123KLAN: 20 Years of Inspiration

Montrealers for the past six years, along with their twins, the French couple posses immense talent and are known the world over. Scien (Sébastien) and Klor (Carole) form the famouns duo of 123KLAN, who have inspired many graffiti and graphic artists over the past 20 years. I had the chance to meet them back when they first arrived in Canada, when a friend of mine brought them in to paint some walls at our office. Klor's great sense of humour keeps you laughing all day while Scien has a certain charisma that renders ever moment spent together into something quite pleasant. I managed to track them down just before they left for Pow Wow in Hawaii, where they're presenting their work for the 3rd consecutive year.

Last summer, for their 20th anniversary, Scien organized a surprise part for his partner in crime in NYC, where all their graffiti friends came and gathered from all over the glove. At night there was a great and emotion-filled party, and then the next day the whole crew were able to paint a giant wall together. It's not everyday that you get to see Cope2, Dabs, Sen2, Mick Larock, Kid Crap and a host of other world-renowned painters all working together.

Here's a sweet video of the of the festivities (including the absolutely ridiculous designs everyone painted on the aforementioned wall):

The duo, who are prone to arrogance and hate marketing, have a very unique style. They are often copied, but as Scien says "it's just one of the risks of success". They can count themselves amongst the few who have worked with such globally-recognized brands such as Nike, Hurley, Adidas, MTV, Stussy, Coca-Cola, Vans, Kid Robot, and Plan B amongst others. And their number on condition for working together? "There is no question, we WILL NOT deviate from our style!". They've turned down plenty of huge offers for this reason along, including one for Shaun White.

Apart from their incredibly successful design studio in Montreal, the duo are often invited to speak at conferences around the world, something they love to do. They are in the process of authoring a 300 page book documenting their past 4 years of work and creativity which should be out soon. Until then you can check out their work on their website as well as shop and wear some of their incredible creation at Bandit-1sm, the private label they launched several years ago.

And an extract from their bio, probably one of the big reasons they've been so successfull:

"We don't do marketing, we are free like the soup dragons, we don't care about your needs, we lie all the time, we are lazy, stubborn, super confident, arrogant but unfortunately super talented, we'll tell you bullshit to make you feel confident, we'll maybe work for you if you have enough money but drunk, we don't care about the opportunities you will give us to work for you even if you own a big brand because you need our skills to look young and fresh."