Zek Crew is a team of 9 incredibly talented people with a passion for creativity who create illustrations, computer graphics, videos, music, fine art, graffiti and much more. A crew that started as a graffiti crew, is now involved in creative projects for clients all over the world.

"Producing random and conceptual visual interventions." is how they like to put it. A group of close friends whose purpose is to be spontaneous and have fun; clearly this strategy has worked quite brilliantly for them.


Their intriguing work of art made us wanna learn more about them, and Jurij, a member of Zek Crew agreed to spare some time for a small interview with us. Read further to learn more about this fun and creative group of friends:




Lets start with a brief introduction of yours.

My name is Jurij, original member of Zek since 2001. I will be speaking on behalf of the crew.


Tell us about ZEK Crew. When and how did it form? I am keen to know everything about it!

The crew started as a graffiti crew, we were painting walls and trains in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Very soon we expanded, and started exploring other media, today known as street-art, with stickers, stencils, posters and more conceptual public art. In the beginning we tried to separate the two sections by calling the street-art section Zek Advance. As the number of members got steady and the crew was a solid group of friends, we dropped the “Advance” part, and tried to establish a recognizable brand. The crew consists of 9 members and each has an expertise. That means we were and are active in many fields: computer graphics, illustration, design, video, music, graffiti, fine art…
























I don’t know if I remember the very first project, depends on what you define as a project. The very first stuff we did on the streets is an ongoing project still lasting today. First projects I guess were mural commissions which led to interior decorations, then exhibitions…The experience was always pleasant, lots of fun and fooling around doing what we liked most. That is the reason the crew exists and functions today.


Your projects seem very interesting. Tell us about the projects 'Tape Art' and 'Don't forget to Write'.

Tape art was a group project where a multimedia collective called Multipraktik gathered Slovenian artists and crews to create public artworks or installations with adhesive tape. The project was very exciting, as none of us really had experience in that medium. We all started with a completely different approach and tried to experiment.

Don’t forget to write was a graffiti jam organized by us and a younger crew called 1107. In our graffiti career we often traveled abroad, met other writers and became friends. A lot of them visited us before too, but this time we wanted to bring everybody together to paint and have fun, listen to music, eat, drink, party...

























Can delight was actually an idea by one of our members who thought it would be nice to do something out of all of the empty spray-cans that lie around in our basements. To make a light was a great way to make something useful, beautiful out of a waste product which is quite technological, but becomes useless once it is empty. I see it as homage to graffiti art and the iconic tool of the trade.








































































There are some very brilliant works by you guys. Which one has been the most challenging one for you guys?

Oh, I am glad you asked this! Every project we undertake is a challenge. When we started we had to work with very small budgets and that is how we learned our expertise: to make the absolute most of what you get. With knowledge, skills, and the will of 9 people we always managed to surprise our “clients” with the outcome. We always start by putting a lot of thought in a project and then a lot of labor. The ideas may seem simple, banal or even stupid, but that is because we want it that way. It sort of became our signature style.


And the most special one?

One of the best ones for me is The Gold Fish Award. We got a commission to design a award for the most socially responsible work at Magdalena (a yearly festival for young designers). The brainstorming was going nowhere until we started talking about pets and how little kids get them when their parents trust they are responsible enough. We decided to make a trophy as a goldfish in a plastic bag, the way you buy it in a pet-shop. The trophy was a cast of hard transparent resin with a plastic goldfish in it. It came out great, symbolically and visually.


































































































Share the best moment for 'Zek Crew' with us.

There are too many, I couldn’t pick one out. Besides being a crew, we are a tight group of friends. We go together through bad and good times. The best moments are naturally the high points, when we reach a goal or it can just be a good Friday night out.


Would you like share goals/plans with us that you've set for Zek? What are your dreams and vision for 'Zek' as a whole?

Sometime ago we decided we are not going to turn Zek into a business or an agency, although we have commercial projects as well. We all have jobs or work as freelance designers beside Zek. We want to continue working in a relaxed and spontaneous way on things we see as important and relevant. Most of all we want to have fun, as stupid as it may sound. We would like to gain a little more international recognition, have more exhibitions, travel... As we got older time became an issue so now we try to focus on larger projects, while in the mean time we fill the gaps with random illustrations, graphics and stuff that is a result of us hanging out and fooling around with no particular reason.
























What message do you have for our readers?

That’s always a hard one... It’s sort of a cliché but it is true: people like us speak visually, so let’s let each of your readers find a message for themselves in our work, there is plenty to choose from.

Thanks Jurij for taking the time for a wonderful interview, we will be eagerly looking forward to seeing many more amazing projects by you guys. We wish you all the success in the future! :)

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