Step, 2004

LATIN NAME: Documentus Counterfeitus

DESCRIPTION: Since 1999, the Fake I.D. duo has been crossing the borders between art, design, fashion, entertainment and advertising. They have exhibited and lectured in numerous countries including Italy, Iceland, Mexico, Sweden, and the U.S. Their clients include Urban Outfitters, Colors, MTV, Walt Disney Imagineering, and Emigre.

VOICE: Fake I.D. is a two-headed beast with projects that use new technologies in unexpected ways. "Design is fundamentally theatre," they explain. Masters of illusion, they like to leave their audience guessing as to how a project was made and are happiest when their design is mistaken for something else.

DISTINCTIVE MARKINGS: The firm's work, as one may guess from the name, is difficult to spot, distinguished more by attitude than a visual signature. Recent work includes culture-jamming projects such as "Pretendster" -- a plug-in that populates the user's Friendster account with fake friends and profiles -- as well as Fake Forest, a division they established to research and produce projects that are designed for minimal environmental impact and sustainable use (they object to "environmentally friendly" because, as they point out, "trees don't need hugs").

HABITAT: Fake I.D. is based in a tree house studio in Los Angeles.

SPOTTED BY: Allison Goodman

Yvan Martinez & Joshua Trees interviewed by Alice Twemlow and David Womack, STEP magazine, USA, 2004