Crossing the Tees: A Plastered T-Shirts Retrospective

It’s been seven years since Plastered T-shirts opened on Nanluogu Xiang. Rather than celebrating with ice cream and jelly, Plastered’s “creative dictator” Dominic Johnson-Hill walked us through some favorite designs from his back catalogue and gave us a glimpse into the iconic brand’s future.

I Climbed the Great Wall – 2005

In 2005, Nanluogu Xiang was totally residential and Beijing didn’t have a single T-shirt shop. This was my first design. I saw a tourist in the hutongs wearing an “I Climbed the Great Wall” T-shirt and I wanted to make it more about the Beijing I love – so I plastered a woman with a bikini on the top. (As Einstein once said: “If at first the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it.”) It’s my worst-selling T-shirt design to date, but it changed my life and the whole neighborhood of Nanluogu Xiang where I lived.

RMB 1.20 taxi – 2006

It seems like just the other day that you could hail a cab easily and smoke in the back. In 2006, the old xiali cabs (which charged RMB 1.20/km) were disappearing fast. We paid homage to them in our first T-shirt collection with this simple design.

Heroes – 2006

This was taken from a 1970s propaganda poster that I bought for my daughters. Literally, it translates as “women can also be heroes.” It’s the “also” that I liked. It’s become one of our most celebrated designs. Surprisingly popular with Chinese men.

Massage – 2006

This beautiful design idea came from my neighbors on Nanluogu Xiang, two ladies who stood by their spinning barber poles and tried to persuade passing men to enjoy
their services. One day, one of them asked me if I would make a T-shirt for her. I think she was joking but I wanted to celebrate these ladies, so I designed this for her and gave her one. I would see her wearing
it in the mornings on her way to
the toilet.

Washing Up – 2007

This simple design, a household icon, was never a big seller for Plastered, but I’ll always remember it because one day Jimmy Page came to the store, bought loads of stuff and I called him “Mr. Plant.” I still have a Tourette-style reaction everytime I think about it.

Stained Glass Windows – 2009

In 2009, Nanluogu Xiang started to develop really fast. Rent doubled in a year and copycat stores were popping up everywhere, so we needed to keep creating. My idea was to make stained glass windows of Chinese god-like icons, Lei Feng and Deng Xiaoping being two of them. I called up a Beijing designer to create them – that took
a week – and then I sent images to a stained glass maker in Jiangsu. The Lei Feng one is now in the Smith Museum of Stained Glass Windows in Chicago. Again, I didn’t make a profit but I got some lovely windows.

Tattoo – 2010

One day I literally stumbled across a husband and wife covered in stunning tattoos. We had lots of beer together and I asked them if they would design some Plastered tattoos for me. They agreed. I suddenly thought of revolutionary ballet, sent them a load of pics and they painted this for me in two days. It’s one
of our biggest sellers to date and Zippo used it for their limited-edition lighters. I can’t remember a single idea that came to me while I was in an office.

Gorilla – 2012

By 2012, Nanluogu Xiang had turned into a snack street with people queuing to buy fake lamb sticks and stinky tofu. Most of the creative brands on the street couldn’t keep up with the rent and moved on to places like Wudaoying Hutong, where the promise of the next Nanluogu Xiang didn’t really happen. This artwork was inspired by … those snack-eating crazy consumers.

Looking to the Future – 2013

We are passionate about producing awesome artwork at Plastered, not necessarily for T-shirts. Nick Bonner of Koryo Tours and I had an idea to produce artwork in collaboration with North Korean artists, based on the lofty idea of “The Beautiful Future,” such as modern Chinese iconic buildings captured in a beautiful socialist past. There seemed no better place to have these painted than in Pyongyang. This is one painting from a collection of ten. We intend to exhibit them later this year.

Click here to see the June issue of the Beijinger in full.