Lunartik at Forbidden Planet

Matt 'Lunartik' Jones is a vinyl art toy designer who's worked on everything from his well-known 'Lunartik in a Cup of Tea' to our own ranges of TITANS. And he's stopped by to have a chat with Forbidden Planet!

Why ‘Lunartik’?

Hi there! Well, I thought it rather suited me. When I was younger, I enjoyed working during the nights as I got fewer distractions - so that’s where the 'Lunar' part came from. And 'Tik', well my name is Matthew Ian Jones (MIJ) and a Mij is a Tik, so if you put them together you get Lunartik. It was quite by chance that there’s Art at the heart of my name… LunARTik. 

You’re famous for your ‘Lunartik in a Cup of Tea’ – did that come from a real cup of tea, or was it just a concept?

Well, it was my first move into creating design figures, and I had been drawing a a small wide-eyed character called 'Lunartik' since 2001.

I put my love for him and tea together to form 'Lunartik in a Cup of Tea'. He's a rather unique combination!

There’s a very strong comic-book motif to a lot of your art. Are you a comics reader?

Not really, I'd rather do sketching as it’s a form of meditation for me. I do love story boarding, but I’m just starting this, as I’m looking to make a movie.

We notice that you do a lot of shows and workshops – are these difficult to manage?

Managing my time is very important to me, I find myself organising and planning everything very carefully. It's another sort of a meditation, and, together with a clear state of mind, it allows me to get creative.

Do you ever work in 2D – say in character art?

I do my fair share of 2D and 3D art, both on- and off-screen.

How did you begin your career?

I started life as a product designer, and I find this very useful when it comes to creating things, be it a new vacuum cleaner, an art toy, or a concrete sculpture.

I currently live in Berlin and have a studio called 'FREEDOM'.

And where do you see it going?

The future is yet to be written. I hope for peace on Earth and for people to start communicating with each other rather than being prisoners of their own devices. If we're talking art, I am working on a 'less is more basis', and I'm currently putting together an experimental installation for later this year.

Join Matt Jones for his Forbidden Planet signing and for a place on his sought-after Plastik Surgery Workshop! Find out more - here!