A few months ago we interviewed Justin Hammond, the creator of the The Catlin Guide and Catlin Art Prize for the best new up and coming artists – currently represented at an exhibition being held at the Londonewcastle Project Space in Redchurch Street in East London. Amongst many interesting artists (I like the work of Adeline de Monseignat, who is also promoted by Art Grab) the mystical paintings of Tom Howse stand out as particularly unique. I decided to find out what makes him tick.

RADIANT BAZAAR by Tom Howse.

You say that you attempt to create a sense of mystery and unknowing in your paintings – often with a monolith like appearance to a possibly everyday object – why do you think you are drawn to this kind of seeing?
I think that there is something poignant about solitary objects, they give a sense of unity and completion. Where other things may need to be combined and joined together to create a meaning, the impact is sometimes diluted with each component. Mono-imagery has the responsibility to represent all the themes which multiple images would otherwise share. I like the idea that a solitary object can attempt to convey multiple themes, to a point where it becomes implausible to transmit so many ideas through a direct representation, therefore the image resorts to a higher level of omnipotent representation. Which is ludicrous, they can’t do that, but I like the thought that they can, because it feels more exciting.
 

SPHERICAL MANOEUVRES by Tom Howse.

Where do the original ideas and objects come from? For instance what is the Spherical Manoeuvres? It calls to mind both a snowglobe and one of those things from the 80s with electrical currents zipping around a sphere.
I like that these things can be interpreted in a variety of ways, that they don’t have to remain fixed in one state of being. An example of what I was saying before is that the object is attempting to be a snowglobe and an 80’s plasma ball thing at the same time, its impossible for it to do both things, so it attempts to become both things at the same time and results in becoming something else altogether. In an alchemical manner it has become a new element, existing between states. I want it to appear to be trying to do this act seriously, but I also want it to fail to do so, and just make itself look ridiculous. There is an absurdity in my work, like trying to express really deep, meaningful pearls of enlightenment, but through the eyes of a buffoon.
 

THE TOWER by Tom Howse.

There is something deceptively simple about your final artworks, but I imagine they take some time to create – what is the process of putting an artwork together? 
I can end up painting dozens of images on each canvas. Sometimes I’ll be really excited about something I’ve painted, but after an hour I may have completely lost interest in it, other times I may see something I like in a painting I’ve not touched in months. I think it takes a long time to really understand what you’ve painted. Also, to achieve that simplicity, the image will often have started off being far more complex, I then tend to get annoyed with the busyness of it, I begin to try and single out the most vital aspects of the image, and go about turning the volume down on the peripheral irrelevancies.
 

LANTERN by Tom Howse.

How do you choose what medium to work in and why is it your preferred medium?
I almost solely use oil paints and pastels, I think that I’ve developed my approach to painting not through what I want to paint, but through how I want to paint. I don’t tend to wash my brushes out between colours and I don’t tend to wait for wet layers to dry, this results in loads of unexpected effects, really dirty colours but with brilliant streaks of virgin paint running through. I usually draw figures in with pastels as apposed to with a brush because it feels more like working with pencil on paper, makes it feel more relaxed and natural. I also hate to waste paint, so you can leave the oil paints on your palette for weeks then still pick them open like scabs filled with beautiful gems.
 

UNCONQUERED MAGIC by Tom Howse.

The colours you use are very vibrant – so much so they seem to take on a 3D life of their own, almost as if the paintings are lit from within. What other artists or movements have inspired your work?
I really like colourful work, but I also quite grimy, dirty paintings too, and best of all when their combined together. There is a list of painters who have inspired my work in different ways, such as Henri Rousseau’s portraits and jungles, Phoebe Unwin had a show at Wilkinson Gallery a year or two ago, that’s still in my mind. I saw a painting by Daniel Richter at Frieze last year that has stuck with me called London Is The Place For Me. Recently I’ve been looking at the patterns in Gustav Klimt’s work.
 

RAINBOW WAND by Tom Howse.

Your sense of magic is very prevalent in Rainbow Wand – what do you hope viewers will feel when they look at this image?
I hope they feel magic. If viewers felt magic in all my work I’d be pretty chuffed. I hope that it can attract people to look at it, and look at it long enough to try and think what the image may mean for them. Chances of anyone feeling anything profound when they look at my paintings is pretty far-fetched, but I think it’s a pretty good aim to have in mind when I’m painting.
 

LEMURIA by Tom Howse.

If Lemuria is inspired by a cat is it inspired by a real live one? Can you tell us more about this character… real or imaginary.
Well there is a real live cat in my life, and he’s a nasty piece of work! Not all the time though, he can be a real darling too. He goes out most nights and gets into trouble. He doesn’t really have a name, it doesn’t mean anything to him what he’s called, and he never listens. Sometimes I call him Teacake, sometimes Susan. Recently I’ve been calling him Fun House. I like that he’s not got a proper name, makes him seem more elusive.
 

SPOTTED MONOBROW by Tom Howse.

What next after Art Catlin?
I’m going to enjoy some good studio time, main thing I want to do is get on with some more painting. I’m meeting with a couple of different people to discuss doing some shows later in the year and I’ve been asked to put in a piece of work for a group show at The China Shop Gallery in Oxford, the show’s titled Apophenia and it opens 7th July.

Check in with Tom Howse here. The Catlin Art Prize exhibition runs from 4th – 25th May at Londonewcastle Project Space. Read my full listing here.

A retrospective of a German modernist design movement seems like a slightly curveball choice whilst London is busy boasting about everything British. Even Tate, notorious for shunning British artists at its Modern site, celebrates Damien Hirst this summer. In Hirst fashion it’s rumoured that he kicked up a fuss at the thought of exhibiting at Tate Britain, and even paid for the floors of Tate Modern to be reinforced to accommodate his dead animals in tanks, leaving Tate Britain tenuously linking Picasso to British artists (and, hilariously, dealers) in its Picasso in Britain major exhibition. Even so, the theme of London’s galleries seems to be how great Great Britain is. Except, it seems, for the Barbican.

Bauhaus by Sam Parr

Nevertheless, I was excited to see what this new retrospective would offer. A visit to the Bauhaus Archiv in Berlin is a must for any design perv. I’d clocked that this Barbican showcase was in association with said archives so my feelings were mixed – would it be pieces I’d already seen, rehung in a different fashion?

The Barbican from above, by Morgane Parma

Unusually (I think) this exhibition begins on the upper floor of the gallery, which had punters looking a bit bemused at the bottom of the stairs, most of them deciding to begin on the ground floor and bottle-necking one of the lower exhibition rooms. I stifled giggles as I crept upstairs where it was relatively quiet. I couldn’t help thinking that Gropius, Mies Van Der Rohe, Moholy-Nagy and pals would be pretty happy that their work and influence were being celebrated in the Brutalist concrete alcoves of the Barbican Art Gallery. The first room charts the opening of Bauhaus at Weimar and Walter Gropius‘ educational approach, particularly the Programme of the State Bauhaus in Weimar, a hefty text which has since become known as the Bauhaus manifesto. There are a few interesting pieces in these early rooms – particularly Lyonel Feininger’s woodcut for the manifesto cover, on loan from MoMA.

Walter Gropius by Scott Nellis

The rest of the upstairs takes us on a tour of the early years of Bauhaus the ‘return to crafts’, showcasing the school’s impressive roster of teachers including Klee and Kandinsky; ’salute to the square’, discussing the turning point in 1923 where Bauhaus progressed from emphasis on craft to its more rational aesthetic with which we associate the school today. One room, ‘instruments of communication’ got me particularly hot under the collar, showcasing some of Bauhaus‘ incredible typographic and editorial design work and many examples of Bauhausbücher produced between 1925 and 1930. The eclectic style of early Bauhaus print had by this point been replaced with a slick, efficient design aesthetic – geometric shapes, simplified information and even printers’ marks. In my humble/honest opinion, it’s some of the sexiest graphic design ever created.

All photography by Jane Hobson courtesy of the Barbican Art Gallery

It’s downstairs where the exhibition really comes alive, though, through tangible design, photography and costume, charting the move to Dessau, Bauhaus’ final home. Vibrant photographs document life at the school – sport, recreation, teaching, socialising. Dramatic photographs of the building itself show what a marvel it must have been, from Gropius‘ futuristic design to Marcel Breuer’s tubular-steel furniture. The exhibition opens up here and it feels slightly overwhelming at first, particularly as you’ve been guided so carefully around the upstairs rooms.

Oskar Schlemmer’s Triadisches Ballett by Niki Groom

It was a challenge not to go wild as I surveyed the space, with costumes from Oskar Schlemmer’s Triadisches Ballett that I hadn’t seen in Berlin, Josef Albers‘ nest of tables and club chair, Marcel Breuer’s Wassily chair… it was a feast for any design fancier. Pig in proverbial shit, you might say.

Bauhaus (with Marcel Bruer chair) by Gilly Rochester

I could talk more about the pieces but any of the Bauhaus publications do it much better, so I’d recommend, if you can, to just go and bloody see it for yourself. You won’t be disappointed.

Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe by Sandra Contreras

In 1933, after only 14 years, the Bauhaus dissolved under Mies Van Der Rohe’s leadership. The Nazis grew ever anxious about what the school represented. Hannes Meyer was dismissed due to Communist leanings; Kandinsky’s work had to be hidden because of his Russian background and funding was withdrawn. A poignant letter hangs as the last exhibit, written by Mies Van Der Rohe to the final students of Bauhaus, detailing its closure. It’s a poignant end to an exhibition that celebrates the enduring legacy and worldwide impact of the school.

All photography by Jane Hobson courtesy of the Barbican Art Gallery

Four Norwegian girls reinvent bouncy banjo folk with a dramatic cabaret influenced flavour and a distinctly Balkan twist? Yes please! Katzenjammer release their first album A Kiss Before You Go in the UK this week in advance of a busy summer touring around festivals across Europe. It’s been a firm favourite on my playlist since I first heard it, and I can’t wait to see these talented multi-instrumentalists live. In the meantime we asked the girls to interview each other – here’s what they had to say.

Anne Marit answers to Sol

:

How do the other creative professions influence and affect the overall Katzenjammer offering?


It’s important to find the right people to work with in other creative professions and during our career we’ve worked with different stylists, photographers, music video directors etc: we’re very picky about what we want. That’s why we do a lot of it on our own. Solveig is for example a fantastic painter and she’s designed a lot of our merchandise and our logo as well. We also do our own styling. But – we’ve got a couple of music video directors and photographers that capture our universe and develop it even further which is essential to us. Most importantly, we get a lot of ideas both visually and musically from all sorts of art, anything from paintings, movies, clothes, dances etc. As long as it’s a little ‘off’ and weird, it’s a source of inspiration to me.



What do you like to create or do outside of music?


As long as I can make stuff with my hands I’m satisfied. I like to work with all sorts of textiles, wood and paint, for example making furniture and clothes. The last thing I made was a table out of pallets. And I must say that it turned out quite nice!



If you had to choose between always having cheez doodles fat on your fingers or constantly wear slalom boots on your feet for the rest of your life, what would you choose? (a reference to fat fingers caused by Scandinavian snack Cheez Doodles)


I think I would have to say cheez doodles fat on my fingers. I love to run and dance, I would get mental if the gigantic boots would rob me from doing that. Hate cheese doodles fat, but I could always wear gloves…



If you had the possibility to transform into a super hero for 30 minutes and you could pick 3 superpowers, what would those be and how would you spend the 30 minutes?


First of all, FLY SUPER FAST!! I always dreamt of doing that as everyone has I suppose. I’d take my loved ones and give them a tour through the clouds. Be INVISIBLE and walk straight into NASA or Area 51 and places like that to find out if there´s been any encounters with UFOs or other unexplainable things. Be an ANIMAL WHISPERER so that I could communicate with all kinds of animals and maybe they can tell me a thing or two that helps me to get them a better life.




Click here to view the embedded video.

Sol’s answers to Marianne

:

How do the other creative professions influence and affect the overall Katzenjammer offering?
We are a very visual band so we want our stage outfits to emphasise our music, hence the variation in colours and looks on each girl. Our music is very eclectic and so is our visual expression. I sew my own outfits since I can´t find anything in the stores that fulfils what I want to express. I let myself be inspired by photos, movies and fashion from any decade and different cultures. Right now I´m inspired by Cowboys and Indians and my childhood activities, such as skating. Weird and interesting combinations. We have always let ourselves be inspired by images and visual stuff. We can make a song, just by watching a movie or a picture or explaining a cartoonish image for each other. A dancing skeleton, you say? I know what that song sounds like!

What do you like to create or do outside of music?

Here´s my imaginary world: I´m a city planner and I have created a village, just outside Oslo. All the cars are parked in a garage under the ground and an elevator leads you to the village. Everyone who lives here has designed their own house and mine is shaped like a lighthouse. We all help each other out in our daily life and contribute with our skills. I´m a linguist, a tailor, an artist, a baker, an animator, a stylist and an aviculturist, and it´s extremely easy to combine all these occupations. And I would have a lot of spare time to read books and eat cheese and crackers.



Katzenjammer by Adopted Design.

Choose between the following: Never eat chocolate again vs always having access to a symphonic orchestra?


Ouch! That´s evil, Marianne! Chocolate is my heroin and music is my soul! I just bought a chocolate fountain yesterday, so that´s how hardcore I am. My all time dream was to play in a symphonic orchestra and my most intense musical experiences have been while listening to one. But I have to stick with the chocolate, I just cannot leave it, my life would be poor. I could always rent a symphonic orchestra. I remember I was thinking a lot about war when I was a kid. And my main concern was: ‘What would happen to me, if we became involved in a war, and there would be no access to chocolate for several years?’


Click here to view the embedded video.

Be bald for the rest of your life vs have sex with Margaret Thatcher?


I sometimes have dreams about losing my hair, and it´s like a nightmare. Same feeling as losing all your teeth at the same time, I often dream about that, too. Sex, schmex, I would always be able to repress a sexual act with someone: Margaret would be a tough one, though, but if I could be the one that inflicted some traumas on her, it would be worthwhile.



Marianne’s answers to Turid

:

How do the other creative professions influence and affect the overall Katzenjammer offering?
The way I see it, Katzenjammer’s distinct sound, appearance and clothing have become what it is because we never deliberately aimed for a certain anything. But after we started travelling as much as we do, I believe both our music and style has developed. To me, the places I visit or people I meet along the road, are what influences me the most, together with movies and old times.



What do you like to create or do outside of music?


I love to cook. It’s the closest thing I get to meditation. Sauces have become my specialty. And chocolate buns, they’re actually famous here in Norway. Photography has also become a passion. If I didn’t spend all my money on music gear, I’d probably spend it on camera gear and gadgets. I also redesign furniture. My current project is making an old radio into a nightstand.



If you had to either stop watching (TV) series’ or stop making your delicious chocolate buns, what would it be?


Stop watching series. Making other people happy is more important, and those buns are probably an answer to world peace.



If you had to choose a typical male profession, what would it be and why?


President of the USA. Cause it’s about time.



Turid’s answers to Anne Marit

:

How do the other creative professions influence and affect the overall Katzenjammer offering?

I get very much inspired by films and series. Tim Burton and Emir Kusturica films are my favourite. They are very different but I like the atmosphere, the music, and the mood in their films. Tim Burton has the dark mystic mood and the clothes in his films are just fantastic. Emir Kusturica has a dark humor and craziness that I just love, and fantastic music. Right now I’m watching Mad Men, and can feel that I´m getting dragged a bit towards that style. It´s fun to change for periods and also mix the styles. Also old films are very inspiring when it comes to clothes and music. Actually, I think our clothes reflect our music very much. All of us like retro clothes, but we also like to combine it with new stuff!



What do you like to create or do outside of music?


I like very much to make my own food, and I have a little hobby going on that involves experimenting with making healthier versions of different groceries. (There is too much shit in most of the food you get in the stores!) I also like to crochet and have made very many beanies for friends and family. It´s the gift I give the most, I think they all have one now. If playing squash, doing yoga and running around in the forest are hobbies I have to add them!



If you could choose between all the professions in the world (besides being a musician), which one would you choose and why?


I would like to work with children and youth in some way. Either in an institution or maybe most of all set up my own camp for youth who have problems and need inspiration. I’m dreaming about having a little farm with my boyfriend, where we can have some animals – hens, a goat or two, cats, maybe a horse and dogs. Lots of dogs! I wanna breed dogs. We also wanna have activities like squash, climbing, yoga and forest track. And of course a music room with lots of instruments. We also wanna grow our own organic vegetables and make healthy food. The children will be able to participate in all the activities on the little farm. Well, to combine this with being a musician would be great 



Click here to view the embedded video.

Can you describe what ingredients you put into Katzenjammer’s big melting pot, both musically and socially?


The genre that is most clear from me is the Balkan music, I loooove Balkan music! But I´m also putting folk and rock and probably a bit more into the pot. I´m not very good at music theory, so I have my own way to attack the music. I like to think that is good, although it would be nice to know a bit more some times. Socially I like to have fun, and laugh very often. I like to think that I respect the people around me, and I try not to step on any toes. I don´t like injustice, that provokes me. But I think it is easier to fight for other’s rights than my own. I´m practicing fighting for my own, but then I often feel bad afterwards and have to ask some of the other girls if I did something wrong. I think my way of taking care of the other girls is to stop the race if anyone is ill or very tired. I don´t like to see that the other people around me struggling. If we have discussions I often get very restless. I just want to find a solution and not talk and talk for ever! So then I can maybe be a bit short. I´m very energetic and happy. And if you give me liquor and Balkan music it´ll seem like a have taken a pill or something, and I´ll dance until the sun gets up – HOPP HOPP HOPP!

A Kiss Before You Go is out now on Propeller Recordings – it’s ace!
Catch Katzenjammer on a headline tour of the UK during the month of May!
Thu 17th BRISTOL, Academy
Fri 18th MANCHESTER, Academy
Sat 19th GLASGOW, King Tuts
Sun 20th BIRMINGHAM, Academy
Tue 22nd BRIGHTON, Concorde
Wed 23rd LONDON, XOYO

As a self-proclaimed lover of illustrating and in particular illustrating fashion, I eagerly made my way to this year’s Pick Me Up Contemporary Graphic Art Fair at Somerset House. Pick Me Up is a massively important date for anyone interested or involved in Illustration and Graphic Design, and was excellently reviewed by fellow Amelia’s Magazine illustrator Emma Block this year, most definitely worth a read, here as well as of course by Amelia herself.

All photography by Alia Gargum

It was it a perfectly sunny London day, and I had an extra little spring in my step as Fashion Illustrator legend Jason Brooks was going to be illustrating live alongside the other guest artists and designers. You might not immediately recognise Jason Brook’s name but you will surely know his slick, feminine style. He now has an impressive and growing client list, including Virgin Atlantic, L’Oréal, Vogue, Elle, and The Sunday Times Style Magazine, where I first remember seeing his work in print.

I immediately approached the friendly-looking Jason Brooks who was chatting to visitors while illustrating, hanging up his work to create a makeshift gallery. I don’t know what I was expecting, but I certainly wasn’t expecting him to be so open and easy to speak to, willing to give his time and simply chat. While we talked favourite materials to use and the loveliness of ink, I noticed that he was looking at me very carefully, which is when he confessed that he was illustrating me. Moments later, a beautiful ink illustrated version of me was produced, created on a page from an old french dictionary. He had been illustrating visitors all day, drawing inspiration from them and selling the portraits to those who wished to take an original Jason Brooks portrait home. I cannot thank him enough for the long chat, and the questions he answered so well, the best of which are written here.

You’re one of the first modern-day Fashion Illustrators I remember seeing in print just as illustration made it’s massive (and continuing) comeback. What was your first big commission?

My first big commission arrived when I was in my early twenties studying Graphic Design at Central St Martin’s, which at the time was in Longacre in Covent Garden. It was an exciting place to be and every day there had an almost party-like atmosphere, buzzing with creative energy, conversation and ideas. One day a message arrived from Vogue (before e-mail) for me to come in with my portfolio as I’d recently won an illustration competition they were running. I was immediately commissioned by Vogue to illustrate a story about New Orleans which ran over about six pages and included a whole double page spread. I remember buying a copy from a newsstand as soon as it came out, feeling on top of the world. I used coloured oil pastels on black card for this first important commission, giving the work a very direct and vibrant look. I then became a regular contributor to Vogue under the wonderful art direction of Paul Eustace. I used it as an opportunity to experiment with different media and styles in print, including some early computer illustrations, so I was the first to use a computer to illustrate for Vogue back at the very beginning of the nineties.

You’ve drawn at Paris Couture shows for The Independent, which led to more catwalk illustrating for a range of publications like Elle and Visionaire magazine. What do you love most about drawing at the shows?

Backstage is the most interesting place to draw at a fashion show. Not only is everything much closer, but the variety of poses and activities going on provides a whole range of Degas-like subjects. Models sitting in front of mirrors being carefully made up, impromptu fashion shoots going on, camera crews, interviews and striking people are everywhere as subjects. Drawing directly from the catwalk is more difficult to do well because outfits are only visible for a limited time, but nowadays it’s easy to take lots of digital photographs and work up drawings later. I love the drama and art front of the catwalk at fashion shows too, the crowd is always fascinating. The fact that every catwalk show is a one off performance, with high stakes for those involved as well as ever-increasing production values can create really intense theatre, so I love that too.

What advice would you give to a graduate who wants to get some experience in illustrating from the catwalk?

I started off by working for magazines who would give me accreditation and passes to go to shows as a photographer, after a little prompting from me. I would then simply take my sketchbook instead of a camera. I think when you are starting out it’s all about first of all putting together a portfolio that you feel confident to show people, and then making appointments and really pushing your work out there. I would speculatively arrange lots of ‘go sees’ and then jump on a plane to New York or Paris and try to get work, but perhaps business was more often conducted in a face-to-face way at that time. Going to the Paris couture shows with the Independent began because their editor Marion Hume approached me after I left the Royal College of Art. Luckily, I had work and sketchbooks from travelling to different places that I was able to show, so I would also say that travel drawing is a great foundation for drawing fashion. As a graduate, or anyone for that matter, some catwalk shows are much easier to get access to than others, so if you are interested in drawing at shows it might be best to start with more accessible fringe and off-schedule designers at fashion week and then work up from there.

Thanks to the rise of digital design, a lot of Fashion Illustration has a slick, smooth, and sharp look to it. You were doing this long before it became popular. What drew you to this technique?

I was striving to create a look from using areas of flat colour for a long time before I started using computers on a regular basis. As with my Vogue commission, I used oil pastels to try to achieve this but I also really liked collage, cutting up books and magazines and experimenting with very flat gouache paint. Computers first came to my attention as a way of making pictures in the late 80’s and early 90’s, and once scanning drawings became an option I was able to combine my familiar drawing on paper with computer colouring techniques, and that particular look was born.

Your style is undoubtedly feminine and luxurious. Has this always been the case or did it develop gradually?

The luxurious aspect perhaps is just from my idea of drawing things that are well designed and have an aesthetic appeal to me, so it was never a grand plan, just something that has happened quite by accident. I suppose it has developed over time to a certain extent because my taste has changed as I’ve learned more about architecture, fashion, design, film and so on. Looking back, I think my work has also been a reflection of a glamorous time for the western world where mid-century modernism has really come back and been reinvented through magazines like Wallpaper and through the activities of a whole generation of tastemakers in all areas of design. I happen to love drawing women because I think they can create powerful images, so in all it has been fun for me to reflect our culture’s interest in luxury and design through my illustrations.

What are your favourite materials to work in and which digital techniques do you find yourself using again and again?

I love good old pen and paper. Biros are actually very subtle drawing tools, but I also use 4B pencils to draw out ideas and sketches which I then scan into my computer. I mainly use Photoshop and Illustrator to create my pictures digitally so I definitely still combine very basic old school technology – the dip pen, the pencil, etc. with the latest computer programmes. They are however all just tools, and I would be equally happy working in clay or building a sculpture out of sand on a beach.

This year was your first as a guest artist at graphic design fair PIck Me Up at Somerset House. What did you enjoy and what surprised you about the whole experience?

It was a great chance to simply play with inks and coloured pencils. I made about 30 pictures or so, scribbling in an old french dictionary and on pieces of coloured paper throughout the day, which made me really enjoy the experience creatively. What surprised me was meeting so many new people who were interested in what I was doing, it was really rewarding to have direct contact and chat to them about their creativity too.

You’ve had an impressive career so far, what do you think has been the reason(s) for your success?

Thank you, although I really don’t see myself as being successful yet. I guess any success I’ve had so far could be because I started at a very young age and have put a lot of effort and practice into my illustration because I enjoy it so much. I was fortunate in a way to have had a childhood without the modern phenomena of ’screen time’ so I was able to immerse myself in my imagination through drawing worlds of my own instead of exploring ones created by other people. This lead on to college when creating work on paper was still very important, giving me the benefit of a ‘traditional’ academic art college experience with very little modern technology available unless I sought it out. I’ve always loved experimenting with all kinds of art forms and media, so when the digital revolution arrived in illustration and art I was very open to it and in a lucky position to be able to ride that particular wave from the beginning.

What can we next expect from Jason Brooks?

I’m just finishing my first book called ‘A Paris Sketchbook’, which is due out in 2013. It is an eclectic collection of my own drawings and illustrations and a homage to a city which I love, published by Laurence King. My dream is that it will be the first in a series of travel sketchbooks covering different iconic cities. Aside from this I’m involved in a number of commissions with different companies and brands around the world, which is a part of my work that I really enjoy because it gives me the chance to collaborate with so many interesting people, adding a sometimes unexpected variety to what I do. I’ve also just signed with a new agency in New York called Traffic, so that’s exciting. Recently, I’ve completed a new collection of artwork for sale on my website called ‘The Gelato Series’ – all about girls eating ice cream in retro, sexy colours.

It’s fascinating to hear from someone who has managed to carve such an astonishing career in fashion illustration. What a lovely guy. Be inspired! See more of Jason Brooks’ work online here – Amelia

Click here to view the embedded video.

However, I should probably point out that the first 4 or 5 set ups we did resulted in near zero interaction with the camera. And it was pretty scary as for a moment I thought this whole project might be a total failure. But we had bought the film, and we’d assembled a great team of really talented people, so there was no choice but to go on, and refining our set ups, locations, angles, etc. And by the end of day one, we shot the scenes at Oxford Circus during rush hour, and I knew we would be OK. 
 

Was it important to you that people responded to the gaze of your lens? You don’t try to hide it. Why was this?
Yes, absolutely. To capture people reacting to the camera, happily or not, but reacting directly into the lens. I had stumbled across the incredible films of Mitchell and Kenyon (from around 1900), and wondered if it would be possible to produce such a document today, about this day and age.

So this was the thesis of the project – that people would react. At times it was hard to achieve, in other instances it was very natural and infectious and we wouldn’t have to do a thing. But each time was unique. I knew I wanted to focus on crowd scenes, not on portraiture, but we never knew what we were going to get, and we only really had one take per setup. Initially I wanted to use the exact same camera Mitchell and Kenyon used, but that wasn’t feasible. I knew it had to be an original old wooden hand cranked camera though. I would never have got this kind of footage with a digital camera, that is for sure.
 

Does it surprise you to learn that I spotted two people I know? Despite it’s vastness London can also be a very small place sometimes…
Wow! Two people? Yes, that is surprising. But then again, on roll one of day one, I also caught an old friend as he cycled past on his way to work! So you are absolutely right – London can be small. (mine were both on bikes too! – Amelia)
 

What did you learn through the process of making the film?
Technology is a wonderful thing. When filming on a 100 year-old wooden hand-cranked camera, the limitations are quite real – so whilst it was an amazing experience to make this documentary and work with 35mm film in such a hands-on way, I don’t think I would do it again. The process is so complex and expensive, it just doesn’t make sense. Digital is the way.
 
Why did you decide to do this project and where do you hope it will lead?
I do lots of projects, all the time. I normally have around 10-15 on the go at any one time. Some of these projects naturally come together, but most fail or die along the way (which is probably not a bad thing!). I particularly like working on film projects. I love the way you can show things from a completely different perspective (my first film – Feeder – was filmed entirely inside a mouth!). But film is also the most time consuming and expensive medium to work in, so I have to be very picky about which film projects to press ahead with. And a film is no one-man-show either, so you really need a great team to help pull it off. This particular film would probably not have been possible without the help and support of the brilliant producer Gwilym Gwillim, and DOP Oliver Schofield, and my ex-colleagues at Channel 4. Lets just hope this project leads on to many more!!!
 
Follow Joseph Ernst’s projects on his Londoners facebook page and on his main page as well.

The seemingly ever present rain was holding off as I made my way up Commercial Street, past the facade of of shiny new shops and crumbling Victorian architecture where the schizophrenic fringe of the East End blurs and the City and Shoreditch collide. I’d just been to an in-store gig by Allo Darlin’ at Rough Trade East and was en route to one of the newer venues on the block (well, in this part of town), Village Underground.

Cate Le Bon by Joseph Joyce

Inhabiting a disused railway arch and adjacent warehouse, and adorned with recycled former Tube carriages, it’s a curious setting. I’d been here once before, for some of last year’s Stag and Dagger festival, but the acoustics in the main hall had proved to be a bit of a let-down. Tonight, though, the main event was occurring in a smaller side arch, a much more intimate setting for the dark riches we were about to enjoy.

Cate Le Bon by Gilly Rochester

Click here to view the embedded video.

A former protégé of Super Furry Animals main man Gruff Rhys, I’d seen Cate Le Bon a couple of times in the past, most recently at last year’s Camden Crawl. I’d been smitten with her debut album, the psych-folk tinged Me Oh My, and she was back braving the elements to launch her follow-up, CYRK.

Cate Le Bon by Avril Kelly

Bathed in red light, and with suitably weird images projected on to the wall behind her, Le Bon took to the stage with her band. Dressed in black and with guitar in hand, she kicked off the set with the off-kilter waltz of Julia, which then segued straight into Fold The Cloth. That bewitching, lilting voice juxtaposed with the way she attacked her guitar during solos kind of sums up the music on CYRK – the unexpected is always around the corner. The majority of the set was a run through of the new album, including the chugging Falcon Eyed (imagine if the Strokes’ Last Nite had been written in Cardiff), the introspective The Man I Wanted and the unsettling Greta (complete with eerie trumpet fade out).

Cate Le Bon by Sarah Jayne Morris

Click here to view the embedded video.

A couple of older songs popped up as well, with Le Bon moving to keyboards for the woozy riff of Eyes So Bright, before the set closed with CYRK’s own finale, the gentle first part of Ploughing Out building to a full on freak out that raised the hairs on the back of the neck. The cheers of the crowd brought on the encore, before which an apparently ill Le Bon wryly remarked that she’d managed to get through the set without being sick. She then took up the keyboards for Camelo, backed only by a disconcerting animation on the wall behind her, before the rest of the band came out for a romp through Ole Spain, a cover of über-obscure (even by my standards!) early 80s New Wave band Hamsters.

Click here to view the embedded video.

With CYRK hitting the shops, and a short European tour supporting Perfume Genius in a couple of weeks, now’s the ideal time to get to know this beguiling talent.

Well, the time is nigh…. my due date is approaching with inexorable rapidity, and this baby is definitely going to arrive sometime soon. As a result you may have noticed a drop off in blogs on this website as my nesting instinct inevitably kicks in – the last few months have seen a flurry of activity in a house that up until now has been a workplace. For years back issues of Amelia’s Magazine, promotional CDs, look books and other paraphernalia have dominated my home space… but now what used to house my interns has finally become what could be baby’s room (still full of boxes and clothes mind you), and my kitchen is no longer of the cheap student variety but rather a clean white affair from IKEA. The plumbing is no longer exploding in a dramatic fashion everywhere, fuses are mostly fixed, the wooden floors have been filled and sanded, I have become obsessed with painting all the walls totally white and the dust is vaguely under control.

Amelia by Sally Jane Thompson from a photo by Tigz Rice.

Amelia’s burlesque bump by Janneke de Jong from a photo by Tigz Rice.

Of course, I run my own business and have no capacity to employ someone to take it over for me… so maternity leave is but a dim and distant fantasy. However, this blog is my attempt to tell the world what’s happening and why I might be gone for a little while I adjust to becoming a mother. Right now I have no idea how it will affect my ability to maintain this website but the plan is to take a bit of time off and then dive back in again once I have the energy to do so. I’m sure I won’t be able to resist the lure for long…

Amelia’s Bump by Gemma Cotterell from a photo by Tigz Rice.

Amelia Gregory by Love Amelia, from a photo by Tigz Rice.

Mindful that my body will only stay in this exciting beach ball-like state for a short while longer, and inspired by my friend’s pregnancy photos, I decided to get some *bump shots* done before I return to normality, and this was how I found myself at Tigz Rice’s studio in Bromley one morning two weeks ago. Tigz Rice is best known as a burlesque and boudoir pin-up portrait specialist, but I thought she might like to have a go at something different. In the process we decided to muck around with some of her burlesque props – the results being some fun shots with ostrich feathers (and nipple tassels, though I am afraid those aren’t going to see the light of day on here) I found it much more relaxing to pose with these props, and strangely enough one of her burlesque regulars commissioned her to do some *burlesque bump* shots the very same week that I visited her, so there’s definitely an idea in the air. Tigz might just have an interesting side career on her hands… so if you fancy something special to commemorate pregnancy why not get in touch with her?

Amelia: maternity by Ada Jusic from a photo by Tigz Rice.

Amelia by Janneke de Jong from a photo by Tigz Rice.

Here I share one of the fully clothed shots that she took, and the rest I asked illustrators to interpret since lovely as they are for my personal record I am not really ready to bare nearly all in photographic form on the internet. Plus… illustrators can work wonders with things like fat thighs. I think you’ll agree that an illustrated image to remind you of pregnancy is a fine idea, and if you find yourself in the baby way maybe you’ll consider contacting one of these talented ladies to do the honours – they’re all happy to receive commissions! Just head to their respective websites to get in touch.

Amelia’s Baby by Claire Jones for Beautiful Moment Art from a photo by Tigz Rice. The flowers are Lotus, Myrtle and Daisies, which all symbolise birth, innocence, purity and new life.

Amelia by Nicola Ellen from a photo by Tigz Rice.

Finally, there will still be the occasional blog going up until I give birth, and then I’m sure I could be persuaded to share some baby pics… but this won’t ever become a place where I share all about raising baby. So don’t panic! I hope you will bear with me whilst I adjust to this new phase of my life, and enjoy the huge back catalogue of nearly 4000 blogs that reside on this website in the meantime. Why not explore?

Illustration by David Sparshott.

Each year the relatively new addition to the art and design calendar that is Pick Me Up seems to find it’s feet a little more and get a little more into it’s stride. This year showcased an impressive range of up and coming illustrators, as well as collectives, agencies, galleries and workshops. To a (hopefully) up and coming illustrator such as myself, this is a pretty important event in the year.

It was nice to see more names I recognized this year. All the artists were inspiring last year, but I’d never heard of most of them. If you can’t be in the show, it’s nice at least to see your friends exhibited.  It makes it a slightly more realistic dream being to one day be featured in this annual celebration of illustration and design. As a collage artist it was also a refreshing change to see the reliance on traditional rather than digital media, which can dominate the illustration landscape at times. I also mush preferred the way the work was displayed this year. Illustrations are largely ephemeral; we throw illustration away every day, in magazine, newspapers and packaging etc, but I felt it was wrong to carry this idea into the display. Where work has once been clipped to sheets of pegboard, it was now framed and well lit.

Some of my favourites were Niki Pilkington’s feminine 3D illustrations, which combined fluorescent cut paper elements with sensitive pencil work, while Rikka Sormunen’s surreal and beautifully haunting watercolours showcased an expert use of colour and pattern. Both are featured in Amelia’s Pick Me Up Selects review.

A familiar name was Tim McDonagh, previously featured on Amelia Magazine, whose incredibly intricate illustrations, which I had admired before online, looked amazing full sized and framed.

Sarah Maycock’s beautiful paintings were incredibly bold and expressive; the wrinkle of the paper under wet ink, the drips, slashes and smudges were all impossible to recreate in a digital medium.

David Sparshott’s colour pencil drawings captured some thing very real and human. It’s the little things like the way we take our tea, and the way we love to see things carefully collected and catalogued that made his work so personal.

Each artist showcased a different skill or attribute, each one leaving you itching to get the paints, pen and paper out yourself.

Away from the 20 selected illustrators in the main hall there was a whole world of warren like rooms and exhibition spaces to explore.  I entirely missed this section last year, so don’t make that mistake, there is so much more to see.

Soma is a little gem of a gallery that had set up shop in one of these rooms. Tom Frost’s vintage animal stamp prints and painted wooden sculptures were favourites of mine.

In the next room was Many Hands, an online shop that was new to me, but contained many familiar names. I had the chance to meet the lovely Lizzy Stewart, whose work I have long admired. Her delicate and sparing work was perfectly juxtaposed with Sister Arrow’s vividly coloured risographs. One of the lovely things about Pick Me Up is that there is something for every budget, from framed originals to zines, badges and post cards, and of course Amelia’s Compendium of Fashion Illustration and Anthology of Illustration, stocked by Beach London and featuring moi. As an illustrator shows like this not only inspire you, but also give you an insight into the industry. I know I was walking around mentally taking notes of possible stockists and collaborators.

To me this year’s Pick Me Up was bigger and most importantly better than ever before.  For the first time I feel like it truly represented an illustration and graphics industry that I not only know and love but also feel a part of. It is essential viewing for all art and design student, graduates, aspiring and professional creatives.

Sarah Arnett is a multi talented designer who just happened to train at the same university as me. She graduated the year above, and since then has had an extremely interesting and varied career – from contributing illustrations to Amelia’s Magazine to creating a beautiful fashion line that is exclusively stocked in Liberty – it seems she is capable of turning her hand to all aspects of design! Prepare to be very inspired….

Modern Love by Angela Lamb.

You’ve had an eclectic career, training firstly in woven textiles for fashion on the same course as me at Brighton Uni, and then moving into illustration, interior design and back into the world of fashion. Can you tell us more about your journey across these disciplines?
I found it very difficult to decide what to do in the first place, all I knew was that I wanted to go to art college, I grew up with a family of designers and makers so being able to sew and paint seemed normal and I used to watch my father work in his studio, everyone was able to draw, paint… in fact my great uncle designed fabrics for Liberty. Things happen in your life like having children, and other things become important… it’s the same with my work, other things become more exciting and more important. I am totally inspired by the process and that drives me to try more things. It’s an exciting time for crossing over disciplines and I have always just thought of my self as a designer… It could be fashion, interiors… or illustration. I am so inspired by working on a range of projects; in the last couple of years year I have shown in a couple of exhibitions at Somerset House, worked on Modern Love, designed the new look of the uniform for the National Trust, as well as creating illustrations for The Sunday Times Style Magazine. I also design a small bridal collection that I sell through a vintage shop in Brighton… and there is a long list of other things that I want to do!

Modern Love by Laura Griffin.

What is the highlight of working across disciplines?
No day is the same….

And what have been the difficult parts?
I love and hate fashion, sometimes I think it’s a frivolous waste of time and on the other hand can make someone feel beautiful and have a real impact on their life… I don’t think I am a fashionable person and have never felt very comfortable in my own skin, but I am and have always been fascinated by clothes. I find fashion a very big challenge. The stress of running your own business is hard work, as is that freelancer’s worry of where the next job will be coming from… and there is always self doubt. But I look at all of these as things that drive me on to try and do better.

Sarah Arnett’s Modern Love by Isher Dhiman.

Why did you name your clothing brand Modern Love?
Myself and my business partner Kim Hunt really liked the idea of a name that encompassed what we felt and admired about good design. The Love of beauty, vintage, heritage and the feminine and the Modern… a way of thinking, responsibility to the environment, ethical and local manufacturing, our vision, our way of working and maintaining a good work/life balance for ourselves (we did have our production meeting on the beach over looking a very calm sea today!) and a reference to David Bowie never hurt anyone! I

Print design from the current collection.

For S/S 2012 Modern Love is all about a mix of tropical and country garden prints – described as earthy African hues meet the soft English sky (love that description) Where did you find inspiration for the imagery?
I find that I am constantly working and re-working the same themes which are a mix of my African, big sunshine early influences and my love of the softer, rolling South Downs up-bringing. I can’t ever choose between them. If I admire or value or find something beautiful or fascinating I am drawn to design with it, I think it’s a very similar sensation to eating something or collecting things. It’s a different way of owning or tasting something. I draw it.

How do you reconcile living on the sometimes rainy south coast of Brighton with your fabulous African childhood? Are there ways to bring a bit of African sunshine back into your life?!
In a strange way having the coast and that big expanse of water and sky to look can be as dramatic and uplifting as the sunshine and dry African plains: I walk down to the sea every day I possibly can, it’s very important to me. Without it I would hate the winter even more than I do! My ideal situation would be six months here, six months there. 

How easy is it to design shapes to suit your prints, or do you begin the other way around?
The collection starts out with shapes and a woman in mind first. Then I feel like I have to think about that woman, what she would wear and start to fit the prints around it. It’s always a bit of a narrative, there has to be a reason for the print to be there. Quite often we will find an image of a woman for each season and then we will always question whether she will wear each design. Kim and I design the shapes together so we talk and talk and draw and have to justify why it has to be there. Once we have the bones of the collection together I go into my own world for a few weeks getting the new prints together. I like to engineer the print to the pattern pieces of the garment.

Why did you decide to print the fabrics in Como, Italy?
There is a fantastic tradition of textiles in Como. I first went there when I did a work placement in Switzerland. We were very near to Como and visited it often. If you have to choose a location for a factory visit, I can’t imagine anything more beautiful! The printers I work with have printed in a traditional way for a couple of generations and then moved over to digital twenty years ago when it was first being experimented with. The laying down of pigment, whether via digital or by screen print, is only part of the process. They are very skilled in the handling and finishing of the fabrics which makes them feel beautiful and gives them a longevity. The digital process is much cleaner than traditional screen printing and uses far less water and energy. I like the tradition and the finesse of the final production. What they lack in delivering on time they make up in the detail and quality!

Modern Love by Nanae Kawahara.

Who are the craftspeople who make the collection for you? Can you introduce us to them!
Brighton is so full of talented machinists and pattern cutters, it’s a very sociable place and over the years I have met lots of people I can call on to help me. I have used the same machinists for the last ten years. They work form home and small studios as well as working for me they are working for lots of top designers; a good machinist is worth her weight in gold! There used to be a lot of small garment factories in the area and it’s a shame they have all disappeared. There is a new initiative called The Fashion Trust based in Sussex which is trying to pull all the local resources together which will be great for designer just starting up.

Sarah Arnett’s Modern Love by Jacqueline Valencia.

Modern Love is stocked exclusively in Liberty – a dream for most clothing brands. How did you get the label into this most prestigious of shops?
Well, Liberty made it very easy, even with beautiful photographs and constant emailing it’s very difficult to get the attention of the buyers unless you see them face to face at a show. We lined up with everyone else at their Best Of British Open Call and were the only womens wear brand to have got through last year. It was a great experience because at least you knew you had a few minutes of complete attention to show your collection in the flesh. I think it has been a great success and we feel very proud to have our collection there, especially since it was our first goal when starting Modern Love.

Find Modern Love at Liberty right here.

A new spring title by Vivays Publishing, Wearable Vintage Fashion is written by the owners of Second Hand Rose, a vintage boutique in Worcester. Jo Waterhouse and Clare Bridge aim to provide readers with a visual reference point for any anyone interested in vintage fashion, focusing on easily attainable looks to suit a range of budgets.

All photography by Caitlin Sinclair, page spreads courtesy of Vivays Publishing

The book is helpfully divided up into fashion according to decades, using colour-coded sections that range from the 1920s to the 1980s. A one-page introduction to each decade gives context, discussing the impact of societal circumstances on fashion trends, and with some brief tips on recreating looks. For instance, the 1950s introduction covers the new youth culture and how it opened up a fashion market for a generation of young people with disposable income. It’s an approachable way of thinking about the socio-economic and practical considerations embedded in fashion.

Day and eveningwear pages in each section are filled with selected items of clothing and accessories, alongside descriptive text outlining the classic shapes and textiles from each era. ‘Get the Look’ pages are places where old candid and street photographs are used as inspiration for creating on-the-page outfits and to describe common trends.

The garments and accessories shown are incredible, with colourful, multi-textured and authentic pieces from each era featured alongside modern-day alternatives, for those that might not be able to access the real items. What lets the reading experience down however is the way garments are laid out in a collage format -without mannequins or models (or in some cases, ironing) the pieces can’t be displayed to full effect, which is a shame given how precious some of them are.

Later on in each chapter are ‘Icons’ pages, where the authors interpret a signature look from the decade, for example, Farrah Fawcett from the 1970s. While the intentions here are admirable – to easily recreate a look for a party or event – the styling and images aren’t of a high enough quality to appeal in a book format. It’s difficult to tread the line between a do-it-yourself guide and a higher-end coffee table book, but in this case the extraordinary subject matter warranted that closer attention be paid to the visual design.

More appealing are the look books, where double page spreads show the full breadth of a fashion decade including day and eveningwear. I adored the 1940s spreads in particular, with pale knitted cardigans, a sweet pink bakelite elephant brooch and an original Pendleton ‘49er’ tartan jacket.

The final part of the book is ‘Vintage Street Fashion’ where the authors document how various fashion bloggers and enthusiasts wear vintage clothing on a day-to-day basis. As with previous sections, the styling and quality of the images varies dramatically and appears visually inconsistent, but if you can ignore this, the insight into the lives of these women and their relationship with certain vintage pieces is worth the read.

Wearable Vintage Fashion is by Jo Waterhouse and Clare Bridge, and published by Vivays Publishing.