The Launch of Monster Ultra Gold from Monster Energy was capped off with fashion projects by creators like Kristopher Kites, who supplied some wearable art and jewelry. In an interview with High Snobiety, the designer talks about how his career started and his inspirations for each design.
Kites was asked about the start of his career in design, to which he said, "It started from the South Side of Chicago, sewing clothes and whatever I could find, with the goal of making something no one had ever seen. I had a lot of ups and downs and knew I had to come out with some hot shit to get me out of the hood — I graduated high school third from last in my graduating class. A whole lot of work and failed ideas, but along the way I came up with my favorite collection of plastic jewelry, Conversation Pieces. Once I saw how many conversations it started on the street, I dropped and it went up from there. I was 18."
When asked where he usually finds inspiration for his designs, Kites said, "Cartoons and my childhood! That was the best time of my life and just that pure joy and happiness and carelessness channels through all of my creations heavily."
"It’s kind of hard to pick because I love everyone who’s rocked my pieces," said Kites when asked to pick from his host of celebrity clients. "So, I’m gonna say two guys who I’ve had the honor of making pieces for. First, Don C — I made him two Astro Boy pendants at the beginning of me taking off and he loved it. And then also J Balvin! He probably has the biggest collection, but the Matte Rainbow Necklace we dropped for the Arcoiris Tour was definitely a piece I’m proud of from both of us."
When asked what inspired him as far as the design of the Monster Energy project, Kites said, "A whole lotta gold. It instantly synced with me that I needed to make some monster stuff, and Monster has a bad boy reputation in my mind, so I had this chain I was working on that I had on ice — the Big Boy Skull Chain. I knew it was the perfect time to bring it out. It was cool that I was asked to mess around with ‘gold’ even though I make a lot of plastic jewelry."
Information originally sourced from High Snobiety.