The Steri team are in Joburg for the day. Ah Joburg… We were welcomed just outside the airport by three guys that looked like a cross between the Beastie Boys (in the Sabotage video) and some baddies from a 70s cop movie. They flashed a very plastic looking badge at our taxi driver and motioned to pull over. Luckily he sped off chuckling and muttering “those guys…”. Anyway lucky for the Ama Kip Kip dudes Clement (the taxi driver) was a nifty driver otherwise the Steri Stumpie would be in the hands of some serious bad dudes right now. These guys work in the Ama Kip Kip store and are possibly the raddest dudes ever born. Excuse the photo it was taken with my phone and to be entirely honest with you my hand was shaking somewhat. Now where is the airport…

Here are a few of the doodles that led to Ian’s finished  product. For those of you who are asking, we can’t tell you just yet what we’ll be doing with the T-shirts, but when we can you’ll find out about it here.

As he said, Ian’s design was inspired by retro movie posters a la these gems:

Limited Edition T-shirt: Ian Jepson for Steri Stumpie and Levi Strauss.

Q: Hey Ian. Thanks for agreeing to be a Steri Illustrator. How long have you been working as a creative?

A: I’ve only really been working for a year now… Still new to the whole 9-5 job thing!

Q: Sorry about that. The 9-5, that is. No doubt the Steris get you through though. How many Steri Stumpies would you say you drink per week?

A: On average I’d say 1 - 2 a week. Depends on when I find myself near a 7-11 with a bit of extra pocket change…

Q: Pocket change is the best. So when is your favourite time to drink a Steri Stumpie?

A: Late at night, after partying till 2am. It’s also good the morning after…

Q: When it comes to party damage, the Steri does heal all. What’s your favourite flavour Steri Stumpie?

A: Chocolate! It’s the classic. Got me through high school and college…

Q: We heard there’s a school in the Northern Cape that allows pupils to drink Steri Stumpies during class. Rad hey. Do you find Steri Stumpies help you with your ideas?

A: I do, especially for this illustration. I stared at a chocolate steri stumpie for hours asking it to reveal it’s secrets to me.

Q: And my what secrets it revealed! What do you use as inspiration for you work?

A: Movies are great, I love watching a good film… Also old movie posters, good music, other illustrators work on the internet. And random stuff that happens to me.

Q: We can see the movie influence in your t-shirt design, which we <3 very much. Please give us a link to any awesome projects you’re working on right now, so people can see more of your radness.

A: You can check out my website at www.ianjepson.co.za!

By popular demand the Steri hunt will be in Joburg this thursday lunchtime. We’ll announce the exact time and location tomorrow (Wednesday) but it will be somewhere in the Rosebank area. For the curious the Steri goodie bag contains the following:

• 6 Steri Stumpies (various flavours)
• A limited Steri Stumpie t-shirt (strawberry or chocolate)
• An iSter laptop sticker
• A official unofficial brand ambassador bumper sticker
• A Steri pride bumper sticker
• An iron on Steri badge (put it on your Speedos maybe?)
• Steri trading cards
• A whole bunch of love

Tomorrow Jen will be hitting Long Street dressed as a (frankly not entirely convincing) spy. We’ll give the location and time out tomorrow morning but the first person to tell her “the ducks are flying south” gets the goodie bag. We’ll also have some runners up goodies of some kind.