Esteban Scott is a designer, photographer and musician from Phoenix, Arizona based in New York City. He is the founder and designer of Cliff Creative Projects. He operates out of Project Space, a joint creative studio shared with Saji Adube aka Chainsticth (featured in Artist Series 010). Project Space exists in the bottom floor of a building in Chinatown. It is the perfect creative space centered around work and community. Estiee and The Cliff team gather there to run operations, build the brand, talk creative direction, plan installations/pop ups and it serves as local pick up for Cliff orders. Since it’s genesis it has been a watering hole for an expansive and remarkably talented community of artists and the likes.
Origin: Estiee works in three mediums: music, design, and photography. He came across all of these mediums organically; they all play an essential role in his creative expression and output. Esteban started piano at age 3 and has been making music for as long as he can remember. He played bass and was in rock bands growing up. Estiee transitioned into making beats and rapping in high school. Him and his friends built a studio in his friend’s room called Black Suede. That studio was his first taste of creating a wave, building a movement/community from the ground up and gaining traction through genuine shared interests. In 2012, when Black Suede eventually died down Cliff USA came about. The first t-shirt he designed was a Champion raglan t-shirt with an understated “Cliff” logo on the chest and hand dyed sleeves. It was a really funky shirt with a small logo hit that sparked a lot of interest. Around the same time he found his fathers old film camera and began taking photos. He was immediately hooked and that is where he found an attachment to photography.
After high school, he moved uptown with his family to attend FIT. Estiee’s first collection for Cliff was in 2015. He titled it Season One which sold out via his webstore and at The Good Company, a shop he was interning for. The upcoming semester he dropped out of FIT to pursue his own endeavors. Estiee decided to learn through job experience, his OG’s guidance, and trial and error. From that point on he has been navigating through the industry and building his brand through various creative ventures. In the past years his growth has been an inspiration to witness. He has released a handful of new Cliff collections, created a large discography of music, hosted many events, modeled for major companies, and fostered a beautiful community of artists and friends.
Mission: Cliff was created when Estiee felt there was a lack of a community between artists and designers, especially black artists, on his wavelength. Being a black artist from Scottsdale which is predominantly a white environment messed with his sense of self. This made him crave a creative community of people he could relate to. He tapped into blogs and forums to find like minded people, that is where he discovered The Good Company and many other people he is currently connected to. Cliff is meant to inspire people to use their creativity with everyday practices. Whether they are a cook or a basketball player or a painter he wants to encourage people to find the outlets of creativity. Cliff was made to represent co-existing.
He's going for it all, Cliff is intended to be a household name and a staple in apparel. The brand encapsulates music, fashion, food, and travel. It's a lifestyle brand that represents everything that lends to creative expression. The styles come from reinterpreting the stuff he always thought was cool but could never afford or wear in the late 1990's & early 2000’s. It dances a fine line between familiar and fresh. Estiee concludes that his whole life he has felt like the odd man out; his end goal with all his art is to make a human connection. “Something to make someone say, “‘I feel you.”’
Estiee and I met through friends and The Good Company. I would frequent Good Co. and connect with Estiee while he was working. Outside of work we began to photograph together for various gigs for them, OnlyNY, and more recently Warrior. I was able to help install the Cliff and Manual NYC collaboration pop up at Hotel97. Working with Estiee and witnessing the community he has fostered, the light he provides to the scene around him, and his overall growth within the timeframe of knowing him has been beautiful and fulfilling. We will all see more output and growth for years to come.