Paul Nicholson

Creative Designer

London, United Kingdom

Summary

I am Paul Nicholson, a London-based creative designer with 20 years of experience in the music, art and fashion industries.

I founded and ran two successful ventures, a specialist print and design company, Prototype 21 and clothing label featuring my own artwork, Terratag.
In 2015 I launched Number 3, a creative consultancy with a focus on Logo design, brand identity and graphic art.
With self-conviction I avoid being pigeon-holed or belonging to a given genre. There are too many things that excite me and originality is paramount. By design, my objective is forward looking, to subvert convention with a progressive graphic style. To create timeless work that challenges the current retro-obsession.

I work with a signature style; inventive, bold graphics with a dynamic sense of colour that is a hybrid and distortion of east and west pop culture, sci-fi, technology and futurism. With a broad skill set I produce to the highest standard hand-crafted artwork, clean vectors and perfect pixels.
Commercial and fashion clients that I have worked for include: Addict, AI Works, ARRI Media, ASOS, Bleep, Brompton, Buffs, Channel 4, Converse, Dickies, Expedia, Fred Perry, Ghost in the Shell, Harvey Nichols, Howies, Innocent Drinks, Ministry of Sound, PXL, Rapha, Rugby World Cup, Sony, Wagamama, and Worksap.

I have also worked for record labels and artists designing logos, sleeves, flyers, posters, websites and social content. Clients include Aphex Twin, Andrew Weatherall, Mike Paradinas, Orbital, Warp, Planet Mu, Internal Records and Global Communication. Currently, I am working on artwork and logos for Icelandic musician Bjarki, French fashion label Kenzo, German musician Marc Acardipane, and UK-based musician and DJ Tom Middleton.

Skills

Software proficiency

Illustrator

Photoshop

InDesign

Reel

Experience

Owner & Creative Director at Terratag
London, United Kingdom
August 2002 - August 2012
TERRATAG - 2002+

Launched in 2002, Terratag was primarily a graphics based clothing brand. Alongside the T-shirts, Terratag also exhibited and sold artwork. During its 10 years, Terratag experimented, exploring visual pop language at it’s best. The brand was neither mainstream nor commercial, but simply an exciting, innovative mind, working towards a creative vision. Terratag's over-sized graphic style could not be ignored. Taking no prisoners, big bold graphics and intense colour the trademark.

EXHIBITIONS

Notting Hill Arts Club - London 2004

Artoys - Paris 2004

Yamato - London 2004

C215 - Paris 2005

NFT - London 2005

Cargo - London 2005

Cocco Latte - Singapore 2005

Social - London 2005

Dragon Bar - London 2006

Sephora - Paris 2006

Pictures on Walls - London 2006

Terratag Store - London 2007

Yo-Show - London 2007

Urbis - Manchester 2008

Let’s Play - London 2009

House of Labels - London 2011

Urban Soup - Tunbridge Wells 2013

PUBLICATIONS

Scrawl: Dirty Graphics and Strange Characters / Scrawl Too: More Dirt / GRAFUCK / Sleazenation / Vogue / Izastikup / 200by200 magazine / DeFish / C215 / Shibari / Design Week / Habitat / Start Mobile / The New York What / 360 Gamer / T-World / 100% Cotton / 200% Cotton / Metro Newspaper.
Creative Director at Prototype 21
London, United Kingdom
September 1992 - May 2015
PROTOTYPE 21 - 1992+

I graduated from graphic design and illustration, at Kingston University, in 1992. With a passion for screen printing and garment applied graphics, I set up Prototype 21 with fellow designer and print obsessive, John Boak. This love for what we do and attention to detail positioned us as one of the UK ‘s most creative garment application teams, specialising in screen printing, garment sourcing and customisation.

Being a design and garment print company, my responsibilities are predominantly creative. Design is integral to the way Prototype 21 work. Rather than simply taking given artwork and banging it on to a T-shirt, we work closely with the client to understand their project, develop their designs and create great looking clothing.

With over 23 years experience in design and fashion branding, the majority of contract work is music and fashion related. An extensive client list includes ASOS, Euphorium Bakeries, ARRI Media, Hospital Records, Gumball 3000, Dickies, Fred Perry, PXL, Brompton, Innocent Drinks, Warp Records, SueMe, Addict, Sony, Wagamama, Ministry of Sound, Howies, Rapha, Bleep and Harvey Nichols.

Although independent from I still work closely with Prototype 21, as well as contributing to 3 Sevens - P21's UK based, fabric knitting and garment manufacturing company.

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