Amelia’s Magazine | Vintage at Goodwood: Festival Review

Wolf and Badger launch display amy
WolfandBadger skull
All photography by Amelia Gregory.

I don’t often head into town for launches after work these days but I was intrigued enough by the sound of the Wolf and Badger pop up store in Selfridges to request a ticket from them and make the trek over on my bike. Even though it was raining and I now have a snuffle.

There’s probably a reason why I don’t get asked to parties at that temple to consumerism Selfridges – it’s hallowed halls are all gleaming and full of trinkets and I don’t know that the readers of my website have much money to spend in them. I certainly don’t. But it’s rather wonderful to visit once in a blue moon – especially the food hall, order where I couldn’t resist picking up some Marmite flavoured biscuits by Fudges (shaped like Marmite pots!) as a special treat. Now there’s a brand diffusion I really can’t get enough of…

WolfandBadger Selfridges window display by Kyle Bean
The current window display by Kyle Bean.

On arrival I could see what was rather a swanky affair through the windows as I peered past a rather wonderful fairytale castle made out of old books. Inside some furiously groomed folk filled the aisles as they fuelled up with champagne and jellybeans. A couple of ladies with bog roll wigs delivered creamed canapes from a side table and there was so much people watching potential that I found it hard to concentrate on the work being sold.

WolfandBadger amelia gregory
WolfandBadger launch photo by Amelia gregory
Not sure about this as a look…

Along the back wall a vision of Amy Winehouse in buttons was on display centre stage by the artist Sarah Gwyer. We particularly admired the clever use of old Costa service badges in the hairpiece on her beehive. Next door a digital parakeet by Troy Abbott boggled my mind somewhat. Erm… fun, but do we really have energy to waste with fripperies like this?

WolfandBadger launch photo by Amelia gregory

I preferred the plates and cups with curly bites taken out of them – created by the designer Evthokia. And over the top it might be but I adored the opulent ceramic ware from Jasmin Rowlandson: great curlicued gold and cream extravagances inspired by coral reefs and wood. Note to Wolf and Badger: it’s a shame the names of artists were hammered out in metal, making them incredibly hard to read and take note of.

WolfandBadger launch photo by Amelia gregory
Not your usual crockery from Evthokia.

WolfandBadger launch photo by Amelia gregory
WolfandBadger launch photo by Amelia gregory
Ceramic ware from Jasmin Rowlandson.

On the tables knuckle duster jewellery by Gisele Ganne was equally over the top. I can’t much imagine anyone wearing this stuff but it was fun to marvel at it in a glass case.

WolfandBadger gisele ganne
Knuckle duster madness by Gisele Ganne.

Maybe I’m suddenly getting a little more low key in my old age, but I was more drawn to the delicate gold filigree jewellery of Mallarino. I often gaze longingly at the Indian wedding earrings in the windows of the shops on Bethnal Green Road, and this seemed to be greatly inspired by such designs.

WolfandBadger launch photo by Amelia gregory
Botoxed high society lady.

WolfandBadger launch photo by Amelia gregory
And not quite so botoxed (or high society) lady.

As we left I picked up a satisfyingly heavy goodie bag from Selfridges – unfortunately it wasn’t anything exciting from Wolf and Badger. Just a bog standard notebook.

Even if you haven’t got the cash to flash, the Wolf and Badger pop up concept store is worth popping into for some cool West London designer inspiration if you’re in that part of town. It’s only on between the dates of 12-31 August 2010.

WolfandBadger launch photo by Amelia gregory
WolfandBadger skull
All photography by Amelia Gregory.

I don’t often head into town for launches after work these days but I was intrigued enough by the sound of the Wolf and Badger pop up store in Selfridges to request a ticket from them and make the trek over on my bike. Even though it was raining and I now have a snuffle.

There’s probably a reason why I don’t get asked to parties at that temple to consumerism Selfridges – it’s hallowed halls are all gleaming and full of trinkets and I don’t know that the readers of my website have much money to spend in them. I certainly don’t. But it’s rather wonderful to visit once in a blue moon – especially the food hall, store where I couldn’t resist picking up some Marmite flavoured biscuits by Fudges (shaped like Marmite pots!) as a special treat. Now there’s a brand diffusion I really can’t get enough of…

WolfandBadger Selfridges window display by Kyle Bean
The current window display by Kyle Bean.

On arrival I could see what was rather a swanky affair through the windows as I peered past a rather wonderful fairytale castle made out of old books. Inside some furiously groomed folk filled the aisles as they fuelled up with champagne and jellybeans. A couple of ladies with bog roll wigs delivered creamed canapes from a side table and there was so much people watching potential that I found it hard to concentrate on the work being sold.

WolfandBadger amelia gregory
WolfandBadger launch photo by Amelia gregory
Not sure about this as a look…

Along the back wall a vision of Amy Winehouse in buttons was on display centre stage by the artist Sarah Gwyer. We particularly admired the clever use of old Costa Coffee service badges in the hairpiece on her beehive.

Wolf and Badger launch display amy

Next door a digital parakeet by Troy Abbott boggled my mind somewhat. Erm… fun, but do we really have energy to waste with fripperies like this?

WolfandBadger launch photo by Amelia gregory

I preferred the plates and cups with curly bites taken out of them – created by the designer Evthokia. And over the top it might be but I adored the opulent ceramic ware from Jasmin Rowlandson: great curlicued gold and cream extravagances inspired by coral reefs and wood. Note to Wolf and Badger: it’s a shame the names of artists were hammered out in metal, making them incredibly hard to read and take note of.

WolfandBadger launch photo by Amelia gregory
Not your usual crockery from Evthokia.

WolfandBadger launch photo by Amelia gregory
WolfandBadger launch photo by Amelia gregory
Ceramic ware from Jasmin Rowlandson.

On the tables knuckle duster jewellery by Gisele Ganne was equally over the top. I can’t much imagine anyone wearing this stuff but it was fun to marvel at it in a glass case.

WolfandBadger gisele ganne
Knuckle duster madness by Gisele Ganne.

Maybe I’m suddenly getting a little more low key in my old age, but I was more drawn to the delicate gold filigree jewellery of Mallarino. I often gaze longingly at the Indian wedding earrings in the windows of the shops on Bethnal Green Road, and this seemed to be greatly inspired by such designs.

WolfandBadger launch photo by Amelia gregory
Botoxed high society lady.

WolfandBadger launch photo by Amelia gregory
And not quite so botoxed (or high society) lady.

As we left I picked up a satisfyingly heavy goodie bag from Selfridges – unfortunately it wasn’t anything exciting from Wolf and Badger. Just a bog standard notebook.

Even if you haven’t got the cash to flash, the Wolf and Badger pop up concept store is worth popping into for some cool West London designer inspiration if you’re in that part of town. It’s only on between the dates of 12-31 August 2010.

WolfandBadger launch photo by Amelia gregory
Dahling_by_Abigail_Nottingham
Dahling by Abigail Nottingham.

“We’re building great cafes and restaurants on the Vintage High St, site where you will even find a Waitrose.” So said the flyer that I picked up in a local pub the day after our sojourn to Vintage at Goodwood. To be honest, and if I’d seen this same flyer before I’d been inundated with hype from the great VAG press machine then I might not have been so keen to attend the festival.

Vintage Goodwood 2010
Vintage Goodwood 2010
Photography by Amelia Gregory.

It’s ironic then, that, like the camping spots in “hidden glades, hollows, copses and hillocks” Waitrose didn’t make it into the final Vintage at Goodwood vision. But what did was every bit as soulless as I feared it might be in my preview blog.

Vintage Goodwood 2010

Past a regimental camping site that better represented a hillside carpark, we did indeed approach the main VAG entrance via a wooded glade… and as we did so passed what was to prove the most interesting aspect of the whole festival – a small eco-campment complete with beautiful decorated gypsy caravan, outsized lace-making and knitting, and a tiny outdoor stage for up and coming bands. Curated by textile artist Annie Sherburne, it was like a touch of Secret Garden Party had crept into the mix, but knowing not where to put it the madness was relegated to the woods.

Vintage Goodwood knit
Love shack caravan By Jessica Sharville
Love Shack Caravan by Jessica Sharville.

So far, so not very vintage, but as we ducked under the entrance arch a slew of gorgeous old cars funnelled us down towards the much trumpeted High Street, rearing up against the dramatic sky like a cross between a back lot of a Hollywood western and a trade show.

Vintage Goodwood entrance
Vintage Goodwood 2010
Vintage Goodwood 2010
Vintage Goodwood 2010

“Fifty years on from the design-led 1951 Festival of Britain, Goodwood is to host in 2010 the first of what will be an annual event” opens the glossy VAG flyer, and true to this spirit the very first shop on the High Street housed Wayne Hemingway Inc, choc full of products plastered with designs inspired by the very same Festival of Britain. As one worker commented to me “How arrogant can you be?” Vintage at Goodwood was a monument to our current obsession with consumerism as leisure, and bore no resemblance to the Festival of Britain’s celebration of modern societies’ achievements in post-war Britain. To compare something to such an iconographic event is to set oneself up for a fall.

Vintage Goodwood pub
Vintage Goodwood dress
TigzRice_pinupcar
Pinup Girl with Car by Tigz Rice.

Boggling, I gazed up at the garishly coloured towering fascias, wondering at the huge amount of money that must have gone into the construction. And none of it looking remotely recyclable. For that matter, where were the recycling bins? The post war years were frugal, and there was no sign of that here.

Vintage Goodwood 2010
Vintage Goodwood 2010

Instead there was the opportunity to shop inside stands for those well known vintage brands: The Body Shop, Fortnum & Mason, John Lewis and some really expensive watch brand I’ve never heard of; in whose stall people quaffed champagne as a man picked apart on old watch face and another displayed a case of super expensive items to a wealthy shopper. The same brand had sponsored the festival wristbands, made out of lethal lentographic plastic that cut my friend’s arm to shreds.

Vintage Goodwood 2010
Vintage Goodwood 2010
Vintage Goodwood 2010

There was also: a cinema, and a catwalk hosting “sold out” shows. We never did find out if this was just a turn of phrase or whether they were actually sold out. Yup, you had to pay on top of the ticket price for many of the attractions. And did I mention the style stand, where you could get your hair done by Primark in collaboration with the Sunday Times Style Magazine. Yes really. This is what we’ve come to.

vintage at goodwood by erica sharp
Vintage at Goodwood by Erica Sharp.

I heard rumours of people flying in to attend this festival on private jets, but it was telling of the strange mix of people that there was also a Daily Mirror volkswagen bus on site. As someone wrote on twitter, it seemed like a sanitised Daily Mail version of fifty years of culture, devoid of all nuance or passion. Inside the Sotheby’s auction tent the intermittent rain drip dripped onto a vintage speaker valued at £6000 as a couple passed looking uncomfortable in a fancy dress version of the 1970s.

Vintage Goodwood 2010
vintagegoodwood by Maria del Carmen Smith
Vintage at Goodwood Auction by Maria del Carmen Smith.

The most popular dress amongst women seemed to be the ubiquitous flouncey polka dot fifties number, or some other poorly rendered version of what was worn in the 60s or 70s. Fine if that’s your bag, but I’ve seen fancy dress done with a whole lot more verve at places like Bestival. I guess pure vintage enthusiasts wear vintage clothes with a dedication to style that wasn’t obvious on many festival goers, because vintage enthusiasts choose to wear these clothes day in day out, not as mere fancy dress. It wasn’t altogether surprising to find the real vintage enthusiasts looking slightly bemused and out of place in the staff dinner queue.

Vintage Goodwood 2010
Vintage Goodwood 2010
Vintage Goodwood crocs
Future Vintage: Crocs apparently…
Vintage Goodwood 2010
and the Big Brother chair. God help us.
Vintage Goodwood 2010
Tyrells crisps promotion: a vegetable chamber group.
Vintage Goodwood 2010
Vintage Goodwood 2010
Rocking the vintage look.

We spoke to friends in the much smaller vintage stall area that was hidden in cramped tents behind the central shopping parade. They were ambivalent about the festival: cross with the way it had been organised and how they were being treated, but happy with the money being spent on their stalls. Aside from spend spend spend, there wasn’t really much to do. We saw little evidence of art from across the decades, other than a strong presence from Peter Blake. We were amazed at the lack of protection for all the beautiful vintage cars stationed next to themed areas for each decade, scattered across the largely unpopulated site. Although there were rumours of workshops, without a £12 programme (touted as a must have “annual”) to tell us when and where, there didn’t seem to be much opportunity.

Vintage Goodwood craft

Like others we gawped at the crafters rather than join in and participate. “Ladies, wear your heels,” urged the flyer. But there wasn’t that much evidence of glamour as the small and bedraggled crowd waved their brollies in the air during the mid afternoon set at the 80s rave warehouse.

Vintage Goodwood 2010
The programme: £12 a pop.
Vintage Goodwood rave
The rave. Wet. Photograph by Tim Adey.
Vintage Goodwood empty
Vintage Goodwood 2010
Vintage Goodwood 2010
Vintage Goodwood 2010

I had hoped to visit The Chap Olympiad but every time we got close the heavens opened and we retreated. We tried to see comedian John Shuttleworth but the inflatable Leisure Dome was full to capacity and I was buggered if we were going to stand in a queue in the rain. How much electricity does it take to keep a blow up tent full of air? *ponders* Over on the main stage a respectable crowd gathered for The Noisettes, but seemed bemused by singer Shingai Shoniwa’s stage banter. And I wonder, how do The Noisettes fit into any kind of “vintage” mould?

Vintage Goodwood Noisettes
noisettes-singer-by-anagomezhernandez
Shingai Shoniwa by Ana Gomez Hernandez.

Instead we headed back to the Leisure Dome after another tip off – this time to see the absolutely amazing Swingle Singers singing choreographed acapella and beat box versions of popular songs. An utterly astonishing discovery they alone made the trip down south worthwhile.

Vintage Goodwood Swingle Singers
Vintage Goodwood austin
Vintage Goodwood swingle
Vintage Goodwood Swingle singers
swingle singers by anna hancock young
Swingle Singers by Anna Hancock Young.

Afterwards we stayed onto watch 70 year old Tony Hatch, he of soap opera theme tune fame (don’t worry, I had no idea who he was either). A highlight of our short visit to VAG was surely the sight of Captain Sensible (of punk legends The Damned), listening to Tony Hatch and singers reprise the Neighbours theme tune. Does it get anymore surreal?

Vintage Goodwood Tony Hatch
Tony Hatch and friends.

Thanks to the power of twitter I was able to find out what VAG was like for myself, and in retrospect I am very glad that I didn’t get given free tickets by the organisers because I would have felt duty bound to be much nicer about the VAG experience if I had. I am sure that many people thoroughly enjoyed their trip to Vintage at Goodwood, but for me the idea of staying on for another day was utterly unappealing. Instead we left whilst the going was good, stayed over at a friend’s house and spent Sunday getting drunk with locals at a historic pub in nearby Petersfield.

Vintage Goodwood by Louise Sterling
Vintage Goodwood by Louise Sterling.

On my previous blog there have been a couple of comments stressing the need for big sponsors in order to make a return on investment on a festival such as VAG. This is absolutely not true unless you aspire to make a festival bigger than it wants to be. Most festivals start small and grow organically through the love and dedication of the people who take part. It’s not necessary to bring big brands in unless you’re aiming for a showy experience at the expense of any kind of soul.

Vintage Goodwood girls
Vintage Goodwood shop
Vintage Goodwood red
Vintage Goodwood 2010
Sponsored up to the hilt.

For real vintage lovers I suggest that next year, instead of going to Vintage at Goodwood you check out the numerous other boutique festivals dedicated to specific eras. Especially since I have a sneaking suspicion that many of the true vintage enthusiasts that made it to VAG will not be returning next year. And if you want pure unadulterated playful creative dressing up then I suggest you check out Secret Garden Party – and for real forward thinking cultural inspiration then try Latitude. A hyped-up vanity project does not a successful festival make.

Vintage Goodwood mobility

Categories ,Abigail Nottingham, ,Ana Gomez, ,Ana Gomez Hernandez, ,Anna Hancock-Young, ,Annie Sherburne, ,bestival, ,Captain Sensible, ,Erica Sharp, ,John Shuttleworth, ,latitude, ,Louise Sterling, ,Maria del Carmen Smith, ,Peter Blake, ,Primark, ,Secret Garden Party, ,Shingai Shoniwa, ,Swingle Singers, ,The Chap Olympiad, ,The Damned, ,the Noisettes, ,Tigz Rice, ,Tigzy, ,Tim Adey, ,Tony Hatch, ,Vintage at Goodwood, ,Vintage Goodwood. Jessica Sharville, ,Wayne Hemmingway

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Amelia’s Magazine | Vintage at Goodwood: Festival Review

Wolf and Badger launch display amy
WolfandBadger skull
All photography by Amelia Gregory.

I don’t often head into town for launches after work these days but I was intrigued enough by the sound of the Wolf and Badger pop up store in Selfridges to request a ticket from them and make the trek over on my bike. Even though it was raining and I now have a snuffle.

There’s probably a reason why I don’t get asked to parties at that temple to consumerism Selfridges – it’s hallowed halls are all gleaming and full of trinkets and I don’t know that the readers of my website have much money to spend in them. I certainly don’t. But it’s rather wonderful to visit once in a blue moon – especially the food hall, order where I couldn’t resist picking up some Marmite flavoured biscuits by Fudges (shaped like Marmite pots!) as a special treat. Now there’s a brand diffusion I really can’t get enough of…

WolfandBadger Selfridges window display by Kyle Bean
The current window display by Kyle Bean.

On arrival I could see what was rather a swanky affair through the windows as I peered past a rather wonderful fairytale castle made out of old books. Inside some furiously groomed folk filled the aisles as they fuelled up with champagne and jellybeans. A couple of ladies with bog roll wigs delivered creamed canapes from a side table and there was so much people watching potential that I found it hard to concentrate on the work being sold.

WolfandBadger amelia gregory
WolfandBadger launch photo by Amelia gregory
Not sure about this as a look…

Along the back wall a vision of Amy Winehouse in buttons was on display centre stage by the artist Sarah Gwyer. We particularly admired the clever use of old Costa service badges in the hairpiece on her beehive. Next door a digital parakeet by Troy Abbott boggled my mind somewhat. Erm… fun, but do we really have energy to waste with fripperies like this?

WolfandBadger launch photo by Amelia gregory

I preferred the plates and cups with curly bites taken out of them – created by the designer Evthokia. And over the top it might be but I adored the opulent ceramic ware from Jasmin Rowlandson: great curlicued gold and cream extravagances inspired by coral reefs and wood. Note to Wolf and Badger: it’s a shame the names of artists were hammered out in metal, making them incredibly hard to read and take note of.

WolfandBadger launch photo by Amelia gregory
Not your usual crockery from Evthokia.

WolfandBadger launch photo by Amelia gregory
WolfandBadger launch photo by Amelia gregory
Ceramic ware from Jasmin Rowlandson.

On the tables knuckle duster jewellery by Gisele Ganne was equally over the top. I can’t much imagine anyone wearing this stuff but it was fun to marvel at it in a glass case.

WolfandBadger gisele ganne
Knuckle duster madness by Gisele Ganne.

Maybe I’m suddenly getting a little more low key in my old age, but I was more drawn to the delicate gold filigree jewellery of Mallarino. I often gaze longingly at the Indian wedding earrings in the windows of the shops on Bethnal Green Road, and this seemed to be greatly inspired by such designs.

WolfandBadger launch photo by Amelia gregory
Botoxed high society lady.

WolfandBadger launch photo by Amelia gregory
And not quite so botoxed (or high society) lady.

As we left I picked up a satisfyingly heavy goodie bag from Selfridges – unfortunately it wasn’t anything exciting from Wolf and Badger. Just a bog standard notebook.

Even if you haven’t got the cash to flash, the Wolf and Badger pop up concept store is worth popping into for some cool West London designer inspiration if you’re in that part of town. It’s only on between the dates of 12-31 August 2010.

WolfandBadger launch photo by Amelia gregory
WolfandBadger skull
All photography by Amelia Gregory.

I don’t often head into town for launches after work these days but I was intrigued enough by the sound of the Wolf and Badger pop up store in Selfridges to request a ticket from them and make the trek over on my bike. Even though it was raining and I now have a snuffle.

There’s probably a reason why I don’t get asked to parties at that temple to consumerism Selfridges – it’s hallowed halls are all gleaming and full of trinkets and I don’t know that the readers of my website have much money to spend in them. I certainly don’t. But it’s rather wonderful to visit once in a blue moon – especially the food hall, store where I couldn’t resist picking up some Marmite flavoured biscuits by Fudges (shaped like Marmite pots!) as a special treat. Now there’s a brand diffusion I really can’t get enough of…

WolfandBadger Selfridges window display by Kyle Bean
The current window display by Kyle Bean.

On arrival I could see what was rather a swanky affair through the windows as I peered past a rather wonderful fairytale castle made out of old books. Inside some furiously groomed folk filled the aisles as they fuelled up with champagne and jellybeans. A couple of ladies with bog roll wigs delivered creamed canapes from a side table and there was so much people watching potential that I found it hard to concentrate on the work being sold.

WolfandBadger amelia gregory
WolfandBadger launch photo by Amelia gregory
Not sure about this as a look…

Along the back wall a vision of Amy Winehouse in buttons was on display centre stage by the artist Sarah Gwyer. We particularly admired the clever use of old Costa Coffee service badges in the hairpiece on her beehive.

Wolf and Badger launch display amy

Next door a digital parakeet by Troy Abbott boggled my mind somewhat. Erm… fun, but do we really have energy to waste with fripperies like this?

WolfandBadger launch photo by Amelia gregory

I preferred the plates and cups with curly bites taken out of them – created by the designer Evthokia. And over the top it might be but I adored the opulent ceramic ware from Jasmin Rowlandson: great curlicued gold and cream extravagances inspired by coral reefs and wood. Note to Wolf and Badger: it’s a shame the names of artists were hammered out in metal, making them incredibly hard to read and take note of.

WolfandBadger launch photo by Amelia gregory
Not your usual crockery from Evthokia.

WolfandBadger launch photo by Amelia gregory
WolfandBadger launch photo by Amelia gregory
Ceramic ware from Jasmin Rowlandson.

On the tables knuckle duster jewellery by Gisele Ganne was equally over the top. I can’t much imagine anyone wearing this stuff but it was fun to marvel at it in a glass case.

WolfandBadger gisele ganne
Knuckle duster madness by Gisele Ganne.

Maybe I’m suddenly getting a little more low key in my old age, but I was more drawn to the delicate gold filigree jewellery of Mallarino. I often gaze longingly at the Indian wedding earrings in the windows of the shops on Bethnal Green Road, and this seemed to be greatly inspired by such designs.

WolfandBadger launch photo by Amelia gregory
Botoxed high society lady.

WolfandBadger launch photo by Amelia gregory
And not quite so botoxed (or high society) lady.

As we left I picked up a satisfyingly heavy goodie bag from Selfridges – unfortunately it wasn’t anything exciting from Wolf and Badger. Just a bog standard notebook.

Even if you haven’t got the cash to flash, the Wolf and Badger pop up concept store is worth popping into for some cool West London designer inspiration if you’re in that part of town. It’s only on between the dates of 12-31 August 2010.

WolfandBadger launch photo by Amelia gregory
Dahling_by_Abigail_Nottingham
Dahling by Abigail Nottingham.

“We’re building great cafes and restaurants on the Vintage High St, site where you will even find a Waitrose.” So said the flyer that I picked up in a local pub the day after our sojourn to Vintage at Goodwood. To be honest, and if I’d seen this same flyer before I’d been inundated with hype from the great VAG press machine then I might not have been so keen to attend the festival.

Vintage Goodwood 2010
Vintage Goodwood 2010
Photography by Amelia Gregory.

It’s ironic then, that, like the camping spots in “hidden glades, hollows, copses and hillocks” Waitrose didn’t make it into the final Vintage at Goodwood vision. But what did was every bit as soulless as I feared it might be in my preview blog.

Vintage Goodwood 2010

Past a regimental camping site that better represented a hillside carpark, we did indeed approach the main VAG entrance via a wooded glade… and as we did so passed what was to prove the most interesting aspect of the whole festival – a small eco-campment complete with beautiful decorated gypsy caravan, outsized lace-making and knitting, and a tiny outdoor stage for up and coming bands. Curated by textile artist Annie Sherburne, it was like a touch of Secret Garden Party had crept into the mix, but knowing not where to put it the madness was relegated to the woods.

Vintage Goodwood knit
Love shack caravan By Jessica Sharville
Love Shack Caravan by Jessica Sharville.

So far, so not very vintage, but as we ducked under the entrance arch a slew of gorgeous old cars funnelled us down towards the much trumpeted High Street, rearing up against the dramatic sky like a cross between a back lot of a Hollywood western and a trade show.

Vintage Goodwood entrance
Vintage Goodwood 2010
Vintage Goodwood 2010
Vintage Goodwood 2010

“Fifty years on from the design-led 1951 Festival of Britain, Goodwood is to host in 2010 the first of what will be an annual event” opens the glossy VAG flyer, and true to this spirit the very first shop on the High Street housed Wayne Hemingway Inc, choc full of products plastered with designs inspired by the very same Festival of Britain. As one worker commented to me “How arrogant can you be?” Vintage at Goodwood was a monument to our current obsession with consumerism as leisure, and bore no resemblance to the Festival of Britain’s celebration of modern societies’ achievements in post-war Britain. To compare something to such an iconographic event is to set oneself up for a fall.

Vintage Goodwood pub
Vintage Goodwood dress
TigzRice_pinupcar
Pinup Girl with Car by Tigz Rice.

Boggling, I gazed up at the garishly coloured towering fascias, wondering at the huge amount of money that must have gone into the construction. And none of it looking remotely recyclable. For that matter, where were the recycling bins? The post war years were frugal, and there was no sign of that here.

Vintage Goodwood 2010
Vintage Goodwood 2010

Instead there was the opportunity to shop inside stands for those well known vintage brands: The Body Shop, Fortnum & Mason, John Lewis and some really expensive watch brand I’ve never heard of; in whose stall people quaffed champagne as a man picked apart on old watch face and another displayed a case of super expensive items to a wealthy shopper. The same brand had sponsored the festival wristbands, made out of lethal lentographic plastic that cut my friend’s arm to shreds.

Vintage Goodwood 2010
Vintage Goodwood 2010
Vintage Goodwood 2010

There was also: a cinema, and a catwalk hosting “sold out” shows. We never did find out if this was just a turn of phrase or whether they were actually sold out. Yup, you had to pay on top of the ticket price for many of the attractions. And did I mention the style stand, where you could get your hair done by Primark in collaboration with the Sunday Times Style Magazine. Yes really. This is what we’ve come to.

vintage at goodwood by erica sharp
Vintage at Goodwood by Erica Sharp.

I heard rumours of people flying in to attend this festival on private jets, but it was telling of the strange mix of people that there was also a Daily Mirror volkswagen bus on site. As someone wrote on twitter, it seemed like a sanitised Daily Mail version of fifty years of culture, devoid of all nuance or passion. Inside the Sotheby’s auction tent the intermittent rain drip dripped onto a vintage speaker valued at £6000 as a couple passed looking uncomfortable in a fancy dress version of the 1970s.

Vintage Goodwood 2010
vintagegoodwood by Maria del Carmen Smith
Vintage at Goodwood Auction by Maria del Carmen Smith.

The most popular dress amongst women seemed to be the ubiquitous flouncey polka dot fifties number, or some other poorly rendered version of what was worn in the 60s or 70s. Fine if that’s your bag, but I’ve seen fancy dress done with a whole lot more verve at places like Bestival. I guess pure vintage enthusiasts wear vintage clothes with a dedication to style that wasn’t obvious on many festival goers, because vintage enthusiasts choose to wear these clothes day in day out, not as mere fancy dress. It wasn’t altogether surprising to find the real vintage enthusiasts looking slightly bemused and out of place in the staff dinner queue.

Vintage Goodwood 2010
Vintage Goodwood 2010
Vintage Goodwood crocs
Future Vintage: Crocs apparently…
Vintage Goodwood 2010
and the Big Brother chair. God help us.
Vintage Goodwood 2010
Tyrells crisps promotion: a vegetable chamber group.
Vintage Goodwood 2010
Vintage Goodwood 2010
Rocking the vintage look.

We spoke to friends in the much smaller vintage stall area that was hidden in cramped tents behind the central shopping parade. They were ambivalent about the festival: cross with the way it had been organised and how they were being treated, but happy with the money being spent on their stalls. Aside from spend spend spend, there wasn’t really much to do. We saw little evidence of art from across the decades, other than a strong presence from Peter Blake. We were amazed at the lack of protection for all the beautiful vintage cars stationed next to themed areas for each decade, scattered across the largely unpopulated site. Although there were rumours of workshops, without a £12 programme (touted as a must have “annual”) to tell us when and where, there didn’t seem to be much opportunity.

Vintage Goodwood craft

Like others we gawped at the crafters rather than join in and participate. “Ladies, wear your heels,” urged the flyer. But there wasn’t that much evidence of glamour as the small and bedraggled crowd waved their brollies in the air during the mid afternoon set at the 80s rave warehouse.

Vintage Goodwood 2010
The programme: £12 a pop.
Vintage Goodwood rave
The rave. Wet. Photograph by Tim Adey.
Vintage Goodwood empty
Vintage Goodwood 2010
Vintage Goodwood 2010
Vintage Goodwood 2010

I had hoped to visit The Chap Olympiad but every time we got close the heavens opened and we retreated. We tried to see comedian John Shuttleworth but the inflatable Leisure Dome was full to capacity and I was buggered if we were going to stand in a queue in the rain. How much electricity does it take to keep a blow up tent full of air? *ponders* Over on the main stage a respectable crowd gathered for The Noisettes, but seemed bemused by singer Shingai Shoniwa’s stage banter. And I wonder, how do The Noisettes fit into any kind of “vintage” mould?

Vintage Goodwood Noisettes
noisettes-singer-by-anagomezhernandez
Shingai Shoniwa by Ana Gomez Hernandez.

Instead we headed back to the Leisure Dome after another tip off – this time to see the absolutely amazing Swingle Singers singing choreographed acapella and beat box versions of popular songs. An utterly astonishing discovery they alone made the trip down south worthwhile.

Vintage Goodwood Swingle Singers
Vintage Goodwood austin
Vintage Goodwood swingle
Vintage Goodwood Swingle singers
swingle singers by anna hancock young
Swingle Singers by Anna Hancock Young.

Afterwards we stayed onto watch 70 year old Tony Hatch, he of soap opera theme tune fame (don’t worry, I had no idea who he was either). A highlight of our short visit to VAG was surely the sight of Captain Sensible (of punk legends The Damned), listening to Tony Hatch and singers reprise the Neighbours theme tune. Does it get anymore surreal?

Vintage Goodwood Tony Hatch
Tony Hatch and friends.

Thanks to the power of twitter I was able to find out what VAG was like for myself, and in retrospect I am very glad that I didn’t get given free tickets by the organisers because I would have felt duty bound to be much nicer about the VAG experience if I had. I am sure that many people thoroughly enjoyed their trip to Vintage at Goodwood, but for me the idea of staying on for another day was utterly unappealing. Instead we left whilst the going was good, stayed over at a friend’s house and spent Sunday getting drunk with locals at a historic pub in nearby Petersfield.

Vintage Goodwood by Louise Sterling
Vintage Goodwood by Louise Sterling.

On my previous blog there have been a couple of comments stressing the need for big sponsors in order to make a return on investment on a festival such as VAG. This is absolutely not true unless you aspire to make a festival bigger than it wants to be. Most festivals start small and grow organically through the love and dedication of the people who take part. It’s not necessary to bring big brands in unless you’re aiming for a showy experience at the expense of any kind of soul.

Vintage Goodwood girls
Vintage Goodwood shop
Vintage Goodwood red
Vintage Goodwood 2010
Sponsored up to the hilt.

For real vintage lovers I suggest that next year, instead of going to Vintage at Goodwood you check out the numerous other boutique festivals dedicated to specific eras. Especially since I have a sneaking suspicion that many of the true vintage enthusiasts that made it to VAG will not be returning next year. And if you want pure unadulterated playful creative dressing up then I suggest you check out Secret Garden Party – and for real forward thinking cultural inspiration then try Latitude. A hyped-up vanity project does not a successful festival make.

Vintage Goodwood mobility

Categories ,Abigail Nottingham, ,Ana Gomez, ,Ana Gomez Hernandez, ,Anna Hancock-Young, ,Annie Sherburne, ,bestival, ,Captain Sensible, ,Erica Sharp, ,John Shuttleworth, ,latitude, ,Louise Sterling, ,Maria del Carmen Smith, ,Peter Blake, ,Primark, ,Secret Garden Party, ,Shingai Shoniwa, ,Swingle Singers, ,The Chap Olympiad, ,The Damned, ,the Noisettes, ,Tigz Rice, ,Tigzy, ,Tim Adey, ,Tony Hatch, ,Vintage at Goodwood, ,Vintage Goodwood. Jessica Sharville, ,Wayne Hemmingway

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Amelia’s Magazine | New video for Diamond Mine single Bubble by Elliot Dear

Elliot Dear Bubble King Creosote Jon Hopkins title
There’s no denying that a good music video is increasingly a necessity to accompany any new single release in our multi media world, ampoule so it is no wonder that it is to illustrators and animators that bands are turning in order to create magical visions of their songs that would not otherwise be possible. Illustrator and animator Elliot Dear is responsible for the gorgeous video for the new single from the Jon Hopkins and King Creosote collaboration Diamond Mine.

Elliot Dear Bubble King Creosote Jon Hopkins boatElliot Dear Bubble King Creosote Jon Hopkins fish boat

It features a small boat marooned in a snowy harbour and a black dog that jumps overboard to join a shoal of fish amongst points of light and an abandoned car. It’s one of the most evocative videos I have seen in ages, sickness exploring themes from Bubble in an abstract and dreamlike way.

Elliot Dear Bubble King Creosote Jon Hopkins fishElliot Dear Bubble King Creosote Jon Hopkins dog

Bubble was first written by King Creosote in the 1990′s, and is described by King Creosote in his Drowned in Sound track by track explanation as ‘boy does bad, promises to do better, big sentiments and commitments if and only when desperately needed.‘ Kenny added a second verse more recently in which he attempted ‘to bring in some older cynicism to counter the naivety in the original.Jon Hopkins recorded most of the backing track in his attic a few years ago and included sounds such as the turning of a bicycle wheel and the drumming of his hands on the carpet.

Elliot Dear Bubble King Creosote Jon HopkinsElliot Dear Bubble King Creosote Jon Hopkins under water

The video was directed by Elliot Dear, who graduated from UWE in 2007. Elliot now works with Blinkink and his work often explores the relationship between people and animals and where the line between the two blurs‘. He mixes illustration and animation with hand built sets and it took him five days to shoot the 3D models of the boat and car to create Bubble. You can watch it right here:

YouTube Preview Image

I love the combination of music and animation in the Bubble video, but if you want to break the spell it casts on all who view it then why not watch the ‘making of’ video below, which shows Elliot messing around in his basement studio to create the fictitious Bubble world.

YouTube Preview Image

Read my interviews with both King Creosote and Jon Hopkins. They will be on tour later this summer; two dates have just been added for Leicester Summer Sundae Weekender and Bestival on the Isle of Wight… full listing information here. Read our review of their recent performance at Union Chapel here.

Categories ,animation, ,bestival, ,Blinkink, ,Bubble, ,Diamond Mine, ,Drowned In Sound, ,Elliot Dear, ,illustration, ,isle of wight, ,Jon Hopkins, ,King Creosote, ,Leicester Summer Sundae Weekender, ,review, ,single, ,UWE, ,video

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Amelia’s Magazine | Festival Preview: Bestival & Camp Bestival

twoofhearts_sheltercardquilt_lesleybarnes
seven little houses

When Lesley Barnes found out about the 4th Annual Animboom Awards animation competition in conjunction with Sesame Street (Blimey, ampoule try saying that fast!), viagra 60mg she just knew she had to work with fellow illustrator Thereza Rowe. The results of their collaboration is this wonderful piece: Seven Little Houses. You can watch the video here.

Seven Little Houses clouds
Seven Little Houses bottles

Lesley Barnes describes how they approached the Aniboom competition:

One of the competition categories was to design an animation that would help children learn about either colours, viagra 60mg shapes, numbers or letters. We chose the number seven as it seemed to give us scope to do a bit of counting without it being a huge number for kids to deal with and for some reason we both agreed that there was something special about an odd number.
We gave the animation a circular feel by creating it around the idea of a day, with the sun at the beginning and the moon at the end. Repetition was key so the narrative turns around lots of groups of seven; the idea being that children will get used to counting 124567 and begin to repeat it. As well as having the numbers on screen we included groups of seven objects; seven houses, seven bottles, seven clouds, etc. because it’s easier to visualise the numbers as objects.
The animation was mostly done in after effects and took about a month to finish. My friend Al Paxton, who is a musician in Brooklyn, provided the sound. It was his idea to have the voices (him and his girlfriend) shouting out 1234567 and I think it’s really important because it encourages children to shout out along with the animation.

twoofhearts_sheltercardquilt_lesleybarnes
Lesley Barnes’ illustration for the Shelter Card Quilt.

Thereza Rowe Shelter Card Quilt
Thereza Rowe’s illustration for the Shelter Card Quilt.

Lesley first got in touch with Thereza after admiring the playing card that she designed for my Shelter House of Cards Quilt in 2009, and since then they’ve kept in constant contact via email and twitter. I asked them to write down a few words about each other.
 
Lesley Barnes on Thereza Rowe:
 
We both had cards included on Amelia’s final Shelter Card Quilt and Thereza‘s goats – although she now tells me they are deer – were my favourite! Amelia’s Magazine has given us such a great platform for our work: we have been in touch ever since and knew that we wanted to do a collaboration at some point… When I saw the Aniboom Sesame Street competition I thought that Thereza’s textures, colours, shapes, illustration style and personality (including her love of pink milk and bendy straws) would be perfect for it. We started work with Thereza‘s house illustrations and from that we both designed a selection of characters. There were far too many in the end, so the final seven characters were a bit of an amalgamation of our work.
Working with Thereza was ace and the best thing was all the colour that she brought into the animation – my animation can sometimes get a bit monochromatic so it was such a pleasure to work with such a great selection of colours and textures. I also think that Thereza‘s lovely upbeat personality comes through in Seven Little Houses.

Seven Little Houses umbrellas

Thereza Rowe on Lesley Barnes:

When Lesley contacted me for the first time with some nice words about my work and a suggestion that we should collaborate in a future project I was so excited because as soon I set eyes on her stunning animation and illustration work I knew that we would eventually produce something really good together. Since then we have kept in touch whilst keeping an eye out for interesting briefs which would suit our ideas of a collaboration… and so the Aniboom competition came about!
Working with Lesley has been an ongoing joy as she’s creative, diligent, determined and hands on. We both share a similar sense of humour which is very important because it makes the working process a pleasant experience. As the project developed I was amazed to see how the aesthetics of our work just gelled together effortlessly, almost like magic. Surprisingly we have not met in person yet, although it feels like we have….
I am really proud of how she made our illustrations move in such a graceful manner and we’ve been receiving some lovely responses from people who have seen the animation. I’d also like to echo Lesley’s thoughts on the constant support and appreciation of the work we produce that we get from Amelia’s Magazine.

seven little houses people

I also wanted the girls to talk about the importance of Twitter to their collaboration, as I often see conversations between Lesley and Thereza passing through my own Twitter feed: it’s how I found out they were collaborating on the project for Aniboom, and it’s a medium I feel strongly that all illustrators should engage with.

Lesley on Twitter:
Twitter is an easy way of staying in touch and see what each other is up to. When you are a freelancer it’s great for reminding you that you are not completely alone in the world and means you can check out what’s inspiring other people, collaborate with them, get feedback and generally just have a bit of a chat.

Thereza on Twitter:
Using Twitter helped make the collaboration go more smoothly because Lesley and I were always tweeting bits of work in progress to each other and teasing other about what was coming next. I used to be very resistant to using Twitter but now I’m a self proclaimed addict because it’s enabled me to engage with some ace collaborations that otherwise might not have happened.
Twitter is probably the best current social tool for illustrators in terms of networking and establishing links with both the industry and peers as it provides an open channel for direct communication and it’s fab for promoting your own work and the work of others. I love the fact that Twitter is free of advertising and has a nice layout which allows you to customize your page background nicely. I’m really fussy about such factors…
Also, the job of an illustrator can often be a lonely one as we spend a great deal of time confined in our workspaces, well, working… so I tend to have my twitter page open through the day, so it almost feels like having lots of nice people around 🙂 

Both Thereza Rowe and Lesley Barnes appear in Amelia’s Anthology of Illustration.

Photo: Ben Gold

It’s the day before the general election and the concluding part of Amelia’s Magazine interview with Think Act Vote’s Amisha Ghadiali. Tomorrow you have a chance to vote. Use it.

Why do you think if “politics were a brand, ed no one would wear it!”?

This statement is about Westminster politics, in many ways the system we have is out of date for the world we are living in now. I don’t see people wanting to “wear” it as it is. This is why I really support the work of campaigns like Vote for a Change that focus their around how we can make the system work better for us.

How can fashion be used to engage people in Politics?

I think that fashion plays a key role in how we express ourselves and we use it to communicate things about ourselves or messages that we care about. The campaign t-shirt has become iconic as a phenomenon. At the beginning of the campaign, we ran a competition to design the perfect campaign t-shirt, which was a great opportunity for up and coming illustrators to showcase their work. The winning design by Jesson Yip was selected by a judging panel that included Katharine Hamnett and Daisy de Villeneuve. The symbols represent each word, with different fonts to represent different people’s voices. The design was then printed onto Earth Positive Eco T-shirts and is now on sale.

Through working in the ethical fashion industry I see fashion as a key way to think about sustainability. We all wear clothes, and the fashion industry affects so many people across the world as well as the environment. I work closely with Ethical Fashion designers at EFF and am one myself with my jewellery label. As an ethical designer, you don’t just have to make sure that your collection looks and fits great, but you spend a huge amount of time researching new fabrics, new technologies and finding out who is telling the truth about their labour standards or production methods. You need to be pioneering and inquisitive as you think through your entire collection and its impact on the environment and people at every stage.

Ethical Fashion designers are always pushing boundaries and are extremely passionate about what they do. I wanted to include this talent in the campaign and asked leading ethical fashion designers to create a show piece or an easy DIY customisation using a Think Act Vote t-shirt and off cuts from their collections. The designers that took part included Ada Zanditon, Junky Styling, Traid Remade, Tara Starlet and Beautiful Soul. The pieces that they created in just a week are stunning.


Photo: Dominic Clarke

Think Act Vote discusses the negativity imbedded in modern politics – Were there any particular examples that spurred you into action?

There are loads of examples, just try and think when the last time you heard something positive about politicians or about changes in our communities. We are always focusing on people’s failings and the ‘fear’ out there. Just last week the country spent two days focusing on the story about Gordon Brown saying a woman was a bigot.

Is this negativity the reason, do you think, for the decline in the number of votes?

Not the only reason. Things have changed a lot over the last few decades. I think two features of the neo-liberal British political landscape are related: the rise of consumerism and the demise of traditional participation. I think that the way we express who we are is different now, not that many people are lifetime members of political parties. Political identity is no longer inherited.

As mentioned before I don’t think the political system reflects who we are, which makes us lose interest.

Have you been watching the Leader’s Debate?

I have seen bit of them, but not all the way through as have been doing talks and events most evenings in the past few weeks. I think it is great to have the leaders on TV, as it has really helped getting people talking about the election. I am not sure how much of their personalities and policies we are really seeing as the whole things does feel a little over polished. I think it would mean more if we had a vote on who was PM as well as on our local MP. I would also like to see some of the smaller parties be given this platform too.

Will you be voting this election?

Yes I will be voting, I think this is vital. I haven’t decided who for yet. I will decide on election day. I am deciding between three parties but then I went on Voter Power and saw that my voter power in my constituency is only 0.039. It is an ultra safe seat. So I am thinking about voting through Give Your Vote. It is a fantastic campaign about Global Democracy which allows you to give your vote to somebody in Afghanistan, Ghana or Bangladesh. It is an act of solidarity with those who do not have a say in the decisions that affect them.

Join Amisha tonight at: The Future I Choose with Live Music, Poetry, Fashion, Photography ??
The City and Arts Music Project, 70-74 City Road, London, EC1Y 2BJ?
5.30pm til 9pm


Photo: Dominic Clarke

It’s the day before the general election and the concluding part of Amelia’s Magazine interview with Think Act Vote’s Amisha Ghadiali. Tomorrow you have a chance to vote. Use it.

Why do you think if “politics were a brand, online no one would wear it!”?

This statement is about Westminster politics, there in many ways the system we have is out of date for the world we are living in now. I don’t see people wanting to “wear” it as it is. This is why I really support the work of campaigns like Vote for a Change that focus their around how we can make the system work better for us.

How can fashion be used to engage people in Politics?

I think that fashion plays a key role in how we express ourselves and we use it to communicate things about ourselves or messages that we care about. The campaign t-shirt has become iconic as a phenomenon. At the beginning of the campaign, patient we ran a competition to design the perfect campaign t-shirt, which was a great opportunity for up and coming illustrators to showcase their work. The winning design by Jesson Yip was selected by a judging panel that included Katharine Hamnett and Daisy de Villeneuve. The symbols represent each word, with different fonts to represent different people’s voices. The design was then printed onto Earth Positive Eco T-shirts and is now on sale.

Through working in the ethical fashion industry I see fashion as a key way to think about sustainability. We all wear clothes, and the fashion industry affects so many people across the world as well as the environment. I work closely with Ethical Fashion designers at EFF and am one myself with my jewellery label. As an ethical designer, you don’t just have to make sure that your collection looks and fits great, but you spend a huge amount of time researching new fabrics, new technologies and finding out who is telling the truth about their labour standards or production methods. You need to be pioneering and inquisitive as you think through your entire collection and its impact on the environment and people at every stage.

Ethical Fashion designers are always pushing boundaries and are extremely passionate about what they do. I wanted to include this talent in the campaign and asked leading ethical fashion designers to create a show piece or an easy DIY customisation using a Think Act Vote t-shirt and off cuts from their collections. The designers that took part included Ada Zanditon, Junky Styling, Traid Remade, Tara Starlet and Beautiful Soul. The pieces that they created in just a week are stunning.


Photo: Ben Gold

Think Act Vote discusses the negativity imbedded in modern politics – Were there any particular examples that spurred you into action?

There are loads of examples, just try and think when the last time you heard something positive about politicians or about changes in our communities. We are always focusing on people’s failings and the ‘fear’ out there. Just last week the country spent two days focusing on the story about Gordon Brown saying a woman was a bigot.

Is this negativity the reason, do you think, for the decline in the number of votes?

Not the only reason. Things have changed a lot over the last few decades. I think two features of the neo-liberal British political landscape are related: the rise of consumerism and the demise of traditional participation. I think that the way we express who we are is different now, not that many people are lifetime members of political parties. Political identity is no longer inherited.

As mentioned before I don’t think the political system reflects who we are, which makes us lose interest.

Have you been watching the Leader’s Debate?

I have seen bit of them, but not all the way through as have been doing talks and events most evenings in the past few weeks. I think it is great to have the leaders on TV, as it has really helped getting people talking about the election. I am not sure how much of their personalities and policies we are really seeing as the whole things does feel a little over polished. I think it would mean more if we had a vote on who was PM as well as on our local MP. I would also like to see some of the smaller parties be given this platform too.

Will you be voting this election?

Yes I will be voting, I think this is vital. I haven’t decided who for yet. I will decide on election day. I am deciding between three parties but then I went on Voter Power and saw that my voter power in my constituency is only 0.039. It is an ultra safe seat. So I am thinking about voting through Give Your Vote. It is a fantastic campaign about Global Democracy which allows you to give your vote to somebody in Afghanistan, Ghana or Bangladesh. It is an act of solidarity with those who do not have a say in the decisions that affect them.

Join Amisha tonight at: The Future I Choose with Live Music, Poetry, Fashion, Photography ??
The City and Arts Music Project, 70-74 City Road, London, EC1Y 2BJ?
5.30pm til 9pm

seven little houses

When Lesley Barnes found out about the 4th Annual Animboom Awards animation competition in conjunction with Sesame Street (Blimey, link try saying that fast!), treatment she just knew she had to work with fellow illustrator Thereza Rowe. The results of their collaboration is this wonderful piece: Seven Little Houses. You can watch the video here.

Seven Little Houses clouds
Seven Little Houses bottles

Lesley Barnes describes how they approached the Aniboom competition:

One of the competition categories was to design an animation that would help children learn about either colours, approved shapes, numbers or letters. We chose the number seven as it seemed to give us scope to do a bit of counting without it being a huge number for kids to deal with and for some reason we both agreed that there was something special about an odd number.
We gave the animation a circular feel by creating it around the idea of a day, with the sun at the beginning and the moon at the end. Repetition was key so the narrative turns around lots of groups of seven; the idea being that children will get used to counting 124567 and begin to repeat it. As well as having the numbers on screen we included groups of seven objects; seven houses, seven bottles, seven clouds, etc. because it’s easier to visualise the numbers as objects.
The animation was mostly done in after effects and took about a month to finish. My friend Al Paxton, who is a musician in Brooklyn, provided the sound. It was his idea to have the voices (him and his girlfriend) shouting out 1234567 and I think it’s really important because it encourages children to shout out along with the animation.

twoofhearts_sheltercardquilt_lesleybarnes
Lesley Barnes’ illustration for the sShelter Card Quilt.

Thereza Rowe Shelter Card Quilt
Thereza Rowe’s illustration for the Shelter Card Quilt.

Lesley first got in touch with Thereza after admiring the playing card that she designed for my Shelter House of Cards Quilt in 2009, and since then they’ve kept in constant contact via email and twitter. I asked them to write down a few words about each other.
 
Lesley Barnes on Thereza Rowe:
 
We both had cards included on Amelia’s final Shelter Card Quilt and Thereza‘s goats – although she now tells me they are deer – were my favourite! Amelia’s Magazine has given us such a great platform for our work: we have been in touch ever since and knew that we wanted to do a collaboration at some point… When I saw the Aniboom Sesame Street competition I thought that Thereza’s textures, colours, shapes, illustration style and personality (including her love of pink milk and bendy straws) would be perfect for it. We started work with Thereza‘s house illustrations and from that we both designed a selection of characters. There were far too many in the end, so the final seven characters were a bit of an amalgamation of our work.
Working with Thereza was ace and the best thing was all the colour that she brought into the animation – my animation can sometimes get a bit monochromatic so it was such a pleasure to work with such a great selection of colours and textures. I also think that Thereza‘s lovely upbeat personality comes through in Seven Little Houses.

Seven Little Houses umbrellas

Thereza Rowe on Lesley Barnes:

When Lesley contacted me for the first time with some nice words about my work and a suggestion that we should collaborate in a future project I was so excited because as soon I set eyes on her stunning animation and illustration work I knew that we would eventually produce something really good together. Since then we have kept in touch whilst keeping an eye out for interesting briefs which would suit our ideas of a collaboration… and so the Aniboom competition came about!
Working with Lesley has been an ongoing joy as she’s creative, diligent, determined and hands on. We both share a similar sense of humour which is very important because it makes the working process a pleasant experience. As the project developed I was amazed to see how the aesthetics of our work just gelled together effortlessly, almost like magic. Surprisingly we have not met in person yet, although it feels like we have….
I am really proud of how she made our illustrations move in such a graceful manner and we’ve been receiving some lovely responses from people who have seen the animation. I’d also like to echo Lesley’s thoughts on the constant support and appreciation of the work we produce that we get from Amelia’s Magazine.

seven little houses people

I also wanted the girls to talk about the importance of Twitter to their collaboration, as I often see conversations between Lesley and Thereza passing through my own Twitter feed: it’s how I found out they were collaborating on the project for Aniboom, and it’s a medium I feel strongly that all illustrators should engage with.

Lesley on Twitter:
Twitter is an easy way of staying in touch and see what each other is up to. When you are a freelancer it’s great for reminding you that you are not completely alone in the world and means you can check out what’s inspiring other people, collaborate with them, get feedback and generally just have a bit of a chat.

Thereza on Twitter:
Using Twitter helped make the collaboration go more smoothly because Lesley and I were always tweeting bits of work in progress to each other and teasing other about what was coming next. I used to be very resistant to using Twitter but now I’m a self proclaimed addict because it’s enabled me to engage with some ace collaborations that otherwise might not have happened.
Twitter is probably the best current social tool for illustrators in terms of networking and establishing links with both the industry and peers as it provides an open channel for direct communication and it’s fab for promoting your own work and the work of others. I love the fact that Twitter is free of advertising and has a nice layout which allows you to customize your page background nicely. I’m really fussy about such factors…
Also, the job of an illustrator can often be a lonely one as we spend a great deal of time confined in our workspaces, well, working… so I tend to have my twitter page open through the day, so it almost feels like having lots of nice people around 🙂 

Both Thereza Rowe and Lesley Barnes appear in Amelia’s Anthology of Illustration.

Another weekend on the festival calendar that has readily established itself as one of the more well-regarded events around is Radio 1 DJ Rob da Bank‘s Bestival, more about which takes place every year in the late summer on Robin Hill on the Isle of Wight. This year’s event takes place from the 9th to the 12th of September, pill and having such a late date every year marks it out as being perhaps the last significant camping festival to take place on these fair isles before autumn’s cold, unhealthy clammy hands take a grip of the countryside.

It’s been running since 2002, but in 2008 its ‘little sister’ spinoff, Camp Bestival, was launched. Based at Lulworth Castle in Dorset, Camp Bestival is a much smaller, and more intimate, affair (10,000 capacity versus the 43,000 of Bestival), specifically designed as a more child-friendly event, and taking place much earlier in the year (in mid-July). It conjures up much of the same ethos and atmosphere as its older brother, but there’s more of an emphasis on making it a happy environment for the kids – which is a splendid idea, really. I can only imagine how frustrating it must be to reach middle age only to find that the annual road trip mashup bangin’ weekender at Reading becoming less practical with a newborn baby on the backseat.

Like a lot of smaller, more ’boutique’ festivals, Bestival offers more than just a music lineup. The Saturday of the festival is usually designated the day for dressing up in costume (in 2005 they attempted to break the Guinness World Record for most people in fancy dress at one time), and there’s a heavy focus on political and environmental causes. It’s not uncommon to find artists interrupting their sets to declare their opposition to some military action in some far off country, or to promote vegetarianism (there’s a lot of vegetarian food on offer at Bestival), or merely to lead a chant for peace.

The organisers also try to make the festival carbon neutral, which includes offsetting those things that they can’t control (like the petrol burnt to get everything to the site) but also by promoting recycling and sustainability on site.

Camp Bestival is similarly-focused, but the main difference between the two (apart from the size) is that the focus is much less on the music. A large number of comedians perform at the festival, and there are also tents for poetry readings and theatrical performances. This makes sense, when you consider that up to 5,000 kids can attend on top of the 10,000 adults, and parents will no doubt love a chance to sit and relax, not having to chase small bundles of energy around.

Bestival’s musical lineup this year includes the Prodigy, Flaming Lips, Dizzee Rascal, Roxy Music, the xx, Fever Ray, a solo set from Jonsi of Sigur Ros fame, and a rare festival appearance from LCD Soundsystem (who will most likely disband at the end of this current tour, so catch them while you can). You’ve also got Gil-Scott Heron, Echo & the Bunnymen, Chase & Status, Simian Mobile Disco, and even Rolf Harris will be putting in an appearance.

Campe Bestival’s lineup is less prestigious, but still worth a shout – headlined by Madness, Friendly Fires, and the Human League, with appearances also from the legendary George Clinton & Parliament, as well as the slightly-less legendary Lee Scratch Perry, and also Calvin Harris, Marc Almond, Billy Bragg, and a host more.

So, taken, together, you’ve got a couple of pretty decent ways to bookend your summer on the south coast. Just make sure that, if you go, you do recycle – a new study out today has shown that festivals are emitting over 80,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide every year. Every little helps, eh?

Categories ,bestival, ,Billy Bragg, ,Calvin Harris, ,Camp Bestival, ,Chase & Status, ,dizzee rascal, ,Echo & the Bunnymen, ,Fever Ray, ,flaming lips, ,Friendly Fires, ,George Clinton, ,Gil-Scott Heron, ,isle of wight, ,Jonsi, ,lcd soundsystem, ,Madness, ,Marc Almond, ,parliament, ,rob da bank, ,Rolf Harris, ,Roxy Music, ,sigur ros, ,Simian Mobile Disco, ,The Human League, ,the Prodigy, ,The XX

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Amelia’s Magazine | Dent May : Howard : Single Review

Dent May

The summer festival season built to a crescendo for Dent May – Mississippi’s finest export since the eponymous mud pie – with Green Man and Bestival on his itinery. His last single release petered under the radar a little, sales so we thought here at Amelia’s Magazine that we’d give the underrated band a belated shout out. Released on the Animal Collective imprint, Paw Tracks, Howard is an ode to a man coming to terms with his new life after his band split up: ‘He’s been down since the band broke up, singing them songs got him all choked up’. Howard’s a victim of time, bless the ol’ codger. He’s grown up, gone bald and has to face life after the band, but at least he’s still got his show.

dent may2

An all-round showman, May has an uncanny ability to take bittersweet stories and turn them into shimmy inducing party pieces, Howard is the perfect example of this. His unique vocal style takes influence from a massively diverse ball pool –Prince, Serge Gainsbourg, and Lee Hazlewood to name a few. Once put to a background of his Magnificent Uke and some delicate Slide Guitar it’s just impossible not to fall in love with it.

DentMay3

Animal Collective spotted the charms of May and after one look at him applying chapstick in this retro DIY style video we can see why:

Categories ,Animal Collective, ,bestival, ,dent may and his magnificent ukelele, ,folk, ,Green Man, ,Indie, ,lee hazlewood, ,pop, ,prince, ,serge gainsbourg

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Amelia’s Magazine | Plastic Mermaids: Inhale the Universe Interview

Plastic Mermaids by Kat Hassan_3
Plastic Mermaids by Kat Hassan.

Plastic Mermaids are a five piece band from the Isle of Wight. Since their 2014 release of debut EP ‘Drømtorp’ they have rightfully been earning comparisons to the likes of Animal Collective, British Sea Power, The Flaming Lips and Mercury Rev. After sold-out headline shows last year Plastic Mermaids have become notable for their eye catching stage production, which involves handmade sets, lasers, projections and samples from films. I caught up with multi-instrumentalist Jamie Richards to find out more…


How did Plastic Mermaids come together and how has your home in Isle of Wight shaped your sound?
Doug, Chris N. and I (Jamie) used to be in a sort of thrash-electro-punk band called Magic Octagon. Really loud fast trashy music, it baffles me that we ever did it to be honest. Anyway we stopped that and decided to form Plastic Mermaids. We did one gig without a drummer with the most outrageous electronic setup ever and it was a complete disaster. We knew Chris J through surfing so got him to play some drums, and eventually decided that it also made more sense to have a bassist who could actually play the bass (I was pretty crap) so Tom joined us. I reckon being on the Island has definitely had an effect on our sound as we’re less subjected to the latest musical trends than we would be in a city, so we just kind of do our own thing. Being by the sea is pretty great for inspiration too.

Plastic Mermaids_portait
What is the process of creating new music as a band? Is there one person more in control and if so how does that work?
There’s no one person in control, we all write music and bring ideas to the table. It’s not a simple process though. I guess it usually goes something like this –
Someone has an idea that we all get excited about and start recording it before we really know where we’re going, we drink a lot of tea, everyone decides they want to take the song different places, we argue about it, record multiple versions, change it around until it bears no resemblance to the initial idea, decide we hate it, abandon it for months, throw away everything, start again, change the tempo by 20bpm in one direction then the other, drink some more tea, argue some more, change the key, throw it all away again, decide the original idea was actually quite good, drink some more tea, call it finished. Every now and then we get lucky and a song actually comes together pretty quickly. We wrote and recorded most of ‘Polaroids’ in one evening – Doug had a piano piece, which he had a completely different vision for and the rest of us totally butchered it while he was out of the room having dinner.

Plastic-Mermaids-by-Kat-Hassan
Plastic Mermaids by Kat Hassan.

Playing In Your Mind -Plastic Mermaids
Playing In Your Mind - Plastic Mermaids 2 copy
What is happening in the Playing in Your Mind video? What inspired all the ideas and how did you achieve them?
Ha! Well we followed Doug with a camera which was lucky because when he got attacked by that mannequin it made a pretty good intro..

Plastic Mermaids_EP COVER
If you could describe the inspiration behind the new Inhale the Universe EP in one sentence what would it be?
Tom had a dream he could inhale the universe so we tried to replicate it in music.

Playing In Your Mind - Plastic Mermaids 1
How often do you get to surf and do you ever surf together as a group or is it always a very individual pursuit?
Doug, Chris and I (Jamie) surf as often as the waves permit. Unfortunately being on an island half way up the English channel that’s not very often in summer. We do get some good waves in winter though, and it’s hardly ever crowded which is a bonus. There’s something really nice about sitting in the sea with a few friends in the middle of winter with snow on the ground watching the sunrise and getting some great waves, knowing that everyone else is still in bed.

PlasticMermaidsByKat Hassan_1
Plastic Mermaids by Kat Hassan.

The visual aspect of performance is very important to you – what do you hope to do with your live sets in the coming years? Any ideas you can share with us?
Obviously lights/projections/stage props etc do add a lot to the live experience, but I think a lot of what’s exciting about watching us play is just the fact that we’re doing it completely live. It’s become almost a rarity nowadays to see a band playing without a backing track. I swear I’ve seen bands recently that could stop playing their instruments and you wouldn’t notice. What we’re trying to do at the moment is to push things as far as we can technologically with samplers and sequencers etc whilst still remaining completely live and not being locked into a click track. There’s been so much of it around recently and I think audiences are starting to realise that gigs with backing tracks become stale pretty quickly. In our sets things can (and sometimes do) go wrong, and I think that adds an element of excitement. In future we just want to see how far we can keep pushing it and not play it too safe. And we’d like some big lasers of course.

Plastic Mermaids
Where can we see you live this year?
We’ve got a couple of headline gigs coming up, The Louisiana (Bristol) 23rd Feb and The Lexington (London) 24th Feb. We’ve just had a couple of festival bookings too, Wychwood Festival (31st May), Isle of Wight Festival (12th June) and Bestival (September). We’ve also got a nice slot on the main stage at Rob da Bank’s new Common People festival in Southampton 23rd May which is pretty exciting. Hopefully we’ll get a few more booked in soon as well.

Playing In Your Mind and Inhale The Universe are released on 9 March via Cross Keys Records.

Categories ,bestival, ,Common People festival, ,Cross Keys Records, ,Drømtorp, ,Inhale the Universe, ,interview, ,Isle of Wight Festival, ,Jamie Richards, ,Kat Hassan, ,Magic Octagon, ,Plastic Mermaids, ,Playing in Your Mind, ,Polaroids, ,The Lexington, ,The Louisiana, ,Wychwood Festival

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Amelia’s Magazine | Camp Bestival 2014 Review: Mr. Tumble, Trolleys, Caravans and Mud Pies

Camp Bestival by Maia Fjord
Camp Bestival by Maia Fjord.

My final festival this year was Camp Bestival, which we travelled to on our way back from Cornwall. I went to the first ever Camp Bestival in 2008, when the idea of a boutique festival especially aimed at families was a fairly novel idea and it was a much smaller affair. I was there as a performer with the band that I helped to cofound, Cut A Shine, which has long since mutated into a sprawling folk dance collective with only the original cofounder Joe Buirski at the helm. This summer I returned as a parent for the full Camp Bestival experience.

Camp Bestival
Camp Bestival
Camp Bestival 2014 review
Camp Bestival 2014 review
Camp Bestival is by far the biggest festival that I have been to in recent years… which meant long treks across rolling campsites, stinky portaloos (though the compost loos near the main stages were a winner) and a seething mass of families carting their kids around in heavily souped up trolleys – this has surely become a thing only in the past few years? And of course a huge variety of activities, music and food to keep both adults and children entertained. Our journey to Dorset took far longer than expected, so night fell as we introduced a boggle-eyed Snarfle to the sights surrounding Lulworth Castle. It was a lot for a little one to take in!

Camp Bestival 2014 review
Camp Bestival 2014 review
Camp Bestival 2014 review
Camp Bestival 2014 review
Camp bestival 2014 review
Camp bestival 2014 review
There were many highlights; I loved spending quality time with Snarfle in the woods, rigging up a play dough electrical circuit with Technlogy Will Save Us and learning how to make a cunning wildlife camera trap with Nature Bytes (both in the Science Tent) and listening to little known acoustic acts at the on the outer reaches of the site, where a camp fire was held in the evenings. Snarfle strummed along on his imaginary guitar whilst we waited for the most excellent wood fired fayre from the Pizza and Puppetry stand: cheapest good food we found and very much worth the long trip across the festival. The Farmer’s Market was also a great place for tasty nosh. As expected Mr. Tumble rocked the largest crowd of the festival, with a sea of toddlers held aloft on their parents’ shoulders. There were little discoveries to be made around every corner… one afternoon we chanced upon the two remaining members of Pan’s People teaching dance to all comers in the pink glow of the Bollywood tent, then we watched a vulture demonstrate his flying skills with Haven Falconry. We sadly missed out on daily discos for mini ravers in the same space, but I caught up with Natasha from Big Fish Little Fish this week and I hear the crowd was jumping.

Camp bestival 2014 review
Camp bestival 2014 review
I adored the creativity of the Caravanserai bar area constructed by Monsieur Bateman, where punters could sit in sawn off caravans below a miniature train constructed out of prams, one still with it’s romany floral arrangements intact! The same guy was behind the fantastical Oberon’s Observatory which we sadly did not enter, and a smaller installation consisting of two old French vans topped with fairytale turrets connected by a bridge.

Camp bestival 2014 review
Camp bestival 2014 review
Cut A Shine were curating activities at the Travelling Barn, where Toucan Uke taught Snarfle the proper way to strum a ukelele whilst singing about penguins.

Camp bestival 2014 review
Camp bestival 2014 review
Camp bestival 2014 review
Camp Bestival had copious sponsors including Yorkshire Tea (Snarfle is now a confirmed fan of milky tea), Duplo, where kids played with piles of brightly coloured bricks before receiving a small gift to take away (the ice creams were a real winner!) and Piriton (free bright yellow sunglasses, yay!)

camp bestival 2014 review
camp bestival 2014 review
camp bestival 2014 review
Project Wild Thing held nature based activities in the ‘Dingly Dell’, where a huge amount of children enjoyed the mud kitchen, making mud potions and digging for treasure. Other nature based activities included building fires, making dens, identifying birds, climbing trees and crafting clay animals. Rob da Bank’s desire to get children away from their screens is admirable and this area proved such a success that the woods were seething with people, and I relished the stillness that we found deeper under the trees.

camp bestival 2014 review
camp bestival 2014 review
camp bestival 2014 review
I enjoyed bits of the BBC’s Radiophonic Workshop from the woods (think live rendition of the Doctor Who theme tune) and introduced Snarfle to Cut A Shine, who dedicated a new version of the Circassian Circle dance to Rob da Bank: stepping into the centre of the ring with guns in the air to “rob da bank”. Sophie Ellis-Bexter sang beautifully in a lovely red dress and admitted that her 10 year old son was standing at the side of the stage looking at his phone “what does a mum have to do to get their attention?!” I didn’t get to hear many of the ‘headliners’ because we don’t own a trolley so I was tucked up in our tent by 10pm. There were a plethora of interesting speakers in the Guardian Literary Tent and Snarfle was amazingly tolerant whilst we listened to the voluble and entertaining Kate Tempest chat about her career.

camp bestival 2014 review
camp bestival 2014 review
camp bestival 2014 review
At a festival of this size there are a zillion entertainment possibilities and so of course we barely scratched the surface, but when a festival gets this big it can be a real trek to get around the site, especially with a toddler who refuses to walk. I swear I lugged him miles on my hip over the course of the weekend. Josie and Rob da Bank have done an admirable journey of translating the original anarchic Bestival spirit into something family friendly, and the mass of people testified to a winning formula. For slightly older kids (from about the ages of 6-11) this place must seem like heaven.

Categories ,2014, ,bestival, ,Big Fish Little Fish, ,Camp Bestival, ,Caravanserai, ,Castle Stage, ,Circassian Circle, ,Cornwall, ,Cutashine, ,Dingly Dell, ,Dorset, ,Duplo, ,Farmer’s Market, ,festival, ,Guardian Literary Tent, ,Haven Falconry, ,Joe Buirski, ,Josie and Rob da Bank, ,Kate Tempest, ,Lulworth Castle, ,Maia Fjord, ,Mini Castle Stage, ,Monsieur Bateman, ,Mr. Tumble, ,Nature Bytes, ,Oberon’s Observatory, ,Pan’s People, ,Piriton, ,Pizza and Puppetry, ,project wild thing, ,Radiophonic Workshop, ,review, ,rob da bank, ,Science Tent, ,Snarfle, ,Sophie Ellis-Bexter, ,Technlogy Will Save Us, ,Toddler, ,Toucan Uke, ,Travelling Barn, ,Yorkshire Tea

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Amelia’s Magazine | Glastonbury 2010 Climate Camp Tripod Stage Review: Sunday

Illustration by Dan Heffer, ask pharm Hat by Angela Bruce; The Hedgerow Collection

I’m not sure if it’s the wedding’s I’ve been too recently or the press attention regarding ladies hats at certain summer races (hello Ascot) or whether it’s as simple as the sun being out, but recently I’ve been paying more attention to headwear. It was therefore a great pleasure to be invited to Kensington and Chelsea College’s End of Year Millinery exhibition.

Who could resist Anna Pulleyn’s Forgotten Garden Collection?

Illustration by Krister Selin

Illustration by Lauren Macaulay

The quality of the work on display was unmistakable and the sculptural and innovative shapes a joy to look at. Each Milliner created a story around their final collection, the materials used were inspired by Japanese textile techniques, mechanics and traditional stories; for example Rachel Fallon’s take on Alice in Wonderland.

Illustration by Rachael Price

Another classic text revisited was the greek tragedy of Narcissus. Hannah-Kates Morgan collection was inspired by the story of a man simultaneously in in love with and in turmoil with the sight of his own reflection, coining the term Narcissism. A comment perhaps towards the trend in fashion to be socially elite both towards people and the different mediums of the trade?

Beth Simpson’s collection was inspired by the collection of the Marchesa Casati. Beth describes the collection’s muse as “extravagant, eccentric and bizarre, who for the first three decades of the 20th Century astounded Europe.”

Kate Underdown’s collection was inspired by medical specimens and the anatomical drawings by the Victorians sourced from the Hunerian and Grant Museums of Medicine.

Illustration by Charlotte Gibson

Elaine Lax’s wonderful Mechanical Movement collection created from the building blocks of machinery, that is required to keep our way of life moving.

Congratulations to all the students for a wonderful show and to Kate Underdown, Awon Golding, Rebecca Coffee, Angela Bruce, Ellen Bowden, and Mandy Mcgregor whose hats were selected to be exhibited at Fenwicks.

Photographs by Sally Mumby-Croft

Illustration by Dan Heffer, diagnosis Hat by Angela Bruce; The Hedgerow Collection

I’m not sure if it’s the wedding’s I’ve been too recently or the press attention regarding ladies hats at certain summer races (hello Ascot) or whether it’s as simple as the sun being out, buy but recently I’ve been paying more attention to headwear. Therefore it was a great pleasure to be invited to Kensington and Chelsea College’s End of Year Millinery exhibition.

Who could resist Anna Pulleyn’s Forgotten Garden Collection?

Illustration by Krister Selin

Illustration by Lauren Macaulay

The quality of the work on display was unmistakable and the sculptural and innovative shapes a joy to look at. Each Milliner created a story around their final collection, pharmacy the materials used were inspired by Japanese textile techniques, mechanics and traditional stories; for example Rachel Fallon’s take on Alice in Wonderland.

Illustration by Rachael Price

Hannah-Kates Morgan’s collection – revisited another classic text; Narcissus or Narcissim – was inspired by the greek tragedy. A comment perhaps towards the trend in fashion to be socially elite both towards people and the different mediums of the trade?

Beth Simpson’s collection was inspired by the collection of the Marchesa Casati. Beth describes the collection’s muse as “extravagant, eccentric and bizarre, who for the first three decades of the 20th Century astounded Europe.”

Kate Underdown’s collection was inspired by medical specimens and the anatomical drawings by the Victorians sourced from the Hunerian and Grant Museums of Medicine.

Illustration by Charlotte Gibson

Illustration by Charlotte Gibson

Elaine Lax’s wonderful Mechanical Movement collection created from the building blocks of machinery, that is required to keep our way of life moving.

Congratulations to all the students for a wonderful show and to Kate Underdown, Awon Golding, Rebecca Coffee, Angela Bruce, Ellen Bowden, and Mandy McGregor whose hats were selected to be exhibited at Fenwicks.

Photographs by Sally Mumby-Croft

Illustration by Dan Heffer, viagra 60mg Hat by Angela Bruce; The Hedgerow Collection

I’m not sure if it’s the wedding’s I’ve been too recently or the press attention regarding ladies hats at certain summer races (hello Ascot) or whether it’s as simple as the sun being out, sickness but recently I’ve been paying more attention to headwear. It was therefore a great pleasure to be invited to Kensington and Chelsea College’s End of Year Millinery exhibition.

Who could resist Anna Pulleyn’s Forgotten Garden Collection?

Illustration by Krister Selin

Illustration by Lauren Macaulay

The quality of the work on display was unmistakable and the sculptural and innovative shapes a joy to look at. Each Milliner created a story around their final collection, the materials used were inspired by Japanese textile techniques, mechanics and traditional stories; for example Rachel Fallon’s take on Alice in Wonderland.

Illustration by Rachael Price

Another classic text revisited was the greek tragedy of Narcissus. Hannah-Kates Morgan collection was inspired by the story of a man simultaneously in in love with and in turmoil with the sight of his own reflection, coining the term Narcissism. A comment perhaps towards the trend in fashion to be socially elite both towards people and the different mediums of the trade?

Beth Simpson’s collection was inspired by the collection of the Marchesa Casati. Beth describes the collection’s muse as “extravagant, eccentric and bizarre, who for the first three decades of the 20th Century astounded Europe.”

Kate Underdown’s collection was inspired by medical specimens and the anatomical drawings by the Victorians sourced from the Hunerian and Grant Museums of Medicine.

Illustration by Charlotte Gibson

Illustration by Charlotte Gibson

Elaine Lax’s wonderful Mechanical Movement collection created from the building blocks of machinery, that is required to keep our way of life moving.

Congratulations to all the students for a wonderful show and to Kate Underdown, Awon Golding, Rebecca Coffee, Angela Bruce, Ellen Bowden, and Mandy McGregor whose hats were selected to be exhibited at Fenwicks.

Photographs by Sally Mumby-Croft

Illustration by Dan Heffer, thumb Hat by Angela Bruce; The Hedgerow Collection

I’m not sure if it’s the wedding’s I’ve been too recently or the press attention regarding ladies hats at certain summer races (hello Ascot) or whether it’s as simple as the sun being out, dosage but recently I’ve been paying more attention to headwear. Therefore it was a great pleasure to be invited to Kensington and Chelsea College’s End of Year Millinery exhibition.

Who could resist Anna Pulleyn’s Forgotten Garden Collection?

Illustration by Krister Selin

Illustration by Lauren Macaulay

The quality of the work on display was unmistakable and the sculptural and innovative shapes a joy to look at. Each Milliner created a story around their final collection, cheapest the materials used were inspired by Japanese textile techniques, mechanics and traditional stories; for example Rachel Fallon’s take on Alice in Wonderland.

Illustration by Rachael Price

Another classic text revisited was the greek tragedy of Narcissus. Hannah-Kates Morgan collection was inspired by the story of a man simultaneously in in love with and in turmoil with the sight of his own reflection, coining the term Narcissism. A comment perhaps towards the trend in fashion to be socially elite both towards people and the different mediums of the trade?

Beth Simpson’s collection was inspired by the collection of the Marchesa Casati. Beth describes the collection’s muse as “extravagant, eccentric and bizarre, who for the first three decades of the 20th Century astounded Europe.”

Kate Underdown’s collection was inspired by medical specimens and the anatomical drawings by the Victorians sourced from the Hunerian and Grant Museums of Medicine.

Illustration by Charlotte Gibson

Illustration by Charlotte Gibson

Elaine Lax’s wonderful Mechanical Movement collection created from the building blocks of machinery, that is required to keep our way of life moving.

Congratulations to all the students for a wonderful show and to Kate Underdown, Awon Golding, Rebecca Coffee, Angela Bruce, Ellen Bowden, and Mandy McGregor whose hats were selected to be exhibited at Fenwicks.

Photographs by Sally Mumby-Croft

Illustration by Dan Heffer, help Hat by Angela Bruce; The Hedgerow Collection

I’m not sure if it’s the wedding’s I’ve been too recently or the press attention regarding ladies hats at certain summer races (hello Ascot) or whether it’s as simple as the sun being out, sale but recently I’ve been paying more attention to headwear. Therefore it was a great pleasure to be invited to Kensington and Chelsea College’s End of Year Millinery exhibition.

Who could resist Anna Pulleyn’s Forgotten Garden Collection?

Illustration by Krister Selin

Illustration by Lauren Macaulay

The quality of the work on display was unmistakable and the sculptural and innovative shapes a joy to look at. Each Milliner created a story around their final collection, the materials used were inspired by Japanese textile techniques, mechanics and traditional stories; for example Rachel Fallon’s take on Alice in Wonderland.

Illustration by Rachael Price

Hannah-Kates Morgan’s Narcissism collection, revisited another classic text; the greek tragedy of Narcissus.

Beth Simpson’s collection was inspired by the collection of the Marchesa Casati. Beth describes the collection’s muse as “extravagant, eccentric and bizarre, who for the first three decades of the 20th Century astounded Europe.”

Kate Underdown’s collection was inspired by medical specimens and the anatomical drawings by the Victorians sourced from the Hunerian and Grant Museums of Medicine.

Illustration by Charlotte Gibson

Illustration by Charlotte Gibson

Elaine Lax’s wonderful Mechanical Movement collection created from the building blocks of machinery, that is required to keep our way of life moving.

Congratulations to all the students for a wonderful show and to Kate Underdown, Awon Golding, Rebecca Coffee, Angela Bruce, Ellen Bowden, and Mandy McGregor whose hats were selected to be exhibited at Fenwicks.

Photographs by Sally Mumby-Croft

Glastonbury 2010 Climate Camp Lulu and the Lampshades

On Sunday we lost a few and gained a few. Pete Lawrie called by with terrible hayfever to say he couldn’t sing for fear of losing his voice but kindly volunteered to perform at another Climate Camp benefit. Of course I made him stand in front of our banners so I could get a photo anyway.

Glastonbury 2010 Climate Camp Pete Lawrie
Pete Lawrie.

Robinson just didn’t turn up. I missed a phone call whilst doing an impromptu Green Kite Midnight gig at the Greenpeace Stage, price which laughably requested that I get on the radios to sort out a vehicle escort to meet them from their Acoustic Stage gig (erm, website like this did you read any of my emails?) They then ignored all my later frantic calls. Professional. Still, they probably wouldn’t have had much of an audience, what with them clashing with that embarrassing worldcup football match and all.

Glastonbury 2010 Climate Camp Pete the Temp

I missed most of Pete the Temp but managed to catch him performing some fun mashed up covers dressed in a tutu from our grand raffle.

katie-harnett-lulu and the lampshades
Lulu and the Lampshades by Katie Harnett.
Glastonbury 2010 Climate Camp Lulu and the Lampshades

Lulu and the Lampshades decided to play at the last minute once their Glastonbury tickets were confirmed. Fronted by my former art editor, the super talented Luisa Gerstein, I am ashamed to say that this was the first time I had seen them perform live. I had previously only visited them on myspace, which really doesn’t do justice to their ace live performance. Playing on a variety of strange string instruments, an old typewriter and an assortment of pots, pans and donating buckets scoured from the Climate Camp kitchen, they were incredibly inventive.

katie-harnett-lulu and the lampshades
Lulu and the Lampshades by Katie Harnett.

Both myself and Luisa have camped extensively with Forest School Camps, and her glorious melodies reflect the mix of traditional English, Irish, Scottish and American Bluegrass music that we love to sing around campfires.

Glastonbury 2010 Climate Camp Lulu and the Lampshades
Glastonbury 2010 Climate Camp Lulu and the Lampshades

Lulu and the Lampshades ended on an acapella version of traditional gospel song You’re Gonna Miss Me When I’m Gone – here performed with just two of the band members and some old yoghurt pots (another trick I suspect she learnt around the campfire). A cult classic if ever I saw one – there are already multiple tributes on youtube.

YouTube Preview Image

Luisa’s best bit about playing the Tripod Stage: our make-shift drum-kit from the catering tent.
Luisa’s best bit about Glastonbury this year: Sunday evening: Mountain Man in the Crow’s Nest followed by Dirty Projectors followed by Stevie Wonder; twas dreamy. 
 
You can catch Lulu and the Lampshades at Bestival later this year.

Glastonbury 2010 Climate Camp Cats and Cats and Cats

Cats and Cats and Cats then borrowed a number of instruments from Lulu and the Lampshades to play another exclusive for the Tripod Stage, lead singer Ben George having come down from his parent’s pottery stand in the Green Fields to offer us the gig. Quite fortuitously Cats and Cats and Cats have their debut album If I’d Had An Atlas out next week, so we were treated to stripped down versions of a range of songs which I’ve since been able to listen to on record.

cats and cats and cats
Cats and Cats and Cats by Farzeen Jabbar.

When and where was the album recorded?
If I’d Had An Atlas was recorded over 11 days in deepest darkest Wales (Giant Wafer Studios in the Brecon Beacons), it was great to be so far away from any bustling cities and we could really concentrate there. We also did some recordings of extra instruments (tuba, cello, accordion etc.) in Folkestone at Barewires Studios.

What inspired the name If I’d Had An Atlas?
The name is from a lyric in the title track which reads “I don’t know, if I’d had an atlas, where we would be,” which fell out of my brain at some point and I scribbled it down. I like the imagery of someone imagining that if they’d had a map they would have done things differently but of course there is no map and life is chaotic and that’s why it’s amazing.

What was the best bit about playing on the Tripod Stage?
I really enjoyed just turning up and using what instruments we could gather to piece together a set and then managing to pull it off! Thanks loads to Lulu and the Lampshades for lending us their equipment and also for being really brilliant. The only bad point was when I dedicated a song to my brother only to find he’d run off to watch Nora Jones!

What was your favourite part of Glastonbury this year?
I saw some of my favourite Glastonbury performances this year by bands like: Boxcar Aldous Huxley, Tubelord, the Dirty Projectors, Meursault and Imogen Heap; I was also gobsmacked at the lightning men and amounts of fire in Arcadia. But I have to say the weather, I was there for 8 days and I didn’t see a drop of rain. Amazing.

What other festivals are you playing at?
We’ve got a couple more lined up in July: Lounge on the Farm in Canterbury on Friday 9th (at 12pm) and 2000 Trees Festival in Cheltenham on Saturday 17th. Then we’ll be playing a farewell show for our violin player in London at some point as she’s leaving the band, but we’ll be back on the scene in October for a UK tour. Hopefully see you soon.

Glastonbury 2010 Climate Camp Cats and Cats and Cats

Ben has one of those voices that delights in the slightly out of the tune: it shouldn’t work but most of the time it somehow does: his wailing vocals become a feature in themselves, especially when offset against such a lush backdrop: brass, strings, entire orchestras, choirs, all have their place on this album – occasionally screeching to a standstill that echoes the offkilter vocals. It’s all great fun. Stand out single A Boy Called Haunts is a triumphant melody about… a boy who is trying to impress a girl, so he dresses up as a ghost on Halloween. Only trouble is that he then becomes a real ghost and discovers that she spends her free time having sex with men in porn films. As you do. Ben has been learning Japanese for 3 years so he decided to write a song in Japanese “half to see if I could and half to show off”.

Glastonbury 2010 Climate Camp Cats and Cats and Cats

Towards the end of the album curveball Suizokukanni works surprisingly well, even if the subject matter is equally bonkers. In it Ben’s fictional brother talks to the fish in the garden pond so he gets shunned. One day Ben hears the fish in the garden calling his name and realises he can talk to them. The last line roughly translates to “Lets go to the aquarium together and never return!”. This is followed by the beautiful The Smallest Song, a much quieter and more subdued affair, even as the brass section kicks in. The next single will be If I’d Had Antlers, which features sawed and plucked violin melded to trademark awkward beats and a surprisingly delicate melody. Watch out for the animated video. Cats and Cats and Cats might be an acquired taste, but they’re wonderfully original and definitely a grower. Well worth checking out.

carolyn-alexander-attila the stockbroker
Attila the Stockbroker by Carolyn Alexander.

Our final performer was another late booking – Attila the Stockbroker, pint in hand, gave us some grand punk beat poetry. 60 years old and able to give any number of youngsters a run for their money. I’d like to see more of him one day.

Glastonbury 2010 Climate Camp Attila the Stockbroker

And so ended my Tripod Stage musical line-up. And what a joy it was. Here’s hoping we can do as well next year…

Categories ,2000 Trees Festival, ,Acapella, ,Acoustic Stage, ,Arcadia, ,Attila the Stockbroker, ,bestival, ,Bluegrass, ,Boxcar Aldous Huxley, ,brass, ,Carolyn Alexander, ,Cats and Cats and Cats, ,Climate Camp, ,Crow’s Nest, ,dirty projectors, ,Farzeen Jabbar, ,folk, ,Forest School Camps, ,Green Fields, ,Greenpeace, ,Imogen Heap, ,Katie Harnett, ,Kitchen, ,Lounge on the Farm, ,Luisa Gerstein, ,Lulu and the Lampshades, ,Meursault, ,Mountain Man, ,Pete Lawrie, ,Pete the Temp, ,Pottery, ,Robinson, ,Stevie Wonder, ,Traditional Music, ,Tripod Stage, ,Tubelord, ,wales

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Amelia’s Magazine | Welsh singer Lydia Baylis introduces her new single Life Without You

Lydia Baylis by Daria Hlazatova
Lydia Baylis by Daria Hlazatova.

Having completed a history degree at Oxford University Welsh singer songwriter Lydia Baylis has made a major career change and is set to release her debut album inspired by the literature of the suitably high brow Bronte Sisters and Virginia Woolf. Here she describes the making of her new single Life Without You:

YouTube Preview Image
‘My new single Life Without You is from my debut album, A Darker Trace, which will be released in 2014. It is a song about coming to terms with the end of a relationship with the first person you fall in love with but overall it is a hopeful message about living a fuller life alone – even if at first it feels like you can’t. With the video I wanted the viewers to feel close, because it is a deeply personal song. Intruding, almost by watching someone crying in the bath – but then, as the song goes on, becoming more hopeful and joyous. We shot it in my Grandmother’s house, somewhere I have a lot of fond memories from. I felt very safe there, so it was easier than I had thought letting go and sharing the song… ‘

Lydia Baylis by Novemto Komo
Lydia Baylis by Novemto Komo.

Lydia Baylis by Antonia Parker
Lydia Baylis by Antonia Parker.

Lydia Baylis by Claire Kearns
Lydia Baylis by Claire Kearns.

Get your free download of Happy Man by Lydia Baylis here.

Categories ,A Darker Trace, ,Antonia Parker, ,Bronte Sisters, ,Claire Kearns, ,Daria Hlazatova, ,Happy Man, ,interview, ,Life Without You, ,Lydia Baylis, ,Novemto Komo, ,Oxford University, ,video, ,Virginia Woolf, ,Welsh

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