A mathematician and a skateboarder walk into a bar… It may not sound like the most traditional creative pairing - and hardly like the recipe for a forward- thinking design team with a penchant for interactive installations and clients stretching from Nokia and Diesel to the V&A. But then there isn’t much about Hellicar & Lewis that could be described as traditional. Within their London studio, the duo’s polymathic interests surround them on all sides. Bookshelves overflow with tomes on semiotics, Anglo-Saxon magic, design history and visual conundrums. A copy of Mind Flex, Mattel’s telekinetic board game, stands opposite a stash of well-worn skateboards… Pete Hellicar, the first of the eponymous pair, is a 40 year old ex-pro skateboarder, co-founder of the Unabomber skate brand and former art director at Etnies. His partner, Joel Gethin Lewis, is ten year’s his junior. His background, by contrast, takes him from a mathematics and computer science background and a degree from London’s Royal College of Art, through a stint at Dazed & Confused to his role as interaction designer at United Visual Artists. There's this myth that some people are creative and some people aren't. But we see with the documentation of our work that everyone's

“We first met through Suzy Wood, who is now Pete’s wife, back when she was the Art Director at Dazed & Confused,” Lewis explains. “But Hellicar and Lewis essentially came from us just hanging out, watching a lot of TED talks together and making each other laugh.” And then, several years after first meeting, an opportunity to work together arrived in the form of an event at Savile Row’s B-Store. “We realised that it was a project that could use both of our skills. It was about interaction - interaction and creating environments,” Hellicar explains, citing the two elements which perhaps continue to define their work to this day. The duo may be best known for their digitally-rich interactive installations, but behind the scenes they also share an impressively determined dedication to open-sourcing all their work at the end of a project - research, technology, technique, theory, all of it. And while such liberal (if laudable) creative ethics might appear to threaten some of the brand-related work that could come their way, the pair’s client list would suggest they’re in fact doing rather well. With their installations, this emphasis on creativity and egalitarianism also filters down to the audience level. “There’s this myth that some people are creative and some people aren’t,” Lewis says. “But we see with the documentation of our work that everyone’s got that inside them. Absolutely everyone.” “We make systems - we don’t make narratives,” Hellicar continues with that same ear for a quotable one-liner. “We make systems that, with the public, stories are then made out of.” As though they were short of feathers for their cap, they also regularly take on projects that challenge them, forcing them to adapt.

The latest is the fortnightly radio show they host live from a coffee shop in East London for London Fields Radio. Their on-air antics in fact reflect the endearing way the pair work together, playing a musical medley from grime to disco, Jamie XX to Bach, and generally making each other laugh at every opportunity. “Those first projects were just a lot of fun,” Hellicar reminisces, remembering their B-Store days. “Joel’s a grafter, I’m a grafter, and we just get on really well…” “We also always back each other up. This is like a marriage, so we’ve made the decision to establish some ground rules,” his partner adds, reflecting on their professional relationship. “Like never to interrupt each other in public-” “-Unless you’re completely taking the piss.” The timing of the interruption is effortless. The kind of classic comedy teamwork that only comes with practice and a healthy dose of spontaneity. Which in fact seems to sum the pair up rather neatly: well-practiced - yet ready to break even their own rules when the time is right.
http://www.hellicarandlewis.com/