WestKill - Joe and Justin

We first met Joe and Justin in Brooklyn, at the Design Fair. I was heading for the seating area off to the side since my feet, which I'm pretty sure looked hot in my patent peep-toe blue shoes, were killing me. Intending to bypass everything, I stopped in my tracks when I saw Westkill's booth. Modern and fun, their eye-catching wall and desk clocks are designed and hand screened by Joe and Justin - artists and first cousins.

As can sometimes happen when you meet someone whose work you really connect with, we hit it off, and we're thrilled to be able to showcase a selection of their screened clocks and original one-of-a-kind pieces. They're great guys and we love their work almost as much as we like them.

Joe and Justin's story begins with their father and uncle, in the town of West Kill, New York. Here it is in Joe's own words. 

A lot of what you do now was influenced by your dad. And I know you your company name honors that in a fashion. Can you share that story with us?

7 years back my Dad, Justin's Uncle, chose a plot of land on a Catskills mountainside in West Kill, New York and built a home. For years now we have frequented it for relaxing vacations, maple syrup production, skiing and family time. My dad had been taking down some trees on the property and cut a disc out of one of them. I guess Justin caught a glimpse of this and took a couple home to paint on. The first pieces served as center pieces and wall hangings. The project slowly grew into a series sold in a handful of boutiques. After a considerable amount of time experimenting with them simply as wall art, I suggested we add function to them and make clocks. And thus, combining form and functionality, the paintings on wood morphed into clocks and Westkill was born.

How has your dad influenced you? 

My Dad is an architect so my youth was spent frequenting buildings and interiors and learning about them. I think it produced an awareness in me of spaces and surroundings and how, when carefully created, they can impart a wide array of feelings and emotions in us.

I also think going to the Catskills as a child gave me a strong respect and admiration for the natural world-mother nature in her innate shapes and forms: smooth, free-flowing and everlasting, and these have impacted me. At the same time, my exposure to architecture through my dad, gave me a similar respect and admiration for the creations of man. Together the two generated an appreciation for and understanding of the artist and his use of shapes and forms. I think the angular/geometric/mathematical and sharp qualities of some of my work comes from that place.