British artist and maestro of the paper cut Rob Ryan has joined forces with the American denim brand Earnest Sewn to produce a collection of wearable and cuddly items - t-shits, bandanas, cushions and a cute denim ‘bits and bobs’ teddy bear. The products are available to purchase as part of a dual city venture in both London, and New York (Rob takes up residence in the back room of Earnest Sewn, NY for the month of April). We talk to Rob about the new collaboration and gathering inspiration.

Dazed Digital: Where are you from?
Rob Ryan: My dad was in the RAF so we constantly moved around until he left when I was in my teens and we settled in Birmingham, why there I don’t know - I think he knew a priest who got him a job which is really very Irish behavior. But I’ve lived in London for the last 25 years.
 
DD: Why the American influence, is there something you are not telling us?
Rob Ryan: Yes, I’m actually Richard Nixon and Gloria Vanderbilt’s secret love child!
 
DD: When did you first get into craftwork?
Rob Ryan: I started doing paper cuts about 6 years ago, I don’t know - its all just work to me. I just wanted a simpler way of saying things, less color, no tone, just really stripped down.
 
DD: Who inspires you?
Rob Ryan: Have you ever seen Harpo Marx when he plays the harp? It is as if the world and time stops, that’s pretty inspirational. The films of Preston Sturges and De Sica,Mel Brooks, Larry David. I guess the thing all these people have in common is they are dealing with serious stuff but in an entertaining hilarious way.
 
DD: How did your latest collaboration with Earnest Sewn happen?
Rob Ryan: Scott at Earnest Sewn had seen my book and was a fan and got in touch and that was that.
 
DD: Which items did you have the most fun designing?
Rob Ryan: I just did a skateboard for Lovenskate which was pretty good fun, it was a design on a china plate originally but then ended up on a board.
 
DD: What was the main source of inspiration for the collaboration?
Rob Ryan: I’m not really known much in the us and the whole idea was to have this store that was a kind of explosive greatest hits where you could go and see just a whole load of stuff that I’ve made in the last few years in one small room
 
DD: You turn you hand to most things, is there anything you are not good at?
Rob Ryan: Ha! Err not being a totally neurotic mess? !
 
DD: Some of the collection has a pure childlike quality - do you think this is something people respond well too?  Who knows?
Rob Ryan: I mean, some people might think it's contrived but sometimes it just makes sense to say something simply, to say the obvious. I guess this comes across sometimes as 'childlike' but it's not intended to
 
DD: Are you in touch with your inner child?
Rob Ryan: I am my inner child, everyone who lives in this world is.
 
DD: Who do you design for?  
Rob Ryan: Do you mean demographic or other companies? If you mean the former, then it's something I never consider - just do it for me and then everyone else. If the latter, then loads of people - Vogue, Paul smith, Fortnum and Mason, liberty....
 
DD: The product range is pretty diverse, what’s next on the cards?
Rob Ryan: In October in my shop in London everything is going to be only in black and white, I don’t know why - I just felt like it! It’s my shop and I’ll do what I like in it!
 
DD: You’ve released a book, tell us how that came about and who its written for?
Rob Ryan: A publisher approached me and it is the result of that to be frankly honest. Although it is a picture book, it's not really written for children but adults. At the moment I am working on illustrating Carol Ann Duffy’s new children's book and after that I want to do my first children’s book.