memetic tees

When I designed the Chatsubo Bar T-shirt back in 2008, I couldn’t have imagined that someday Mr. William Gibson would see one of them.

My jaw dropped when I saw this picture posted to my Facebook wall by Blake wearing his Chatsubo Bar T-shirt at a reading of Mr. Gibson at the University of Calgary in Canada.

What can I say? I admire Gibson and my designs are the result of my passion for the worlds he creates. Have you seen his funny expression? He looks like a great guy. I doubt that I’ll ever have a chance to be that close to him, but I am delighted that one of my designs -a tribute to his work- had that privilege.

When I created the Neuromancer T-Shirt (very simple but elegant) I was thinking of something to wear at night even when going to a club. I could see the shirt glowing around.
A wintermute design had been for a long time on my mind. I was playing with typography and trying to create some kind of logo based on a snow flake…well, many different things.

The other day I was thinking about it while walking and I had a spark of inspiration: Wintermute was programmed by the Tessier-Ashpool dynasty with a need to merge with its other half: Neuromancer. Finally, Wintermute unites with Neuromancer, fusing into a greater entity.
Suddenly I realized that they didn’t need to have different designs. Now I can picture myself with a partner hanging around with both t-shirts.
Neuromancer and Wintermute have the same essence, they are two complementary AIs destinated to be a goodlike AI when they merge.

The shirt is already in the shop.

This is a video of neuromancer T-shirt whith the lights off. I’ll try to make another as in this one it doesn’t look as bright as it is.

Book cover

Many years have passed since I read Neuromancer by William Gibson. I always liked the Chatsubo bar. For those who haven’t read the novel, here is the introduction in the first chapter:

The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel. “It’s not like I’m using,” Case heard someone say, as he shouldered his way through the crowd around the door of the Chat. “It’s like my body’s developed this massive drug deficiency.” It was a Sprawl voice and a Sprawl joke. The Chatsubo was a bar for professional expatriates; you could drink there for a week and never hear two words in Japanese.

I really wanted to wear something about this. I wanted a strong design based on contrasts, something to be seen from far and good looking even if you don’t read the text or don’t know what it’s all about. The idea is like having been in the future having a few drinks  at the Chatsubo and coming back with a t-shirt. Well, I know the Chatsubo wouldn’t be exactly like the Hard Rock Cafe but… what the hell…

Bold strong typography and the beauty of squared Kanji. Yes, those are the Kanji symbols for chatsubo, “cha” means “tea” and “tsubo” means “pot”. I drew the kanji with bezier curves to fit the rectangle. The most difficult part was to make the curves suitable for cutting the design with the plotter as space between lines was too narrow.

The design is printed by Spreadhirt in Flex, that is an extremely durable vinyl heat pressed onto the garment so it doesn’t fade over time. It will last more than your t-shirt.

Do you like neuromancer, or sci-fi, or cyberpunk or simply japan? Well, if so, I hope you like this design.