International entrepreneur and nightlife fixture Richard Mortimer is most notable for his influential stamp on London nightlife. With his famed PonyStep parties reaching an all time high - Mortimer is hard at work doing what he does best - creating and re-creating innovative ways to reach a young, creative based audience.

While his online magazine PonyStep.com sprouted from his parties, Mortimer is currently working on a line of glasses with Linda Farrow as well as a limited edition CD in collaboration with Kitsune. Not to mention, his influential and highly publicized parties in both London and Paris.

Richard and I sat down and chatted about Pony…trot, “the kids”, and arseholes.

Who is Richard Mortimer? How did you go from a background in hairdressing to the ultimate in nightlife?

Its funny, I kind of fell into hairdressing. I had always hoped to work in fashion in some capacity, but at school it was very discouraged, mainly through ignorance I can only assume! I remember clearly being told to work in a high street ‘fashion’ store if I wanted to choose a career in fashion. I was horrified. I didn’t want to work in retail. I wanted to work in fashion!

Anyway, I had friends that worked at Vidal Sasson, and knew they worked on a lot of shows at fashion week (Vidal Sasson were an official partner of LFW back then), and so I just went to work there.

Moving to London at 18, I embraced the club scene. It was mind-blowing to move from an completely suburban environment to the hedonistic club life of London. It all happened quite naturally I suppose.

What is behind the name PonyStep?

Its a funny one really. When trying to come across a name for a website, it became apparent that I had to choose something that wasn’t really a word. It scores higher on Google! You look at people like Yoox, and Expedia etc… They are unique words. One day, a friend and I were looking at runway footage, and were commenting on the way some models do the ‘pony-trot’… We wanted that initially, but it was taken. So, we settled on Ponystep. Its the kind of word that means nothing, and has no connotations, and I was happy with that. It allowed us to create whatever we wanted!

From BoomBox to Golf Sale to PonyStep, you have become quite the fixture for international nightlife. What do you think attributes to your success?

Hard work! I think that, and always striving to improve on what you have done before. I think its also important to remember that I have NEVER charged for people to come to my clubs. Often the people with the least money are the most interesting!

What is it about your parties that have become internationally recognizable? Why do you think it has taken on such a huge amount of success and publicity?

I think its fair to say that we encourage people to have fun. I like the sense of abandon at my parties. Often clubs can become very serious - whether that be through music or attitude, or whatever. Snobbery doesn’t work in parties. They are simply that, parties. I like to see people get stupidly drunk and not care. I like people dancing on bars and throwing up outside the club. Its funny. I think people should just relax a bit and allow people to go wild! Lets face it, we all have to work so hard these days, and its nice to let go a couple of nights a week!

You have mentioned you throw parties as you “do it all for the kids”. Is this still your main objective?

Of course. Youth culture is exciting. The younger kids have such raw energy. They have not yet been caught up in the politics of whatever they choose to be (whether that be fashion politics, music - whatever)… They just want to have fun. Like Cyndi Lauper.

When/Why did you decide to start PonyStep.com?

I got to a point where, toward the end of BoomBox, I thought, I’ve been running clubs weekly for almost 5 years now, and I want to do something else. I was in a very fortunate position where I had become friends with a lot of very influential people, and realized that I should actually create some kind of platform to utilize the contacts I had. I didn’t want to be ‘that guy that ran a good club years ago’… Its all about challenging yourself and constantly moving forward. Always striving to do things to the best of your ability. Being comfortable is always a danger sign to me…

You have mentioned that your parties have a strict dress code - as you are trying to avoid the “9 to 5″ crowd. What do you think makes a fun crowd?

That began because the area in London (Shoreditch) has become so densely populated at weekend with real ‘unsavoury’ characters. We just wanted to keep them out and have somewhere for the locals to feel was theirs…

How come you transitioned your parties from London to Paris? I am sure there are a lot of London kids who are dying for more PonyStep. Was this a difficult move?

Not really. It felt natural. As I said, I’d been doing parties in the same area for years and I wanted some new energy. Also, to be really honest, it was more to benefit the website. I put so much into the site, and found it difficult making requests from the Paris fashion houses as they didn’t know who we were. I made it my mission to go and win over Paris. It worked - the Parisians are wonderfully helpful now!

What are you currently working on? What’s up next for PonyStep?

I’m just constantly striving to maintain the quality of content on the site. Its hard. We are an extremely small team and work long hours… I can say we are looking at publishing a yearly retrospective of the best content. It will be nice to see certain things beautifully printed in a hardback book.

What was your main mission when starting PonyStep.com? How has it changed since your first post?

I set out to be informative and entertaining. And also, for the site to be a reflection of what I believe in. Admittedly, it may not be to everyone’s taste, but at least it has a voice. A direction. Of course, its changed massively since our first week. The shoots have improved, the writing too. We have amazing contributors and have had fantastic exclusives. I think one important thing is, we were initially working with a usability specialist, who strongly advised that we restrict word counts to around 600 words per article. We did initially, but I just felt we couldn’t get enough of a story with that limit, so, against his judgement, I ignored it and began commissioning stories as though it were a printed format. I take full responsibility for that, he knows what he is doing, but I never set out to be like anything else. I just want to have faith in what we put on the site.

Any parting words of wisdom?

The world is full of arseholes. But still try to be nice to everyone!

What’s up next for Richard Mortimer?

As most people know, I wear glasses. I am currently working on a range of spectacles with Linda Farrow. I’m working with Jonathan Saunders on his LFW party, and Gareth Pugh after show in Paris. Oh, and the Arena Homme+ issue launch also in Paris. A Ponystep/Kitsune CD is in the pipeline, and of course the Annual.

Ponystep is weekly again at Hoxton Square Bar and Kitchen, so that should keep me busy for a while!