One of my favourite aspects of writing Hide Your Arms is that I get to interact with a creative community of young designers who are out there doing something different from the norm.

Un-earthing great clothes and showing them to readers is very rewarding (as are the freebies…), but sometimes I like to try something a bit different and get a greater understanding for what inspires the clothing that I promote here on Hide Your Arms.

With that in mind I asked Rafael Vera, from The Handsome Sausage, if he would like to do an interview. My charm and wit clearly won through, as he agreed to and promptly answered my (admittedly uninspiring) questions.

First four questions from the interview after the jump:

‘The Handsome Sausage’ certainly is an interesting name, why did you pick this, and how does it reflect the brand that you have created?

A. the name is a mix of Gold Star Sausage factory, which is just a few blocks from my house, and Handsome Dick Manitoba, who is the oh-so-charismatic lead singer of The Dictators. people have pointed out the obvious phallic reference, but it didn’t think of it till after i had things going. since no one so far has been offended, i think it’s actually pretty funny how that worked out. tee hee.

My favourite design is the saw boy, where do you find inspiration for your designs?

A. when i was in college, i had to write an artist’s statement, and it drove me crazy for days, because i really had no idea where i get my ideas. in the end, i wrote about a time when i went to get some ice out of the automatic dispenser on the refrigerator, and a whole stick of butter came out and plunked in my glass instead. my drawings are all kind of like that…weird. also, i always try to avoid jokes with my designs. i’ve never liked my clothes to have a punch line.

Your designs are all based upon hand-drawn sketches and doodles, was it a conscious decision to maintain the same design style throughout the clothing range?

A. it wasn’t so much of me deciding that was how my drawings were going to look, they just sort of come out that way. it seems that a very slick line (and a lot of adobe illustrator) is popular right now, but i have never thought that type of drawing felt right for my purposes. i use a computer a lot, but it is only to fine tune the sketches and move things around.

Will the hand-drawn style be maintained throughout the life of ‘the handsome sausage’, making it a key feature of the brand?

A. as far as i can foresee, even after more designers come on board, the designs will always be hand-drawn. doing things by hand was good enough for cavemen, the maori, and jesus, so it’s good enough for me.

You can catch the rest of the interview tomorrow, I know it’s hardly a Lost-esque cliff-hanger, but it is well worth the wait, I promise.

*UPDATE* Read the rest of the interview, here.