Balls to death: Hayden Kays designs for Cubitts

And, in case you forget it, you can now buy a handy reminder in the form of Cubitts new glasses-cleaning cloths. Beautifully illustrated, complete with a meticulously detailed scrotum, the cloth is one of two designs created by Hayden Kays, the maverick artist and printmaker, and the first to be chosen for Cubbits' new artist-in-residence programme, which launches this month. 

The programme will see a succession of artists invited to design cloths for the spectacle and sunglasses brand, with all sales proceeds donated to charities of their choice.

Kays’ second design is Dead Colourful, a chirpy reminder of mortality in the form of a crowd of rainbow-toned skulls. Cubitts, you might have noticed, aren’t exactly playing it safe.

So how did one of the most provocative artists in the capital get involved with its most innovative new spectacles brand? We asked Hayden Kays and, well, didn’t quite find out…

I never come first, so it feels new.

Cubitts asked me to design a couple of cleaning cloths with the proceeds going to charities of my choice. I imagine I was asked because I'm a wearer of spectacles. I like to imagine I’m on some sort of list somewhere: ‘The Four Eyes Only Club’.

I’m really keen to see my work applied to wide-ranging materials and objects. We live in a world of things and stuff, I just want to make my things interesting and my stuff memorable.

That depends entirely on whom you’re collaborating with. Cubitts was a dream collaborator. I believe the best collaborations come when each party implicitly trusts the other to do its job. 

Clarity.

I’ve been working with the colourful skulls design for some time now. I’ve always been drawn to colour. Colour can attract you to subject matter that is inherently morbid. Death is something we avoid. Make death colourful and it becomes something we want in our pockets. The ’Spectacles, Testicles, Wallet and Watch’ design is a visual representation of a saying I remember hearing as a kid and thinking it was hilarious and so rude. I’ve always liked off-colour humour.

I tend not to think about where the work might end up. I’ve heard stories of my work living in some extraordinary places I could never have imagined. It’s best to avoid that avenue of thought altogether, otherwise you could end up making work loaded with hope about its potential destination.  

Just £20 can provide life-changing surgery. I’ve spent £20 on far more frivolous a thing than ‘life-changing surgery’.

I try not to talk about things I’m working on too much. I find the more you discuss them, the less they seem to happen.