Yes, that really is a real piggy bank carved from actual pig. No photoshopping. Welcome to the weird world of thecheeky, where no idea is too ludicrous to stick, grow and eventually turn into a real-life product. The site's store has given the world such delicate beauties as tea-bagging tea bags, masturbation man-bibs and his near-infamous piglet banks. He chats to us about pushing creative ideas all the way through to production, the little bit of crazy you need to get it done, and why animal rights activists ought to do their research.

To start off with, could you give us a little bit of history behind your creative work? How long had the idea seed behind The Cheeky been in gestation before it went live?

It has been a hobby that I have been working on for years outside of work and sanity. I have been writing down every shit idea I have had for years and started to produce them about a year ago for a bit of a laugh. There are many more ideas like this in the vaults of my office. Most of them are a little bit more inappropriate which makes me nervous.

What's your role on the site and store now? What inspired you to set it up?

To me the ideas are the easy bit but it's the production that is the hard work. I spend quite a lot of time sourcing and trying to get stuff made at a cost that means that the ideas are accessible to people. I am generally looking to exploit children as the quality of their work seems to be getting better every year.

We launched about 8 months ago and have sold thousands of products. It's been unbelievable and at the minute, my role is to relax a bit after a 'monster panic Christmas gift buying attack' and figure out the future of the site and the next products to get out there.

Out of all of the great tongue-in-cheek products on the store which has been your favourite to take from conception to sale?

The Piglet Bank has been amazing. Taxidermy is one fucked up profession. I chatted with loads of different guys and they are all a bit weird. When I say 'bit' I mean 'incredibly'.

The product I am working on at the minute involves a lot of design and manufacturing, and I have just seen a prototype and it looks great. It's a bit like my own version of my favorite site 'How it's made'; I'm very excited about it.

How much do you think audience/buyer reactions matter when coming up with products for the Cheeky?

Not a lot really. Obviously I hope that people will like them, hence the 'for sale' bit, but I think if go down the route of what people would like, then the edge may be lost. It's test is probably more like 'What would people not like?' and 'Will it make my girlfriend frown?'.

How much hate mail would you say you've gotten over time for the Piglet Banks? What pushes you to stick to your guns and post a product of that sort that may shock the 'masses'?

I got about an email every few weeks until I got onto one of those 'Animal rights hate lists' where I get a generic email from about 30 people in a few hours. Generally they have no idea about what the process is for the piglet bank. The fact that we source already dead piglets and taxidermy them is not illegal and it's not cruel. I am aware that it is distasteful and insensitive but don't go out and kill them.

One angry email thought that it was horrible that we were trying to breed piglets with slots in the backs.
We have also been getting death threats in from fans saying that if I stop making these products they will kill me, rather than the other way around.

The hicky-tatts and suitcase stickers are favourites of ours and have made a member of our team laugh out loud more than once. How would you best describe the impetus behind your marriage of humour, odd innovation and self-proclaimed "humble mark up" prices?

Firstly, hicky-tats don't work if you are a wet hicky giver, just so you know.

I'm a pretty normal bloke who likes to make things. I am sure that everyone reading this will have come up with completely ridiculous ideas at some point or other. The only thing that I have done is actually gone and made them happen when most other people stop at their internal snigger.

Everyone I talk to about the site does two things. They tell me they think it is funny and then they begin to tell me their idea, and it's usually pretty good apart from my granny who's ideas are things like automatic gas fires or boy bands.

Which products have been your best-sellers? Why do you think they tend to appeal to people most?

Suitcase stickers are a big seller. People hate airport security. We know it has to be there, but they don't have to be suck-dicks about it.

Suitcase stickers are a polite way to stick the finger up as you are going through the airports with the argument all ready 'But they're just stickers, officer'.

What's next for The Cheeky? We can see you've got plenty of other separate projects on (notably First United and Cardboard Dreams). Are you considering bringing back sold-out pieces from the store, or leaving the project behind once the current stock sells out?

To be honest, the sold out products are all trying to be resourced, they costs of production have rocketed and we are looking to get them done cost effectively and will be up as soon as possible.

The Cardboard Dreams and First United are personal projects outside of thecheeky, but funded by profits from thecheeky.

What advice would you give to a roomfull of 9-year old wannabe-inventors, if called in for a 'Bring Your Dad To School' mini careers talk?

You're probably shouldn't try and compete with thecheeky.com and you should probably just set my site as your default for fun family gifts for the rest of your life (and for your wedding list too).

To see the rest of Colin's projects with the store, head to thecheeky. His personal work is also found on Blogger and YouTube.