FA & FON: THE TWO LONDON VISIONARIES CHANGING THE WAY WE SEE OUR FAVOURITE BRAND CAMPAIGNS

Concept & Graphic design sister duo Fa & Fon Watkins are changing the way we see our favourite brand campaigns, design and the human body and here’s why.

Hailing from the concrete jungle of London City, Art Directors & Multidisciplinary Creatives Fa & Fon are hugely inspired by retro-futurism and old eccentric fashion campaigns. The masterful minds of the two creatives conceptualise a design narrative in a fashion which we feel is rather profound, they creatively transcend norms and surpass design boundaries through the mediums of “drawing and designing graphics to create an overall body of imagery in the hopes to transport our audience to the world we have manifested in their heads”

The two visionaries have worked up an impressive roster of clients who have looked to Fa & Fon to transform outlooks and initiate new perspectives for brands to connect with their audience through the visually charming lens of Fa & Fon. Their works have championed partnerships with the likes of Luxury urban activewear designer Charli Cohen for her recent collaboration with Reebok, also Nike and the pair designed and drew out Converse’s star chevron logo for their new profile picture. The two also captured thousands if not millions with the latest FILA SS20 campaign seen brought to life by Fa & Fon.

We had the pleasure of joining Fa & Fon for a Q&A where we gather insight into their pursuits. Read the Full Q&A for VIPER below.

So, for those who are yet to get acquainted with you both, can you tell us who you are and what you do?

We are London based creatives, specialising in concept visual design, art direction and graphic design. We work across many media’s from brand campaign stills, editorials to music videos.

Can you tell us how you engaged with the creative world? & How you’ve become very much a part of it?

Through networking, we went to Central St Martins which is a design university which helped us understand the creative world but through networking and producing consistent work we kind of found our own way into the industry.

As concept designers, what is it you do to provoke a working concept?

First and foremost when it comes to working for brands we have to see the product that they are trying to sell first hand, their target audience, collection release date and the brand’s specific requirements all these factors really shape the concept design process, then we brainstorm what we think would best suit the brief. There’s a lot of trial and error and we don’t often agree on an idea until we both think it’s the best of what we can do. It’s thorough a process of elimination we then sorta key out what is possible in terms of how we are able to execute the project from inception to progression to execution of the actual day of the shoot to post-shoot edits and launch. When it comes to coming up with a concept it’s best not to rush in and push it.

We feel as though almost, you represent a notably unique design movement, is there a particular end goal for you as creatives?

We don’t have one defining goal in terms of the aesthetic goal that we work towards, it’s always determined by whatever we’re into at that particular point in time but in terms of a general life goal we want to start a design collective, housing some of the most crazy exuberant upcoming designers.

In your personal life or upbringing, is there anything you can say has influenced your works as designers?

We’re originally from Thailand and grew up there until we were 8 years old, and we go back often so I would say we’re hugely inspired by Thai Culture both traditional and modern. We also grew up reading a lot of Manga, watching a lot of Anime and in general just been very exposed to asian pop culture so a lot of our work revolves around that aspect. 

We understand you’ve championed Art direction with brands such as Nike & Converse, What’s it like to implement your outlook when working with fashion brands?

It important to say your opinion from the get-go and not be afraid to communicate what you want clearly to your clients as well as listening to and implying their requirements into your work, they hired you because they have seen your portfolio and obviously must have liked it enough to contact you so you should stick to your guns and not have to change your design aesthetic, obviously, you have to take in their notes into consideration because at the end of the day they are the ones who know best on how to sell and market their products, so it’s important to constantly keep communication pathways clear. It’s obviously an honour when brands approach us wanting to hire us for our ideas and style of work so when implementing our concept we always question how our work would suit their brand?

Do you feel as though being from London has sculpted any characteristics you would say you’re proud of?

We’ve lived in London for about 5 years now and since being here we’ve become more and more confident, I think London really takes you out of your shell. You’re surrounded with other creatives so there’s always inspiration and there’s always opportunities if you look for them so it definitely made us more confident with how we approach our work.

If there were just three words to describe your eye for design what would they be?

Wandering- Both of us have quite short attention spans. We love to look at other visuals whilst we work or we swap over work often to keep attention and apply our individual style to it.

Adaptive- Whilst we do have a distinctive style I would say as designers its always handy to be adaptive to any situation, especially when you don’t want to limit yourself to one field of work.

Critical – I feel like we’re very hard on ourselves when It comes to our work, we constantly look over everything over and over again but that’s the only way you’ll end up truly happy with the end product.

Lastly but most certainly the most important question of all, If there was an animal you feel like you’d best suit, what would it be?

Fa: Panda, I feel like they have life figured out and I love to nap too.

Fon: A honey badger because that’s what I got on my Buzzfeed quiz.

Follow Fa & Fon

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Fon Fila UK: Photographer: Melony Lehmann 

Producers: Larrisa smith and Jasmine Kirby 

HMUA:Bryanna Ryder 

Models: Sano Turdiev and Chi Virgo 

Green Tattoo: Photography and edit: Fa and Fon 

Model: Clara Rosa