I noticed Steve in the ceramics room where I teach a few months ago, assumed he was an MA student with very stylish hair and thought to myself, ‘I must ask him to model our glasses sometime, he’s cool’. A bit later I did ask him after a lecture, he kindly agreed and I said I’d keep him posted on future shoots.
Little did I know that the fine art student I decided had hair cool enough to receive a modelling invite was Jesus Christ himself! (Yes, we can now confirm that Jesus is a Ffin model – only the best for our frames! haha)
Let me explain; Steve, it turns out, is an incredible singer-songwriter (I was clearly somehow oblivious to all of this) and has had a rich 30-year career in the music industry, starting with the starring role in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Jesus Christ Superstar in London’s West End.
What I love about this story is that in my quest to find real people to model Ffin frames, I inevitably discover unpredictable stories and connections along the way. I like to seek out the people that are clearly not conforming to the status quo and who have an inherent sense of individuality. Sometimes those people are easy to spot, as I am instantly drawn to them; sometimes I chase them down the street. That’s the type of individuality I want to celebrate in the eyewear I design.
Steve fits that description perfectly and it only seemed apt that I ask him to model NON, which stands for non-conformist and channels a James Dean rebellious vibe.
Steve has lived his life and carved out a career path through simply not conforming. Also growing up in my hometown of Swansea, the son of a Venetian chef, he tells of a journey from these humble beginnings where curiosity has then led him down unlikely and “wonderfully unexpected” pathways. I believe this to also be a wonderfully rebellious path. Not afraid to step outside of the norm, despite being told by his schoolteacher he could not sing, Steve has had an incredible musical career because he’s “never been very good at colouring inside the lines”. We don’t encourage that at Ffin either.
He sang his way out of the city, stepping outside of the norm, feeling like an outsider on an unknown, curious path. He has recently returned full circle to enhance the city’s lively music scene alongside a fine art degree in my art school.
Steve has a wealth of tales to tell which are impossible to cover in this text, from touring the world, performing from pubs to arenas, recording in European studios, playing with bands and on West End stages, to collaborating and writing for amazing artists because, as he states, “great songs are built on connection”.
Not that you would know it, as he is so down to earth, but this is a man who has shared a stage with icons such as Elton John and Celine Dion, written for Slash and Cliff Richard, had a hit in the Top 40 and appeared on Top of the Pops. Elton is, I am told, as fabulous as I hoped he would be in real life and was very kind to Steve and his band, ‘The Storys’, who supported his tour for three summers throughout Europe. He casually tells me Elton called him up at home once and sang one of his own songs back to him down the phone! What a legend!
I asked Steve if he considered himself to be a rebel. He told me he had never liked authority and sometimes liked to “go against the rules for the sake of it, simply to see what would happen”. This is good advice, we love a bit of rebellion at Ffin. We also love interpretations of lines.
“I love a border, the idea of limitations and threshold spaces, that’s where the magic happens. I never stayed in the confines, I knew I was always in transition and hardly ever look back.”
We spoke about his early role as Jesus Christ Superstar and how that felt. He noted a surreal moment on stage where 10,000 eyes were on him as he sang and the feeling of that being as if “I wasn’t there” – a combination of terror and the feeling of watching yourself from the outside. Then there was the fun of seeing life-size posters of yourself across London bus stops, a time where Steve says he would ask himself, “how did I get here?”
I chose to theme the shoot around Steve’s own personal history, with a little nod to his biblical role. The bar ‘Noahs’ provided the perfect backdrop to celebrate the idea of vintage storytelling and religious icons watching over us.
Both Steve and I share a love and appreciation for collectible objects with a sense of history, memory and energy. We discussed his fashion style choices, being very individual, a classic look with a nod to the Mod movement, sourced mostly from vintage shops with a desire to “bring back sharp suit wearing”.
We also spoke of glasses framing identity and how Ffin’s will become part of his look in the future as he needs some spectacles. For the shoot I asked him to channel his inner James Dean in honour of the new NON frame.
Steve mentions connection and synchronicity a lot when he speaks; that resonates with Ffin too. It speaks of the lines of connection, between creatives, between cultures, countries and, most importantly, between people.
This success has stemmed from a life where he has “followed curiosity wherever its led”. Following lines of curiosity is a creative gift, it’s where great stories begin. You don’t need a map, the journey will lead you along the path; it’s how we create art, design objects and make music.
Creativity isn’t a destination, it’s a conversation.
It is a wonderfully chaotic conversation, unexpected and unpredictable, but therein lies its beauty. It is never a straight line; it is tangled and messy, flowing and folded, but in life we must, in the words of Steve Balsamo, “stay curious, watch for the signs and keep colouring outside the lines”.
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