From A$AP Rocky to K-pop, How Gerrit Jacob Became Music’s Favorite New Designer

The Berlin-based artist shares his childhood talismans, the intricacies of airbrush art, and how he’s building the foundation of his brand.

Light green painter’s tape on the buzzer of a DDR-era residential building in Wedding, Berlin, reads “Gerrit Jacob GmbH.”

Jacob’s studio is a ground-floor apartment in the north of the city. A desk cluttered with paint bottles is obviously a workstation for the carnival-inspired airbrushing he’s become known for. Fabric rolls clutter the shelves of his studio’s kitchen; racks of clothing are standing here and there. Jacob offers me a seat, and I respond jokingly that I’m happy sitting anywhere, even on the floor. “I do a lot of my airbrushing when I’m sitting on the floor,” he says.

At first glance, Jacob’s childhood in Hamburg was far removed from the capital-F fashion industry. His father was a trucker, and would often start work before sunrise, taking his young son with him. Jacob’s memories of attending Hamburg’s DOM fun fair (a well-known festival with amusement rides and carnival snacks) engendered an affinity for airbrushing, which is now the bread and butter of his brand. “I’m the first in our family to go to university, the first person to go to secondary school, and also the first person to move outside the country,” Jacob says. “That is not something that anyone around us did or does.”Jacob is still developing and shaping his eponymous label, founded in 2022, although he’s already gained a lot of recognition for his aesthetic, counting the likes of A$AP Rocky and Rosalía as fans. “It’s always amazing to see people wear and appreciate your stuff,” said Jacob. “Especially with celebrities, you never really know whether it’s happening or not.” Jacob’s statement designs are his oversized leather sets, covered with trompe l’œil-esque airbrushed artworks of snarling tigers and poised swans. It’s no surprise that celebrities are turning to Jacob to create outfits for performances and music videos. The 30-year-old previously worked at Gucci, where he was hands-on with custom pieces made for the house’s celebrity clients like Harry Styles. Now, he’s focused on establishing the foundation of his brand. Ensuring the viability of his label as a business, he explains, is an even greater challenge than staying creative.

Would you say you come from a creative family?

My mom is very creative. She became a florist and she always used to decorate the house. On my dad’s side, his grandfather used to draw and paint. My older brother also drew and painted a lot growing up. They’re so supportive.I think I started drawing when I was 12 or 13. I always used to draw on my hands and my arms []. I started to be interested in fashion through drawing. I started drawing fabric and then drawing people and then started drawing the clothes on the people.

When your looks opened your graduate show at Central Saint Martins in February 2022, did that feel like the start of the brand?When you were making custom pieces for celebrities at Gucci, did it give you a ton of experience to apply to the custom pieces you’re making now?

No. After I graduated, I had just enough money to pay the next month’s rent and I was like, “I need to get a fucking job right now.” At that point, I had done all the things you can do to make yourself employable for a luxury house. I freelanced during school and I did like 10 internships. I also felt ready as well. I was confident I could go to a house and Gucci was one of my top choices and it worked out; I moved to Rome.Celebrity is a big part of my brand. Probably more than what people see, because I also make custom outfits for a lot of performers, which a lot of times don’t see the light of day.Not many houses have dedicated celebrity teams; maybe five. There’s a process behind it and I did it for two years. The feedback rounds, how much of their own brief has to go in there, how much of your own aesthetic can go in there. And I’m really grateful for that time because it is so specific.Their requests are usually like, “We’re interested in this, we have two weeks, these are the measurements, this is the color, this is the brief.” Then you send it and then you hope for the best.I’m always very conscious that I don’t want it to be a stagewear brand. I don’t want to make costumes. It’s a fashion brand, but also I don’t do fashion shows. Celebrities are a big part of how I get the word out there about my brand.

What drew you to airbrushing?How do you see your brand growing in the next few years?What are your ambitions when it comes to footwear?

There were a few different ideas I was developing during my MA. One of them was the fun fair story. So I started learning to airbrush. As someone who has drawn almost all their life, I was like, “Damn, this is really difficult.”After Gucci, I knew that airbrush would be part of my label if I made one. So I had to learn. I got the machine and I practiced, and I remember I bought the machine in August and the shoot for the first collection was in December. Then I got my first custom commission the day my first collection came out.I’m trying to figure out how to expand the brand in a way that also feels fresh at the same time. To me as a creative, it’s always about new ideas and new things and you want everything to be new. But I’m building a brand, I’m building a foundation. The reason why Gucci can have a completely new vibe every season is because they always have the foundation of the monogram and the bags.I’m building the foundation right now. So I need to show people: “This is what it’s about.” People think fashion is all about the new “wow” moment, but when you’re building something, it’s actually almost the opposite.I make my own shoes and I always customize my own shoes. It’s one of the first things I decide for every collection. Even before the prints. “It’s the shoes and the shoulder,” as Margiela said.Every German child wears Birkenstocks around the house. The same with adidas. It’s always adidas football jerseys, adidas shoes, adidas everything. It’s a big thing here. The three stripes are iconic—utilizing those through design would be super interesting.

What’s the biggest challenge with the products you’re creating?What’s it like collaborating with K-pop artists?

The reason why you don’t see a lot of brands doing products like mine is because they’re expensive and really difficult to produce. It’s called placement print and you have to place the print on the pattern pieces and then get the pattern pieces printed. Manufacturers do not work with placement prints because they take longer to cut. It’s really complicated, and a lot can go wrong with the machine. For example, my main manufacturer—now they have one person that cuts my patterns.The positive flip side is not a lot of people do that kind of product. Especially with the trousers that people really like. They sell well because they’re so annoying to produce, and no one else is doing it. It’s technical, the minimums are crazy. Without K-pop, I would not have a business [].K-pop artists contact me quite frequently. They usually request bold, loud clothes, and I love working with them. They always get in touch at least two weeks beforehand, which is very rare for celebrities. The other big difference is that there are a lot of K-pop groups, so they need a lot of outfits, and a lot of pieces, which is definitely the main difference from the requests I get from Western celebrities because usually, that’s for a single artist.If a K-pop artist wears something of mine, I get sent the images by the fans almost before the stylist has seen them. I see a lot of future for the brand in that market. One thing that this brand has given me that I love is a really unique insight into how pop culture works in different markets. There’s a Latin artist called Maluma, and he bought an outfit in a store that he wore for a gig in Mexico. And then I see the press that comes from that and the audience that is there. That gives me a unique insight into how all these different markets and artists and fan bases work. Like the ripple effect.