In January 2009 Aerosyn-Lex exhibited alongside Shepard Fairey in Obama: Inaugural Exhibition with trademark calligraphic works visually reverberating that key moment in history. The Brooklyn-based 27-year-old is the creative director of The Keystone Design Union, the world’s largest private creative collective, designer of luxury streetwear house Serum Vs Venom and consultant to Nike and Diesel. “I’m inspired by artisans much older who have dedicated themselves to a craft, whose every breath is intertwined with their work. One’s life and one’s work can, and should be one in the same. Our creative philosophy is the idea of collaboration and network, fertile grounds for creative synergies.”

Name a person or organisation that shares your DIY ethos, and explain why?
I think our network embodies the spirit of DIY in that myself and my partner David Gensler have organically grown this creative collective to include hundreds of members worldwide - all of this strictly by word-of-mouth and with an heir of secrecy and loyalty that would rival any organization a conspiracy-theorist could name. Central to what we stand for is that "in helping others succeed, you help yourself succeed" - there's a calculated measure of selflessness built into the network in that if you wish to succeed you need to be willing to help and work with others.
 
Send us a picture/video that summarises your view of modern life, and explain why?
Obviously our modern culture is awash in consumerism. If one is to believe what has been written by Baudrillard, Foucault and others on the topic then one sees that our culture is inseparable from consumption. We see the visible and tangible Aesthetization (*to borrow the term) of everyday life so much so that one could make the comparison that consumption is seen as a means of transcendence or atonement. Brands have become the new religions and the world's consumers their followers. If that is the case then those creatives who design, and produce the products which the world fawns over should be held in higher regards - designers as rock stars as it were. Our brand Serum Versus Venom has always maintained this outlook on modern life and consumerism and to that end myself and my partner David Gensler have coined this phrase: "Consumption is Salvation, Creation is Ascension".


Do you think the recession has helped or hindered your creativity? Why?
It's definitely cut the fat off of the creative industry. It's survival of the fittest and our strategy has been to simply expand and act bullish in this market. There's a balance in that the better we can service our clients and their needs - the more we can take from that momentum and feed our own brand and personal/in-network projects. I think this Diesel exhibition is a prime example of that.

Music for a revolution - what song sums up your attitude?
I'm a lover not a fighter... ya' heard. I live and breathe music as much as I do images. That being said I'm currently bumpin' that new Killa Cam – ‘Bottom of tha Pussy Hole’. Now, let's do work!

What other period inspires you the most, and why?
I'm inspired by the future. I've always been fixated on what is yet to come. I'm inspired by the possibility of how our world will change in the coming years. I'm inspired by the possibility that my work and vision might add to that change and might in some way affect the lives of those who've I've never met, but who have met my work.

Read more of the YCE feature here.