Meet Steve House

It’s not often you hear about a chef making a career change to graphic design, but that’s exactly what Steve House did. He now runs his own Sydney-based design studio, Ten Thousand, and teaches part-time at Shillington. He’s got a crazy amount of talent and is one of the most patient, friendly guys you’ll ever meet.

How did you get into design?

When I left school at 16, I trained as a chef and worked in a bunch of different restaurants in the UK for a few years. After giving my all to to the world of fine-dining, I left the UK to travel around the Middle East, Asia and Australia. On my trip I decided that when I got back home I would pursue my interest in design and apply to some universities. Plenty of places turned me down as I didn’t have any qualifications, and to be honest I didn’t even have any good work in my portfolio—just a bunch of crappy designs that I had quickly cobbled together in Quark. Somehow I managed to convince my future lecturers at the London College of Communication that I had some potential, and they encouraged me to enrol on their course.

I studied at the LCC for four years, where we were lucky to be mentored by designers like Gilmar Wendt, Neville Brody, and Erik Spiekermann, and we were given access to incredible letterpress and screenprinting facilities. I graduated from there with an HND in Typography and BA(Hons) in Graphic Design. At my degree show I was offered my first job by TBWA/London.

I learnt a great deal from working in the world of advertising—not least the power of a simple idea which underpins all great creative work.

I worked for a variety of studios in London over the following years—some small boutique design studios and large branding agencies. Although the working environment and atmosphere was radically different in each workplace, the common denominator was a commitment to producing creative work that was both effective and compelling.

I moved to Sydney in 2010, and worked for some branding agencies before starting my own studio, Ten Thousand, which has been running successfully for a couple of years now.

Why do you love design?

I love beginning a new project with a tricky brief from a client, challenging their expectations, exploring solutions and coming up with new ideas to communicate their offer to the world. I love learning about different businesses and organisations, to understand their values and aspirations.

Design seems to me to be the perfect balance of creative thinking and crafting visual languages.

Why do you teach?

I have been teaching at Shillington since the beginning of 2012. I’ve taught four Masterclass courses, and have recently started working on the part-time course in Sydney. Teaching complements my design practice—it allows me to share my enthusiasm with students, and to encourage them towards fulfilling careers in the creative industry. As teachers we get to mentor the students in developing their ability to think creatively, and to watch them become confident in presenting their ideas and finally executing their projects to a high standard is very rewarding. I’ve been pleased to see many students go on to gain fulfilling roles in the industry, and have kept in touch with many of them.

Have you had a favourite project to work on?

My favourite project to work on has been the creation of the identity and campaign for the launch of Earth Hour in the UK. I worked alongside an amazing team at Luminous and photographer Michael Bosanko. It stands out to me as being a supremely simple resolution to a complex brief, and one which was extremely well received by both the client (WWF) and their intended audience.

Why did you get into illustration?

My illustration practice is something that I started developing as a way to create self-initiated work alongside the commercial design work that dominates most days in the studio. I began posting some of my illustrations on Instagram, and it seems to have taken on its own life from there. I now find myself juggling commissions for illustrative work alongside my design practice, which is very flattering but also a little surreal as that was never my original intention.

Do you have any advice for young designers just starting out?

My advice would be to just do as much work as possible.

Do work that pays the bills but also do self-initiated projects and try to create work that you love.

Believe in yourself and your own talent, understand it will take time to find your own voice but you’ll get there eventually—and remember to have some fun along the way.

If you’d like to contact Steve you can reach him at steve@tenthousand.co.

Check out www.tenthousand.co or visit Steve’s Instagram.