An Interview with Jon-Paul Kaiser Marc DeAngelis Justin Allfree
Jon-Paul Kaiser has a staggeringly large portfolio of custom and production toys, but his claim to fame isn’t simply based on his sheer volume of output, it comes down to the fact that the majority of these toys use only two colors: black and white. "untitled," a hand-painted deer skull
While his monochromatic palette might remind one of the past, the only things old-timey about Kaiser are his love for history and his appreciation of past art movements. Using a blend of a fine art techniques, design coherence, and an everyman’s love of pop culture, Kaiser creates a body of deceptively complex work. So what makes the Ansel Adams of toy design tick…
Was there a particular moment of realization that you knew you wanted to be a designer?
doing and was doing well enough to not have to sponge off them financially. They’ve become incredibly supportive!
I think it was just something I was always drawn to. I loved to while away hours drawing robots, imagining their backgrounds and stories, designing the world around them… I was also pretty keen on being Indiana Jones, but that didn’t seem too realistic.
Did you end up going to school for art, or was it more something you did on the side? How'd you get into 3D design?
Was your artistic side fostered by your family? My family despaired about me at times. I wasn’t interested in anything else apart from art and design and I had a bit of an attitude about that. It took my parents quite a while to come around to the idea that being an artist or designer could be a real career, though they could see I was happy with what I was
It was both. I took extra art night classes alongside my GCSEs (General Certificates of Secondary Education) so I could learn more, practice my craft with some great tutoring, and improve my key skills. I think I always planned my designs in three-dimensions, and thought about how the drawings I did would sit in a 3D world, so I went on to study design, animation, and 3D design at college, then onto university where I did a Higher National Diploma in Model-Making & Visual Effects.
Who and what are your biggest artistic
inspirations? Oh man, there are loads. Most pop culture, obviously; I think that's a given for any artist in this scene. Films, film noir aesthetic, walks, graphic novels, history, military vehicle design, Star Wars, Japanese art, fine art, and my wife. As for artists, I've always been inspired by fine artists like Francis Bacon, [Francisco] Goya, and [Pablo] Picasso, and more contemporary artists like Jake & Dinos Chapman and Ron Mueck. As for artists within this scene, there are always the godfathers to look up to: Huck Gee, Frank Kozik, Jeremy Fish, Sam Flores, and Tristan Eaton. And I'm also inspired by artists a little closer to home, like Mr. Lister, A Little Stranger, MAp-MAp, and Rich Page (UME Toys), as we're often in touch and spur each other on a little.
You mention Japanese art in there and I've heard before that your aesthetic has Clutter 19 | 47