SEPTEMBER 2019
Also, you have to do everything.
I started my career working on
projects and I always resented
someone because I thought they had
fucked something up. But when all
those people are gone, it’s just you –
you can only blame yourself. And
you have to take out the garbage.
You have to do your taxes. Keep
yourself organised...You mentioned a project there
where you created a full-sized paper
monster truck hearse for the band
They Might Be Giants, when you’d
only been commissioned to create
an album cover (www.paulsahre.
com/when-will-you-die). How do
you feel about that project, looking
back on it now?
Thinking about that project always
makes me smile. Partly because it
was awesome, partly because it was
pointless and partly because it’s over.
It took over my life for six months.
That thing had to die.Some of your family is in the design
world too, is that right?squeaked by financially at times. It’s
always self-inflicted though, because
I also do a lot of self-initiated work,
where I don’t have a client. Or like
the monster truck project – there was
a client, but that protect didn’t bring
in any money for six months. Well,
all the expenses were paid for, but
I had to buckle down and make some
money after that just to keep things
going. But I really gravitate towards
those projects.COMPUTERARTS.CREATIVEBLOQ.COMPAUL SAHRE
“THE THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS PROJECT
TOOK OVER MY LIFE FOR SIX MONTHS.
THAT THING HAD TO DIE”
I’m married to a graphic designer
[Pentagram partner Emily
Oberman]! It enhances it. My father-
in-law was a graphic designer and my
dad was an aerospace engineer, and
I loved him dearly but we didn’t have
that connection that I had with my
father-in-law. When something’s that
intertwined in your life...
I’m still trying to get my mom
to understand what the hell I do. It
drives me crazy. I wrote this book,
I sent it to her, and she didn’t say
anything about it. Nothing. And it’s
not like she’s not a caring person and
she didn’t read it. She did. It’s weird.
A drawing appeared on my
mom’s wall that I did when I was
a teenager. It had been in the
possession of my younger brother
who died. This drawing became a
weird talisman of how little your
mom understands you. It was the
only reaction I got from the book
being published.
I sent a copy of the book to my
mom and didn’t hear anything. Then
maybe three or four months later
I went up to visit and she’s taken theOpposite: art for
the NYT Magazine
2013’s article on
Twitter’s difficult
beginnings.
Above: O.O.P.S.’s
work for They
Might Be Giants.
Below: Sahre’s
ethos for book
cover design is
“any visual means
necessary”.