Meet the Hands: Pop Art Saints

Our Saints catalogue has a flagship, and that flagship is Anthony Bourdain. That piece is the reason we know John Säuferling at all — and it's also the reason we were nervous as hell to reach out to him.

There was history there, tied up in an earlier chapter of this brand, complicated enough that when the moment finally came to make contact, we were told to tread lightly. So we did. A careful first call. A few texts. The kind of conversation where you're not sure if you're about to get told to go to hell, and you'd almost understand it if you did.

Instead we got a friendship. One we still have today.

Not long after, the timing lined up — John happened to be in Chicago. We dropped everything. Three hours down, no real hesitation, because some opportunities you don't let sit on the calendar. We met in person for the first time and walked away with something better than a business relationship. An actual friend. Genuinely one of the best humans this venture has put in front of us — and we've said before that the relationships are the best part of what this has become. John's near the top of that list.

Since then it's gone further than either of us expected. My family got to meet him. We went to our first Comic-Con together, as a family, because of him. That's not something you get from a vendor.

His work speaks for itself — sci-fi and pop culture collapsed into old-world religious iconography, prayer candles for people who grew up worshipping different things than their grandparents did. But knowing John, the art hits different. You can feel the same warmth in the work that you feel talking to the guy.

We wouldn't be standing where we are without him. Not as a figure of speech — genuinely, a good chunk of what this brand has accomplished happened with his blessing behind it.

Hail be to the Pope of Pop Art Saints.