By day, Gavin Strange, aka Jam Factory, is a director and designer for Aardman Animations in Bristol, the people behind Wallace and Grommit, and Shaun the Sheep.
By night, he's a "passion project pursuer" where he indulges in hobbies and side ventures, including everything from filmmaking and toy design to illustration and photography. You could definitely say that this dedicated attitude to learning was the reason why Gavin ended up at Aardman. In fact, he's written a book called Do Fly, which covers this very theme.
Gavin's a keynote speaker, too, sharing what he's learnt so far with the creative community. And if you follow him on social media, you'll know he's hugely supportive of other artists and designers, giving back wherever he can.
Pre-Covid-19, we popped along to Aardman in Bristol to finally meet Gavin in person (as we've been friends on Twitter for probably a decade). We sat down in the studio's cinema room to talk about his creative life and work. We discuss his boundless energy, his love of giving back, why he avoids the "heavy stuff" and why you can only rely on yourself to improve your skills.
