In Session: The Making of Surrealism

In this session, we have a retrospective conversation with our Creative Director, Roze Volca, and CCO, Sam Bertain, six months after the launch of Session Good’s 2022 Spring Season Surrealism Color Way, which inspired Dream Blue, Desire Green, & warm Memory Gray. Read more about the process from chaos to concept. Enjoy at your leisure.

photos by Sydney Brown video by Sam Rochelle
  

Sarah Marie: Thanks for taking the time to chat about the Surrealist Campaign! I've had tons of questions since the photos and videos dropped. To start, how did you develop the theme for this campaign?

Sam Bertain: We were searching for our next line of color-ways for our interchangeable Silicone Accessories for the Bong and Pipe. Themes always tend to work best when deciding on a range of colors - when you have a theme, you have a story, and when you have a story, you can build a vision around that. Esther and Roze presented the concept of Surrealism, and it was the perfect concept at the perfect time. We then did our research on the various artists, philosophies and works of art that surrounded the concept, drawing from the paintings of Magritte, Dali, and Frida Kahlo, and the writings of André Breton. We wove them with our own concepts of how Surrealism was a gateway into the infinite world of imagination, creativity, and the dream…All things that fit perfectly well with not only our brand and brains but with the idea of what cannabis can do for a person.

Roze Volca: There was silicone sample, once referred to as "Oat Milk" which is now "Memory”, that the entire team loved, but it didn't fit with the other jewel tones we initially thought about. The warm gray triggered a memory of Petecia Le Fawnhawk's work I had seen at a pre-covid art show at this rad gallery called Subliminal Projects, owned by artist Shepard Fairey in Silverlake, CA. I showed Esther, we brainstormed for a whopping 25 minutes? Then she made the first initial deck, solidifying our "Surrealist" theme. 

SM: I love that! What was the most challenging part about taking your ideas from point A (an idea on paper) to point B (IRL masterpiece)? 

SB: The hardest part is going from a bunch of amorphous fuzzy notes, pinned mood boards, and conversations to actually being in person and trying ideas out. A picture is worth a thousand words, but a physical model is worth 1000 pictures. When we finally got the chance to work in person and try some things out and physically tell the story, things clicked, and we had a vision we could hold in our hands. The process involved a lot of planning, but it wasn't until we started making the images that it really came to life in the beautiful way it did. 

RV: The separation of working remotely, for sure. I've been obsessively consuming anything written about "Hybrid Working" because I'm an introvert at heart, so I wanted to believe we could do this all from behind our computers - UNTIL we had a day of play in my mom's backyard in Arlington, Texas. I had already worked with the photographer for a week, but when Sam showed up, thats when everything came together. 

SM: I didn't even consider the post-pandemic challenges. As a creative, how has working remotely changed the way you collaborate with others? 

RV: ‘The Art of Gathering’ by Priya Parker has been my new bible. Im always making sure I'm a good "host". I am so grateful to have a young team. It’s easier when it comes to respect in knowing each other's experiences are truly equal. This leads to openly changing systems - and quickly - with no shame. 

The power of serendipitous kismet play.  

SM: Can you share a happy accident or moment of serendipity that happened to make the concept come to life or create a moment of magic?

RV: Our still-life photos helped shape our editorial. It helped us work out ideas and lock in the story based on the surrealist props sourced. 

SB: There were these little experiments we did in the dirt lot/backyard of our Airbnb where we had our model dancing in the background and still-life set up in the foreground. When we brought those two moments together in one of our video cuts, it was magic. It wasn't really planned or storyboarded out; but thats the power of serendipitous kismet play. 

RV: Holy Crap! How could I forget that shot!!! Wow, it's almost worrisome that I forgot that epic-ness. I might need a T-Break soon.

photos by Sydney Brown video by Sam Rochelle