In a booth at the Melrose Trading Post, open every Sunday from 9am to 5pm in the parking lot of Fairfax High School, stands neatly folded and hung T-shirts, sweaters, and traditional prints. Each with a special image. What’s the image? Well, that answer varies, from movies, to tv shows, to celebrity Instagram posts. Whatever pop culture reference you can think of, Matt Warren, the man behind the brand can make it.
What is Paper 8? Whilst the “Paper” stands for the creative side of the brand and the fact that it’s all drawn on paper, the “8” is a witty film reference to Super-8 film. Paper 8 made its debut at the Melrose Trading Post, gaining traction and attention, and is now the name of a successful storefront on Hollywood Boulevard and can be seen in the closets of some A-List celebs including Dylan Minette and Brandon Flynn. I recently was gifted the opportunity to speak with Matt, who has lived in LA for the past twelve years designing and creating his brand, about his journey from small business to major success. |
How would you describe yourself and your business to someone who has never met you?
I mean, I'm an artist and I do illustrations of movie posters or like characters and quotes from movies or just general pop culture references. Like celebrities, Instagram, and TV shows. Then I put them on t-shirts, or I sell prints and I do the printing myself. So, I have a printer and I have a storefront on Hollywood Boulevard. So, you design everything yourself, you draw them all yourself and then you print the shirts yourself. From the first idea to the final finished product, what's your process? I get a lot of suggestions of what kind of films or characters people want to see. So, it's always like taking that into consideration, especially now as this is my full-time business. |
How do you balance between Work/Life?
I need to be better at having that balance or coming to those boundaries because it’s like, I pretty much just work all the time. Even though it’s your artwork, you still need a break from your job and it’s kind of difficult to enforce that. Having this space here, is good, especially during the pandemic to have a second space to be at, when everyone had to stay home. So, even when I wasn’t open, this was kind of a workspace that I could come to. I leave my computer here, there are times when I take it home, but I try to enforce having my work hours at the shop and then that’s it. I try to remind myself to shut off at like six o’clock. |
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