Today we speak to Peter Baston, one of the co-founders of a new branding agency called Paradise, about his career and personal style:
I was born in Newport Beach, California and as a young kid we moved up to Oregon where I ended up going to university and starting my career as a graphic designer. Portland is one of my favorite cities on the West Coast. There are few other places where you can go for an early morning surf, be up in the mountains later that night snowboarding and then go back to the city and have drinks late night with your friends.
I worked at a few agencies in Portland for about four years. After that I was ready to get out of the rain and wanted to surf more, so I moved to Encinitas, California to work as an art director at RAEN optics and Libre Design Agency. They deal primarily with surf, snow and skate clients, which is the industry I grew up with so it was a perfect fit and nice to work with a great crew of people. Encinitas ended up being a quick nine-month stint before I eventually moved to New York in 2012.
I always knew that I wanted to live in New York at some time in my life, and at this point I had enough freelance clients to make the move to NYC pretty easily. When I first got here I really only had my eyes on working at the famous studios like RoAndCo, Sagmeister, Triboro Design and Pentagram. At the time I was getting more freelance clients and opportunities to travel with larger agencies to do work in Austin and Chicago so I couldn’t go after my dream studio, but it worked out for the best because it helped me start my own agency.
A few months ago, with three other partners, we opened Paradise. We have offices in New York City and Portland, Oregon and offer branding, digital and product design for fashion and lifestyle brands. It’s been crazy getting the agency off the ground but we’re already working with some great brands and creating some of the best work I’ve done in my career.
As for my personal style, here it goes:
Jeans: Acne Studios Ace and APC New Standard
Shirts: I just got a few Alex Mill shirts and I love them. I also just got a few Vanishing Elephant shirts and they’re pretty great.
Pants: Brixton Toil Chino II
Suits: Acne Studios
Shoes: Vans, Converse and Nike are my go-tos.
Accessories: Timex Watch and Saturdays Canyon Wool Hat
Outerwear: I have this trench coat I got at a second hand store in Philadelphia that I wear a lot. I also have an Engineered Garments coat that I get a lot of wear out of.
Favorite Cologne: Le Labo Santal
Your favorite App: I have an addiction to Instagram
Favorite piece of technology: The new iPhone 6
Next tech purchase: I have to buy a new iPad for the studio
