Young Guns 16: Mathery
By Brett McKenzie on Nov 01, 2018
Showcasing the incredible winners of Young Guns 16
After months of decisions, discussions and debate, The One Club For Creativity is thrilled to unveil the winners of Young Guns 16! These 30 art directors, illustrators, filmmakers, photographers and designers of all types stood above all in this career-making, globe-spanning portfolio-based competition.
Ahead of the Young Guns 16 Ceremony + Party taking place on November 15, we are shining a spotlight on the various superstars who will be honored that evening.
Mathery
Directors, Photographers & Spatial Designers
Brooklyn, NY
What does winning this award mean to you?
When you look at the body of work of any past Young Guns winner, you see that it's at a really high level. Being selected as a winner makes you more proud of your work than ever before. It’s also an opportunity to learn how the jury sees the quality of your work, as well as to compare yourself to creatives from all over the world. It has always been something we were aiming to have on our folio, especially after we moved to New York.
This was actually our second attempt to win Young Guns. Last year we were finalists, but we didn't make it in. Hard to know exactly what made the difference this year. The fact that we were moving from Italy to New York and transitioning towards film and advertising direction probably influenced the work we presented. We have definitely been very productive this year, our folio grew with more commercial and advertising projects as well as other personal projects in film and photography.
It’s not easy to be a successful creative. What sorts of challenges have you encountered to get where you are today?
We have taken the challenge to start working independently since we graduated in product design in Milan. We have always been working as a duo and learned from our mistakes, which is risky sometimes. We have been living far from our comfort zone for more than five years now and went through great moments when we thought we had the world in our hands and others when work was just not enough! But we have never stopped believing in what we were doing and being the two of us means having great support from the person you love constantly. We have also met people who believed in our passion and our work and this has been the key that lead to another consequence and to another.
How did you decide what to enter into Young Guns? Was it a challenge to curate yourself?
We entered in the “Others” disciplime when we submitted to Young Guns, but we had our concerns, because you never know how your work it’s going to be perceived. We had a very clear idea of which projects we wanted to submit, and the fact that we work in different disciplines and different mediums led us to pick almost one project for each category we work in.
Can you name any past Young Guns winners who you look up to, whose work you admire or are even inspired by?
Yes, we know a few Young Guns — Aaron Duffy (YG9) is a friend and collaborator; he is a true inspiring creative. Leta Sobierajski (YG15) was one of the first friends we made when we moved to New York. Karim Zariffa (YG7) is a buddy of ours, and Luisa Milani/La Tigre (YG10) heads one of the best graphic studios in Milan.
What keeps you going, creatively speaking?
Being hungry, believing that the next project will be even better than the last one you have just accomplished and you are proud of. Creativity can be seen both as a process or as an intuition, dictated by an experiences and the surroundings. You can’t turn on and off your creative side, but sometimes we need to dig into our brains and our mind needs to be opened to that.
Now that you’re a Young Guns winner, what’s next?
We want to focus more on our career as directors, collaborate with some rad agencies and we also have a few personal photographic projects in our pockets we can’t wait to do!
The Young Guns 16 Ceremony & Party takes place on Thursday, November 15 in New York City.
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