, you know, and they're in their head and they're like, this character won't change. I'm like, help me here on the outside. You're writing the character. How come they can't change?
00:12:07
Speaker
Yeah, it's been interesting over the past few years just seeing how some characters stay around for since I started and how some just morph into different creatures and whatnot. So it's really cool. It's such a unique way of such a unique way of talking about it. Drop more and talk talk talk some more about guilt. You mentioned one particular
00:12:29
Speaker
You know, I think you might have said spring but like tell tell folks straight up right now about guilt like You know where to find where to find that stuff but also maybe some things you got coming up or what you're thinking about for the work
00:12:46
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. So, Gilt or Gilt PDX is my streetwear brand where I sell t-shirts, hoodies, beanies, all sorts of different accessories and whatnot. You can find it online at giltpdx.com or it's also available in a few select stores in Portland, including PDX Change, Pinky PDX, and a few others.
00:13:10
Speaker
But yeah, with Gil, I create a collection every spring, summer is one collection. And then fall, winter is going to be another collection. So I do two collections a year. And starting last year was my first annual fashion show.
Introduction to Gilt PDX
00:13:25
Speaker
I'm going to be doing another one this upcoming winter. All right. Yeah. So annual fashion shows as well.
00:13:33
Speaker
Yeah, I love to hear, I love to hear about that. I'm going to start off with the beanie myself, although that might be a beanie t-shirt, but it's like, I love beanies, have a few of them. And then it gets to this time of the year and I'm like, all right, need another beanie or two. And it's like time to bring them back out.
00:13:57
Speaker
Speaking of the new fashion, I need to bring in this year's guilt. I want to ask you one of the big philosophy questions in the show, something rather than nothing. To ask you that question,
00:14:15
Speaker
I view you as a view artists in general as kind of creating something out of nothing. But I posed the question overall in general is why do you think there's why do you think there's something rather than nothing? I think there's something because intent was put behind whatever work was created. And although it may fizzle out to something in the future, at least there's something there for an amount of time that people can grasp on and hold close to them.
00:14:44
Speaker
because it struck an emotion and it resonated with the viewer. Yeah. When you were talking about your design and clothing, and I talked before about with music, you got music going on your head with a lot of this. I'm just thinking about creating of what type of design you think. Yeah. Got that going on.
00:15:10
Speaker
Oh, absolutely. Music plays a big, big, big role in everything I do, essentially, creative wise. Whenever I'm designing on Adobe Illustrator, like sketching something in my sketchbook, I'll be blasting music on my headphones. Otherwise, I won't be creating if I don't have the music going. So I think it's essential to create for me, honestly.
00:15:32
Speaker
And another thing with music is I love doing music videos as well. I actually have a shoot later this day for the artist Sleezo out of Portland that I'm looking forward to. And the thing with visuals for music, I think it's really cool how you can translate a song and interpret it to create these visuals that are engaging for an audience. Yeah.
00:15:58
Speaker
I tell you about music videos themselves. I grew up MTV, where that was, the video jukebox. And then there's a massive period that I've experienced of, yes, videos still being made and such. But for a long time, I wondered where they fit and when people consume them. And I look at things like...
00:16:21
Speaker
Um, you know with like youtube and people wanted to see these videos that never went away like people I want to see the video and I know on On the artist side sometimes it can be kind of tough to put a video together and totally A4 or the way that you want it. So um, but it's always great. It's always great. I've been really into these um
00:16:42
Speaker
incredible stop-motion puppetry, animation videos, the band Viagra Boys, but the artist Sissy Eframson, who I've had on the show, who's in the band Volcano. I love that style. I love the songs. I got into the songs through her mention and was listening to the songs and then seeing
00:17:09
Speaker
you know puppets and like that stop motion this is just like another beautiful thing you know with the sound yeah that's really cool how you how you mentioned that you got into them based off of their visuals because i feel like that's another thing too uh visual art can play a big role in having someone discover something new that they may have not tried before
00:17:33
Speaker
I know that's definitely happened to me where I saw like an album cover that I thought was really neat. I've never heard of the artist but I just listened to the album because I liked how the cover art worked and turns out I love the artist.
Music's Influence on Creativity
00:17:45
Speaker
Yeah. The thing is I'm promoting the show. We're going to have to have more.
00:17:50
Speaker
visuals and video of what the what things look like people love listen to It's like what I'm talking to a painter sometimes and uh, we get the video here too and um, you know I'm trying to build more within the podcast of the the video there but sometimes like i'm talking to a painter and it's like I never went to art school and uh, you know i'm good with my language, but how do I how do I fucking describe like
00:18:16
Speaker
what that mountain and moon looks like in the right side for the listener to know why I'm so jazzed about it, right? They say a picture is worth a thousand words for a reason. Exactly. It all comes down to that.
00:18:35
Speaker
No, so it's really exciting to hear. And it's great to hear your work, right in the stores there in Portland. What's that like to see you pop in by accident, right? What's it like to see your stuff? Yeah, it's super cool. All the store owners I work with are great people.
00:19:01
Speaker
It's really neat that I was able to get to a point where I can go up to store owners, talk to them, and they're down to have my products sold at their place.
00:19:11
Speaker
And it's even cooler when I have friends or random people DM me, where can I buy this in Portland? I can drop the list to where they can get it out. And it's awesome.
Journey to Becoming an Artist
00:19:23
Speaker
You can give a list because it's tough when you have something, right? It's like, even if it's a podcast, where I find your podcast, well, it's everywhere. But that doesn't necessarily help, like right off the bat. You always need that little link of being like, hey, look at it. It's right here in front of you. Yeah.
00:19:40
Speaker
You can head over to the store and grab it.
00:19:45
Speaker
Jayden, going back, the question I meant to ask was about your identity as an artist. I can feel and have a talk to you, see how important it is and how it is, how sensitive you are and how you do it. When did you see yourself as an artist or allow things in your head to slide into that and being like, this is me, what's that?
00:20:14
Speaker
Yeah, so I've told this story in the past, but it didn't get much coverage. It actually started around fifth grade in elementary school. One of my friends, Brandon Stevenson, has started this fake little comic book company. It was called, like,
00:20:30
Speaker
derp dude's comic code or something. And it had a few other buddies in it, like one of my best friends, AJ Van Cleek. And we pretty much just created like little sketches and stapled them together and sold these fake little comic books around our entire grade. And people seemed to enjoy them a lot. And that's where I really found my passion and love for drawing it first, but then I sort of translated into other things. So I kind of just held on to that. And we all sort of held on to that too.
00:21:00
Speaker
Both Brandon and AJ create their own works too. But yeah, that's where I first realized how much I love art and creating. Yeah. Shout out to Brandon and AJ. Maybe we can get them on around the podcast. With the show, the roads lead from here. And I have a deep appreciation of
00:21:30
Speaker
know, kind of random chance happens and being like, you know, let's, let's, let's, let's, let's play together art wise, you know, and, and, and learn. So it's great to hear about everything.
00:21:45
Speaker
everything you got going on can you um i know you mentioned guilt before but just uh mentioned specifically any handles all that type of thing just to make sure listeners can uh make sure they find you in all those places because you're putting a lot of effort into one there yeah
00:22:02
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely.
Connecting with Jaden's Work
00:22:03
Speaker
So Instagram and TikTok is going to be at Gilt PDX. That's G-U-I-L-T-P-D-X. You can find me online at giltpdx.com. There's my web store.
00:22:18
Speaker
a little mini photo portfolio you can contact me there and then my youtube is also going to be at guilt pdx or guilt films you can find a lot of my music videos you can watch my fashion show from last year and i also do a lot of promo videos there too yeah and about them about the music videos how how heavy you drop to that you know making and doing you doing we're doing more and more of the music videos
00:22:44
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. One of my goals for this year that thankfully I've accomplished so far and I should accomplish till the end of the year was to push out one music video every single month. And it's been a great challenge to try and go out and network and meet lots of new people. Initially started my first music video I did was September of last year. And that's where I sort of realized how fun how much fun I have with video editing and
00:23:13
Speaker
just kind of fell in love with the process. So from there, once the New Year started, I realized I wanted to create a lot more of those, so that's what I started doing.
00:23:24
Speaker
No, it's great. Look forward to checking out more of that stuff you got going on. I like it. I like the energy back behind it. You know, a music song, thinking of how things look. And I even saw in your video some kind of like behind the scenes shoot. And it's got a good vibe. It's got a good feel. And I definitely look forward to everything you put out. And I'll get onto the website in supply.
00:23:53
Speaker
as a Pacific Northwest, originally from the East Coast, but Pacific Northwestern, supply myself most properly with Beanie Autumn 2023. Absolutely. For myself, for myself. So everybody, Jaden Allen will have the image Jaden did connected to the show. Big thanks for like,
00:24:22
Speaker
helping me visually present the show in different ways. And like I said, to be able to chat about the other stuff that you do, catch up with you, talk about fashion, shoots, music videos. I really look forward to everything that you're doing. And listeners, check out what Jayden's doing. I bumped into him at the Heritage Mall in Albany. And there's lots of things to see from that meeting.
00:24:48
Speaker
wanted to thank you so much, uh, Jayden for, for coming onto the podcast. Yeah. Thank you so much for having me. It's been great. Yeah. Big, big, uh, big love, love the music discussion. Shout out suicide boys and, uh, and all the great energy you can have, uh, throwing yourself around the show. Take care, man. You too. Thanks.
00:25:18
Speaker
This is something rather than nothing.
00:25:49
Speaker
Your support helps us reach more listeners and spread our community across the planet. This is a global show and we like to give a shout out to our many listeners across the world, including many listeners in Canada, Spain, Germany, UK, Argentina, Brazil, India, Thailand, and so many more places. Be sure to follow us on Instagram at something rather than nothing podcasts for behind the scenes content.
00:26:16
Speaker
And the best way to help the show is to tell your friends about us. If you love it, they'll love it too. Tell your friends who love it. We love you. This is something rather than nothing podcast.