“I just try to bring beauty to the world in my own way”. This is such a powerful statement, one which for me sums up the essence of human creation. We all have a purpose. You may be searching for yours and a lot of the time, your life’s purpose is actually the thing you loving doing the most. This week I caught up with a young man who definitely knows his purpose. 21-year-old fine artist, Design Butler, to delve into the mind of this young creative and get some insight into not only him as an artist but most importantly the man behind the pen.After spending a couple hours with Tej aka Design Butler, I truly felt that this is an individual who was destined to create and “not be tailored”. His fearlessness from a young age has led him to embark on multiple creative endeavours. The first of which came in the form of producing his own T-shirt with his £10 weekly school allowance. Speed up to the present and he is continuing his creative dominance with a cover on NME magazine, partnering up with Adidas Originals, not to forget his most noticeable Replica exhibition, which went viral on social media. However, amidst all the buzz he still manages to stay humble, saying “it doesn’t even matter, as long as I have a sketch book and a pen, I’m good. Because with Art, you can do whatever you want and whoever gravitates towards it does, and whoever doesn’t, then it doesn’t fucking matter, like do what you want.” Checkout our full discussion below:

So I’m interested to know how it all started for you, how did you get into art and design – have you always had an interest of has it developed over time?

You know when you were younger and everyone loved drawing, yeah I was that kid who never stopped. Like when everyone else got into other interests like sports, girls or academia, I just kept drawing – Like I would draw everywhere, you should see the back of my old textbooks! But, the way I was able to reinvent everything I’m doing now is through books. People underestimate the power of books so much. Like books allow a previous idea to pass through a new mind. So I’d always look at what these guys have done in the past and think about how can I bring it back and make it modern. I look at it this way, the more you educate yourself the more stuff you can bring out. Take an idea and make it your own!Mmm ok. You mention how you’ve been able to reinvent yourself and I read another interview where you talked about the need to continually reinvent yourself. Coming from Hypethrash Studios to Replica, who do you think the next level of creativity looks like?

Yeah, I think that’s fucking necessary. I want to create incredible art. Literally, one of my biggest dreams is to get a 60-foot glass box, fill it with balloons and LED lights at the bottom and just stick this bright box with balloons in the middle of Hyde park. I want to disrupt people’s way of thinking. I want to be the guy who does things that aren’t meant to be part of the environment. I just want to create like really stark stuff and have people question like “why is that there?”.

That sounds awesome! Although, in today’s culture, I feel as though people often brand themselves as an artist, creative, or stylist because it sounds cool. To me when I look at someone like you, I think, yes this guy is a creative as opposed to a straightforward artist because you’ve been able to translate art into many different creative forms. Would you consider yourself to be more of an artist or a creative?

I think I’ve been able to find a way of making things work with each other. Like for example, when I had balloons at my first exhibition people didn’t really get it – like people would ask me “why do you have balloons?” then be like “oh it’s kind of cool”. Think about it, when you go to a normal exhibition you look at the art on display then you bounce, for me I want people to come in and chill. Like for me, I want to create an environment where people can relax and for that brief second forget about everything going on in the world and feel at peace.I love that because now it becomes not only about the art but the impact on people. Stemming on from that, who are some of your creative inspiration?

Well firstly, I have the most incredible group of friends. But on a more inspirational level, I fucking love Elon Musk, he’s like my idol! Like the way, he’s thinking and the way he wants to do better for humanity, there isn’t really anyone who’s literally willing to do what he has done and put all their cash on the line to do what they love. Which is similar to me, all my shows have been self-funded, like nobody pays for my shit, because I want things to be done in a particular way and not be restricted by brands.

I completely get you bro, as a creative or entrepreneur you want that freedom to be able to do what you want, how you want. With that being said, what’s next for Mr. Butler, can we expect another exhibition soon or a new creative project with a major lifestyle brand – what’s in the pipeline?

Well, there’s Replica 3 which is going to open the second week of August. Apart from that, I’d rather show you than tell you. Like people love to say coming soon, I’d rather spend that time making those ideas happen.

Keep up with Design Butlers journey here