The Spark: Kenny Gravillis on Creative Rules, '80s Movies and Fruit Pastilles

0:03Katy Cowan:We're back with Kenny Gravillis, who I really enjoyed chatting with on Monday. I do love a good name drop. And Kenny certainly had plenty of brilliant stories from Hollywood to share. Tom Cruise, I mean, can you imagine Tom Cruise just looking at you, putting all that golden light on just you? Inglourious Bastards and Quentin, Christoph Waltz and not being very happy about having his own poster. So, I mean, we definitely got a little glimpse into that world and the fascinating people in it. What I love most, though, is how Kenny turned his love of music and movies into a career, building something meaningful around the things that inspired him from the very start.

0:41Katy Cowan:Now, in this bonus episode, we're going to find out a little more about the man behind the posters, the one some people affectionately call KG.

0:53Katy Cowan:this season of the creative beam podcast is brought to you by the school of communication arts which has just launched its sca online portfolio a brand new fully online course designed to help more people break into the creative industries find out more at schoolcommunicationarts.com and to enjoy a 500 pound discount use our special code boom 500 at checkout. Well, we're back with the wonderful KG, if I may call you that. We're friends now. Yeah, you totally can. All good. Is this a good moment to tell you all my friends call me KC? Oh, they do? We should get a band together. I know, exactly. You know, I'll do the cover.

1:35Yes.

1:36Katy Cowan:I'll do the copywriting. Well, you'll probably change it all. i mean you've been working in this business for a long long time and um you've got all these amazing stories but i kind of want to know a little bit more about the kenny behind the gravelist brand and so i'm gonna i'm gonna ask you some deep and meaningful sometimes some questions are you ready for this i think so let's see hopefully i'm ready all right what's the a creative rule that you love breaking a creative rule that I love breaking so what what's interesting about that question is I'm not sure I don't really go by too many creative rules if that makes sense yeah you know like I try not it's so funny I do have we did have in our old website we did have certain things like we did have don't stretch type do you know what I'm saying which by the way I did so that was why I did do that one time and said don't do that again so I'm like so I won't I'm big on kind of like I don't like the forming typefaces unless it's so intentional that we're creating something new does that make sense do you know what I'm saying yeah but I don't want to deform a typeface um but again yeah in terms of breaking rules I don't know I feel like we try not to to put rules on as much um because in a way you do wanna you do wanna like break things do you know what i'm saying that's part of finding creativity if that makes sense so yeah no totally you you absolutely answered that question okay now i'm gonna put you on the spot again yeah um this is a tough one actually what's something you believed about creativity five years ago that you don't anymore one thing I believe about creativity oh that I don't so I think five years ago I was more precious about the work that comes out and I think now there's so much work that comes out I'm not as precious because I feel like you know what it's okay man so that didn't work yeah we could put something else out do you know I mean and before I think I was so like oh my goodness this is it it was kind of like back then to like you know because of social media you know before it was like one poster would come out and that would be the poster that's the only thing that's coming out do you know what I mean but now you know there's alternate posters different posters I think I now I'm less precious about one thing you know what I mean like I'm just like hey you know we have chance to like keep creating so I think yeah I think I'm a little bit more open to that now.

4:20Katy Cowan:I'm probably the same. I'm more relaxed about things than I was. Yeah, I'm more relaxed. The perfectionism is gone. Yeah, the perfectionism is gone, 100%. Yeah, I'm no longer like, oh, it has to be exact. Even that's another thing too, with my staff, I am now less, I think, before, and I've always sort of been this way, but in the last five years, I think that, like, I'm like, listen, if this is communicating the right thing, and you love it, oh, I'm good with it like I don't have to 100 % love it as long as I feel like it's saying the right thing yeah does that make sense like because that's because it's now it's like your version of like that communication and I don't want it to just be like oh it's only me my version of what the communication is if that makes sense do you know what I mean so I'm trying to be more over I was trying to be more I think I'm way more open than I was five years ago about that so I'm still very yeah i'm still very like hey is this communicate the right thing but how it communicates it i'm open to it even if i don't love it but i think it's communicating the right thing i'm like totally open to to you showing that yes where before i'd be like killing stuff you know well it sounds like the creativity is flowing a bit more now yeah i get it i get it though it's it's difficult when it's your own stuff it's like yeah exactly you want it to be right you want it to but I want to I also want my my team to feel empowered as well do you know what I mean yeah what are you secretly good at Kenny okay I used to be really good at pool so when I wasn't working when I when I got fired four times it was like four months there I wasn't working and I was in the Bronx like gun hall road pool hall me and my mate nice yeah we played so much pool uh that the hustlers that were in there started asking us about coming and playing working with them and that's what we were like we need jobs do you know what i mean yeah yeah that was a good reality check yeah that was a reality check like okay we need to get jobs it's like we're in here too much you know i mean so even now in my bad pool days i'm still okay but back then i was like no joke I like a pool hall.

6:34Katy Cowan:Good music, good company, nice and relaxed. Pool halls are fun still. So what is your favourite place to visit in the world when you want to go and have a break and have a holiday? So, you know what? It's interesting. So my dad lives on a small island called St Lucia in the West Indies. He has a bed and breakfast there. Both my parents are from there originally. So they were part of that little wind rush of Caribbean people that came into England in the 50s and 60s. My dad has had a bed and breakfast there for like 30 years. So I go maybe twice a year to visit. He's in his 80s. But the place itself is so, there's something that my daughter says, there's something like super spiritual about it that connects us.

7:22so I feel like that's sort of a place for me to like ground myself and takes me out of everything

7:29Katy Cowan:everywhere else I think that's lovely that's really special and it looks beautiful so yeah not a bad place to go back to yeah no definitely do you have a nemesis oh my god you know what I can't talk about it and that's all i can say it's not it's not tom cruise is it oh my god no tom's my new best mate please oh my god i love tom best buds best buds yeah yeah i can't talk about it okay so i got to ask you another question then okay sorry oh god maybe i'll take it maybe like we've had so much laughing what oh god i'm gonna be asking something really depressing now okay okay all good you're ready you're ready i'll take one what song would you like to be played at your funeral i think i would like it's probably something from queen i'm probably real the champions yeah something uplifting and yeah i think we are the champions yeah i think we are the champions yeah absolutely go out with you know you know why because i love that song because it was used so much especially on 80s kind of like corny movies like revenge of the nerds like i'm an 80s like nutty cinephile so like anything 80s because i would that's when i was in the video store the most do you know what i mean uh yes so yeah it was magical yeah we are the champions probably beautiful yeah i'm an 80s kid as well they were that that was the best era for movies i think yeah i loved it it was like you know i still um i fondly my kids grew up watching so much 80s like they're so colubian even though they're like in their 20s even though they're in their 20s yeah my son actually he said he said he won't even date someone who hasn't seen ferris brula oh my goodness how could you have not seen that film i know exactly he's like i can't even mess with you it's like have you ever seen that like we're obviously not a good match you can you can go now you can go exactly why did you dump her because he hasn't seen the goonies yeah so yeah what's something totally irrational that gives you comfort totally irrational yeah that gives me these are tough questions aren't they i'm really putting you on the spot yeah i'm trying to think something irrational i don't know really um i'm a pretty rational guy in general do you know i mean i'm trying to think of my what is my most irrational that gives me comfort um i don't know oh my dog likes to bite feet what's the dog's name hero i got when i got you know i've had him for like the last four years and it kind of makes me laugh i mean it's like it's a little bit when someone comes it's a little like embarrassing like like if they put their feet too close to him you know so that's kind of irrational but kind of gives me a little bit of comfort oh dogs are amazing yeah but what kind of dog is it oh he's a jack terrier he's super cute yeah yeah he's super cute very full of energy yeah fully i really need to get him trained it's been four years and i really need to get him trained yeah so you need he needs to stop biting guests feet yeah in a perfect world in a perfect it's just not a good look you know in a perfect world i really need to get this sorted okay yeah i think this next next question is going to probably bring up something relevant what's the oldest thing you own and why do you still have it the oldest thing that i own are you sentimental do you keep hold of things do you have like a treasure box i do but it's usually it's mostly kids stuff you know um in terms of like i don't i'm trying to think do i have too many things from like when i was really young uh you know what actually what's really messed up too i lost the covers that i did oh yeah i know i lost them i remember i was like oh man they would have been nice to have kept those but yeah I did I lost them about 20 years ago somewhere I don't know um I'm trying to think of the oldest things that I that I I mean I really can't think of anything right now that like yeah you know what um I'm not big on needing to keep it's funny I just recently did a big storage purge too like I got rid of a storage unit which is like if anyone like needs to feel amazingly free like get rid of storage yes 100 % is like you know yeah so that was good so it kind of like right now in my house is just everything I own like there's nothing else there do you know what I mean it's freeing it's very freeing so I feel like in a way um I don't really have yeah apart from just like kid stuff do you know what I mean like you know it's kids it's like you have I send my kids are like I said in their 20s and I send them baby pictures all the time you know yeah it's just like you can't help it yeah you can't help it but you can't yeah I just don't think I I have anything really that old um yeah really don't really keep stuff do you have a word sorry I'm moving swiftly on to the next question yeah yeah do you have a word that gets on your nerves the most lately bandwidth bandwidth yeah i'm tired of bandwidth man i'm tired of hearing about bandwidth i'm tired of talking about bandwidth i am it's a little frustrating it's just like yeah it's just come on man i i'm tired of it why isn't everything working you know why isn't it fast yeah never mind ai just make all the current stuff work fast oh no and that in america that's it's it's used a lot in just are you able to take on a project you know yeah so like do you have the as everyone's like do you have the bandwidth you know yes do you have the bandwidth do you hear that right you can hear them saying it i'm gonna get a t-shirt made and i'm gonna send that to you we've got the bandwidth we've got the bandwidth i know because it it's like you know i've and i've said it before in the email it's embarrassing as well we've got good bandwidth right now and so oh holy moly yeah yeah now i have a question from our previous guest which is emily jeffrey barrett from among equals she asked a very very evil question she'll be oh really Yeah, yeah.

14:27Katy Cowan:Wait, for me? Yeah. This is what we do. It's like a nice little chain reaction. Oh, okay. Got it. Doing a bit of Diana Ross. Yeah, yeah. What is the most shameful, trashy, embarrassing obsession that you have? It could be a TV show. It could be food. But it's got to be something that if somebody found that out, you would be mortified. Oh, my goodness. Yeah. If someone found it out, they'd be mortified. Oh, my God. It's a good question, isn't it? I was thinking about it for myself. It's a good question. Like, what is it that I'm just like, huh? Because I'm a bit of a geek anyway. There's loads of stuff that I'm watching.

15:11Yeah, there's probably loads of stuff, I know, that I'm just totally into that is just ridiculous.

15:20Katy Cowan:It's not Anne of Green Gables from the 80s, is it? that's mine oh my god no you know what but because i had kids i watched a lot of craziness as well yeah um i don't know i'm trying to think like what is it though now so you know what i'll be honest with you i don't i don't watch a ton of um what's it called uh reality television no i don't really i'm not a big reality television but we don't even do much like as a company like you know we've actually yeah we just don't even like you know we do documentaries we don't do reality don't have the time yeah don't know um i don't know what about what about an embarrassing food do you have to have ketchup with everything you know oh my god okay do i have to i do love ketchup but i don't think that's embarrassing i think ketchup is like awesome you know i mean i think um um i oh i can eat a bag of haribo colas in about two minutes how's that that is perfect there you go i just thought about that one i'm like i could eat i went to see mission impossible the other day while i'm here in london and i bought you know popcorn and i bought you know i did get a sparkling water so i didn't get a coke or anything but i got fruit pastels like it was like you know the bad ones not the roll yes the bad ones i know the ones you mean yeah the bag what you know the ones in the bag the bag ones all right yeah so it's in the family size do you know i mean it's not like just the roll of fruit pastels it's the bag bag gone gone before our into the film gone and i like and i and i remember folding up the bag because i was embarrassed by it do you know i mean because really that that should last you the whole film at least and like it was gone i remember the commercial during the commercial got it you got it you got it you uh-huh got it The only thing you can really do if we're around your sweet pastel is chew ba-ba-ba.

17:35That is real. I cannot not chew the crap out of those things.

17:41Katy Cowan:We grew up with sweets, though, didn't we? How many fillings have you got? I've got about nine. No. So, I went to America and got a bit better about that. But, yeah, no. But still, fruit pastels, this was two days ago, by the way. Waxed off. well you're absolutely high off absolutely off your face on sugar i would have been you've seen the bags right like i mean the whole thing god like kenny you you are just a delight you really are right before we wrap this up we've got to get you to ask a question to our next guest which will be our final i think no it'll be our second to last guest of this season so okay what question it can be anything you like do you want to ask anything you like ask our next guest okay I'll be really basic about it just because I I have answers myself for this uh what was the dream project like what project would you love to absolutely do like you would do it you would pay to do it what job would you pay to do well you'd actually pay to do the job like you'd be like like for me obviously you know brand in West Ham, I'm giving up cash.

18:51Do you know what you're saying? Like, I'll just give up, like to brand the hammers, like to just redo it all, right? Kit, logo, everything. Yeah. I'll give money, right? To just be able to do that. So what is that for someone?

19:07Katy Cowan:It's a great question. And we will put it to them next week. Kenny Gravelis, thank you so much for your time. This has been brilliant. Thank you so much, Katie. I'm glad we were able to finally get this going. Thank you for listening to The Spark and a huge thanks to this week's guest, Kenny Gravelis. It's been such a treat getting to know the person behind so many iconic designs and hearing how passion, perseverance and staying grounded can lead to such a brilliant career. I mean, he was really humble, wasn't he? It's probably a British thing. He's probably right. Thanks also to our sponsor, the School of Communication Arts for making this season of the Creative Boom podcast possible.

19:45Katy Cowan:Don't forget, if you want to subscribe, you can do so at creativeboom.com forward slash podcast or find us wherever you get your fix. Join us on Monday for our next guest. Until then, have a great weekend.