Course: BA (Hons) Illustration
LIV: Liv & Dom didn’t really happen until the last couple of months of university. After finding the second year [of our course] really challenging, we were trying to build a brand, think of a brand name and decide what direction to go in. We decided to go with our own names as they’re short and rhyme with ‘dot com’.
DOM: At first our lecturers suggested that we work separately, but when they saw that it was working really well they were happy to let us continue.
LIV: There’s a lot of cross-course collaboration at AUB, so it made sense for us to join forces when it came to starting a business together.
DOM: The best thing about working together is being able to motivate each other. It’s great to have someone there to push you.
LIV: Instagram has been really important for us. We have a website, but most people find us through Instagram. We’ve started working with some names that are well-known in the craft and illustration community. We’re currently working with [the illustrator] Tuesday Bassen. She’s just opened a new shop, Friend Mart, so our pieces will be stocked there.
DOM: Tuesday’s boyfriend found us on Instagram and bought her an incense holder for Christmas. She posted a photo of it on Instagram and over Christmas Day we gained a couple of thousand followers from it! It was a really cool moment for us.
The idea for the naked incense holder just happened; I woke up one morning with the idea in my head and just had to make it that day.
LIV: At first it was just supposed to be male and phallic, but then people saw it as something else and thought that it should be a woman. It works quite well both ways. People just want naked people.
DOM: I’ve never been good at drawing people and getting the proportions right. I prefer working in 3D, so I just translated that into my work. Our influences are probably quite modern. I always used to look at people like Rami Kim.
LIV: We observe trends and learn what people like. At the moment, people are really liking naked things.
DOM: We currently use polymer clay and our mum’s oven. We don’t actually make ceramics—we’re posers!
You can find out more about Liv & Dom at livanddom.com. You can also follow them on Instagram.
