Are bow ties cool again? Definitely maybe. Meet Charles Olive the one man, spread sheet obsessed, bearded wizard on a mission to put these long neglected accessories back on the fashion map. He will be featuring in our L-Gallery this month.

So what’s so special about these ties? Well Charles comes from a background of digital and advertising and this has shaped his design conception. His first, and arguably most recognisable patterns, arose from experiments in Microsoft Excel, where he repeats colours cells create a simple pattern. Charles likens it to ‘painting by numbers’ and the outcome is pleasing in its boldness (see below). The ties then are really a platform for Charles’s personal passion for all things quirky namely rocks, space, video games and retro graphics.

This might explain the next design inspiration; screen glitches (top). Screen glitches have become something of a mini phenomenon of late and, due to their unexpected throwing up of graphic patterns, Charles collects them. With a bit of tweaking they soon get the bow tie treatment. He also features pizzas, computer game backgrounds (below) and planets, all simplified to create the most interesting and distinctive compositions. Who'd have thought that ties could be so interesting?

We respect this kind of passion here at W+K and one can't help admire a man who wears a suit every day of the year. Charles makes up one half of the 3D mouse creative consultancy http://3dmou.se/ . To see more of Charles's ties go to http://charlesolive.com/