gOoZ, is an artist, illustrator, and designer from Oxford. Jack Goozee, the face behind the brand, didn’t take the usual artistic route, abandoning the study of art after sixteen, he instead studied history at university. “The reasons I was drawn to study history, are the reasons I have always loved art: for the stories it tells. History is just the long, winding, intriguing, and messy story of how we got to where we are. In the same way, art allows stories to be told, but with emotions expressed en route,” says the artist.
Looking back on the start of the development of his passion for art, Jack reminisces of winning a competition to design his school’s logo when he was eight. After a 13-year hiatus, and whilst studying at Sheffield, he began to upload designs and doodles to Instagram. He comments; “I found a lot of relief expressing some of the anxiety of that time in a way I could control, and in a way that calmed me”. Quickly, people began to ask for the designs on T-shirts. Thus, collaborating with a pal, Jack set up a company selling his designs; Gooztees. It became a platform for him to develop and work in new ways. Since then, he has explored different styles on numerous projects for companies, ranging from packaging designs for Brick Brewery in Peckham, to a podcast cover for the BBC. Alongside this, Jack also works on his own prints and ideas for art books.
Nearly everything he does tends to start with pen and paper. With three sketchbooks on the go at any one time, Jack keeps one at home, one to take outside, and one for when he can’t find the other two. If he’s not working on a specific project, he has a huge stack of photos and bits of interesting scraps that he looks to for inspiration.
During lockdown, Jack began working on a book of stamp designs that explored the ups and downs of the period. Since creating Stamps from a Lockdown Jack has found joy in creating colourful and bold pieces that he can then edit digitally. “I have often found myself to be too impatient, and being able to edit a piece digitally has always given me a hit of instant satisfaction,” states the printmaker.
Recently, however, Jack has begun to create designs using lino; “I’ve found returning to a physical process incredibly therapeutic, and rewarding when it occasionally goes well! More than that, forcing myself to take a breath and consider the next cut, the next incision into the lino, is a worthwhile exercise in self-control.” With this in mind, he is now taking time to work on a small book that pairs some of his art with some of his words; an exciting departure from his usual practice.
“I have always considered the pieces I create to be deeply personal… I find it hard to untangle myself from what I do, even in the simplest of logos. I’d like to think that was evident to anyone who looks at my work. So if you take a minute to browse some of what I’ve produced, I hope you will see a little bit of me in there, whether you like it or not.”
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