True innovation comes through years of dedication, hard work, and a brief moment of genius that strikes you when you need it most. The hardest part of creating something unique in a world of unique designers is ensuring that yours will stand out away from the throng and din of countless others. Bethany Shorb’s designs truly shine as brilliant masterworks.

As the principle designer for Cyberoptix designs, she’s created costume designs for some of Gothic and Industrial Rock’s top artists including Skinny Puppy for their 2004 world tour, for feature length films like the nightmarish “The Gene Generation” movie, and even designs for such diverse clients as Lexus and World Wrestling Entertainment superstar Johnny Nitro.

The Cyberoptix Tie Lab, the more lucrative end of her business, has garnered attention from DNR, Bust and Adorn Magazine and continues to grow in a market that previously was unfriendly to alternative designs. As a photographer, she’s had her own images featured in many fashion magazines; most recently was featuring a complete shoot in the Real Detroit Weekly of the stark and quirky “The Big Hunt” photo spread. Active in the local NYC music and art scene she performs as Toybreaker and one half of the group Deathlab.

All of this hard work seems to be paying off now as Bethany continues in launching her new spring line titled “Whiplash”. This will be a new line featuring the new ties she has now garnered a great deal of attention for as well as a new line of ascots and scarves.

I received my BFA from Boston University and my MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art – both degrees with concentrations in sculpture and photography. I started out making clothing exclusively as props for my photo installations, so it grew from a need to style intricate location and studio shoots.

One hell of a lot of hard work and a little bit of good luck. Everyone I have worked with thus far has helped to make the process exciting and interesting. It is also important to note that work for most high-profile clients is always proposed at the very last second of the last minute, so if one is ever entertaining the idea of going this direction with his or her work, be prepared for marathon studio sessions and very little sleep. These projects are wonderful but can be a feast-or-famine situation, thus why I enjoy running the TieLab concurrently which is more consistent work for the most part.

I enjoy working with other performers in particular as it allows for human interaction which is sometimes frighteningly lacking in studio work. It can be really solitary – working 18 hour days alone can drive anyone nuts after a while.

I was given free reign to do an editorial shoot for the Thanksgiving issue of a weekly magazine out here. I wanted to subvert the typical intent of the “Biggest Bar Night of the Year” which usually consists of gross college girls hooking up on the annual Amateur Night, puking on their date when they get home, going to grandma’s house the next day for dinner and praying for death from being so miserably hung over. Classy! I wanted to push the meat market/“hunting” for someone in a really wrong and cheeky way. The biggest challenge was styling the shoot – we shot for three days in a row, all day, and I prepared props for about a month in advance. We sourced about ten pieces of antique taxidermy, bow and arrows, live quails, $300 in fruit, vegetables, and flowers and carted it all around to our different locations.

All my projects are extremely intricate, time-consuming and unfortunately as a result, not very lucrative. I lose money on most shoots due to the complexity of the sets and the hours needed to complete them. I wanted to make something that was still intricate in design, but less focused on labor. This way I can offer something in my shop that is affordable to most people yet still carries the same essence of my more time-consuming pieces. I was also interested in working with a very maligned and hated accessory and moving it to a place of fun and moderate subversiveness. I get enjoyment out of someone wearing my work to a corporate board meeting, I actually think that pushes the limit of what is permissible in society more so than making overt club wear.

As DethLab were very fortunate to be invited to play the Guggenheim Museum this past December, as artists and designers, we couldn’t have asked for a more amazing backdrop. Music projects also require promotional materials so we’ve been able to merge the fashion, theatrical and photographic elements into that direction. We also curate a series called “Machines That Feel” at the Contemporary Art Institute of Detroit where we’ve been able to invite other artists, designers and filmmakers to participate.

Sure, there’s petty crap in any creative industry, but if you have the time to fixate on that, you’re obviously not working hard enough.

This has never really come up – I’ve always been fortunate to work with clients who have kept the integrity of the work intact or who have worked alongside me since the inception of the project. A few real disappointments have come up when doing editorial styling work for major magazines – 80 hours of studio work can easily end up on the cutting room floor based on an editor’s or stylist’s whim or change of direction.

Recently I’ve partnered with All Purpose which is a great boutique out in Los Angeles and I made a line of silk skinny ties and ascots based around their “Whiplash” theme. Whiplash is a trope on the concept of James Dean’s car crash. The ties and ascots are all printed with auto part schematics, repeated and mirrored into complex, twisted patterns.

My next series will be called “Concealed Weapons” and will have large prints of current and antique weaponry printed on the reverse side of the tie. The front will have just a small clue of what is on the back, but the back will remain the secret of the wearer. most pleased with in your career?

One design will be called “Let Them Eat Cake” and will have a guillotine on the back and the French coat of arms on the front... or maybe Marie Antoinette’s head, I haven’t decided. Concealed Weapons is in the works now and I hope to have it ready April 1.

My partner always says this too – don’t set your sights on making work like your immediate peer group. If you are currently in art school, don’t aspire to make work like who you think is the best kid in your class. Look to the galleries, look in the magazines, look to art history for inspiration. So many students get caught up in the art school microcosm, look beyond that.