At the beginning of my conversation with Willo Perron there is a moment of stall. The screen gasps, frozen, and the shy introductory words get lost. There is a corner of Canadian-born, LA-based creative director’s house where the internet connection is weak, which is reassuring. It is indeed heart-warming to apprehend that even one of the most influential creatives in the globe is affected by the same issues us, mortals, face daily.
Apart from that, Willo looks like you’d expect him to: effortlessly cool. Sitting in a heavy (probably organic) cotton white crew-neck tee, a sophisticated mug in his hands and a patient, charming smile on his face, he could be your friend’s hip dad. He could be that kind of parent who, out of the blue, would surprise his kids’ pals by picking an original copy of De La Soul ‘Three Feet High and Rising’ or a scuffed original pair of Jordan’s out of the closet, proving them, not without a healthy dose of pride, that he’s been young and snazzy too. In all fairness, Willo – despite trying to persuade me that he leads a “totally normal life, with no paparazzi or anything like that” – has been through all of that and he still is – now more than ever – all over the pop culture that matters. Thus, it doesn’t surprise if halfway through our conversation he starts mentioning Beastie Boys and 1980s American club culture.
Willo, in fact, cut his teeth running record shops and labels, throwing parties and designing flyers in his native city, Montreal, Canada, before being introduced to Kanye West in 2006 and starting, step by step, to take over the American pop culture, first solo and then in partnership with graphic designer Brian Roettinger since their 2011 collaboration on Jay-Z’s album ‘Magna Carta’.
