
In today’s age, an ad campaign in a magazine just isn’t enough to market your brand and shift your product. As people tire of traditional marketing campaigns, brands are having to work harder to make waves in an increasingly consumerist era. Enter the new wave of brands, movements and creatives making the industry wakeup: one major player of which is Slawn.
Slawn has been on the scene for a few years now, with skaters, musicians and creatives quickly hopping on to his graffiti art. His accolades and occupations are many – skater, artist, model, brand owner and founder – we could go on. With early fans of his including Virgil Abloh, Burna Boy and Skepta, the creative has been doing big things, but most recently he’s set out to conquer London (and the world) with his art.
On the 24th Jan, Slawn added his signature illustration and scrawl to The Windmill, Soho – all of which was caught on the club and theatre’s CCTV. After a couple back and forth messages from the unhappy establishment (all posted to Slawn’s socials, ofc), the artist met with the powers that be of The Windmill, securing a deal which would see the theatre buy up a selection of Slawn’s pieces for display there. As he put it, “The plan worked, Slawn is officially a Nigerian contemporary artist 😉 They’re gonna be getting some Slawn art pieces for the Windmill £££££££, First of many, the world is ours, I love you guys, we’ve got our foot in the door”.
In celebration, the artist then decided to take things further, organising a link up for his community at the very same spot. With instructions to meet at the Windmill and then head to the Saatchi, Slawn’s followers showed up in their masses. There, the artist customised pieces on the spot – adding his signature ‘FUCK SLAWN’ alongside playful illustrations to shirts, jumpers, hoodies, puffers and even a cardboard box. It seemed everyone wanted in on the action, and were prepared to give even their most coveted clothing the Slawn treatment.
From there, things got even more interesting – Slawn sent the Soho crew to the Saatchi gallery in Chelsea to ask for the ‘Slawn exhibition’. In his words – “sent em to galleries that would never consider having my work to ask for my work. Welcome to the slawn club.”
In an age where everything seems to be shifting digital, Slawn’s approach feels organic, disruptive and genius. Sending kids running through Soho recalls the feeling of Corteiz drops, something which makes sense as Slawn and Corteiz founder, Clint, are good friends, with many of the attendees on Slawn Day repping Corteiz too. It’s an approach that seems to favour the movement, over the commerce – people are part of The Slawn Club, (literally) pushing the brand into galleries and headlines in real time. With the next Slawn Day expected to be this week or next, are you in?
Sent em to galleries that would never consider having my work to ask for my work, Welcome to the slawn club pic.twitter.com/V1iOlGijNl
— ㅤ (@olaoluslawn) January 30, 2022
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Featured image: @kii__lu
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