Graffiti artist and graphic designer Dep grew up in what he feels was hip-hop’s heyday, listening to Big Daddy Kane, Biz Markie, Master Ace and putting ‘knees’ in his trackie bottoms trying to breakdance. He says, “Everyone in those days was either into heavy metal or hip-hop, so half the school was either DJing, breaking, rapping or painting graf, I tried them all, but something about graf has stuck with me my whole life…maybe it’s just because I wasn’t really bad at it!” His dad told him he’d never get a job painting graffiti – which he concedes might have been a sensible thing for a Dad to say to his wayward son, but he’s spent the last 15 or so years trying to prove him wrong. Dep’s first clue that he could make a living from his drawing came when British hardcore rap group Son Of Noise asked him to design a logo for their new record label Little Rascal. He then made what seemed like a very obvious connection between graphic design, graffiti and their mutual love of letter forms and illustration. In 2007 he set up Paintshop Studio, a creative agency based in London which continues to mix the two to create a huge variety of work for its clients and with plenty of interesting projects in the pipeline. Watch this space.