MYTH & LEGEND
In 2011, dwelling somewhere between the higgledy piggledy chimney pots, smouldering Ford Escorts and grubby high-rise flats of London's Eastend, a small dusty attic concealed a large drawing board. Lit only by the glow of an old desk lamp, it was here that a handful of notepads & chewed marker pens, gave birth to magic that is Growl & Grandeur.
That darkly lit loft space was set up by our hero, Colin ‘Choodie’ Hood. Many rumours still persist surrounding the true origin of Hood, urban myth states he began his journey towards world domination in the little village of Dagenham. A place that proudly boasts to be the biggest council estate in Europe & is more cockney than a jellied eel. Youth came & went in a blur of inky fingers & graffiti embellished estates, dodging the Burberry-adorned Staffordshire bull terriers & trying to defy gravity on a battered Raleigh Burner, quite often with an empty Ribena carton wedged in the back fork to make that authentic Harley Davidson sound. In the time not spent grazing his knees or breaking his teeth, Hood honed his skills as a talented artist who wields a pencil like the demon barber’s cut-throat. Drawing on everything from scraps of paper to other peoples property.
In later years, in a foolish & misguided bid to gain acceptance in mainstream society, & somehow make good his earlier misdemeanours, he became an Art Director (a flouncy advertising term meaning Graphic Designer), After several years he started Growl & Grandeur as a small independent project purely as an creative outlet from his day job, because whilst advertising is ‘creative’, it’s quite often lightyears from the graffiti, monsters, cars & girls wearing small pants that filled page after page of his sketchbooks.
By now you may be asking what Growl & Grandeur actually means. Well, Growl is the low gruff menacing sound made by an animal & Grandeur (gran, djoor) is ye olde english for magnificent, nobility & greatness of character. These two words were especially chosen in contrast to convey the things most important to the brand & what it achieves. A sense of pride, a slight bark at all things authority & a love of all things hound, because dogs are, bloody awesome!
Five years on, the little independent project that started with 4 screen printed t-shirts & a Facebook page has become a respected lifestyle brand within the Graffiti, Skating, BMX & VW communities. Growl & Grandeur now stands for something more. The rise of the underdog. A testament, to inspire others, that when all is against you, when folk don’t believe in you, this is what can be achieved with a lot of hard graft & stubbornness.
But with this status Growl & Grandeur had massively outgrown that cramped the little roof space. Boxes of stock even replaced the space that the last office chair used to reside in. The only standing space shrank to less than a 1x1 metre square. It was time to expand. Lured by the lifestyle that had inspired it’s creation, G&G packed up a large lorry & travelled to the end of the country to make a new home on the West coast in the UKs surfing capital, Newquay. This move has allowed G&G to thrive, surrounded by surf & skate culture, inspiring coast & countryside, as well as the new luxurious studio (it has heating) that has more space for creativity, a designated storage area & has proper chairs to recline on whilst chewing your pen.
Now even more than ever, every Growl & Grandeur product is painstakingly designed to give you, the stylish people of our planet, the finest quality apparel you so desperately deserve. Enough thanks can’t be expressed to those who support it. You are all such warm-hearted and rather awesome people. (The hounds thank you too, it keeps them in the premium doggy kibble to which they have become so unwaveringly accustomed).