Kai Cornwall refers to himself as British Mustard within his creative practices. He works primarily as a fashion designer and stylist but has recently been taking his music career more seriously. Starting off styling himself, Kai was contacted to style for an editorial shoot and since then he has been working within the industry. As for Kai’s musical work, he has been writing and producing a lot of songs based on racial inequality and the history of racism. Him and his partner will also be releasing a new clothing line under the name British Mustard next February so keep your eyes peeled!

What started off your career working in the fashion industry?

It’s hard to say what started off my career working in the industry - I would always self style myself and people liked the way I did that and I was approached to style a shoot for a magazine editorial. From then I decided to direct my own shoots and more people came to me for styling. I also started making clothing with my partner and the brand British Mustard was born.

How would you best describe your aesthetic as a a stylist?

It’s hard to pinpoint my aesthetic as I tend to style in a way that feels natural to me. I like textures and colours that wouldn’t necessarily go together, I have been told that my work has a similar aesthetic to Judy blame and Dapper Dan so I suppose it’s like a mash up of the two.

What are your main influences in your practice?

In my design practice I am very inspired by history, historical figures, events and social history as well as the natural world and really anything I see around me. With styling and creative direction I tend to create some kind of fantasy narrative and create characters and imagery around that.

Can you talk us through a favourite project of yours?

I recently did a project which has not yet been released where I worked with the idea of multi-media and mixing both drawing/ painting and photography, I used a pair of trousers that we made and lots of statement jewellery and frames. It’s going to be very interesting and different form my previous work so stay tuned!

You have also released music - how did you initially get into making music?

I dunno really how I got into music, where I grew up it was just something people did for fun, rapping and making songs. It’s always been something I’ve loved doing and I am now trying to take it more seriously and release more often I am currently working on a mixtape.

Most recently you released your track named Fredrick Hampton who was part of the Black Panther Party - what does this track mean to you?

This track and my work in general recently has been very focused around racial inequality and the history of racism around the world. Fredrick Hampton is particularly influential to me as he really tried to bring everybody together no matter their race or background and this was met with violence and wanting to silence him. Fredrick Hampton will also feature heavily in our upcoming clothing collection along with other influential black people through history who fought to be heard.

In which direction do you plan to take your career in the future?

In every direction! I have always enjoyed working in several different creative areas, although I am doing a few styling jobs. I am mainly focusing on my musical career right now as well as launching our clothing brand British Mustard which will debut in February. So get ready!