Reflecting on Aubin & Wills

With the news that Pete Williams is relaunching Aubin & Wills, it got me thinking about my time working for them. I was part of the small team that made up Aubin whilst also working on Jack Wills at the same time. It was a great position to be in, I had the best of both worlds working with big commercial buys as well as more interesting fashion forward briefs. For both brands I was responsible for the apparel graphics and broader branding, and labelling.

The work I produced for Aubin although produced 10 years ago is still some of the most picked up on, and when I first set up the studio it helped win countless jobs. It was in fact where I formed a lot of my lasting opinions about branding, and the importance of the often overlooked tshirt print to tell a story quicker than any other piece of clothing. Aubin was the older brother of Jack Wills and wanted to portray a level of sophistication, and artistry. I delved deep into these areas for the apparel graphics, not that Id expect the average customer to know this, but at Aubin the tshirts meant something. Ideas often started with a line from Virginia Woolf, or a scene from Charleston House, to me having a strong idea behind a illustration, however abstract gives it strength. When a collection of well designed tshirts are seen together the consumer instantly “gets” the brand, its so much more visual than a well tailored coat, which takes time to admire and appreciate.

I look forward to seeing the new iteration of Aubin and who knows maybe we’ll be reunited once again!