Geo Owen on building assets that AI can’t replicate with GFX DATABASE

The Brand Identity: Geo Owen has spent more than 15 years moving between worlds that rarely overlap. The London-based designer cut his teeth at Ye’s DONDA studio alongside Virgil Abloh and Joe Perez, worked on the Yeezus tour visuals, retouched imagery for Fear of God, and built his own fashion label with stockists across Japan and China. When lockdown arrived in 2020, Owen channelled that breadth of experience into GFX DATABASE, a platform supplying handcrafted textures, graphics and digital assets to over 10,000 creatives worldwide.

In this conversation, he discusses what working with some of the most demanding creatives taught him about standards, why he tests products with focus groups before launch, and what the rise of AI means for designers who want to stay authentic. TBI Hi Geo, we’re long-time fans, so it’s great to be doing this with you. How are you? GO Ahh Thank you so much, appreciate you. I’m well thanks, hope you’re good too.

Thanks for having me. TBI Going back, you created your first t-shirt at age six and got into graffiti as a teenager – do you trace your career now back to those days? GO I’ve been a creative director and designer for the last 15+ years now, yes, 100% the very reason why I’m still walking the path right now.

Those small introductions into creativity with different mediums allowed me to expand and explore with a wide variety of projects, testing my skillset each time. No one actually knows what they’re doing. No one actually knows what they’re doing. TBI Working at Ye’s design studio alongside Virgil Abloh, Joe Perez and Matthew Williams must have been formative. What did that environment teach you about creative standards? GO Man, I learnt so much from my creative peers, especially at that particular time.

The biggest takeaway is that no one actually knows what they’re doing, we’re all winging it, chasing our dreams of better-designed products and experiences, to fulfil a heavy creative agenda every day. Stay busy every day! TBI You founded GFX DATABASE in 2020 during lockdown.

What gap in the market were you trying to fill? GO During lockdown, coming straight from selling my MENS RTW brand globally, I wanted to shift back into digital products and give back to the very community that's been supporting me, with an emphasis on our creative team delivering solid, high-quality digital goods no other platform could offer. TBI How do you decide what makes it into the GFX DATABASE catalogue and what doesn’t? GO Definitely a mixture of personal taste, feedback from the team, friends and family.

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The article discusses a significant trend in the design industry regarding the impact of AI on creativity, making it highly relevant and impactful for brand strategy professionals while also presenting a novel approach to asset creation.