THE TEN OF CLUBS COLLECTIVE

Join us backstage and meet the team behind TEN OF CLUBS, our creative collective fuelled by heavy music and raw rebellion.

Under the Soviet-era interrogation lamp this time is our whisky-swilling petrol-head and lead designer, Dawid. For colourful street art, V8s, and ceramic bowling — read on!

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Hello Dawid. It’s time for your grilling. Please introduce yourself.

I'm Dawid. I'm lead designer for TEN OF CLUBS, and I’m a quarter of a century old, unfortunately. I also help with social media planning and operations stuff. Basically, I’ll do whatever needs doing.

Where are you from originally?

I'm from a place called Świnoujście in Poland. It's quite a cool place, with lots of history. There's a whole bit of the town — maybe about 10% — where it's been completely preserved since World War II. It’s all destroyed with bullet holes in the walls.

Beyond the bombed-out bits, what’s the rest of the town like?

It's like a little Polish California. It's got one of the best beaches in Europe, in my opinion. It's absolutely beautiful. Świnoujście used to be a German town; it was handed back from Germany to Poland after World War II.

And then, obviously, we were communist under Russian rule. Now it's Polish again. The architecture is a cool mix of styles: you’ve got modern, pre-war German, and ugly, grey, Soviet blocks of flats.

What lured you from that place we can’t pronounce to Banbury?

Long story, but I’ll keep it short. Poland in the early 2000s had just come out of communism. Everyone was broke. Both my parents are deaf, and my dad would try to get work and they’d be like, "Oh, you’re deaf. No thanks." So, literally, most of the time he had no work.

My dad would go across the border to Germany, where they had more money, to sell keyrings, lighters, stuff like that. He'd go up to people in cafes and bars with a little note saying, like, ‘I’m deaf and it would help me and my family if you’d buy something.’ 

That was basically his living. But you can’t support a family like that, so eventually he went to England. Some of his friends were already in Bicester. He went there, found a job, and then we came over too. I guess I was 12 or 13.

Have you always been into art?

Yeah, I’ve loved art all my life. I thought it was my calling ‒ then I went to art college and hated it. The first year was okay, but after that it was all research; like, write five pages about this artist, and then do something in his style.

Why would I want to do something in the style of another artist? Can’t I just do my own stuff, please? I dropped out and got a job in a factory instead.

Was that an improvement?

Not at all. I hated every minute of it. But it was money, I guess.

The best job I had was working in a nightclub. I'd never enjoyed anything more. I mean, I was young, single, and getting paid to flirt with women. It was a great job.

Nice work if you can get it. Is there a certain kind of art you especially enjoy?

I’ve always loved graffiti and street art. Growing up in Poland in the early 2000s wasn't like now, where everything’s modern. Then, everything was grey and gloomy, and dark.

The only colour around was graffiti: big, colourful pieces of spray artwork. They were mesmerising. I was like, I want to do that one day.

What other interests do you have?

Fitness: I've loved it since I was a kid. I go to the gym four times a week. At one time, I wanted to be a personal trainer.

How do you relax? Do you have a favourite TV show?

Not really. I basically just watch whatever my girlfriend wants to watch.

But I do have a special place in my heart for American Horror Story. I used to watch it with Charlie back when we were at school together, so it's a bit of a nostalgic thing for me.

What's your favourite drink?

Scotch: neat or on the rocks. Glenfiddich is lovely, but it's rather pricey. Glenmorangie is the one that actually got me to start liking whisky. But then I tried Chivas and loved it. It’s now my go-to. It's relatively affordable and really good.

You sound like a commercial. What skill would you like to master?

I've always wanted to play guitar. Haven’t got around to that yet. Skateboarding was a big thing for me for a while. Currently, I’m working on butterfly knife tricks. I think they just look cool.

We know you are a petrol head. What was your first car.

Mercedes C-Class 2006. I mean, it wasn’t the smartest decision, but I was working three jobs and just thought fuck it. It was 900 quid, and it was fucked.

I like fixing cars, so I fixed it up a little bit. But it stood on my driveway for five years because I didn’t have a driving licence. I passed eventually, years later.

What would you rate 10 out of 10?

Driving an old car. I got gifted a 1998 BMW E36 convertible by a guy I was working for at a garage － I’ve had a lot of jobs － and it was an old rattly thing that was falling apart. Seriously, the best car I’ve ever had. You could hear the engine; you could hear everything.

Taking that out in the summer, putting the roof down, with my girlfriend and my dog, going down country roads; nothing better.

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What's the best way to start the day?

A cigar and a whisky.

So decadent! Do you have a favourite movie?

Not really. I like Legend, the Tom Hardy movie about the Krays. That's probably up there. I like the ‘60s vibe of it: the old cars, the suits, the cigars.

What's your proudest achievement?

That I didn't turn out a fuck-up. Coming from where I did, getting in with bad crowds at some points, doing things I’m not proud of; there were so many opportunities for me to become an absolute fuck-up, and I just didn’t.

Well played, sir. This will likely be another car-based answer, but what’s something you think everyone should do at least once?

Drive a V8. It used to be such a normal thing, especially in America. In the ‘70s, everything had a fucking V8, even vans. In this world of three-cylinder cars and four-cylinder cars, I don't think people know what they're missing. You need to understand the joy of driving a car that’s actually worth driving.

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Do you have a favourite smell?

Petrol. Honestly, if I could drink it, I would.

Of course it was petrol! Which of your scars has the best story?

This one, under my chin. Me and Charlie had had a couple of drinks and went to this abandoned building close to my flat, where we found some old ceramic tiki glasses. We thought, hey, ceramic baseball.

One of us found a metal pole to use as a bat, and we threw tiki glasses at one another. The only form of protection we had was a pair of sunglasses we found on the floor.

Charlie threw one of the tiki glasses at me and, when I hit it, it splintered, hit me in the face, and sliced me up. It poured with blood. Charlie was like, "I think we should probably get that stitched up," but we just carried on drinking. It was fine.

And on that bombshell, we’ll call it quits. Cheers, Dawid. Your ordeal is over. Any final words?

Just always try to stay positive and stay strong: strong physically and strong mentally. Life’s stupid, so just try to enjoy it.

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January 2026