Luke Player
Birds is a lifestyle, with hot links to the surf, golf, art and music scenes. We are Byron born and raised, and our entire team live and breathe our brand. Since he was in a grom, Birds Co-Founder & Creative Director, Frankie, has always had his eye on the Bayleaf Cafe wall.
When the opportunity to take over this wall and bring to life some upcoming Birds creative came about, we obviously jumped.
Bayleaf Cafe is famed for incredible coffee and to-die-for food. It’s a bit of a Byron institution…so it should be no surprise that this is a special place for us.
“Ever since we started Birds, I've wanted to do something cool on one of the most infamous walls in Byron Bay. This wall has featured incredible artists and brands, showcasing their art, celebrating their music & upcoming events.
Having the opportunity to feature our brand and a future collection, whilst also supporting the Music Industry Masters (MIM Cup), a charity golf tournament that is doing some incredible things locally, hit just right.”
Frankie Kimpton | Birds Co-Founder & Creative Director
Teeing it up at the Byron Bay Golf Club, our home turf, on July 19th, 2024 and raising valuable funds for Green Music Australia despite Splendour in the Grass not going ahead this year is an awesome feat. A perfect sunny day out, MIM Cup bring together our worlds - golf, music and good times. This is the third year in a row that we have supported & dressed the MIM Cup teams in Birds threads.
The Golf Geek art (which will feature in an exciting October drop), was brought to life by our mate, and previous collaborator, Luke Player. After painting, what we think is the raddest mural our hometown has seen (Bias? Maybe!), we caught up with him to dive deeper into his world of artistic wizardry.
After painting the raddest Golf Geek mural on the Bayleaf Cafe wall in our hometown of Byron Bay, we caught up with our mate Luke Player to dive deeper into his world.
Birds: Hey Luke, let’s kick things off with a bang! Tell us about the flow of the inspiration behind your artwork?
Luke: Howdy! I think the wildest thing is once you’ve got your antenna opened you can’t stop seeing inspo. I’ll walk into the local bakery and see a funny illustration on a bread bag and think ‘God damn!’- so I’ve taken queues from some pretty random things, hah!"
B: Your collaboration with Birds of Condor on the LIV Golf 'LIVIN THE DREAM' 2023 & '24 collections have been legendary. What was the most exciting part of this project for you?
L: "I think I’m lucky with Birds because they already like what I do, so when we work together we just let it rip and are never too strict or confined, for me that’s exciting!
Also the reach for this project was super cool, nice to think of so many people appreciating the art and wearing the merch."
Also the reach for this project was super cool, nice to think of so many people appreciating the art and wearing the merch."
B: The Golf Geek Mural at Bayleaf Cafe in Byron Bay has been turning heads & hyping the Music Industry Masters July event at the Byron Bay Golf Club. What was the story behind creating this masterpiece?
L: "Frankie from Birds hit me up about doing a classic tourist/souvenir golfing tee a little while ago and we worked through the design together, lots of little fun elements that brought together the ethos and fun of Birds. I think we both really dug where it ended up so when the chance came up to do the Bayleaf mural it was the obvious choice!"
B: Describe your creative process in three words.
L: "Hand-drawn, Colourful and Fun"
B: If you could paint a mural anywhere in the world, where would it be and why?
L: "I think my work mainly makes sense in Australia, let’s say somewhere in the Royal National Park near my house in NSW - I’m there a lot anyway and would love to collab with National Parks in Aus (hit me up!)"
B: How would you describe your style of art and the inspiration behind it?
L: I guess it’s all pretty Aussie, not super intentionally but that’s what comes through, it's fun and playful.
Like most, everyone I grew up on Mambo, progressed into Skateboarding which was another world of design and then got into playing in bands which opened up a door for album covers, gig posters and all that stuff.
I collect a lot of old Aussie souvenirs so i’m always trying to recreate the vibes I get from those kind of things. I get most of my inspo from ephemeral stuff like fruitboxes, tea towels, postcards, tourist t-shirts. It’s crazy that none of these things are made to last and aren’t particularly valued, but for me they’re like the epitome of cool design.
L: I guess it’s all pretty Aussie, not super intentionally but that’s what comes through, it's fun and playful.
Like most, everyone I grew up on Mambo, progressed into Skateboarding which was another world of design and then got into playing in bands which opened up a door for album covers, gig posters and all that stuff.
I collect a lot of old Aussie souvenirs so i’m always trying to recreate the vibes I get from those kind of things. I get most of my inspo from ephemeral stuff like fruitboxes, tea towels, postcards, tourist t-shirts. It’s crazy that none of these things are made to last and aren’t particularly valued, but for me they’re like the epitome of cool design.
B: Besides the 'LIVIN THE DREAM' (LIV Golf x Birds) collections, what other Birds threads are you frothing on?
L: The Swing Easy polos are rad as! I love those colourways and patterns.
L: The Swing Easy polos are rad as! I love those colourways and patterns.
B: Let’s get a bit personal. What’s one quirky habit you have when you’re deep in your creative zone?
L: I have the habit of getting so deep and losing time, when I snap out of it I realise hours have flown by- kind of freaky.
That and when I need a mental refresh or get a frustrating email i’ll hop on the drumkit and bash away for 10 minutes before getting back to it, haha!
B: We know you are a busy man, but when the pens are down, what are you getting up to these days?
L: Well i’m pretty lucky to be busy doing what I love, so even outside of working i’ll often be drawing or something, working on personal designs for posters, tea towels or what have you.
Other than that i’ve been playing in who knows how many bands on all sorts of instruments, meaning i’m usually recording or playing 2-3 gigs a weekend, but if i’ve got time outside of that i’ll either be skating, swimming or bushwalking.
B: Lastly, what’s next on the horizon for Luke Player? Any exciting projects or collaborations we should keep an eye out for?
L: I’ve been chipping away at getting my own tees made which i’m super excited about, I screen-print at home so I thought why not put my personal designs out there and see how it goes.
Other than that i’ve been working on some very exciting collaborations, some that I can’t wait to be out in the world, but I don’t think I can talk about them yet!
One I can mention is a Northern Rivers tourist souvenir map I worked on with Lismore City Council.
I'm so stoked with how it turned out and glad to help promote an area which has had a tough run the past few years.
Keep up with Luke Player on Instagram
