Silas Gets his T-shirt!

Silas Hickey is a Producer, Director based in Tokyo Japan. His experience includes media work for clients such as Virgin, Polygram, Tower Records, MTV, Discovery channel and AOL/Time Warner. In 1988 he was awarded the Queen Elizabeth Trust for Young Australians, and studied graphic design at the Otis Parsons School of Art & Design in Los Angeles. In 1994 Silas formed Soap Studios with leading Australian designer Richard Allan. Projects include Marc Newson's Bucky animated installation for the Foundation Cartier in Paris, MTV Australia's terrestrial launch campaign, and music videos for Polygram records. In 1997 Silas formed Toast Media, which has produced works including kinetic animated projections onto the Sydney Opera House for the 2000 Sydney Olympics, and multiple award winning broadcast packaging and promos for Discovery Channel, MTV, Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, and Turner Classic Movies. Recently he art directed and designed Marc Newson's Talby mobile phone interface for KDDI, assisted with the launch and branding of Disney Television Japan, and produced and directed a documentary about Marc Newson's Kelvin 40 concept airplane.　Since February 2004 Silas has been working on the Shape & Shapers documentary film, which also includes touring exhibitions in Tokyo and at the London Design Museum.






What is your name?
SILAS HICKEY

Which country do you wish to represent?
AUTSTRALIA, but Australia is VERY MULTICULTURAL so in terms of this diverse ethnicity it can also represent PLANET EARTH.

What did you have in mind when creating your T-1 T-shirt design?
Inspired by the Pioneer 10 and 11 space probe plaques, which were the first graphics in space and the first attempt at visual communication with alien beings.

On board each of the unmanned spacecraft Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11 is a plaque with a pictorial message from mankind. The plaque shows the figures of a man and a woman along with several symbols that are designed to provide information about the origin of the spacecraft. It serves as a kind of interstellar "message in a bottle". However, it is very unlikely that it will ever be found. The mean time for the spacecraft to come within 30 astronomical units of a star is longer than the current age of the galaxy.
The Pioneer spacecraft were the first man-made objects to leave the solar system. The plaque is attached to the antenna support struts in a position that shields it from erosion by stellar dust. NASA expects the plaque (and the craft itself) to survive longer than the earth and its sun.

What sort of places or situations will best fit your T-shirt design, do you think?
The outer limits of the known universe and the outer suburbs of Sydney

Has your final T-shirt design turned out the same as you initially imagined it would?
My process is usually emergent, rather than preplanned or premeditated.

People have commented that it looks like Adam and Eve playing football in space which is great.

When you were designing your T-1 T-shirt, how did the process compare with your normal work?
I normally edit video and film.

Please give your T-shirt a name.
"Interstellar Greeting Card"

Please give us a message to all the people who visit the website, to spark their interest in your T-shirt.
The most important piece of graphic communication in the history of the human race.

If there is any music that would best fit your T-shirt design, please let us know.
Lost In Space theme song, Star Trek Theme, Lenard Ninoy and William Shattner's greatest hits.

Is there any strikingly memorable or impressive T-shirt that you remember?
Marlon Brando in 'A Streetcar Named Desire' wears a t-shirt that is about 5 sizes too small, and in one scene he actually rips it off his own back and then tears it to pieces when he's freaking out at his girlfriend Stellar.

What is your favorite food?
Uni(sea urchin) and cheese and tomatoe toasted sandwhiches.

Are there any countries that you'd like to travel, if you had the chance and time?
North Korea, because they have subway stations that resemble the Sistine Chapel.

Are there any people, things, happenings, that have especially influenced you?
Yes, I read Francis Wheen: How Mumbo Jumbo Conquered the World and I started watching Al Jazeera.
What do you want most? Anything?

I most want someone to change his name, so that everything is not called NAN-TOKA Hills.

Is there anything that you recommend us to check out? Any items, events, etc?
Please checkout how much better Omote Sando dori looked before Omote Sando Hills.

Who would make you most pleased if they were to wear your T-shirt?
Takeshi Kitano, Tottoro, Jezus Christ

If you have any news or information about your recent or upcoming activities, please let us know.
We are making a nickel surfboard but its probably best to look at the website