Selected Fragments

Introducing the Julian Montague x Apply Set (Summer 2021)

One of our favorite contemporary artists & illustrators is Julian Montague. In teaming up with him we were excited to explore the power of simple beauty & the joy found in letting our imaginations “complete the image.” We wondered together, how minimal can a sticker be to change things?

Julian’s work echoes a mid-century aesthetic. He delights in a wide range of representation, from figures with clear significance, like his boombox, to more abstract forms, such as his monsters. A simple shape & color may solicit associations from many different things, intended or not. Ambiguity creates opportunity.

Take a look at Julian’s instagram presence, and you’ll find an encyclopedic catalog of designs from across book covers, record sleeves, posters and more. While these are important aesthetic references, his iconography feels surprisingly connected to the digital, emoji-populated, present. When we contacted Julian, he was in the process of preparing for a mid-career museum retrospective. He was reviewing & organizing his work from the past 20 years, which stimulated an idea for a new kind of sticker sheet. 

With an interest in the utility of shelving for the display of objects in the format of an early modern cabinet of curiosities, we developed Selected Fragments. In it, you’ll three 7” x 7” kiss-cut sticker sheets available in Small, Medium & Large, with 24, 14 and 9 peels, respectively. Diminishing in quantity & increasing in scale, each sheet brings the objects of Julian’s affection together orderly, without fully resolving what unites them beyond his own interests. Peel & Reveal, a head in profile that may be a self-portrait by Julian, but is also inspired by The Shapes Trilogy, a brilliant children’s book series by Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen.