ADVNT ART/CHITECT: Earry Hall. Designer of products, branding, moments—most of all, a creative life rich with color, personality, and connection. A Chicago native and NY transplant turned DTLA fixture, Earry touches on living, building and creating in LA.
Filmed/Edited by Charles Renfrow.
MORE FROM THE CONVERSATION
on style |
It's about being able to tell your story by what you choose to wear—as armor to weather the world's perspective of you.
on friendship |
Someone told me that LA is 85/15: 85% is bullshit; 15% is the greatest people you'll ever meet. When I realized that, it allowed me to magnify the value of friendship, one of the most important things in my life right now. My goal for my friends is that I have changed their lives in some way, as they've changed mine in beautiful ways. I want to show my love and appreciation in both what I say and what I do. I built my circle, a timeless shape. And hopefully those relationships will stand the test of time.
on a turning point |
When I turned 21 in college, my mom called me on my birthday. She asked: "How do you feel?" I told her: "I feel like a failure. I don't know what I'm designed to do. I feel like I've failed myself and my opportunity to do something worth doing." My mom said: "I know that you're built to work not for people, but with people. What you're designed to do—the answer to that question is going to change, over and over again. It's not about the destination, it's about the journey, about being present in that journey, and not being depressed about the question."
on the creative process |
It's about noticing a void and filling it with something that belongs there. And doing it in an organic way, in a language that speaks to those I'm designing for.
I'm inspired by children and their boundless imagination, by adults and their imagination in designing worlds for children, by my friends, and by nature.
FOR THE NOIR ISSUE
on the dark, the light, and antiheroes |
I think the dark and the light need each other, as a creative person and a student of life. The dark illuminates the beautiful moments I couldn't have arrived at without the dim. All the great people that I follow, their stories have a lot of darkness in them.
A dark moment creatively... is when I first moved to LA to design sportswear for a major brand. I was coming from NY, one of the most trend-conscious cities in the world, where my perspective was well-respected. A lot of my friends were tastemakers, the people that kind of drove culture—and I was designing for them. But suddenly I was being managed by people who weren't really a part of that world. They weren't in the business of filling voids; they were about creating more of what already existed. And that was a dark moment for me, because it made me feel like my perspective was insignificant—which is tough for someone who feels like they are doing something that needs to happen.
To me, there's a way larger amount of normal than there is weird. Take the term 'weird.' The definition suggests that something is uncanny or supernatural. And I think that's dope, even the story of that! It's such a beautiful, endearing term, especially for a creative. And I think it's others' insecurities that give it a negative connotation. So, for a moment, I was made to feel that weird wasn't as beautiful as it truly was. And that was dark for me. But dark moments push the light forward.
We need the Antihero. We need that figure. It's not about doing what's heroic. It's about doing what's important to you, metaphorically, regardless of how it might seem to other people—and consequently saving lives in the process.
on happiness |
I don't believe in coincidences, so I don't really believe in missed opportunities. I think everything happens and doesn't happen for a reason—and it not happening is en route to something greater than what my imagination could manifest. And maybe that's just me convincing myself, what I need to believe in order to continue to be a productive human being. But, I think in making that choice, you make your story a happier, more fulfilled one. For me, the most important thing is happiness.