JASON WILBUR is on a mission; inventing alternate futures while waging war against the boring. Burning the Rule Book is just a start, JASON WILBUR is taking us on a journey of discovery where risk is the fuel and challenging the impossible is the reward.
JASON WILBUR’s breakout from the secure walls of convention make him the public enemy of conformity. Never surrendering and never outgunned, he drops design grenades to break new ground.
JASON WILBUR’s creations are not for the ones resolute to play it safe. They are only for the fighters, the ones who never surrender and the ones who accept nothing but to win in the end.
Read our full interview with JASON below.
For those who don’t know, how long have you been a designer and how would you describe your style?
I would call my style “mechanical art”. I don’t hold back. My design is meant to make a statement and every piece tells a different story. Sometimes I will tend to create more machine-like, mechanical themed pieces and other times it may be a more futuristic and refined theme. I always like to “expose function” in my work. Meaning, I like expose the architecture of a piece, the nuts and bolts; I love for the engineering to visually come to the surface.
I always like to say that “function is an illusion”. My watches allow for that spirit to shine through and become more like living things with character – rather than simply being watches.
Could you briefly describe your process?
Once I get an idea I have to create it or it will haunt me. I think a lot before I start to build anything. I spend a lot of time sketching the big concepts first and then I spend a lot of time working out the functions and architecture of each detail in my head. Once I am settled on a big concept and I have worked out some of the details on paper, I start building. I build everything in 3D CAD software on the computer. It allows me to sketch in 3D as well as engineer my ideas at the same time. Bouncing back and forth between the 3D CAD and sketching allows me to refine my ideas down to the .0001 millimeter. I build my concepts myself because there is no room for misinterpretation. This keeps my concepts powerful and the execution just as I imagine it.
In the end, I only like to produce pieces that scare me a bit. I want them to be difficult to produce and break a lot of rules. I go through hundreds of ideas and failures before I finally commit to releasing an idea into production and if it doesn’t pass the Wilbur test, I start over.
What can you tell us about your latest release?
The WILBUR JWA Launch Edition watch is a powerful statement. It is one of my more “simple” pieces intended to be the foundation of my future line-up. It makes a lot of noise in the form of character. It is inspired by my automotive design background and it is a modular construction that allows me to make ultra-limited pieces and 1-off unique pieces that are truly different from each other. It is a piece of mechanical art that is very architectural in form with suspended components and details in a case that resembles an automotive chassis structure. The JWA Launch Edition is the beginning of a new era for me. I’m focused on mechanical art and creating poetry through engineering. There are many watch industry rules being broken with this one, and that’s part of the goal. It’s a watch for those who refuse to conform; for those who reject the cult of de ja vu.
If you could collaborate with any artist, past or present, who would you choose?
Tool, or Beastie Boys or Lightning Hopkins.
What do you have planned creatively for the upcoming year?
Expect more noise and design mayhem from me. I’m waging war against boring and I’m on a mission to create watches and mechanical art with potent character and breaks as many molds as possible.
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