"Great Wave" by Katsushika HokusaiIn a land of magic and wonder, art infiltrates in to the very nature of everyday living. Every human will be touched by its beauty and intelligence. In today's society, art does indeed resonate in many elements of the world that is presented to us, be it through media or even advertising. The more cultural among us will frequent galleries, museums and exhibitions, yet what if you could bring your passion home? What if there was a simpler way to enjoy your favourite artists, one that was cheaper than framed paintings, and more inventive than a crumpled poster? The answer is obvious really, but it seems GelaSkins have rocketed to the top of the market with this immensely practical idea.

Our lives are full of technology, be it phones, Playstations or PC's, we see and use them pretty much constantly. Thus imagine being able to decorate and protect your valuable property in one very swift magnificent swoop. GelaSkins provides an incredible range of 'skins' for your products, the sheer number of artists and styles is impressive and obviously well thought out. Whether your into your pop surrealism, or obsessed with Tokidoki - GelaSkins has the skin for you.

Take the dynamic and original prints by Brandi Milne. Perfectly adapted for your skin of choice, the colours are bright and succinct, and the details crisp and expertly preserved. Then again, you may want to save your much loved iPod from scratches and chips with the ever stylish "Great Wave” by Katsushika Hokusai.

The skins are flexible and extremely easy to use, and it is literally is a peel and stick job. With hardly any difficulty in securing without bubble pockets, the real deal breaker is that upon removal, no residue is left. Trust me. You could peel off a re-stick for hours, satisfying the most perfectionist attitude to wonky stickers.

SHARP OBJEX got the low down from team GelaSkins, to talk of their creative genuis...

Leila de Lara: Could you describe GelaSkins for our readers in one glorious sentence please?

GelaSkins: It's the second most fun time you can have with a piece of vinyl. Oh, you can't print that? Oh ok then, how about... GelaSkins are removable vinyl decals showcasing either artist designs or your own, that protect your mobile devices from everyday wear and tear.

Brandi Milne laptopLdL: What made you guys sit up and think about creating this business?

G: It was returning from a friend's wedding where Drew and Jamie had been photographers and consequently scratched the rental camera at the ensuing party. The conversation turned to LCD screen protection and from there to making something similar for iPods. Whilst discussing the merits of screen protection, iPod cases in general came up. The most prevalent thing on the market at the time were the big bulky silicone cases that aren't attractive to look at and add a ton of bulk to the device. Essentially, GelaSkins was created as an antithesis of that.

LdL: Care to give us an overview of your product range?

G: Our skins cover everything from the 4th generation iPod to the most recent iPod Touch, a dozen or so Blackberry models,  most common sizes of laptops and netbooks, the amazon Kindle and soon much, much more. We're planning on releasing skins for gaming consoles, portable gaming and gaming peripheries (i.e. Guitar Hero and Rock Band controllers)

LdL: Do you do research to find the hottest new artists out there, or do they come to you?

G: A little from column A, little from column B.  I read a lot of art magazines, blogs, Gallery websites and articles about the industry so I can have as educated an opinion as possible about what's hot and what's not. However, sometimes it's as simple as stumbling upon an artists' website and finding them randomly like that.

LdL: What makes a GelaSkin unique in comparison to another skin?

G: There's almost too many things to name here, but if I had to break it down into 3 main areas it would have to be:

1) The material - it's a fantastic 3M product that leaves no residue - not all of our competitors can say that. 

2) The Art - There's no one that comes close to comparing to us in terms of selection and quality of artists and collaborators.

3) The DIY -  our newest edition;  the ability to create custom skins with your own art or photos or your favorite images from our site.

Camilla d'Errico iPodLdL: You have a great range of artistic genres for your buyers to choose from, is there a staff favorite?

G: No, not really - everyone's tastes differ.

LdL: I notice you have an exclusive partnership with Dark Horse comics, how did that come about?

G: Magic. Also conference calls, lots of conference calls.

LdL: What's the day in the life of team GelaSkins like?

G: Upliftingly superb.

LdL: What's playing in the office?

G: Everyone's into their own stuff here really - it became too distracting to have stuff played over the speakers in the office so everyone is rocking the head phones these days. According to our last.fm page (to which most people here scobble) however, the most played artists over the last 3 months are as follows: Air, Fruit Bats, Cut Copy, Marvin Gaye, The Album Leaf, Jon Kennedy, Allen Toussaint, Burial, Boards of Canada, Bon Iver

LdL: Can you tell us, as philosophically as you like, what is the secret to success?

G: Ritualistic sacrifice and two shooters of Unicorn tears.

Every. Single. Morning.  I really can't stress that enough.

LdL: For the curious among us: What's next in GelaSkinland?

G: We've got some big, BIG collaborations coming up in the next 3 months as well as a whole host of new devices we'll be skinning, including gaming consoles and lots of new phones. Watch out!

Get GelaSkinned now at www.gelaskins.com