Their purpose is to motivate others to not be afraid to do what they want to do.

Published on 17 June 2019 2 min read

Tayler and Koen Prince-Fraser are the brothers behind the media platform/creative agency SHIFT. The pair also run a YouTube channel and an athletics club called Last Pick, an inclusive and affordable club for young people in London.

What's your earliest memories of creativity?

Tayler: I was meant to go to University to study PPE but deferred to go travelling. When I got back after 6 months, I changed the course to Fashion Design. After studying for a year, I realised that institutional education wasn't for me and I didn't need it to be able to express myself creatively, so I dropped out. From that point, I started doing creative shoots with my friends and putting together editorials. Then brands started contacting us which lead to my first creative shoot with Converse and Size?.

Koen: I've always loved to draw, my mum would constantly buy me sketchpads. My experience was very similar to Tayler's. I took art at school but very quickly realised that the structured form of education wasn't for me; I didn't like being told what to draw. Because of that I steered away from art and studied economics at University. Once I had graduated, I still didn't feel satisfied. I was still interested in drawing so combined this with my love of fashion and started drawing up designs. From there I produced my first cut and sew collection. Now I've brought back that creative streak and have been able to continue producing projects doing the things I love.

What is it about your personality that has allowed you to turn your passion into a career?

Koen: It would be my work ethic. As cliche as it sounds, I really believe you can do anything if you put your mind to it. I think I speak for both of us when I say that I never wanted to work for someone else, I've always wanted to work for myself. If you want something bad enough you're going to overcome any obstacles that come in your way to get there.

Tayler: For me it's not a personality trait or characteristic, but a fear. I don't want to look back on my life and think that I've failed or think 'what if'. It's a fear of not being able to provide for myself or my loved ones. Fear is the greatest motivational tool for me.

Looking to the future, what do you want to learn to help your success grow?

Tayler: For this year in particular, we want to focus on making sure that everything we do has a purpose. We have the ability to provide education to people in creative an innovative ways that's different from sitting in front of a teacher. I want to make sure we're giving back to the society we're a part of, I don't want us to get too caught up in ourselves and what we're doing.

Koen: Everything we've done over the past two years has been so organic and has stemmed from our creativity and network. This time two years ago, we never thought we would be running Last Pick. The future looks bright for different projects we're working on so I'm excited to see where we'll be this time next year.