Kent garage behind Kim Kardashian's Met Gala look spills all on unlikely collaboration: 'Sworn to secrecy!'

TRENDING Stories Videos Your Say Q: Martyn, how did you first get approached about doing this job?Alan Jones is a very famous pop artist from back in the ‘60s and ‘70s, and Kim Kardashian is a massive fan of his work. She must have approached him, and Whitaker and Malem, who work alongside him, were asked to recreate something Alan made back in the '60's.However, she wanted it made as a breastplate rather than a full sculpture.They got the job of making it for her. Whitaker and Malem actually live very locally to me, and they’ve got studios in London and live in Lydd, which is where I’m based.I repaired their car a few years ago, and they deal with fabrics, materials and leather, but never paint. So they thought, 'Who do we know who does spray painting?' They thought of me, as I did their car, and I said no problem at all!I don’t just do cars, I do anything really, woodwork, trophies, anything like that. I'm used to spraying objects, if you like, and this was basically just another job for me...until I knew who it was for.Q: How early on in the process did you know who would be wearing it?All I was told is that it was for a very famous celebrity and would be worn at a large event. I don’t really follow celebrity fashion, so I was just guessing, really.I thought maybe Madonna or Gal Gadot, someone like that. Kim Kardashian was mentioned as well, just guessing away.When I finished the job, the two guys came to collect it, and I asked, 'Who's it for?' They said, 'If you're sworn to secrecy and you can keep your mouth shut for a few weeks, it's Kim Kardashian.' And I went, 'Wow, really!'LATEST DEVELOPMENTSWill Smith wins legal battle as sexual harassment lawsuit thrown out by judgeKelly Brook shares rare health admission after anxiety-inducing scan: 'Lumps and bumps everywhere'Avatar boss James Cameron faces legal battle as indigenous actress sues over likeness to characterThey told me I must not tell anyone until after the event.All they said was it's an event in a few weeks' time, I didn't even know what date it was. I didn’t even know what the Met Gala was. Then my sister and her daughter found out Kim was going to be there and stayed up to watch it.They were messaging me in the early hours, saying she was wearing it. I was dead asleep with my phone on silent. I woke up the next day to loads of photos of her wearing it. I was like, 'Oh, my God. It looks even better than I expected,' and she really did wear it well.I posted on Facebook: 'Nice to wake up this morning to see Kim Kardashian wearing one of my paint jobs,' and it just spiralled from there. I never thought it would get this big. I've had a lot of attention.Q: Are you enjoying the attention?I am, yes, but it has got a bit tiring. I’m not used to this kind of limelight, especially while trying to do my normal work as well. It's been a bit of a surprise and a shock.I even woke up to see myself on the front page of the papers. I was like oh my god, it’s not stopping.Q: How are you going to keep up the momentum now? Do you have any plans to do more pieces for artists?I will be, yeah. I was told by a photographer yesterday that other designers might see my work and approach me.I’m all over Google now, so it could snowball from here.Q: Do you think this attention will help your normal car business, too?Yeah, I think so, I do. I think it will make a difference. I’ve been self-employed for 16 years now, and I’m still doing okay even through hard times.Now it’s local as well, people are talking about it in pubs and among friends, so it’s basically advertising with no effort really, isn't it?Q: Obviously, the publicity has been really positive. How about financially? Were you paid a lot to do it?No, I’m not a greedy person, even though I knew it was for a top celebrity.I charged my normal going rate. I probably spent more hours on it than I would for a normal job, but I treated it like a test and made sure it was perfect!Q: How much was your normal going rate?Everyone is trying to guess how much it cost! Less than a thousand pounds, can I say that? She probably paid hundreds of thousands of pounds for it!Q: Can you talk me through the process? So you were given the structure, and then what did you have to do to that?I was told it would come in primer, ready to paint, but I expected imperfections because fibreglass always has them.There were tiny pinholes and mould lines, so I filled each one carefully with fine filler, smoothed everything down, checked edges, and made sure it was perfect.I wanted it so smooth you wouldn’t even know it was fibreglass. The end result came out really nicely. It came out perfect. It's not even been polished. It was gun finished, that's what we call it.Q: Did you feel pressure to get it perfect? Were you panicking at any point?No, not at all. It's what I do for a living. I treat every job the same, but I knew people would look closely at this one, so I made sure I didn’t cut any corners, and say oh that will do, I made sure it was perfect!Q: Well, it certainly looked perfect on the television. What do you think of the Met Gala overall?Normally, I wouldn’t watch it, but because I knew Kim Kardashian was involved, I watched clips of it.It was an amazing show. Some outfits were fantastic, but I think ours was the best!I should say 'my paint job' really. Credit goes to Alan Jones and Whitaker Malem for the design, but I did the final finish.Q: Are you going to reach out to Kim Kardashian?We’ve tagged our name on some posts, but we haven’t heard from her directly. It would be nice if we did. It would just be the icing on the cake!Please, Kim, get in touch, say thank you! Our Standards: The GB News Editorial Charter