Reader of the Week: Kate Black

Founder of BadButtons

By Lindsey Underwood
Published: July 20th, 2009 | 10:25am

Who's bad? Reader of the Week Kate Black makes awesome buttons and promotional materials for bands. This New York lady told us all about her line BadButtons and talked to us about her creative process, her love of history, and her dream dinner party.

Where do you live? What do you like most about living there?

NYC. This is the greatest city in the world. I LOVE walking here, both for transit and [for] entertainment value. Where else does running errands include walking over a century-old bridge and picking up spices in the former home of William R. Hearst? I love history, and it's fun to read books like Luc Sante's Low Life, Ric Burns' New York or Berenice Abbott's work, and then go out to see what has or hasn't changed.

Tell me about your line, Bad Buttons. When did you start it and how did you come up with the title?

I started BadButtons™ in 2005 on a lark. I bought a secondhand button machine to produce promos for my drawings. Once I had it, I started making all the buttons that I wished I'd been able to buy when I was a young radical. Those sold like mad. Then friends and neighbors started requesting custom and wholesale orders. I used the profits to purchase more machines. The name BadButtons™ was kind of a pre-emptive strike — any time you put something highly opinionated out there, there will be hysteria from the other side and from those who think controversy is automatically bad. So my partner & I were joking about what a bad idea it was to make unapologetically queer, pro-choice, feminist buttons, considering that it helped us get to know our neighbors, make new friends, and immediately paid for the initial investment. The name stuck.

What’s the coolest band you've made promotional materials for?

The Dead River Company, Gentleman Jesse + His Men, Leslie Hall. I love them all. One of my other favorite clients isn't a band, but The Coney Island Mermaid Parade — totally rocknroll.

What do you make besides buttons?

For BadButtons™: buttons, magnets, mirrors, and bottle openers. In general: books, cocktails, infused liquors, marshmallows, portraits, smartass comments, adaptations to shoot with vintage cameras, and whatever else that I feel compelled to explore.

Does Bad Buttons pay the bills? If not, what’s your day job?

BadButtons™ is my accidental day job. I was working with a book design firm and doing buttons as a side project. When that company folded, we went full time.

How do you decide what to put on buttons?

If someone snarfs a drink through their nose when I say something, it goes on a button.

How did you get into making books?

I'd done pamphlet stitching and some experimental bindings with hardware when I was doing zines in the ’90s. Years later, some of my professors brought in a grad student to do a bookbinding workshop. Then I started trash picking half-used sketchbooks and mounted prints at the art school, salvaging the paper and boards and making my own sketchbooks. Other students and coworkers started buying them. That gave me the confidence and resources to start working with better quality materials, but I still love to recycle and incorporate vintage materials into my work.

What was your favorite song growing up?

Probably the Pee Wee's Playhouse theme song, by Cyndi Lauper and Mark Mothersbaugh. The first album I bought was Guns'n'Roses' Appetite For Destruction.

What’s your favorite song now?

This week I've been playing the hell out of The Dirtbombs, King Khan, The Nerves, The Feelies, Exploding Hearts, FEAR, and RFTC. I can't commit to a favorite band, let alone a favorite song — there's just too much greatness out there.

Whitney Houston wanted to "feel the heat with somebody." What celebrity would you like to feel the heat with?

The combination of Whitney Houston and sexual innuendo just made my legs slam shut with such force that it could have transformed a charcoal briquette into a diamond. I would love to work with Kathy Griffin, John Waters, Paul Westerberg, Christopher Walken, Ann Magnuson, and Alexis Arquette. Dinner at my place, y'all!

badbuttons.com

kateblack.com