Kat Phan – AmeliasMagazine

Amelia’s Magazine | An interview with photographer Andrew Meredith

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How do you define good travel photography? I’m not sure what other people think but for me, it’s an image that beckons with its infusion of colours, seduces with its ambience and caresses with an intriguing subject matter. It’s not so much about capturing something divinely exotic as it is about viewing an unfamiliar and mystical part of the world through the window of a photographer’s lens. I’ve always been allured by such landscapes which is why I recently found myself trekking across London on a constipated District Line in the blistering heat, to check out photographer Andrew Meredith’s new exhibition, ‘Excursions’.

I came across Andrew’s work a few months ago when I was writing up my Pete Fowler interview, which he kindly provided the images for. A nosy parker by nature, I couldn’t help but Google stalk him. The search results threw up an impressive website, with an even more impressive portfolio.

Santiago, Chile 2008

Counting big names like Selfridges, Chanel and Anya Hindmarch as his clients, The Falmouth College of Art graduate has worked on numerous projects, including one entitled ‘The Slaughtermen’ for OnOffice Magazine, featuring a day in a life of an abattoir worker. This subsequently led to Andrew winning the 2008 ‘Best in Book’ Category for the Creative Review’s Photography Annual. Amongst other photography award nominations, Andrew’s credits include Kanye West’s Late Orchestration album cover and his work has been featured in The New York Times, Vogue Russia and Frame Magazine amongst several other well-known magazine titles.

Santiago, Chile 2008

Having exhibited at galleries across London over the past eight years, Andrew’s latest project, ‘Excursions’, spans two years’ of travels across the Americas and the Caribbean. Now before you start visualising cheesy smiles in front of Machu Picchu, bottom shuffling down Chichen Itza or staring moodily into the distance with a vintage Cohiba in the Plaza de la Revolución a la Che, the photographer has decidedly taken a less conventional approach by capturing less familiar, deserted and occasionally dilapidated landscapes in favour of popular picture perfect landmarks.

Describing the exhibition’s theme, Andrew explains: “Excursions is a photographic journey through Chile, Argentina, Mexico, Cuba and America to document every day scenes that are far removed from our own. The route I took was mainly by road, impulsive and unplanned and avoiding all the obvious tourist traps along the way.”

The result is an honest and raw photographic essay that pitches the beauty of nature amongst rugged urban landscapes. Having developed a deep bond with Chile, Andrew will also be auctioning signed and framed images of the Santiago stills, with all proceeds going towards the Global Givings Relief Fund for Earthquake in Chile to help rebuild regions that were hit hardest by the earthquake earlier this year.

On a balmy summer evening, we caught up with the photographer at a private view of his exhibition to find out more about his travel encounters…

Santiago, Chile 2008

Your new exhibition is entitled ‘Excursions’. Is there any particular reason why South America is the focal point of these excursions?
I originally went to Chile for my friend Erwin’s wedding in Santiago, but couldn’t help feeling excited about exploring the city. It reminded me of scenes from Alec Soth’s book ‘Dog Days in Bogata’ where he finds himself in Colombia’s capital, waiting to adopt his first child. As he found himself with time on his hands, he decided to document his surroundings as a future reminder of his new daughter’s birthplace.

Based on this idea, I too felt compelled to start documenting the trip and pretty soon we started going off further south of Santiago to places like Chiloe, Pucon, Osorno, Villarrica and Temuco. The fact it was South America was a complete accident; I was merely a traveler passing through. We went off the beaten track and immersed ourselves in the exploration, finding skeletons in forests and tiny villages along the way as well as those impressive cityscapes too. We had some time to fly out to Buenos Aires where I found other types of landscape, greyer than in Chile – a lot more concrete and crumbly. It struck me that the further we went, the more differences we were exposed to and before my eyes, a project started to unravel and evolve the further we traveled.

Buenos Aires, Argentina 2008

Did you literally stumble across your subjects or did you have an idea of what you wanted to shoot beforehand?
I had no preconceptions about Chile and Argentina. I had seen some beautiful holiday pictures taken in the southern parts of the countries, but they were never the kind of images I would like to have captured myself. What I found most interesting were the ramshackle and crumbly parts of the city, with power cables overflowing to the far corners of the buildings. That impressed me the most in a downtrodden dirty kind of way!

Where Cuba was concerned, we all have stereotypical ideas of what Havana looks like; the fine 1950s cars, gents smoking cigars, and a city that is crumbling faster then one can refurbish – I wanted to avoid all of that. My first night in Havana ended up being in this huge hotel which was pretty horrible. However, at about midnight when I looked out of the window, there was this incredible view of darkness with vibrant streams of light blazing through it. It was a beautiful moment as the night sky appeared as if it were on fire.

Pucon, Chile 2008

Your photos are mainly of landscapes opposed to people – was this a conscious decision?
I get a real sense of calm from observing landscapes and cityscapes. Being able to view it from up high above, looking down is endlessly interesting to me. At that distance, you cannot see people’s faces or their problems; all you can see are things moving around in the distance unaware that they are being photographed. I guess I’m sort of a voyeur, although not in a pervy sense! There was definitely an element of escapism for me around capturing images of landscapes. Hopefully through viewing my work, my audience might also join me in feeling that way too.

You mentioned that you wanted to avoid tourist traps – other then the landscapes being less recognisable, what were you hoping to portray in these photographs?
As a tourist, you are often only shown certain things. As a result, I end up feeling as if I’m being led around on a lead most of the time. I don’t like the idea of tours only passing by the attractions which people assume you’d be most interested to see. By avoiding all the tours and tourist traps, I was able to encounter landscapes less manipulated by mankind, which was much more appealing to me. My surroundings seemed to possess a purer beauty.

Tulum, Mexico 2009

Were there any challenges you faced whilst shooting abroad?
The first few days in Havana were incredibly hard work where everyone just seemed to be after your money. I guess it comes with being a tourist but I experienced this more in Havana than anywhere else I’ve ever been. I know that people just need the money so they can work towards a better life than what the Communist government will hand to them but it felt abusive at times. I just knew we had to get away from there and go further afield to avoid the tourism.

Other obvious challenges were language barriers and differences in culture. I have a basic grasp of Spanish so I could get by some of the time. Luckily I have a few fluent Spanish speaking friends who were able to help me along the way, although mostly they were useful for teaching me offensive Spanish phrases and swear words!

Was there a country in South America which really stood out during your travels? If so – why?
Most of the countries I shot during this project were so different. For example, Tulum in Mexico was initially like a paradise until you walked a mile around the coast to find, what seemed like, an invisible gate to a much more deprived and semi-built landscape. There were dirty beaches with truck tyres and rubbish washed up on the sand and shelters abandoned half-way through being built.

Overall, my favourite country was Chile. It was my inspiration for the whole project and I saw some wonderful places and met some amazing people. It gave me access to some of the most impressive landscapes I’ve ever captured due to the sheer diversity and scale. Another reason for it holding a special place in my heart is the fact that I was able to see and document Chile before the earthquake in February and it saddens me to think of the landscape being so different now. I feel incredibly strongly about trying to give something back to the people and the landscape that allowed me to capture those images in the first place, which is why some of the stills will be available for auction.

Santiago, Chile 2008

What’s next for you?
I would love to explore other South American countries such as Brazil, Bolivia, Venezuela, Guyana, Peru and the Falkland Islands. The next chapter of ‘Excursions’ will happen at some point.

The next place on my list though that I am keen to visit has got to be Hong Kong. I love the landscape, the tall buildings, the light, the thick air and the density. Running alongside this, I would also like to visit the Svalbard Islands deep in the Arctic Circle, miles off the Norwegian coast. It’s the most northern town in the world and one of the least populated places in the world. I think I can draw on some pretty interesting contrasts between Hong Kong and Svalbard…

‘Excursions’ by Andrew Meredith is running until 10th July at The Riverside Studios, Crisp Road, London W6 9RL.

A very limited edition, signed and framed Santiago, Chile 2008 portrait will be autioned with all proceeds going to Global Givings Relief Fund for the Earthquake in Chile. For more information, see here.

All photographs courtesy of Andrew Meredith.

Written by Kat Phan on Wednesday July 7th, 2010 2:55 am

Categories ,Alec Soth, ,Andrew Meredith, ,Anya Hindmarch, ,Arctic Circle, ,Argentina, ,Bolivia, ,brazil, ,Buenos Aires, ,chanel, ,Che, ,Chichen Itza, ,chile, ,Chiloe, ,Cohiba, ,Creative Review, ,Cuba, ,Dog Days in Bogota, ,Falkland Islands, ,Falmouth College of Art, ,Frame Magazine, ,Global Givings Relief Fund, ,Guyana, ,Havana, ,Hong Kong, ,Kanye West, ,Kat Phan, ,Manchu Picchu, ,mexico, ,New York Times, ,OnOffice Magazine, ,Osorno, ,Peru, ,Pete Fowler, ,Plaza del la Revolucion, ,Pucon, ,Santiago, ,Selfridges, ,Svalbard, ,Temuco, ,The Slaughtermen, ,Tulum, ,Venezuela, ,Villarrica, ,Vogue Russia

Amelia’s Magazine | An interview with The Cabinet of Living Cinema’s Rob Parkinson

Courtesy of The Cabinet of Living Cinema

The cinema has certainly evolved since the early twentieth century when the first silent black and white film appeared on our screens, thumb accompanied by a finely dressed man tinkling the ivories at a piano. In stark contrast to these humble beginnings, cure we seem to live in an age now where the flashier we can get with our Dolby Digital sound and 3D, more about the better. So where do we go from here in terms of creating a more enriching cinematic experience?

The answer in short is: live film-score performance (or perhaps adding a modern twist to the concept of the old dude sitting behind the piano). As part of the Becks Vier Music Inspires Art UK Tour, The Cabinet of Living Cinema, in collaboration with Future Shorts, is fusing the worlds of live music and cinema across England on their Cabinet Tour 2010. The Tour features some of the most innovative short films of recent years along with surrealist experiments, Czech claymation, Russian animated oddities, British Transport films and other obscure masterpieces from the last century.

Courtesy of The Cabinet of Living Cinema

Founded by Rob Parkinson and Kieron Maguire in 2007, The Cabinet of Living Cinema is an artistic initiative, providing artists with a platform to showcase their film and music… together. By blending live music performance with short films ranging from rarely-seen animation to the avant-garde, the result is the creation of a “living cinema” experience.

Currently on tour in the UK, I managed to track down one half of the brains behind The Cabinet of Living Cinema, Rob Parkinson, to quiz him about an old idea given a brand new makeover…

How did The Cabinet of Living Cinema come into being?
Future Shorts asked us to rescore the music live to some short films in 2007 and it went down very well. So, we went on to play major UK venues on the Future Cinema tour. At this point, for us it was a realisation that a new way to present performance was an important thing and something to explore.

What has been the general response to your work so far?
The audience comes towards us after a show, of whom most are either really into film or music, or both (who isn’t?). We have a lot of conversations with our audience.

Courtesy of The Cabinet of Living Cinema

How do you go about commissioning films for the project?
We work with the film-makers, they submit work, and we perform the music live. They tend to appreciate the platform. We also always try to feature cutting edge directors and Future Shorts are instrumental in our film selection and commissioning.

What do you look out for in particular in work that is submitted for consideration?
Work that inspires. We spend a lot of time watching short films, looking for potential material. We generally sit watching with instruments at hand; it could be said that the films choose us when we all reach for instruments at the same time.

What do you think is lacking from the current cinema-goers experience?
A lack of understanding of where films originated from. For example (Jan) Sjvankmajer pioneered the claymation and stop-motion technology, but it’s only a handful of people who know about the impact he had on modern day cinema.

In your mind, what cinematic experience do you want your audience to walk away with after they have been to one of your shows?
To have experienced something different and unusual. 3D is big at the moment and maybe we are the 3D of the film-score world. I’d like to think our audience walks away with a soundtrack to wherever they go next.

Still from ‘Ballad of a Broken Vow’ by Carla Mackinnon for The Cabinet of Living Cinema

Tell us about The Cabinet Tour 2010 and Future Shorts collaborative.
The tour has been amazing; cool people, cool bands and excellent audiences. We’re lucky that we see familiar people that are touring the same venues as us and are able to share our energy. It’s a good, positive vibe amongst the artists.

Regarding Future Shorts, they are pioneers who have whole-heartedly supported our vision and are a wealth of inspiration.

What can we expect to see on The Cabinet Tour?
Beautifully directed films, amazing animation, musicians working on a different level, instrument swapping, happy accidents and bubble wrap (it’s perfect for making the sound of the sea).

What has been the most exciting project that you have worked on to date and why?
Hmmm, tricky…We performed at Fabric in 2007 in association with Future Shorts. The space was set out with old-school cinema seats, front to back. We played a few films through and people started to stand up, it was very emotional, there were tears.

Since then there have been many exciting moments, but that’s the thing with film and what we do. It’s all about the moment. To say a particular gig or event is more important than a specific moment isn’t appropriate in our world.

Still from ‘Ballad of a Broken Vow’ by Carla Mackinnon for The Cabinet of Living Cinema

Who is the most exciting live cinema guest you have worked with and why?
Without a doubt: The Paper Cinema. They are a hand-drawn paper puppetry live projected theatre show…and they are amazing.

How do you see Cabinet of the Living Cinema evolving?
New film-makers submitting their work for us to rescore. That’s where it’s at. A friend of mine strapped a waterproof camera to the front of his surfboard and went out to sea for a couple of hours. The resulting film was amazing, which we use as the backdrop to all our gigs. We want more!

What’s next on the Cabinet of the Living Cinema agenda?
Music and film festivals including Larmer Tree, FAIF ISFF and The Big Chill. We are also performing rescores to feature length films over August in London and very importantly, again, we are currently looking for new film-makers to submit work, so we can dedicate an event to new and up-and-coming talent due for performance in Autumn 2010.

In partnership with leading film pioneers Future Shorts, The Cabinet of Living Cinema bring live scores and animation to cities across England, including Leeds, Sheffield, Liverpool, Portsmouth, Bristol and Bournemouth on their Cabinet Tour 2010 throughout June, July and August. For more information, see here.

Written by Kat Phan on Monday June 21st, 2010 11:50 pm

Categories ,3D, ,Becks Vier Music Inspires Art, ,British Transport films, ,Czech claymation, ,Dolby Digital, ,fabric, ,FAIF ISFF, ,Future Cinema Tour, ,Future Shorts, ,Jan Sjvankmajer, ,Kat Phan, ,Kieron Maguire, ,Larmer Tree, ,Rob Parkinson, ,The Big Chill, ,The Cabinet of Living Cinema, ,The Paper Cinema

Amelia’s Magazine | Billbored highlights

Illustration by Leinz

The above scene probably wasn’t too far off how things looked during those first few days after the election, information pills as talks between Nick Clegg and David Cameron opened and a five-day negotiation period ensued. This image is just one of the many political slogans designed by an array of artists, which were projected onto a number of London landmarks during the election campaign.

‘Billbored’ – launched by POLLOCKS – is an art collective, spearheaded by artist and curator Josef Valentino, who described the project as a viral art initiative aiming to empower people: “The political parties aren’t inspiring us, so we will have to inspire ourselves.”

Featuring initial designs from several artists including M.I.A, Pete Fowler, The Futureheads, Anthony Burrill and Robert Montgomery, this creative venture aimed to encourage and empower general members of the public to develop their own ‘Billbored’ campaigns, showing their personal vision for change.

Illustration by M.I.A.; photography by Cakehead Loves Evil

The submitted visuals were then projected onto the front of key London buildings and structures, including the Tate Modern and Canary Wharf during and after the election period by a team of guerrilla projectionists, gathering support and encouraging further online activity. They were also made available via social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

As David Cameron warms up the bed at No 10 and the campaign draws to a close, we take a look at some of the most eye-catching projections during the election period, providing us with an alternative take on UK politics…

Illustrated by Leinz

Visual by The Futureheads

Visual by Sarah Maple

Visual by Riot Art

Illustration by Neville Brody

Visual by Konrad Wyrebek

Photography by Annabel Staff

Illustration by Josef Valentino; photography by Cakehead Loves Evil

Visual by Hayden Kays; photography by Cakehead Loves Evil

Illustration by Dave Anderson; photography by Cakehead Loves Evil

Written by Kat Phan on Tuesday May 18th, 2010 8:44 pm

Categories ,Anthony Burrill, ,Billbored, ,Cakehead Loves Evil, ,Canary Wharf, ,Dave Anderson, ,David Cameron, ,Election, ,Facebook, ,guerrilla, ,Hayden Kays, ,Josef Valentino, ,Kat Phan, ,Konrad Wyrebek, ,M.I.A, ,Neville Brody, ,Nick Clegg, ,Pete Fowler, ,POLLOCKS, ,Riot Art, ,Robert Montgomery, ,Sarah Maple, ,Tate Modern, ,the futureheads, ,twitter

Amelia’s Magazine | Billbored highlights

Illustration by Leinz

The above scene probably wasn’t too far off how things looked during those first few days after the election, as talks between Nick Clegg and David Cameron opened and a five-day negotiation period ensued. This image is just one of the many political slogans designed by an array of artists, which were projected onto a number of London landmarks during the election campaign.

Illustration by M.I.A.; photography by Cakehead Loves Evil

Illustrated by Leinz

Visual by The Futureheads

Visual by Sarah Maple

Visual by Riot Art

Illustration by Neville Brody

Visual by Konrad Wyrebek

Illustration by Annabel Staff; photography by Cakehead Loves Evil

Illustration by Josef Valentino; photography by Cakehead Loves Evil

Visual by Hayden Kays; photography by Cakehead Loves Evil

Illustration by Dave Anderson; photography by Cakehead Loves Evil

Written by Kat Phan on Tuesday May 18th, 2010 8:44 pm

Amelia’s Magazine | An interview with American artist Matthew Rose

My situation (image courtesy of Matthew Rose)

Matthew Rose is an American artist living in Paris known for his 1, look 000 piece wall-to-wall collages. On viewing his work, purchase you can’t help but feel as if you are peering into the wrong end of a telescope; the objects look familiar yet distorted, eerie yet beautiful.

His abstract, artistic style presents a surreal and parallel world infused with vibrant colours where he often plays with an unusual fusion of subjects (and by this I mean a man with carrots for his head or a woman who is part-human, part-camera – pretty crazy stuff but in the most fantastic sense!).

For almost three decades, Matthew has been producing installations, which reinforce the connection between imagery and literature in art. His works – many of which are a composite of beautiful colours, visuals and text melting into one another – evoke the genres of 20th century surrealist artists, and several critics have cited his work as demonstrating a ‘dadaist exploration of sense and non-sense’.

Matthew’s installations have featured in galleries and museums across Europe, Asia and the United States, and his work has appeared in numerous books and magazines, including MASTERS: COLLAGE (Sterling Publishing/Lark Books, 2010) published recently.

His most notable art project to date, A Book About Death, showcased in New York’s Emily Harvey Foundation Gallery in September 2009. The show was a logistical feat involving thousands of artists from across the globe sending 500 artworks in the form of postcards to construct the exhibition. The beauty of the exhibition was that the end result was offered to one lucky visitor in the form of a book… for free. More than 18 exhibitions of A Book About Death have been staged worldwide, including The Queens Museum in New York, MuBE in São Paulo and MoMA Wales.

Private view invite (image courtesy of Matthew Rose and Orange Dot Gallery)

Matthew’s most recent project, Scared But Fresh, is a dislocated love story exploring the sense and non-sense, which I was lucky enough to catch at Orange Dot Gallery, a lovely new exhibition space in the heart of Bloomsbury. By his own admission, Matthew is interested in ‘creating works to see them for himself’ but as a by-product of his imagination, his mesmerising creations prompt the viewer to garner thoughts of their own.

After gate-crashing a Brown University reunion held at the gallery, where Matthew studied Semiotics in 1981, I managed to grab a quiet moment with the calm and composed artist before his alumni chums arrived, gaining a glimpse into the annals of the mind of a truly fascinating individual…

How old were you when you realised you wanted to be an artist?
I couldn’t have been more than six years old when my mother and aunt dragged me to The Brooklyn Museum to see Van Gogh. The lines went around the block and I couldn’t understand what the fuss was about; I was hungry, my feet hurt and being small, I was suffocating in this cloud of wool coats. Once inside the galleries, however, I caught my first glimpse of what has proven to be a very nourishing world… I stayed close to my mother and aunt for about 10 minutes but soon enough got lost (purposely) and quietly pushed my way through the crowds to get up close to Van Gogh’s brilliant colors, these vibrating landscapes – in particular, the painting he produced in the Arlesian sun, Almond Branches in Bloom (1890). It turned out to be one of the pieces he produced the year he died of a self-inflicted gun shot wound. I never forgot the color and intelligence behind this painting, and I slowly began to look for this “art experience” in my own.

Anglais (image courtesy of Matthew Rose)

What artists did you look up to when you were developing your artistic style?
Most artists I know were influenced by the early 20th century modernists – Picasso, Matisse, Malevich…then Duchamp and the Dadaists, the Surrealists, Pollock, de Kooning and then those who flavored the world we arrived in: Warhol, Johns, Rauschenberg. For me, probably folks like Hopper for his era and compositions and silence; and Cornell for his expansive internal universe, and mostly Ray Johnson, because he was a friend and teacher (as he was to thousands) and the way he worked. Since I mostly work in collage, I’m more prone to think in disparate images and texts, an old-fashioned multi-media stream of consciousness. I don’t have problems with dislocated images and lexical puzzles. Of course I don’t pretend that these artists are producing works of philosophy, but rather reflecting the cataclysm that stems from consciousness.

Your work often involves the use of collage – what led to this fascination and why do you like working in this particular abstract context?
Collage is just one of several mediums I work in. Over the years I’ve produced works/object in wax or wood, painting and drawing, and text pieces either as rubber stamp works (printing) or drawing the words. One of my interests is word as image, and collage permits me to combine words and images in a fairly rapid fashion. I tend to work super fast and produce series in a matter of days or weeks. I’m pretty obsessed once I get going and very little interferes with my process. I did a show some years ago called ‘Spelling With Scissors’, and this is my approach – combining literature (texts) with images. I have always discussed my aesthetic view as a form of reading.

What does working in collage allow you to express in ways that other forms of artistic expression cannot?
Speed. Strangeness. The wide array of material allows me to cover many ideas and compositional concepts in a short period of time. Painting plays a part in what I do, as does drawing and often these mediums come into play in a work. But collage is an approach to consciousness, and that, I think is the flux endpoint in my work. Most of the elements I use are found, and that, too, is an important part of my process. Seeing what the world washes up at my feet, the skidmarks of my time and place.

Scared But Fresh at Orange Dot Gallery (photography courtesy of Orange Dot Gallery)

What was the inspiration behind Scared But Fresh?
Scared But Fresh is a love story. The works in the exhibition come together (in my mind, at least) to lay out a dislocated love story, a song about love with its insistent cacophony. I think if you look at the pieces in this exhibition, including the 12-piece collage on paper series, America, you’ll see sex, love and death (the staples of art making), you’ll discover heartache, lust, dread and all those angst-laden things that produce so much of the content of our lives. Or at least that’s the way I see it. Again, I produce these works to see them myself, to see what these odd elements produce in combination, and to perhaps understand what sort of stuff is moving around inside of me; that said, it’s not therapy, but rather an inquiry.

Why is the exhibition called Scared But Fresh?
Scared But Fresh was a phrase sent to me in 2002 by a friend; she signed an e mail that way. I immediately seized upon it, made a tonne of text works with it, cutting stencils and painting them, or adding it to other works, but also meditating upon its possible meanings. The “but” is critical. My thinking in using it for the title of this exhibition at Orange Dot Gallery in London was that it was so aggressive, sure but still loaded with innocence and dread. Like love.

Critics have previously cited your work as a dadaist exploration of sense and non-sense. What would your response be to this?
I would agree with them. Dada is many things, and has been the point of departure for nearly 100 years of art production. The combination of sense and non-sense, broken grammar, chopped up meaning, and the flux of everyday life is, in my view, what my consciousness is like. What is the sense of finding a dollar bill stuck in a pile of dog shit? Or posters torn and weathered revealing a history of pasting and perhaps, a history of beauty (the models featured in years of posters, bits of their faces and clothing revealed)? I grab onto these things and consider them. Other people think about interest rates and widget production, and so do I, but I do something quite different with the information, the images and the meaning of these things. A large piece I produced, Les Affaires (prints are on Keep Calm Gallery’s site), surveys all sorts of exchanges; it is about commerce in many ways. Another work, Immaculate Perception (also available as a print on Keep Calm Gallery), is a very simple surreal piece showing a girl blossoming from a lemon tree. It’s not very interesting to be logical all day long, plus logic is overrated.

Cornell Bottle (photography courtesy of Orange Dot Gallery)

How would you describe your own style of work?
I’m a cut and paste artist. But I try to be clear in my chaos. The style can be dada, neo-pop, surreal, but I think after all these years, it’s simply mine.

When you create art, do you do it in the frame of mind that it will be viewed by others or it is created as a visual form of a personal diary?
I create these things to see them for myself, to discover what this 1/2 face would look like with this 1/2 refrigerator. Or what would happen if this nice girl in her party dress would be like if she were wearing a steak for a head, or a pair of mechanical gears for breasts? I produce these works the way I play chess, carefully, but totally willing to take risks, totally willing to exchange queens, sacrifice pawns…not afraid to lose. As for a diary, I’m not sure about that, but I do work in books very often. Some of my series come in the form of 110-page visual novels like A Perfect Friend and Days Like These, People (drawings), Machines (drawings) and a dozen others. I feel not so much as if I’m making things for other people – again – but more for myself, and not to cure myself of anything other than the nightmare that is our world.

You are now based in France. Do you find that where you live has any influence on the themes that run through your work?
Living in France probably hasn’t altered in any significant way the themes that run through my work. Love, sex, death, anxiety, money will find you out no matter where you live. The material though is different. As I’m extremely interested in language, the plethora of printed materials in French, German, Spanish, Italian, English and other languages abounds here. I often find old beat up books tossed out on the street, or objects on the sidewalk. I can also play with a tonne of languages and I very much enjoy that. It’s the world. My studio is small and quiet and as I also live in the space I’m always up at 3 am working. Or I sleep then wake and work… something is always going on here, and should I need to go out, a walk proves a real fascination for me after a period of intense activity. “Holy smokes,” I’ll say to myself. “I live in France.” I sometimes forget that I actually live in this country.

What thoughts/feelings would you like viewers to go away with after they have been to your exhibition?
Well they tell me that they enjoy the work, they like that craziness of the work, but that it all makes sense. During the exhibition the head of a large international advertising company spent quite a while looking at my work. His focus is message communication, and in particularly creating iPhone apps, so he’s very attuned to visuals and text, and he said to me: “This is brilliant.” At the moment he was looking at a work from the America series of a girl on a swing with the word “HOME” pasted on top of her. She was pasted, in turn, on top of a photograph of a ship in a raging storm. That to me was very rewarding. Because something that was interesting to me was interesting to someone else, it was strong enough to click somewhere else.

How would you best like to be remembered?
You mean when I die? I launched an enormous project about this (in a way), A Book About Death. So I’ve thought long and hard about what its like to not have consciousness, to be left alone, to struggle with the impermanence of life, and the often sad and painful lives we lead when the folks we love are no longer with us. I’ve tried not to turn away from death and acknowledge it. Maybe as someone who wasn’t afraid to confront his demons, loved his friends and collaborated with the world in a way that made a little bit more sense out of the nonsense.

Written by Kat Phan on Thursday November 4th, 2010 2:13 am

Categories ,A Book About Death, ,Brown University, ,Cornell, ,Dadaists, ,de Kooning, ,Duchamp, ,Emily Harvey Foundation Gallery, ,Hopper, ,Johns, ,Kat Phan, ,Keep Calm Gallery, ,Malevich, ,matisse, ,Matthew Rose, ,MoMA Wales, ,MuBE, ,Orange Dot Gallery, ,picasso, ,Pollock, ,Rauschenberg, ,Ray Johnson, ,Scared But Fresh, ,Surrealists, ,The Brooklyn Museum, ,The Queens Museum, ,van gogh, ,Warhol

Amelia’s Magazine | An interview with American artist Matthew Rose

My situation (image courtesy of Matthew Rose)

Private view invite (image courtesy of Matthew Rose and Orange Dot Gallery)

Anglais (image courtesy of Matthew Rose)

Scared But Fresh at Orange Dot Gallery (photography courtesy of Orange Dot Gallery)

Cornell Bottle (photography courtesy of Orange Dot Gallery)

Written by Kat Phan on Thursday November 4th, 2010 2:13 am

Amelia’s Magazine | An interview with artist Jessica Albarn

Like most girly girls growing up, viagra 60mg my bedroom was decorated with various shades of baby pink and faerie-inspired memorabilia (I say most, stuff but the latter could have just been me). I had faerie bedspreads, sickness faerie lampshades, faerie candles, faerie wind chimes (no, really) – I had no idea of the concept of taking things too far. If there was an image of one of those illuminated delicate, dainty little figures slapped onto anything (including mugs and toilet rolls), it had to be mine.

Although I have since grown out of my faerie-loving phase (and into other crazy obsessions my good friends will tell you!), the child in me still gravitates towards stories about magical otherworldly beings, the innocence of youth, and pretty much anything that takes me back to my childhood. It is for this reason that when I was asked to do a feature on Jessica Albarn’s storybook, The Boy in the Oak, it was with a resounding ‘yes’ that I answered. However, it turns out that the faeries I would be writing about aren’t the good ones that I used to wrap around me to protect me as I slept.

Written and illustrated by Jessica, the artist tells the fantastical story of a young lonely boy who amuses himself by trampling on flowers, tearing the limbs off trees, and traumatising the creatures in the garden of his family home. As his play grows more cruel day by day, the faeries that inhabit a giant oak tree, which is also the passageway to the Kingdom of Faerie, at the bottom of his garden become increasingly unsettled until eventually, they cast a spell on him, trapping the boy in the magical oak.

The narrative is accompanied by fine, detailed sketches of spindly creatures, faeries and emotive facial expressions (the faces of the two protagonists in her story are based on her son Rudy and daughter Lola). Insects are introduced throughout the text and appear on most pages of the book, which Jessica weaves into the fabric of her story, somehow managing to make them appear more beautiful than creepy, through her gentle artistic strokes. The result is a dreamy, melancholic and rather sinister yet magical tale for adults and children alike.

On the eve of the launch of her first storybook ever, Amelia’s Magazine finds a quiet moment to talk to the very talented artist (who also happens to be Damon Albarn’s sister) about her artistic influences, her rural upbringing, her alter ego faerie tale character and her biggest career challenge to date…

When did you first decide that you wanted to become an artist?
I have always loved drawing but I guess I decided that I wanted to be an artist when I was about 15 yrs old.

How has your style evolved since you first started?
When I began my degree I was part of the sculpture department but I found I was happiest when I was drawing (although that could have been down to the fact that my sculptures had a tendency to fall over whenever my tutor drew near!). By the end of college, I had started drawing from nature and studying its relationship with geometry. It has developed a lot since then but I guess the seeds of that thought were sown then.

What/who has influenced your style?
Probably the most influential thing for me was the ‘Butterfly Ball’ by Alan Alderidge. It was a book I had as a child and of which I have revisited hundreds of times. I was fascinated by the detail, the personalities that Alderidge gave his characters and the dark sinister undertones.

What inspired The Boy in the Oak?
A good friend of mine has a tree in her garden that has a ghostly face in the bark. Her garden backs onto a wood and it reminded me of a place I used to visit as young child. A perfect setting for a faerie tale!

Is there a metaphor that older readers should relate to in The Boy in the Oak?
It’s about tuning into the magic in our daydreams, seeing through the veil of reality and escaping the prison of our minds.

How long did it take you to produce the illustrations and story for this book?
There were gaps along the way but it’s taken about four years from the birth of the idea to fruition.

Most of your work has a childhood theme – what was your childhood like and what were you like as a child?
I was born in London, but my parents moved out to North Essex when I was about 6. My parents are both artistic: my Dad ran the Colchester Arts school and my Mum had a studio at home. She also had a shop where she sold arts and crafts. We lived in a very old tudor house in a close-knit village. Most of my childhood was spent running around the countryside, making dens in woods and playing down by the river with my friends. I had lots and lots of guinea pigs, a rabbit and a cat. Also my Mum had a friend who had some ponies. It was all very ramshackle, but my Mum taught me and a lot of the village kids to ride. It was far away from pony club, hairnets and horse boxes, which was a good thing. I was a very happy child. My brother and I had a lot of freedom.

What is your favourite children’s fairy tale and why?
I loved all fairy tales like The Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Andersen and the illustrations and stories in Russian Fairytales and folklore. But my favourite today still is the ‘The Happy Prince’ – by Oscar Wilde for its beautiful portrayal of love and kindness.

If you could be any fairy tale character, who would you be and why?
I would be the little girl in Baba Yaga, beating the witch and escaping adversity.

What has been the biggest career challenge you have faced to date?
Doing a three day live drawing performance for Helmut Lang in Tokyo. It was just a big deal for someone like me who is very private in their practice to be watched drawing!

What has been your proudest achievement to date?
Succeeding in getting my book published.

What three pieces of advice would you offer someone who is starting out as an illustrator/artist?
I don’t really see myself as an illustrator and haven’t worked as one apart from illustrating my book but as an artist I would say do what pleases you and don’t worry about what other people may think, work very, very hard and don’t give up if it makes you happy!

Jessica Albarn’s book ‘The Boy in the Oak’ is now available in bookstores worldwide.

(All images courtesy of Jessica Albarn)

Written by Kat Phan on Thursday September 23rd, 2010 12:39 am

Categories ,Alan Alderidge, ,Baba Yaga, ,Butterfly Ball, ,Colchester, ,damon albarn, ,Faerie, ,Hans Christen Andersen, ,Helmut Lang, ,Jessica Albarn, ,Kat Phan, ,North Essex, ,Oak, ,The Brothers Grimm, ,The Happy Prince, ,tokyo

Amelia’s Magazine | An interview with award-winning typeface designer and Royal College of Art lecturer Henrik Kubel

Fifteen typefaces designed for commercial use, seek 2010 (A2-TYPE, doctor London)

On a bitingly chilly but sunny Saturday afternoon, sildenafil I sauntered down to the A2/SW/HK design studio in the heart of Hoxton to meet Henrik Kubel, one half of the talented A2/SW/HK duo. With a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it entrance, the studio is housed on the third floor of an old textile warehouse, exuding understated coolness. On entering, I feel as if I have reached some kind of design nirvana where the huge windows splash a radiant bright light onto the pristine white walls, furniture and Macs. I quickly glance around the room to see work tops sprawled with rolled up papers and intricate-looking sketches; a vintage Remington Standard typewriter nestles comfortably amongst a collection of art titles on the glossy white shelves – the mother of type. Standing tall and smart-nonchalantly dressed in a well-fitted navy blue jacket with a thin red trimming, off-white shirt and faded blue jeans, Kubel looks picture-perfect in his surroundings.

Zadie Smith: On Beauty, 2005—06 (Penguin Books, New York); hardback and paperback cover designs including bespoke typefaces

For typography and branding enthusiasts, viewing the latest A2/SW/HK typeface collection that recently launched online is the equivalent of setting a restrained, hyperactive child free in a sweet shop. Spanning over 15 years of work, the array of fonts range from the delicate, swirling Zadie, commissioned by Penguin Books New York for the US version of the novel On Beauty by Zadie Smith (hence the name), to the heavier, more robust Impacto, which cuts a dashing and authorative figure, as its name suggests. Similar to walking into a department store to choose an appropriate outfit for a function, A2/SW/HK have meticulously crafted a typeface for every occasion, depending on the message and feeling the consumer would like to convey.

Impacto typeface, 2010 (A2-TYPE, London); bespoke typefaces

The impressive collection comprises of 15 typefaces, many of which have multiple weights (fonts), with each font containing 256 characters. Overall, there are 53 fonts to marvel at totaling 13,568 individual glyphs (these include all members of the alphabet, diacritics, numbers, symbols and punctuations).

Psycho Buildings, 2008 (Hayward Gallery, London); art direction, bespoke typefaces and design

The typefaces were previously designed for bespoke projects across various media platforms including print, screen and interiors, however, the launch of the collection in their entirety means that, for the first time ever, the fonts are available for general use. “The typefaces can be used for any type of advertising now; even by two different fashion brands if they want,” says Kubel. “A typeface can work for many people in different ways, depending on who the creative director is and how they choose to use it. You’d be surprised at how many times a single typeface can be used to present different meanings for different jobs.”

Lisson Gallery, 2008 (Lisson Gallery, London); redesign of existing identity

Although A2/SW/HK is essentially a two-man strong team, don’t be fooled by their size. Formed in 2000, the pair have worked with a number of leading national and international clients, providing design consultancy, art direction, brand identity, website design and bespoke typography. Their recent client list includes Hayward Gallery, Lisson Gallery, Tate, Design Museum London, Phaidon Press, Faber & Faber, Penguin Press New York, Royal Mail, Danish Post, Vogue UK and MoMA. “I don’t see ourselves in the category of a small business,” says Kubel. “We are a creative design studio and it doesn’t matter whether we are ten people or two people. If you look at big businesses, they might have a work force of fifteen people but from a creative point of view there’s only two. We’re very self-sufficient.”

Fabric of Fashion, 2001 (British Council, London); bespoke typefaces and design

Born in Denmark, Kubel was exposed to art from an early age (his mother was an artist and encouraged painting) and developed a passion for type at the age of eleven when he discovered graffiti. In 1997, after graduating from Denmark’s Design School in Copenhagen, Kubel moved to London to do his Masters at the Royal College of Art where he met his design and business partner Scott Williams. “When Scott and I graduated, we just thought ‘lets do our own thing’ which is ridiculous now come to think of it. We had no network, no clients, no idea of anything – all we had was our creativity.” Yet following their graduation, with minimal resources, their gritty determination and hard work led to them being selected by highly acclaimed visual communications magazine Creative Review to feature in their annual ‘Creative Futures’ show, an initiative showcasing the most promising graduates to watch from across the country.

Radical Fashion, 2001 (V&A Museum, London); art direction, bespoke typefaces and design

Although Kubel downplays his and Williams’ achievement, attributing their selection by Creative Review to ‘just luck’, it is clear the raw talent that the duo possessed was enough to capture the attention of a representative at the British Council who subsequently signed them up to their first ever commission. “We ran a very successful project called Fabric of Fashion in 2001 and at the opening of the show, we met one of the editors who worked at the V&A so landed our next stint, which was about radical fashion – it was all very exclusive.” Post-radical fashion, more commissions ensued and as word got out of the duo’s work and their creative circles widened, their client list began to grow.

Samuel Beckett, complete works, 2009—2010 (Faber & Faber, London); cover design & bespoke typefaces

With an eclectic (and damn cool) portfolio which includes the cover design and bespoke typefaces for the complete works of Samuel Beckett (2009-2010; commissioned by Faber and Faber), sheet and typeface designs for Ian Fleming’s James Bond limited edition stamps (2008; commissioned by Royal Mail UK), and the ‘Reading Room’ exhibition design and print campaign for the Turner Prize Exhibition (2002-2007; commissioned by Tate Britain), which also made the front page of The Independent, to name a few, it is a collaboration with Margaret Calvert, an old tutor of Kubel’s at the Royal College of Art, on the New Rail Alphabet, which he names as being one of his career highlights. A revival of the British Rail alphabet originally designed by Calvert in 1965, which was used nationwide with British Rail, BAA and the NHS, was digitised, updated and re-launched in 2009 with a family of six weights.

New Rail Alphabet, 2009 (A2-TYPE, London); typeface in six weights; designed in close collaboration with Margaret Calvert

In the higher echelons of the graphic design industry, A2/SW/HK’s work has not gone unnoticed. They have picked up a plethora of global accolades along the way including awards from The International Society of Typographers, British Design & Art Directors and Art Directors Club of New York. In 2007, Kubel and Williams received recognition as members of the prestigious Alliance Graphique Internationale, which is a testament to years of tireless dedication to their craft, talent and skill.

Despite a well-decorated mantelpiece, complacency is not something that festers within the fabric of Kubel’s work ethic. “We may have achieved a lot but it doesn’t get any easier. You’re always judged by your last piece of work and I’m worried about looking back at my career and not being happy with the work I’ve produced.” He pauses briefly before calmly adding: “But there are only a few pieces that I feel this way about. Overall, I’m pretty happy with the work we’ve done and don’t mind looking back.”

Ian Fleming’s James Bond, 2008 (Royal Mail, UK); miniature sheet design and bespoke typeface

The weekend that I meet Kubel, he is in particularly fine form. Earlier in the week, he received news that he had been awarded a three-year working grant by the Danish Art Foundation, which is one of the most sought for and prestigious working grants awarded by the Nordic country for exceptional quality of artistic production and artistic talent. Kubel has worked almost non-stop over the past decade, and the grant means that he can now afford to invest some time in himself, creating more headspace for new ideas. “I shed a tear when I found out and called my mom; imagine how proud she is?” he says with a content but tired smile.

Turner Prize Exhibition design, 2002—07 (Tate Britain, London); art direction, design and bespoke typeface

In an industry which constantly strives to be ‘achingly hip’ and ‘cutting-edge’, A2/SW/HK’s approach to their work is refreshingly non-pretentious, which is what many of their clients may find appealing. “It’s the thinking and sensibility behind the solutions that makes us strong. I don’t see us as being ‘trendy’ but I don’t see us as being ‘old fashioned’ either – we are probably somewhere in between,” Kubel expresses. “We don’t work to trends, we work on what we feel best complements our clients’ brand values.”

Ergonomics — Real Design, 2009—2010 (Design Museum, London); exhibition identity, applied graphics and brochure including bespoke display typeface; exhibition design by Michael Marriot; photography courtesy of Luke Hayes & A2/SW/HK

In the design and communication industries, the choice of type may have many different connotations and certain typefaces are chosen to represent a brand because they effectively embody the product’s philosophy. This may, in turn, help to explain why we have a certain affinity for some brands more than others. For A2/SW/HK, understanding this psychological aspect of branding is the crux of their trade. “Typography is hugely important. Everything you look at contains letters – it’s used for direction, it’s used for instruction, it’s everywhere. If you can’t read and write you’re lost, aren’t you? That’s what binds society together, it’s communication.”

In a market that already contains 200,000 typefaces, does Kubel think there will be a day when the typeface market will be saturated and there will be no more typefaces to explore? “It’s already saturated but that doesn’t mean you should stop designing. It’s been said many times before, we need new films, new music, new exhibitions, new chairs, new painters and we need new typefaces.”

Summer of Love: Art of the Psychedelic Era, 2005 (Tate Liverpool); art direction, design and bespoke typeface

During the course of the interview, Kubel shows me some of his sketch books, a collection of sketches and scribbles, images torn out of newspapers/magazines, and various other eclectic items which looks like an art project in itself. “It’s very personal but this is how I keep my inspiration and ideas,” he says. As we talk at his spotless white ‘consultation’ table, there is a moment when I mentally take a snapshot of him casually drawing a letter ‘R’ with a graphite pencil on a sheet of paper in front of him. The letter is so perfectly formed that it looks as if it has been produced with a Letraset font style pack, with angles and lines drawn like a ruler has been pressed against their edges – I couldn’t help but comment. “People say that if you spend 10,000 hours on something, you become a master…,” he coolly replies. “…I’ve probably spent 8,000 drawing typefaces.”

A2/SW/HK Process AGI Poster, 2010

Typography Workshop Posters, 2000—06 (Buckinghamshire Chilterns University College); posters (40+ in series)

Kubel strikes me as somewhat of a paradoxical figure, humble yet self-assured, content yet massively ambitious. Speaking of his life prior to London, he says: “I remember when I was at the Danish Design School and we visited the Royal College (of Arts) and I knew I wanted to get in. I knew I wanted to go to London, learn the language and find someone to set up a design studio with. I was very naïve.” Naïve he may have been but in effect, he has achieved everything he set out to do – and then some. Having realised his dream of studying at the Royal College of Arts, he now teaches at the world-renowned institution twice a month. “My students are scarily talented – I am teaching my competitors of the future but I was taught there myself. The Royal College means a lot to me and I will give back as much as I can for as long as I can.”

Cold War Modern, Design 1945—1970, 2008 (V&A Museum, London); art direction and bespoke typefaces

As our interview draws to a close, and my mind is buzzing with more questions about typefaces and I entertain myself with the thought that on some level, humans and fonts are quite similar in relation to their variety, heritage and what they stand for, I ask Kubel which font he thinks would best describe him. He ponders for a moment, cocking his head to one side and glances out of the window onto the terrace, which is beginning to speckle with raindrops, to gather his thoughts. “You’d have to put a lot of typefaces together to describe me; I’m not one, I’m very broad,” he says with a glimmer of mischief in his eye. “I draw all styles, from very eclectic to very bland; it’s me and my personality. I’m a chameleon typeface.”

The new A2/SW/HK typeface collection is now available online and can be found here.

A2/SW/HK have also teamed up with Playtype who will releasing additional fonts from the A2/SW/HK library in December 2010.

Written by Kat Phan on Tuesday November 2nd, 2010 10:10 pm

Categories ,A2/SW/HK, ,Alliance Graphique Internationale, ,Art Directors Club of New York, ,baa, ,British Design & Art Directors, ,British Rail, ,British Rail Alphabet, ,Creative Futures, ,Creative Review, ,Danish Art Foundation, ,Denmark’s Design School, ,Design Museum London, ,Faber & Faber, ,Hayward Gallery, ,Henrik Kubel, ,Ian Fleming, ,James Bond, ,Kat Phan, ,Lisson Gallery, ,Margaret Calvert, ,New Rail Alphabet, ,NHS, ,On Beauty, ,Penguin Books, ,Phaidon Press, ,Playtype, ,Remington Standard, ,Royal College of Art, ,Royal Mail, ,Scott Williams, ,Tate, ,The Independent, ,The International Society of Typographers, ,Turner Prize Exhibition, ,Vogue UK, ,Zadie Smith

Amelia’s Magazine | An interview with cake designer and alternative baker Lily Vanilli, a.k.a. Lily Jones

Photography courtesy of Michael Clements

I first heard of Lily Vanilli last year when I read an article in The Observer Magazine about the candidates who made the shortlist for Courvoisier The Future 500 (2009). The graphic designer-turned-bespoke cake designer was listed in the top five and cited as one of the rising stars to watch for her innovative approach to cake baking.

Turning the cupcake business on its head, try Lily’s delicious cakes are the antithesis of the conventional, story cutesy cupcake with their unusual and macabre themes. Her fabulous creations are essentially mini edible sculptures (e.g marzipan beetles, decease morbid meringue bones, etc), an aesthetic delight, which are all crafted by hand in Lily’s kitchen in East London. This, combined with unusual ingredients such as bacon and avocado and a killer melt-in-the mouth sponge recipe, makes for a thrilling culinary experience. Speaking as a dessert fiend and as someone who has sampled Lily’s gourmet cakes, I have never been happier to move over to the dark side of cake!

Lily’s imaginative style to cake baking and kooky creations have earned her somewhat of a cult status within the industry and her decadent cupcakes, which are tailored specifically for each occasion, have featured at parties for Elton John, Henry Holland, Sadie Frost, Hello Kitty, Downing Street, Saatchi Gallery, Levi’s and The Sunday Times. Not bad for someone who only started baking as a hobby.

Photography courtesy of Cico Books

Last month saw the launch of Lily’s first ever book, ‘A Zombie Ate My Cupcake’, in which she shares her secret recipes for the first time ever. Guaranteed to be unlike any cake baking book you already own, ‘A Zombie Ate My Cupcake!’ is a graphic horror novel/cookbook comic featuring 25 gory recipes ranging from Sweeney Todd’s Surprise, a chocolate cupcake which looks like a pie with a severed bloodied finger poking out of it, to Bleeding Hearts, which, well, looks like squashed bleeding hearts with arteries and veins attached ‘n’ all.

Featuring other sweet treats aptly named ‘Eerie Eyeballs’, ‘Shattered Glass’ and ‘Marzipan Beetles’, the book is a visual feast, fusing the worlds of art and cuisine. With quirky detailed comic illustrations provided by up-and-coming illustrator Paul Parker, ‘A Zombie Ate My Cupcake!’ is a must for any cupcake enthusiast who is ready to take on the challenge of some slightly more sinister baking.

To celebrate the launch of Lily’s new book and her cupcake range at Harrods, Amelia’s Magazine caught up with the alternative cake designer and baker to talk about experimental food movements, taking on the cupcake world and crowd surfing with Nick Griffin’s head…

Photography courtesy of Cico Books

Your background is as a graphic designer – do you think the skills you picked up during your training have helped you in your cake baking career at all?
I was a self-taught designer and I’m a self-taught baker so I never had any training for either! I definitely think there are transferable skills though and it’s valuable to learn how to apply yourself and your creativity to different things; design skills are always useful these days.

What excites you most about being in the cake baking industry?
I think it is a really exciting time for food in the UK; take a look at the Experimental Food Society of which I am a member. There are lots of young and creative people pushing boundaries in food. I think this is just the beginning and it’s going to get really fun.

What sparked off the idea of going against the conventional cutesy cupcake?
It was a backlash. I was accidentally thrust into the world of the ‘cupcake’ which was never my intention as a baker, and I found it saturated with style-over-substance, overly sweet cakes, iced in glitter and sprinkles and sold at inflated prices. I wanted to bring it back to quality and play with preconceptions of appearance, for example, baking things that were ugly to look at but using quality ingredients.

Photography courtesy of Cico Books

How did you come up with the ideas for the different recipes in your book?
It didn’t take much! I love horror and the macabre and I always had a fascination with things like insects and dark stories like Sweeney Todd. I just played around for a few hours and that was it.

On average, how long does it take you to perfect a recipe including the design?
Most of my recipes are works-in-progress that I have been developing for years. It starts with a flavour or an idea about a perfect cake – texture, smell, flavour, etc – and then I develop it from there. None of my recipes are ever finished. I’m always tweaking and improving things, or adding a new twist. I have one cake, it was the first one I developed, which I have been working on for years – it always gets better. It’s a very wintry cake so I’ll be making it again soon. I can’t wait!

How did you end up working with Paul Parker on the illustrations in your book?
I originally got in touch with an artist I really admire called Richard ‘French’ Sayer. He makes these very beautiful dark and twisted black and white drawings, we had a few meetings about the project and he loved the idea, but once we got started it turned out it wasn’t a perfect fit for the book so he recommended Paul and straight away he completely nailed it. Paul’s work is much more colourful and the comic book/graphic horror novel style was exactly what I wanted. Everything I described to him he produced perfectly. He’s really young and just getting started but I think he’s going to do great things!

Photography courtesy of Cico Books

Have you had any cake baking disasters?
I once made a sculpture of Nick Griffin’s head for an event called ‘ The British Internationalists Party’. I spent about eight hours on it but it died (due to structural issues). We used it anyway and it crowd surfed at a gig, completely deformed by then. People were biting chunks out of it on the sweaty dance floor and marzipan ears were flying around – it was all pretty crazy! The worst part of it was that I had to look at images of Nick Griffin for a full day.

What’s the best cupcake you’ve ever had?
Definitely the best cupcake I’ve ever had is my vanilla with passionfruit, coconut & toasted almond. It really is just the perfect cake – so light and fluffy with a slight chewy texture at the top and beautiful vanilla flavours with gentle creamy buttercream and the sharpness and flavour of the passionfruit balances any sweetness. I made it the perfect cupcake for me, so I definitely say that’s the best one I’ve had…

Who do you most admire in the cake baking industry and why?
There are some really talented cake sculptors, such as Michelle Wibowo and Louise from Love to Cake, but the really exciting people for me in food are people like Bompas & Parr who bring art and science into food creation and push boundaries with everything they do.

What’s next for Lily Vanilli?
I’m launching at Harrods at the moment! This is a huge step for me as they are my first supplier. We will keep it seasonal and creative with new flavours each month. This month sees a special ‘Bonfire night’ cupcake. It’s a warm, wintery spiced cake, with a light lemon frosting and a popping candy chocolate disk with caremelised biscuit. It explodes in your mouth and tastes delicious! I think it’s a real sign of progress for foods in the UK that one of the worlds most visited and prestigious food halls would take a chance on an artisan baker from East London… I’m very excited!

Lily’s new book ‘A Zombie Ate My Cupcake!’ is published by Cico Books and can be purchased here.

Written by Kat Phan on Monday November 8th, 2010 12:52 am

Categories ,A Zombie Ate My Cupcake, ,Bompas & Parr, ,Downing Street, ,Elton John, ,Experimental Food Society, ,Harrods, ,Hello Kitty, ,Henry Holland, ,Kat Phan, ,Levi’s, ,Lily Jones, ,Lily Vanilli, ,Michelle Wibowo, ,Nick Griffin, ,Paul Parker, ,Richard ‘French’ Sayer, ,Saatchi Gallery, ,Sadie Frost, ,Sweeney Todd, ,The Courvoisier Future 500, ,The Observer Magazine, ,The Sunday Times

Amelia’s Magazine | An interview with cake designer and alternative baker Lily Vanilli, a.k.a. Lily Jones

Photography courtesy of Michael Clements

Turning the cupcake business on its head, Lily’s delicious cakes are the antithesis of the conventional, cutesy cupcake with their unusual and macabre themes. Her fabulous creations are essentially mini edible sculptures (e.g marzipan beetles, morbid meringue bones, etc), an aesthetic delight, which are all crafted by hand in Lily’s kitchen in East London. This, combined with unusual ingredients such as bacon and avocado and a killer melt-in-the mouth sponge recipe, makes for a thrilling culinary experience. Speaking as a dessert fiend and as someone who has sampled Lily’s gourmet cakes, I have never been happier to move over to the dark side of cake!

Photography courtesy of Cico Books

Lily’s new book ‘A Zombie Ate My Cupcake!’ is published by Cico Books and can be purchased here.

Written by Kat Phan on Monday November 8th, 2010 12:52 am

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