1. When he was a bit younger, a boy at school made fun of Joel’s last name, Cocks, and so Joel punched him in the back of the head as he was walking away.. But generally he’s a pretty nice guy.

In fact, earlier this year, Joel Cocks filled his bedroom with red balloons hanging at different lengths from his ceiling, and drew smiley faces and pleasant words such as “HAPPY” and “NICE” in an effort to make himself happier and nicer. It actually worked quite well.

2. Joel started out drawing zombies eating himself in ballpoint pen, in his second to last year of Cashmere High school in Christchurch. He originally planned to be an NBA star, but he peaked too early, and decided to move to Wellington to study Architecture instead.

In first year architecture he was asked to make a casing that would protect an egg from breaking when it was dropped from 2 metres. Joel designed a box to break the egg over a wire grid and flood the yolk into a separate cavity filled with hungry maggots. He failed and decided to study graphic design at Massey instead.

3. Having worked with several high profile clients including Dave Matthews Band, The Black Seeds, and the Green party, Joel has an impressive CV and very few close friends, he has been accused of being a recluse, mostly because he disappears into his room to make incredibly intricate and time consuming illustrations and he may not be seen or heard from for weeks at a time. Once a girlfriend complained that Joel was more interested in typography than in spending time with her. He made it up to her by serenading her on the guitar, Joanna Newsom songs in falsetto, and a bit of Ani DiFranco.

4. Armed with his winnings from his Threadless designs, Joel spent 2007 in Scotland on an exchange, and he also visited Qatar, and saw one of two places in the world where ocean meets desert. It was incredibly beautiful.

5. Apart from design, Joel enjoys riding his bicycle impractical distances. He once rode from Wellington to Greymouth by himself, and he has plans to bike the entire length of Japan in the near future.

6. Joel eats porridge with peaches every morning and makes stirfry every night, because it is fast and nutritious, and because it is the only dish he knows how to cook. Apart from quiche, but that was more of a second year thing. Plus his recipe requires six eggs. Eggs are pretty expensive these days.

hey@joelcocks.com