Earlier this week we launched our weekly feature involving Tom Routh of FYi Design. It all started quite a few months ago when I randomly got an email with some previews of some upcoming FYi Design-affiliated projects. FYi Design was actually an entity I was relatively familiar with but it only went as far as “that lone white dude” that was involved in snowboarding trips with Hiroshi Fujiwara and jeffstaple and seen within the pages of honeyee.Magazine. Their base of operations in beautiful British Columbia was also pretty cool in addition to Tom’s background that included both time at Arc’teryx and a penchant for designing dope technical outerwear. I haven’t hit the slopes in awhile since I was probably 12 years old, nor have I seen snow for the last few years, but my fascination with technical apparel persists. There’s no doubt there’s a certain sense of over-design that is associated with the whole Hypebeast-mentality which makes technical fashion so appealing to our demographic… but then again there are times when I feel that the extreme humidity and rainy season do call for extreme measures and something worthy in the design-department to tackle these issues.
On a more personal level, this ranks up there as a favorite feature of mine. Of course the subject matter was immensely appealing to me but in addition, Tom’s detailing and passion in his work has some obvious spill-over into other aspects of his life as each answer commanded some clear, concise and well-thought out answers that were both inquisitive and educational. This is exactly how I want features to run. Not sure how many people actually took the time to read the feature cause it did involve a relatively unknown personality (although I’m sure you guys are familiar with the likes of SOPHNET., fragment design and Burton [ak], all brands under FYi Design’s influence) but check it out.