Author: Conor Hanlon

As we are all encouraged to stay working at home during these difficult times, we connected with friends from some of our favourite brands here at Hip to get an insight into their worlds. This week, we caught up with Christian Rice, Partner and Art Director at Adsum to check in on his current situation at his home in Brooklyn, New York.

Hi Christian, please introduce yourself and your role at Adsum?

Hi I’m Christian Richard Rice and I’m a Partner & Art Director at Adsum. It’s basically a fancy way of saying graphic designer, photographer, and web developer. We’re a small company so we all wear a lot of hats.

Where are you currently in the world?

Brooklyn, NY. Specifically, the Greenpoint area which is the northernmost neighborhood of Brooklyn, right before you hit Queens. Because it’s hard to get to, it still has a special something to it that other areas around it are losing. I have a love/hate relationship with it.

What’s your guilty pleasure working from home song?

I don’t believe in guilty pleasures but if it’s a song most people would be embarrassed to like but I unabashedly do and have no qualms about it, there are a lot, but let’s go with… Rusted Root’s “Send me on my Way”. As a general rule you probably shouldn’t like songs featuring a pan flute played by a white guy from Pittsburgh, culturally confused music videos, or that were once featured on a Music from Party of Five compilation… but try to watch the video and not miss the exuberant naïveté of the 90s in America. I’ve now watched it three times while I wrote this answer. Why is that kid wearing angel wings? Was a door in the middle of the desert as empty of a metaphor then as it is now? Why does this make me want to start collecting silver and turquoise jewelry?

Your go to comfy WFH piece from Adsum?

Our made in Japan fleece sweatpants from FW18 I think. The quality of these is incredible and they’re still holding up despite a lot rough goes through the wash. Anyone who got a pair usually brings them up when they meet us. Those and one of our white pocket tees with dried toothpaste drips going down the front is pretty much the uniform

Sofa, desk or garden office? 

I live with my girlfriend who is also working from home and it’s NYC so we’ve been doing alternating between desk and couch. We each get half a day on either. Since quarantine, we’ve moved the desk out from its usual position in a nook to be in the living area to get some natural light. Very necessary when you’re not supposed to go outside.

Current media diet?

Books – I just took a break from Infinite Jest after a challenge by my brother (It’s unclear if this was a real challenge. I think I was just talking about how I liked his essays and he asked if I had read Infinite Jest yet…) to read The Topeka School. I’ve yet to form an opinion. It’s held my interest and there have been a few sentences and insights that have hit me hard enough to keep me reading. 

Music – I’m lucky enough to have a job where I can listen to a lot of music. It’s one of the reasons I got into graphic design. I’ll just make a couple Spotify playlists as I usually listen to music that falls into 2 categories—one is easy listening and appeals to a wide variety of people, let’s call that “Down The Middle”, and then I have a side of me that just likes songs that sound original or like nothing else. People don’t usually like these songs but they feel more personal or at least specific to me and my tastes. I called that one “A Little To The Right”. Both are about an hour and should steer you right.

Movies – We’ve tried to keep it light and escapist during this time so the last two were Monty Python and the Holy Grail and Step Brothers. I’ve seen Holy Grail Easily over 20 times now and it’s still my favorite movie.

Podcasts – A lot of podcasts have become annoying to me during this time. Unfortunately, everyone thinks people want to hear their opinion on COVID-19. I don’t. I get it but it’s not what I’m looking for. Thankfully, my favorite podcast Comedy Bang Bang has been sticking to their format as much as possible. It’s usually the best part of every Monday.

Which objects at home are keeping you sane?

The occasional drink, my PS4 for alternating between Call of Duty and Death Stranding, DJ controller for making mixes no one will hear, computer for work, iPad for reading and an Apple Pencil for digital drawings.

What things in life have you come to appreciate more during these times?

There are the obvious things like overall health, family, my girlfriend, friends, having a nice safe apartment but, more specifically, or at least more germane to me, are my hobbies. As a person who’s moved almost every 4 years since I was born, finding hobbies was lifesaving. I’m basically the same person and do the same things I did when I was 12. Around then I was messing around on my turntables and watching DJ Qbert videos, making collages on hacked versions of Photoshop, and then playing Tomb Raider with Oasis blasting. Now I have a MIDI controller and watch Boiler Room, edit photos on a paid version of Photoshop, and play Call Of Duty while FaceTiming with my brother.

If the world went back to normal tomorrow what is the first thing you’d do?

I’d go out to eat at Bernie’s and then grab a drink at a bar like Achilles Heel  Living in Brooklyn we’re spoiled with amazing restaurants. Unfortunately, these are the industries that have been probably been hurt the most during this and I don’t know if government assistance is going to be able to help them in a similar way banks and car companies were bailed out in our last recession. I truly don’t know what type of world we will all walk out to at the end of this.

There’s usually a silver lining with all tricky situations, what’s yours?

I think it’s a general reminder and appreciation for what I have and what is really important in life. NYC is the home of distraction and the working grind. When you’re forced to stay at home all day, you have to slow down a little, which forces you to think more deeply. I think I may have better understanding of what is important to me and what things I actually derive value from. 

Stay up to to date with Christian here, view our latest SS20 arrivals from Adsum here and keep an eye out for more in this series over the next few weeks.