Friday, 16 July 2010
Sat 17th July: Tatty Devine Supermarket Sarah - report by Emily Beard
It's not everyday a well known jewellery brand makes you your very own necklace. But Supermarket Sarah is not everyone. Her newest collaboration is with lazar cut jewellery superstars Tatty Devine.
To celebrate her new wall installation in their Brick Lane boutique, Tatty Devine threw a 'Super Summer Party', involving cake, 90s tunes and giant cardboard letters.
Incorporated into the display is a range of old school and one-off Tatty Devine jewellery, display pieces, vintage clothing and objects sourced by Sarah. The wall display also includes a lmited edition gold mirror Supermarket Sarah necklace.
The wall and window display will be up and available to buy from until the 16th August and the wall will shortly be going live on Supermarket Sarah's site.
Fred Butler provided the tunes along with Anna Murray of Patternity, who was sporting her Patternity screenprinted tights.
You can purchase these at Patternity along with many other uniquely patterned original pieces.
(all photos by Fred except top image by Tatty Devine)
Friday 16th July: Getting ready for LOVEBOX with The Noisettes
Q: What is your soundtrack to Summer 2010
Christopher Cross 'When you get caught between the moon and new york city'
Picture of something that is your essential festival item?
A: Fringing is essential!
Shingai Shinowa, The Noisettes
(photos by Rosy Nicholas of Shingai infront of a Black Sabbath poster at the rehearsal studio wearing a white one-piece with bespoke necklace by Rosy, one of the backing girls getting the fringing of her dress cut by the seamstress, Noisettes in rehearsal yesterday)
Fri 16th July: Getting ready for LOVEBOX with Man Like Me
Q: What is Man Like Me's essential summer anthem for 2010?
A: well, my summer tune would be Todd Edwards - There's No Place Like London
Picture: Of something that is making you smile this summer............ could be anything!
Picture is a still i took from the lovestruck video shoot. There's something in the mix match of people, costumes and facial expressions thats timeless.
Peter Duffy, Man Like Me
Man Like Me play the Gaymers stage at 2:45 on Saturday so get there early!
Thursday, 15 July 2010
Thurs 15th July: Getting ready for LOVEBOX with Horse Meat Disco
Q: What is Horse Meat Disco's essential dancefloor filler for Summer 2010?
My big song for the summer is a new record. Its the stereogomous remix of the LCD Soundsystem soon to be hit 'I Can Change' from their upcoming album. I don't actually have a copy of it as yet but i'm waiting for it to drop on my door mat before Lovebox.
Q: Please could you send a picture of something that is making you smile at the moment..............(could be anything?!)
As for something that makes me smile right now. My little boston terrier Rocco never fails to make me smile.
James Hillard, Horse Meat Disco
Wednesday, 14 July 2010
Weds 14th July: Getting ready for LOVEBOX with I Blame Coco
Q: What is "I Blame Coco's" essential tune on repeat for summer 2010?
A: Plan B 'Prayin' - and for oldtime's sake Trentmoller 'Moan'
Q: Please can you send me a photo of something that is making you smile at the moment..........can be literally anything.......
A: Aldous - Coco's dog wearing her glasses.
Coco is playing Lovebox festival on Saturday and to get her new single before you go "Self Machine" click here
(and to see the video styled by my very own stylist Kim Howells, click here..........read all about it on her blog here)
Tuesday, 13 July 2010
Weds 13th July: Interview with Alex Noble
I often wonder why people want to visit me at my studio as its essentially full of alot of stuff that's been hanging around and collecting dust .......... but when I stepped inside the wold of Alex Noble it was a little revelation into the intrigue. Out the back of an antique furniture shop is an opening to the hidden treasure trove where the alchemist artist resides to rustle up his wares with a mix of stylistic sorcery. Centre stage in a shaft of light stands a couture silk gown pinned to a tailor's dummy undergoing extensive beading embroidery. Alex explains how he has sunk in the seams and aligned the panels of the breast-piece........and points to his "sketch" on the wall which is more akin to a traditional accomplished couture illustration than any other working drawings that I have seen! I think this dichotomy best sums up the breadth of Alex's implicit unconscious output. Although there is a physical division in the studio between his sewing station to his painting domain - there is no separatism in his talent across the skills. And boy, this talent has skills.
Alex studied womenswear at LCF and spent a substantial slot of this time outside school learning under the wing of Mrs Jones assisting her making costumes for iconic pop moments. Although he allocated only a limited time set to 6 weeks for his own degree collection, these pieces came together and are still requested for shoots to this day. Over the course of the next few years Alex explored both styling and display, becoming part of the 3D creative team at Selfridges. This period exploring spatial awareness in terms of presenting a visual narrative gave him the perfect platform to jump into putting together a story that was entirely his own. To bridge the gap, Alex dedicated himself to creating a body of artwork and set up his first one-man show at The Old Shoreditch Station. Believing "art is for an audience" he wanted to share his vision and plant his private paintings into a public arena for feedback and discussion.
Alex now provides exactly that opportunity for other artists as curator of the exhibitions and shows at The Dalston Superstore. When he found out that his friends were opening up the business, he inquired if anyone else had been appointed the position ......... in turn nominating himself for a role that he has carved out for the establishment. However, his residency is winding up in September as he hands over the responsibility to focus on conjuring up his next solo show which will find a new premises. This will mean more time spent the other side of his studio, dipping into oils and clay to paint and mould his signature anatomical figures.
Alex's fine art approach to creating one-off objects of beauty in relation to the human form is probably the most distinctive body of work that readers of this blog will recognise. You can see here sketches of outfits for a certain someone and if you squint you can spot newspaper clippings stuck on his wall............a regular client returning to his aesthetic being Lady Gaga. The red bondage bandage dress in her "True Romance" video and the white lace body suit and cloak from her Brit Awards performance are two very memorable looks and both by Noble! The alignment with her styling team came about firstly from commissions for editorial fashion spreads and then later specific pieces for the musician when the consultancy started. Amongst the archive that Lady Gaga HQ are amassing are a quite a few of Alex's designs which you can research by heading over to his blog. As most of his accessory work is produced purely for unique projects, Alex cannot answer to requests of appointments to trawl his archive. The majority of his back catalogue is scattered across the various collections of clients. Therefore if you are wishing to borrow an original it is unlikely that the man himself still holds onto the item. This means if you want a piece of the Noble pie, you need to put your order in! Just at the moment it looks like Alex has his fingers in quite a few pies of which some I am not able to disclose as it is classified information but in his own words yesterday:
"1 day, 2 fittings, 1 icon of draje with 1 cup, 1 pagean starlette with a 2 lungs, 12 meters of elastic, 3000 crystals,2 sewing machines, 12 rollies, 6 hours of hand stitching,6 cups of tea, 1 round house, 1 tescos cous cous salad eaten with a plastic fork and 1 me, and its only Tuesday!"
His most recent published project has premiered as costumes for the band "Monarchy" directed by Price James. Don't bother trying to find out anything about the act - I can confirm there is nought on the net and according to inside info that is a strategic manoeuvre from the band who have agreed not to disclose their identity and instead generate a mass mystery! Oh! To see the clip for "Love Get Out Of My Way", click here.
You may also be able to witness the next Noble unveiling on Jonny Woo at Lovebox on Sunday..............
Now make a cup of tea, close your eyes and listen to the temperate tune that was whirling melodically in the background of his studio for this soothing interview and picture the scene by clicking here.
Tues 13th July: Getting ready for LOVEBOX with We Have Band
Q: What is We Have Band's essential summer anthem for 2010?
A: Laura Branigan - Gloria
Huge tune. A special favourite of Dede's.
Photo of something that is making you smile this summer?............ could be anything!
Something making us smile this summer is touring around in the beautiful weather going to so many amazing places and meeting so many amazing people. The pic is of me and Thomas on the beach in Bari, Italy last week where we did a show with 2manydjs. The girl in the photo is the girlfriend of the promoter and she's called Barbara. She and him took really good care of us. They run a record and fashion label together called Discipline. (Dede's not in the picture because she was taking it!)
Darren, We Have Band
Tues 13th July: Getting ready for LOVEBOX with The Invisible
Q: What is The Invisible's essential soundtrack for Summer 2010?
A: My summer soundtrack would incorporate the following:
Connan Mockasin: Please Turn Me Into The Snat
Lonelady
Carly Simon: Why
Slum Village: Fantastic Volume 1
Shuggie Otis: Inspiration Information
Talking heads: Remain In Light
Prince: Parade
Kraftwerk: Computer World
Grace Jones: Nightclubbing
David Bowie: Low
Q: Please could you send a picture of something that is making you smile at the moment..............(could be anything?!)
This is makin me smile
This head dress I stole from Paloma at Matthew Williamson party makes me smile.
Last one! Me and Paloma in Rome experimenting with marcupial clothing
Dave, The Invisible
Monday, 12 July 2010
Mon 12th July: Getting ready for LOVEBOX with The Maccabees
Q: What is The Maccabee's essential festival item for 2010?
A: Crayons
Picture: Of something that is making you smile this summer............?
A: The Cover of the Talk Talk album "Colour of Spring"
Felix, The Maccabees
Mon 12th July: Time for Tea
Coming out of Arnold Circus I saw one of London's institutions - Time for Tea's dog............you can't really appreciate the enormity of this pooch from this photo as there isn't a human to compare proportion but take my word for it he is a walking giant...........
Mon 12th July: Darrin Pattanumotana
Here was my other favourite graduate from Brighton's Illustration degree - Darrin Pattanumotana - who has named his website mynameisnotdarren.com with a tinge of humour running through his work. I put 10p into his "Game of Normality" to drop tokens down a slalom of nails and pull out these printed tickets to find out that I had lost by not collecting all four - I am a "stupid Imbecile" and not at all normal. Brilliant!
I was really pleased to find out that the missing name on these folded map letters on a different wall were also the work of the same person. Such a good idea and executed so nicely - a font folded in origami style square grids using the pastel hues of what looks like old tourist guide maps (perhaps he has printed these though as the reverse plain primary colour is so perfect!).
If you buy one of Darrin's R.O.Y.G.B.I.V. prints you can pay a little extra and get it in a rainbow printed canvas bag rolled and tied up in a cute parcel. The shop at the end was a fantastic mini gallery of the works on show at really accessible prices to invest in emerging talent........... however I left empty handed as I couldn't decide which print I wanted as there were so many to choose from! Its the last day today until 7pm so nip to Shoreditch to see it all for yourself.
Mon 12th July: Milly Freeman
I received an enticing invitation to the Brighton University Graphic Design and Illustration degree show in London. They had printed their logo onto a hard black card with my favourite iridescent spectrum foil which was very alluring!
They set up their exhibition in The Rochelle School which is the beautiful location in East London's Arnold Circus where I showed earlier in the year for IYC. As soon as I walked in, one of the first artists on show was an immediate favourite and I loved looking through her hand printed and bound books such as "Lunch With The Lions In Trafalgar Square" (top 2 images). Milly Freeman also created these gorgeous Paradise Word Birds which were designed around their characters, performances and first letter of its name. These birds invented in collaboration with graphic designer Rowan Powell have also been put into motion in this short animation.
The blocks of colour and clean edge styling of these characters totally taps into the 70's illustration (Eric Carle) that I'm influenced by so it was an obvious choice for my top pick from the class. The beautiful presentation of the prints and book with laser cut letters in bright contrast colour pages is something I would really hope to see becoming a future classic.
Paradise word birds from Milly Freeman on Vimeo.