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Shotopop is the ‘carousel-careening cirque du dreams’ of Carin Standford and Casper Franken. Raised on the yellow gold-encrusted streets of Jozi and a white gold-moustached milk farm of the Free State respectively, both members of the Shotopop troupe trained at the University of Pretoria. Now based in Brighton, UK, their work includes print-based design, motion graphics, art direction and illustration for an impressive list of international clients.
We would like to think of the Shotopop brand as an
delights for the likes of Computer Arts, Orange, Derrick
evolving roly-poly. We currently have a font that we gen-
Santini, Asics, Chris Chameleon, Skunk Anansie and
erally use to write the name ‘Shotopop’ and an image
Absolute Vodka amongst others.
of a deer’s skull that started as our email signature and has been adapted to a few other bits and bobs (call it
If we think back, the projects that really made us back-
a logo or identity signature if you want), but we don’t
flip on the tightrope were probably the Skunk Anansie
want to view them as our definition because they could
and Chris Chameleon music videos and the Absolute
change tomorrow depending on a whim. That’s the nice
Vodka Wall in Milan. The Absolute wall was a bit of a
thing about being in the creative industry – you’re not
spin-off from the Skunk Anansie stuff we’d been doing
expected to be a one- trick pony; your worth isn’t based
already like their website, music video and album art-
upon your ability to add two and two and make them
work. Skin, the lead singer of the band, was approached
equal four. For all we care if the sum looks prettier as
by Absolute to be their official spokesperson for the
nine, then nine it is.
new Rock edition bottle which is covered in black leather and studs and she asked us to be her designers on the
We entered the ‘real world’ of design one trick at a time.
project. The wall is the size of a six-storey building in
We started off by freelancing and doing a bit of Shoto-
central Milan, Italy, and has become a space for Absolute
pop work on the side in every spare moment we had until
to merge art and urban spaces. It was really exciting
such time when we realised that the Shotopop work was
seeing our work on such a large scale and the outcome
taking up more time than freelancing and so the studio
was fascinating.
was born. We now also have representation in France through Valerie Oualid and Wizz, both who source a large
Skunk Anansie as a project, has been a ‘phantasma-
percentage of our work.
gorical carousel’ journey. It started with the logo revamp which metamorphosed into the website, album artwork
We’ve been really lucky to work as the ‘illusionists’ for
and music video for Because of You, their first single
various clients and being able to conjure various visual
off their new album, Smashes and Trashes.
EDUCATION