Amelia’s Magazine | My adventures at Practicum: British Fashion, put together by the British Council in Moscow

Moscow Practicum: British Fashion 2011
The Moscow Practicum: British Fashion crew in Red Square. All photography by Amelia Gregory. (unless I am in the pic that is)

Just over a week ago I travelled to Moscow with the British Council to talk to a group of young fashion designers from across Europe as part of a educational program called Practicum: British Fashion. I travelled from the UK with Toby Meadows, pilule who offers advice to fashion designers with the Centre for Fashion Enterprise, sales and with Janine Passley, approved an expert in buying and sustainability practices for EI8HT who consults for ASOS.

Moscow Practicum: British Fashion 2011
Moscow Practicum: British Fashion 2011
With Toby Meadows, Janine Passley and Michael Salac.

It was the first time that I have flown in nearly three years. R/H the label travelled from Finland by train to reduce their carbon footprint, but unfortunately it was just that little bit too far for me to do the same…

Moscow Practicum: British Fashion 2011 with Janine Passley and Clare Lopeman
With Janine Passley and Clare Lopeman

It’s the second time I’ve been to Moscow: the first time having been in 2007 when I went there to discover up and coming creatives for issue 8 of Amelia’s Magazine. It takes under 5 hours to fly there, which seems remarkably close for a culture that is so very different from our own.

Moscow Practicum: British Fashion 2011 with Evgenia Gerasimova
Practicum: British Fashion 2011 was put together by Evgenia Gerasimova, seen here introducing the programme.

Moscow Practicum: British Fashion 2011 Kristian Steinberg
Kristian Steinberg gives us his pitch.

Moscow Practicum: British Fashion 2011 Toby Meadows
Toby Meadows in front of a giant plastic bag sculpture in the Garage Centre for Contemporary Culture.

Michael Salac of Blow PR joined us the next day, as did Clare Lopeman, a fashion designer and head of fashion at the British Higher School of Art and Design. Practicum: British Fashion took place in a wonderful old industrial complex known as the Garage Centre for Contemporary Culture, a huge hall that was built in 1926 as a bus garage and that now houses exhibitions, a cafe, lecture halls and a fantastic bookshop.

Moscow The Garage Centre of Contemporary Culture
Moscow’s The Garage Centre for Contemporary Culture.

Moscow Practicum: British Fashion 2011 Toby Meadows
We ate a lot of canapes!

Together we made up a hopefully non scary panel of “experts” who listened to short pitches from the designers, who came from Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Poland, Finland, Denmark, Estonia and Latvia. We then offered our opinions and advice on how to improve their businesses – in my case this invariably meant encouraging sustainable practice and prompting them to improve their online presence. The next day it was our turn to lecture on our expert subjects, in my case, How to produce good promotional material that will attract editorial coverage in magazines, and how to promote your brand successfully on social media. Just some of my favourite subjects!

Moscow Practicum: British Fashion 2011 Michael Salac
Practicum: British Fashion lecture with Michael Salac

Moscow British Council Hede Kerstin Luik
Hede Kerstin Luik from the British Council in Estonia

I like teaching and lecturing so I thoroughly enjoyed the experience, and it was lovely that so many people came up to me afterwards to tell me how inspired they were. I took loads of postcards with me and they all got taken which I take as a good sign!

Moscow British Council-after my talk

But what was undoubtedly the most brilliant part of the whole experience was the opportunity to meet lots of wonderfully talented people who are doing really interesting things in their own countries. Sitting at my computer all day every day I sometimes forget that I am very much a people person at heart, and I enjoy hanging out with other people. As is often the case at these kind of events some of the most important networking was done outside of official hours, when we were chatting at the hotel bar or exploring the extremely expensive rooftop bar at the Radisson Hotel which is housed in one of Moscow’s famous Seven Sisters – laughing as we all squished into the tiny lift to zoom up to the 29th floor, and then coming straight back down again when we discovered how expensive it was.

Moscow Practicum: British Fashion Red Square
Moscow Practicum: British Fashion Red Square

Moscow Practicum: British Fashion Red Square
Moscow Practicum: British Fashion Red Square Soulland
Moscow Practicum: British Fashion Red Square Soulland
Moscow Practicum: British Fashion Radisson Hotel
Moscow Practicum: British Fashion Radisson Hotel
Moscow Practicum: British Fashion Radisson Hotel
The incredibly fancy Radisson toilets…

We also got the opportunity to attend one of the many Russian Fashion Weeks, Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Russia, for which the British Council had flown over Lulu Kennedy of Fashion East to showcase three of her star designers: Marios Schwab, Louise Gray and James Long.

Moscow British Council-russian fashion week
Moscow British Council-russian fashion week
At Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Russia, sponsored by, ahem, Tupperware.

Moscow BC 2011-partying after fashion week
Partying after fashion week shenanigans.

I’ll be writing up that experience in a separate blog post. In the meantime here are a bunch of pictures from my time in Moscow… fun times indeed. As a result it looks as though I will be attending Fashion Philosophy Fashion Week Poland in Lodz in early May 2011. Thankyou so much Evgenia Gerasimova and the British Council!

Moscow Red SQUARE soldiers
Soldiers in Red Square.

Moscow Dior advertising
Giant Dior advertising.

Moscow BCmy legs
My legs in the lift.

Moscow BC 2011-Michael and Emilia of R/H
Michael of Blow and Emilia of R/H

Moscow BC 2011-Lovely knitwear in Solyanka
Lovely knitwear in the shop at the Solyanka nightclub.

Moscow BC 2011-Red Square
Red Square

Moscow BC 2011-Russian Dolls
Lots of Russian dolls

Moscow BC 2011-Toby Meadows on the Metro
Toby Meadows on the Metro

Moscow BC 2011-Michael Salac and Janine Passley
Michael Salac and Janine Passley on the Metro

Moscow BC 2011-Metro

Moscow British Council-Amelia Gregory with cocktail
Enjoying an EXTREMELY expensive Cherry Pepper cocktail – like a meal in one!

Categories ,1926, ,ASOS, ,Blow PR, ,British Council, ,British Higher School of Art and Design, ,Carbon footprint, ,Centre for Contemporary Culture, ,Centre for Fashion Enterprise, ,Clare Lopeman, ,D.EFECT, ,Denmark, ,EI8HT, ,Estonia, ,Evgenia Gerasimova, ,fashion, ,Fashion East, ,Fashion Philosophy Fashion Week, ,finland, ,Fortytwo, ,garage, ,James Long, ,Janine Passley, ,Kristian Steinberg, ,Latvia, ,Lisa Shahno, ,Lodz, ,Louise Gray, ,Lulu Kennedy, ,Mareunrol’s, ,Marios Schwab, ,Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Russia, ,Michael Salac, ,Michaela Mazalanova, ,Moscow, ,Nadya Nurieva, ,Networking, ,poland, ,Practicum: British Fashion, ,R/H, ,R/H the label, ,Radisson, ,Red Square, ,Russia!, ,Seven Sisters, ,Slovakia, ,Slovenia, ,Social Networking, ,Soulland, ,sustainability, ,Toby Meadows, ,Tupperware

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Amelia’s Magazine | Nancy Dee: the ethical fashion range from sisters Tamsin and Seraphina Davis

Emete Yarici by Jenny Lloyd http://jennylloyd.co.uk

It’s impossible to miss the Make Lemonade pop-up shop as you walk up Chalton Street Market, treat with big windows displaying the warm and cosy scene for everyone to see. Even standing across the street you can see Make Lemonade founder Emete Yarici pottering around, ed accompanied by her interns Holly-ann Ladd and Bettina Krohn.


Make Lemonade pop-up shop

Step inside and you’ll find a myriad of treasure, starting with clothes from the Make Lemonade range of one-off vintage finds. As Emete talks me through the contributions from the various designers and artists around the shop it becomes clear this is very much a collaboration. ‘I have been working on getting a shop for over a year, but it’s been a mad rush at putting everything together as I only found out I was getting this shop last week,’ says Emete.


Illustration by Joana Faria

Holly-ann has been collecting vintage charms and made them into necklaces, explains Emete, while more accessories are on display from knitwear designer Louise Dungate. The walls are covered by charity shop finds, as well as prints from graphic designers Dan Sayle and Oschon Wespi-Tschopp. This comes from a tie-up with environmentally friendly printers Hato Press. ‘We will be doing a live screenprinting session here on Saturday, where people can choose a design and have it printed on a bag,’ says Emete.

On Wednesday 26th there will be a free styling evening, followed by a music night on the 28th. Norwegian pop and jazz singer Jenny Moe will provide entertainment, alongside the group The Youth. ‘People can bring their own drinks and there will be lots of cushions, so people can come and talk and chill out,’ says Emete. More details of this and other events, including a film screening yet to be confirmed, can be found on the Make Lemonade Facebook page.

Textile print designer Temitope Tijani has provided a special range of her colourful handmade bags and jewellery, while Supermarket Sarah has created a wall of items from the shop – these will go on sale from Supermarket Sarah’s website from 31st January. In addition to clothing, this includes a 1970s coffee set and a very clever apple-a-day calendar from Ken Kirton, who is also responsible for the Make Lemonade logo.


Temitope Tijani illustrated by Genie Espinosa

‘I wanted the shop to be a platform for many people to show their work, not just for our own stuff,’ says Emete, adding that most of the artists are friends, or friends of friends. Camden Council sponsors Make Lemonade’s rent for the pop-up shop, as part of a scheme to bring new business to Somers Town. This area between Euston and King’s Cross stations isn’t necessarily a retail destination, but the locals have been very welcoming, says Emete.

Make Lemonade will exist mainly on the internet for a while to come, but Emete doesn’t rule out a permanent shop down the line. But the next goal to get the brand into shops as permanent concessions, as well as continuing the collaboration with Asos and focusing on the blog. Along with Bettina, Emete will go to Paris this spring to scout for some higher-range vintage lines, but she wants to stay true to the initial idea of creating a reasonably priced vintage shop – something that isn’t that easy to find in London. ‘We want to make sure we stay close to our roots and remain a brand people want to be part of,’ says Emete, suddenly all shy when she has to be in front of the camera instead of behind the scenes.


Emete Yarici

Make Lemonade pop-up shop will be at 24 Chalton Street, London NW1 1JH until 1st February – after that find them on their website. For more information see our listing and the Make Lemonade Facebook page.

Emete Yarici by Jenny Lloyd

It’s impossible to miss the Make Lemonade pop-up shop as you walk up Chalton Street Market, click with big windows displaying the warm and cosy scene for everyone to see. Even standing across the street you can see Make Lemonade founder Emete Yarici pottering around, website accompanied by her interns Holly-ann Ladd and Bettina Krohn.


Make Lemonade pop-up shop

Step inside and you’ll find a myriad of treasure, ask starting with clothes from the Make Lemonade range of one-off vintage finds. As Emete talks me through the contributions from the various designers and artists around the shop it becomes clear this is very much a collaboration. ‘I have been working on getting a shop for over a year, but it’s been a mad rush at putting everything together as I only found out I was getting this shop last week,’ says Emete.


Illustration by Joana Faria

Holly-ann has been collecting vintage charms and made them into necklaces, explains Emete, while more accessories are on display from knitwear designer Louise Dungate. The walls are covered by charity shop finds, as well as prints from graphic designers Dan Sayle and Oschon Wespi-Tschopp. This comes from a tie-up with environmentally friendly printers Hato Press. ‘We will be doing a live screenprinting session here on Saturday, where people can choose a design and have it printed on a bag,’ says Emete.

On Wednesday 26th there will be a free styling evening, followed by a music night on the 28th. Norwegian pop and jazz singer Jenny Moe will provide entertainment, alongside the group The Youth. ‘People can bring their own drinks and there will be lots of cushions, so people can come and talk and chill out,’ says Emete. More details of this and other events, including a film screening yet to be confirmed, can be found on the Make Lemonade Facebook page.

Textile print designer Temitope Tijani has provided a special range of her colourful handmade bags and jewellery, while Supermarket Sarah has created a wall of items from the shop – these will go on sale from Supermarket Sarah’s website from 31st January. In addition to clothing, this includes a 1970s coffee set and a very clever apple-a-day calendar from Ken Kirton, who is also responsible for the Make Lemonade logo.


Temitope Tijani illustrated by Genie Espinosa

‘I wanted the shop to be a platform for many people to show their work, not just for our own stuff,’ says Emete, adding that most of the artists are friends, or friends of friends. Camden Council sponsors Make Lemonade’s rent for the pop-up shop, as part of a scheme to bring new business to Somers Town. This area between Euston and King’s Cross stations isn’t necessarily a retail destination, but the locals have been very welcoming, says Emete.

Make Lemonade will exist mainly on the internet for a while to come, but Emete doesn’t rule out a permanent shop down the line. But the next goal to get the brand into shops as permanent concessions, as well as continuing the collaboration with Asos and focusing on the blog. Along with Bettina, Emete will go to Paris this spring to scout for some higher-range vintage lines, but she wants to stay true to the initial idea of creating a reasonably priced vintage shop – something that isn’t that easy to find in London. ‘We want to make sure we stay close to our roots and remain a brand people want to be part of,’ says Emete, suddenly all shy when she has to be in front of the camera instead of behind the scenes.


Emete Yarici

Make Lemonade pop-up shop will be at 24 Chalton Street, London NW1 1JH until 1st February – after that find them on their website. For more information see our listing and the Make Lemonade Facebook page.
How do you start to design each new collection?
I usually list ideas that I am wondering about – thoughts about philosophy, cialis 40mg science and how we should live – in my note book. Then I pick out the most interesting of these topics. Maybe some philosopher or artist has already found an answer but I like to discover things through my own ideas and research.

In what way does fashion allow you to combine all your creative ideas?
I create artwork in two dimensions as well as making music and video. Fashion feels more real because it is created in three dimensions, case and I try to make clothes that combine all the dreaminess and fantasy of my other creative endeavours. I work on music at the same time as I work on designs for my clothing so that it will match the catwalk show when I put them together.

Why did you decide to name your collective after yourself?
We work as a team on ideas that mostly come from my brain. I feel as though I am a percolator, stomach I’m inspired by all the feelings that come from my friends which I filter through my own internal world. Satoshi Date is just a device: percolate Satoshi Date machine and breathe out. I believe that I am connected to everyone in the world and I am just a representative.

How do you work with others to complete each collection?
We get the main idea together and do lots of research before we even think about the clothing. We read, write, listen, draw, collage… developing the idea deeper and deeper. Then we start designing and sampling with textiles and prototypes until the final garments are ready to be made.
MaxJenny by June Chanpoomidole
MaxJenny by June Chanpoomidole.

Wearable art.
Maxjenny Forslund was inspired to create her label when she discovered her mother’s paintings in the cellar. Her mother Margareta Forslund is also a designer and together they create the bright print designs (some of which are based on self-portraits) that characterise her line of Street Sculptures signature waterproof capes. The capes are based on a circular pattern that drapes over the contours of the body, cialis 40mg and are perfect for riding a bike in the rain.

Intelligent sustainable materials.
Maxjenny capes are created from a recycled material made out of plastic PET bottles. Dye sublimation printing is used as an even more environmentally friendly substitute to digital printing. The sourcing of good quality materials is a big part of Maxjenny’s job…

Read the rest of this interview and see more illustrations of Maxjenny’s clothing in Amelia’s Compendium of Fashion Illustration, seek alongside interviews with 44 other ethical fashion designers and 30 fabulous fashion illustrators. You can buy the book here.
NANCY DEE by KELLIE BLACK
Nancy Dee by Kellie Black.

Tamsin and Seraphina Davis are sisters in ethical fashion design. Nancy is a long standing family name and Dee simply stands for the initial of their surname, information pills Davis. They settled on the label Nancy Dee because it is a little bit kitsch and reflects the style of their designs.

How did Nancy Dee come about?
Seraphina is my younger sister by four years and she has the background in fashion design whereas I have worked in the film industry and studied economics and social policy, more about so I am better suited to managing the business side. We started working together because Seraphina wanted to market her designs and she needed a partner. I had just finished my studies and wanted to work on something related to social policy. We launched Nancy Dee in 2008 to create garments that bridge the gap between style, viagra 60mg versatility and ethical production.

How do you manage to keep your designs both retro and up to date?
Fashion is cyclical by nature, and all trends are developments on past ideas. We take the shapes and references that appeal to us from history and update them by using new eco fabrics and modern colours. The prints play a large part; they are designed by us but influenced by older designs.

How did you hook up with the family-run factory in India that makes your clothes?
We were actually approached by them whilst at a trade show which was lucky because it wasn’t working out with another factory, so we were actually searching for someone to take over production. Fate intervened: we met the owner in London, then travelled over to Delhi later that season to check over the factory conditions, meet the staff and work on samples.

How will you further reduce your environmental impact?
Video conferencing and daily phone calls enable both Seraphina and I to work from home (I live in Leicester while she is in London). Skype is an amazing invention that helps us to keep in touch with the factory, reducing the need to visit so often. We’re constantly looking for ways to reduce our environmental impact, such as the use of degradable packaging for the webshop – but it is an ongoing job. We want to start some production in the UK since one of our biggest environmental impacts is caused by the delivery of stock from India. Many UK factories lost a huge portion of their income when it became so much cheaper to produce garments in Asia, so it will be nice to bring some work back here…

Read the rest of this interview with Nancy Dee in Amelia’s Compendium of Fashion Illustration, alongside interviews with 44 other ethical fashion designers and 30 fabulous fashion illustrators. You can buy the book here.

Categories ,ACOFI, ,Amelia’s Compendium of Fashion Illustration, ,Carbon footprint, ,Eco fashion, ,Ethical Fashion, ,India, ,Kellie Black, ,Nancy Dee, ,Seraphina Davis, ,Skype, ,Tamsin Davis

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Amelia’s Magazine | Nancy Dee: the ethical fashion range from sisters Tamsin and Seraphina Davis

Emete Yarici by Jenny Lloyd http://jennylloyd.co.uk

It’s impossible to miss the Make Lemonade pop-up shop as you walk up Chalton Street Market, treat with big windows displaying the warm and cosy scene for everyone to see. Even standing across the street you can see Make Lemonade founder Emete Yarici pottering around, ed accompanied by her interns Holly-ann Ladd and Bettina Krohn.


Make Lemonade pop-up shop

Step inside and you’ll find a myriad of treasure, starting with clothes from the Make Lemonade range of one-off vintage finds. As Emete talks me through the contributions from the various designers and artists around the shop it becomes clear this is very much a collaboration. ‘I have been working on getting a shop for over a year, but it’s been a mad rush at putting everything together as I only found out I was getting this shop last week,’ says Emete.


Illustration by Joana Faria

Holly-ann has been collecting vintage charms and made them into necklaces, explains Emete, while more accessories are on display from knitwear designer Louise Dungate. The walls are covered by charity shop finds, as well as prints from graphic designers Dan Sayle and Oschon Wespi-Tschopp. This comes from a tie-up with environmentally friendly printers Hato Press. ‘We will be doing a live screenprinting session here on Saturday, where people can choose a design and have it printed on a bag,’ says Emete.

On Wednesday 26th there will be a free styling evening, followed by a music night on the 28th. Norwegian pop and jazz singer Jenny Moe will provide entertainment, alongside the group The Youth. ‘People can bring their own drinks and there will be lots of cushions, so people can come and talk and chill out,’ says Emete. More details of this and other events, including a film screening yet to be confirmed, can be found on the Make Lemonade Facebook page.

Textile print designer Temitope Tijani has provided a special range of her colourful handmade bags and jewellery, while Supermarket Sarah has created a wall of items from the shop – these will go on sale from Supermarket Sarah’s website from 31st January. In addition to clothing, this includes a 1970s coffee set and a very clever apple-a-day calendar from Ken Kirton, who is also responsible for the Make Lemonade logo.


Temitope Tijani illustrated by Genie Espinosa

‘I wanted the shop to be a platform for many people to show their work, not just for our own stuff,’ says Emete, adding that most of the artists are friends, or friends of friends. Camden Council sponsors Make Lemonade’s rent for the pop-up shop, as part of a scheme to bring new business to Somers Town. This area between Euston and King’s Cross stations isn’t necessarily a retail destination, but the locals have been very welcoming, says Emete.

Make Lemonade will exist mainly on the internet for a while to come, but Emete doesn’t rule out a permanent shop down the line. But the next goal to get the brand into shops as permanent concessions, as well as continuing the collaboration with Asos and focusing on the blog. Along with Bettina, Emete will go to Paris this spring to scout for some higher-range vintage lines, but she wants to stay true to the initial idea of creating a reasonably priced vintage shop – something that isn’t that easy to find in London. ‘We want to make sure we stay close to our roots and remain a brand people want to be part of,’ says Emete, suddenly all shy when she has to be in front of the camera instead of behind the scenes.


Emete Yarici

Make Lemonade pop-up shop will be at 24 Chalton Street, London NW1 1JH until 1st February – after that find them on their website. For more information see our listing and the Make Lemonade Facebook page.

Emete Yarici by Jenny Lloyd

It’s impossible to miss the Make Lemonade pop-up shop as you walk up Chalton Street Market, click with big windows displaying the warm and cosy scene for everyone to see. Even standing across the street you can see Make Lemonade founder Emete Yarici pottering around, website accompanied by her interns Holly-ann Ladd and Bettina Krohn.


Make Lemonade pop-up shop

Step inside and you’ll find a myriad of treasure, ask starting with clothes from the Make Lemonade range of one-off vintage finds. As Emete talks me through the contributions from the various designers and artists around the shop it becomes clear this is very much a collaboration. ‘I have been working on getting a shop for over a year, but it’s been a mad rush at putting everything together as I only found out I was getting this shop last week,’ says Emete.


Illustration by Joana Faria

Holly-ann has been collecting vintage charms and made them into necklaces, explains Emete, while more accessories are on display from knitwear designer Louise Dungate. The walls are covered by charity shop finds, as well as prints from graphic designers Dan Sayle and Oschon Wespi-Tschopp. This comes from a tie-up with environmentally friendly printers Hato Press. ‘We will be doing a live screenprinting session here on Saturday, where people can choose a design and have it printed on a bag,’ says Emete.

On Wednesday 26th there will be a free styling evening, followed by a music night on the 28th. Norwegian pop and jazz singer Jenny Moe will provide entertainment, alongside the group The Youth. ‘People can bring their own drinks and there will be lots of cushions, so people can come and talk and chill out,’ says Emete. More details of this and other events, including a film screening yet to be confirmed, can be found on the Make Lemonade Facebook page.

Textile print designer Temitope Tijani has provided a special range of her colourful handmade bags and jewellery, while Supermarket Sarah has created a wall of items from the shop – these will go on sale from Supermarket Sarah’s website from 31st January. In addition to clothing, this includes a 1970s coffee set and a very clever apple-a-day calendar from Ken Kirton, who is also responsible for the Make Lemonade logo.


Temitope Tijani illustrated by Genie Espinosa

‘I wanted the shop to be a platform for many people to show their work, not just for our own stuff,’ says Emete, adding that most of the artists are friends, or friends of friends. Camden Council sponsors Make Lemonade’s rent for the pop-up shop, as part of a scheme to bring new business to Somers Town. This area between Euston and King’s Cross stations isn’t necessarily a retail destination, but the locals have been very welcoming, says Emete.

Make Lemonade will exist mainly on the internet for a while to come, but Emete doesn’t rule out a permanent shop down the line. But the next goal to get the brand into shops as permanent concessions, as well as continuing the collaboration with Asos and focusing on the blog. Along with Bettina, Emete will go to Paris this spring to scout for some higher-range vintage lines, but she wants to stay true to the initial idea of creating a reasonably priced vintage shop – something that isn’t that easy to find in London. ‘We want to make sure we stay close to our roots and remain a brand people want to be part of,’ says Emete, suddenly all shy when she has to be in front of the camera instead of behind the scenes.


Emete Yarici

Make Lemonade pop-up shop will be at 24 Chalton Street, London NW1 1JH until 1st February – after that find them on their website. For more information see our listing and the Make Lemonade Facebook page.
How do you start to design each new collection?
I usually list ideas that I am wondering about – thoughts about philosophy, cialis 40mg science and how we should live – in my note book. Then I pick out the most interesting of these topics. Maybe some philosopher or artist has already found an answer but I like to discover things through my own ideas and research.

In what way does fashion allow you to combine all your creative ideas?
I create artwork in two dimensions as well as making music and video. Fashion feels more real because it is created in three dimensions, case and I try to make clothes that combine all the dreaminess and fantasy of my other creative endeavours. I work on music at the same time as I work on designs for my clothing so that it will match the catwalk show when I put them together.

Why did you decide to name your collective after yourself?
We work as a team on ideas that mostly come from my brain. I feel as though I am a percolator, stomach I’m inspired by all the feelings that come from my friends which I filter through my own internal world. Satoshi Date is just a device: percolate Satoshi Date machine and breathe out. I believe that I am connected to everyone in the world and I am just a representative.

How do you work with others to complete each collection?
We get the main idea together and do lots of research before we even think about the clothing. We read, write, listen, draw, collage… developing the idea deeper and deeper. Then we start designing and sampling with textiles and prototypes until the final garments are ready to be made.
MaxJenny by June Chanpoomidole
MaxJenny by June Chanpoomidole.

Wearable art.
Maxjenny Forslund was inspired to create her label when she discovered her mother’s paintings in the cellar. Her mother Margareta Forslund is also a designer and together they create the bright print designs (some of which are based on self-portraits) that characterise her line of Street Sculptures signature waterproof capes. The capes are based on a circular pattern that drapes over the contours of the body, cialis 40mg and are perfect for riding a bike in the rain.

Intelligent sustainable materials.
Maxjenny capes are created from a recycled material made out of plastic PET bottles. Dye sublimation printing is used as an even more environmentally friendly substitute to digital printing. The sourcing of good quality materials is a big part of Maxjenny’s job…

Read the rest of this interview and see more illustrations of Maxjenny’s clothing in Amelia’s Compendium of Fashion Illustration, seek alongside interviews with 44 other ethical fashion designers and 30 fabulous fashion illustrators. You can buy the book here.
NANCY DEE by KELLIE BLACK
Nancy Dee by Kellie Black.

Tamsin and Seraphina Davis are sisters in ethical fashion design. Nancy is a long standing family name and Dee simply stands for the initial of their surname, information pills Davis. They settled on the label Nancy Dee because it is a little bit kitsch and reflects the style of their designs.

How did Nancy Dee come about?
Seraphina is my younger sister by four years and she has the background in fashion design whereas I have worked in the film industry and studied economics and social policy, more about so I am better suited to managing the business side. We started working together because Seraphina wanted to market her designs and she needed a partner. I had just finished my studies and wanted to work on something related to social policy. We launched Nancy Dee in 2008 to create garments that bridge the gap between style, viagra 60mg versatility and ethical production.

How do you manage to keep your designs both retro and up to date?
Fashion is cyclical by nature, and all trends are developments on past ideas. We take the shapes and references that appeal to us from history and update them by using new eco fabrics and modern colours. The prints play a large part; they are designed by us but influenced by older designs.

How did you hook up with the family-run factory in India that makes your clothes?
We were actually approached by them whilst at a trade show which was lucky because it wasn’t working out with another factory, so we were actually searching for someone to take over production. Fate intervened: we met the owner in London, then travelled over to Delhi later that season to check over the factory conditions, meet the staff and work on samples.

How will you further reduce your environmental impact?
Video conferencing and daily phone calls enable both Seraphina and I to work from home (I live in Leicester while she is in London). Skype is an amazing invention that helps us to keep in touch with the factory, reducing the need to visit so often. We’re constantly looking for ways to reduce our environmental impact, such as the use of degradable packaging for the webshop – but it is an ongoing job. We want to start some production in the UK since one of our biggest environmental impacts is caused by the delivery of stock from India. Many UK factories lost a huge portion of their income when it became so much cheaper to produce garments in Asia, so it will be nice to bring some work back here…

Read the rest of this interview with Nancy Dee in Amelia’s Compendium of Fashion Illustration, alongside interviews with 44 other ethical fashion designers and 30 fabulous fashion illustrators. You can buy the book here.

Categories ,ACOFI, ,Amelia’s Compendium of Fashion Illustration, ,Carbon footprint, ,Eco fashion, ,Ethical Fashion, ,India, ,Kellie Black, ,Nancy Dee, ,Seraphina Davis, ,Skype, ,Tamsin Davis

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Amelia’s Magazine | Charlie May: London Fashion Week A/W 2013 Catwalk Review

Charlie May A/W 2013 by Chloe Douglass
Charlie May A/W 2013 by Chloe Douglass.

There was plenty of buzz surrounding Charlie May‘s second catwalk show thanks to her status as a blogging fashion designer, so I wasn’t surprised to see many familiar faces so early on a Sunday morning outside the Ice Tank. Charlie is a designer of the minimalist ilk and she had chosen an apt venue to showcase her new collection: a photography studio with a white infinity curve against which the models paused for photographs.

Charlie May AW 2013-photo by Amelia Gregory
Charlie May AW 2013-photo by Amelia Gregory
Charlie May AW 2013-photo by Amelia Gregory
Charlie May AW 2013-photo by Amelia Gregory
Charlie May AW 2013-photo by Amelia Gregory
Charlie May AW 2013-photo by Amelia Gregory
Charlie May AW 2013-photo by Amelia Gregory
Charlie May A/W 2013 by Jane Young
Charlie May A/W 2013 by Jane Young.

The collection, which had been inspired by ice, rock and fire, began in crisp white: sheer polo necks worn beneath wide lapelled tailored wool coats, with pencil skirts and sheer black tights. A roll neck knit was worn under an ostrich skin biker jacket and there was a distinct 80s vibe to the oversized blazers. Red lips worked beautifully with a simple silk shift dress and an A-line maxi dress accessorised with a simple black clutch bag by Danielle Foster. Moving swiftly through a few black, wine and gunmetal grey garments we arrived at my favourite looks, a cherry red dress and skinny leg suit. Charlie May successfully mixed textures and tones to bring subtle interest to her minimalist aesthetic, and I’ll be intrigued to see what she comes up with next.

Charlie May AW 2013-photo by Amelia Gregory
Charlie May AW 2013-photo by Amelia Gregory
Charlie May AW 2013-photo by Amelia Gregory
Charlie May AW 2013-photo by Amelia Gregory
Charlie May AW 2013-photo by Amelia Gregory
Charlie May AW 2013-photo by Amelia Gregory
Charlie May AW 2013-photo by Amelia Gregory
Charlie May A/W 2013. All photography by Amelia Gregory.

Charlie May AW13 by Isher Dhiman
Charlie May A/W 2013 by Isher Dhiman.

Categories ,A/W 2013, ,Charlie May, ,Chloe Douglass, ,Danielle Foster, ,Girl a la Mode, ,Ice Tank, ,Isher Dhiman, ,Jane Young, ,London Fashion Week, ,review

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Amelia’s Magazine | Claudia Ligari and Eleanor Amoroso: London Fashion Week A/W 2013 Presentation Review

I was invited to do live illustrations at the Lewis and Leigh PR event on Friday, for the designers Claudia Ligari and Eleanor Amoroso.

claudia ligari hood - lfw - aw13 - jenny robins - amelias magazine

In typical fashion week style it was chaos up to the last minute as the venue, Beach Blanket Babylon in Shoreditch, had been double booked and the show ended up in what was essentially a storage room. Even so, they did a good enough job of dressing it to make it look intentionally basic, and I think the raw whiteness of it suited the work. Once I had set up my paints I watched Eleanor Amoroso set to work with hair straighteners on the long sinuous tassels that hang from her macramé pieces.

eleanor amoroso hair straightenering her collection - lfw - aw13 - jenny robins - amelias magazine
It was a shame not to see Eleanor Amoroso‘s garments on models, as the long free flowing cords are clearly made to be seen in movement. Instead I have tried to capture that shape and movement in my illustrations.

eleanor amoroso 2 - lfw - aw13 - jenny robins - amelias magazine

eleanor amoroso - lfw - aw13 - jenny robins - amelias magazine

Both the designers worked on a big and small scale, with Eleanor Amoroso presenting full length and more minimal versions (which would work well as accessories) of her intricately knotted black and white pieces. She has somewhat downscaled from more epic pieces previously featured on Amelia’s Magazine, probably for sensible commercial reasons.

claudia ligari models - lfw - aw13 - jenny robins - amelias magazine
Claudia Ligari’s collection

claudia ligari wearing herself - lfw - aw13 - jenny robins - amelias magazine

Claudia Ligari, on the other hand, showed a strong sensitivity for the power of simple shapes in both her garments and her jewellery collection. The strength of the lines in her work were the opposite of her physical presence, as I drew her (‘wearing herself’), she was constantly in motion, catching the light on the leather panels of her dress. She also showed her work in the exhibition at Fashion Scout.

claudia ligari - lfw - aw13 - jenny robins - amelias magazine
In general I preferred Claudia Ligari‘s more complex garments over the austere leather pieces. But then I’m not usually a fan of clean as an aesthetic on it’s own: the camel coat illustrated was getting a lot of love. I’d be interested to see the two designers’ work worn together actually, as I think the intricacy of the macramé thread work against the stark panels of leather could work well.

claudia ligari camel - lfw - aw13 - jenny robins - amelias magazine
I’m a big fan of spending an evening this way. Not only did I get to draw all night, whilst drinking free drinks and meeting interesting people, but I now have ready to go illustrations for this article, saving me time to do other London Fashion Week journalism. Hooray.

eleanor amoroso and interesting people  - lfw - aw13 - jenny robins - amelias magazine
Beth Buxton on the left, some interesting looking fashion people, and Eleanor Amoroso holding her portrait.

Categories ,A/W 2013, ,Beach Blanket Babylon, ,Beth Buxton, ,claudia ligari, ,Eleanor Amoroso, ,fashion, ,illustration, ,Lewis and Leigh PR, ,live illustration, ,london, ,London Fashion Week, ,Macrame, ,review

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Amelia’s Magazine | Flowers – Where’s The Love?

Macbeth-Broadway-Theatre-2010005

It’s not often that I will voluntarily submit to Shakespeare – which must be something to do with it reminding me of school trips where me and my best mate Aisha would generally be raucous to annoy the middle aged audience and then wolf whistle through the applause. (well, case she wolf whistled and I egged her on.)
So I don’t think I’ve seen Macbeth since I studied it for A-Level English. But I decided that attendance should be compulsory for a play that features not one but two randomly known friends. I found out about this production through the miracle of communication that is Facebook, buy more about when Rob Wilson posted about his part as MacDuff. And then I noticed a very familiar witch in the publicity shots. Louis Brooke! Whom I’ve known since he was a precocious 17 year old that I looked after on a children’s camp. He went off to Oxbridge and then decided he wanted to be an actor. Rob’s path I know less well but I’ve seen him around at festivals as part of Lost & Found for many years and gradually made his acquaintance.

So I thought it was high time I got me another dose of Shakespeare. As Rob opined, Catford is only 15 minutes from London Bridge on the train. Why not? I caught the train down one evening last week and trotted along to the local Broadway Theatre, where a gaggle of school children were also in to watch the play that evening. Amongst the audience members there was also my mate Thom, whom I know from Climate Camp. Turns out his dad runs the theatre. It is a small world indeed.

Macbeth begins with the famous witches, which for this adaption were played by three slippery boys – including Louis admirably togged up in torn basque and sporting a pearl earring. Throwing themselves around a spartan stage before falling on top of each other they were an engaging introduction to the production – which moved along at a cracking speed – and I enjoyed their thumping dance moves: the clumsiness a foil for their intuitive guile. Gareth Bale was expertly cast as Macbeth, but seemed not far from madness from the very get go, thereby making his descent into utter loon territory less vertiginous.
Helen Miller’s Lady Macbeth was alluring enough to believe that dear hubby could never resist her scheming machinations, which were soon leading the terrible twosome into far deeper trouble than their vaunting ambition and guilty conscience could cope with.

I must confess that even now in my adult years I struggle with the language of Shakespeare, (possibly even more so than I did as a girl, when I was studying every last phrase). My concentration not helped by the schoolgirls next to me, who started rustling papers and making notes to each other half way through. But the story really isn’t too difficult to follow and the cracking pace of scene changes snapped me back to the stage often enough. Louis reappeared several times as various ne’er do wells between reprising his role as a witch at intervals and Rob’s expressive face was perfectly suited to convey the sorry state of MacDuff, who suffers the biggest bum deal of all. Of course the beauty of Shakespeare is that his stories are so timeless, and the political backstabbing and machinations of many centuries ago can just as easily be applied to the era of the Spanish Civil war, as here, or to today’s world.

This play was as enjoyable a rendition of Macbeth as any, and if you fancy a good dose of Shakespeare on a cold February evening you could do worse than make the trip down to Catford. Local it may be, but it was far from amateur. And if you live in South London, well, what are you waiting for – get down there and support your local theatre.

Macbeth at the Broadway Theatre runs until 20th February.
Macbeth-Broadway-Theatre-2010005
Photography by Adam Levy

It’s not often that I will voluntarily submit to Shakespeare – which must be something to do with it reminding me of school trips where me and my best mate Aisha would generally be raucous to annoy the middle aged audience and then wolf whistle through the applause. (well, more about she wolf whistled and I egged her on.)

Macbeth-Broadway-Theatre-2010000

So I don’t think I’ve seen Macbeth since I studied it for A-Level English. But I decided that attendance should be compulsory for a play that features not one but two random friends. I found out about this production through the miracle of communication that is Facebook, this when Rob Wilson posted about his part as Macduff. And then I noticed a very familiar witch in the publicity shots. Louis Brooke! Whom I’ve known since he was a precocious 17 year old that I looked after on a children’s camp. He went off to Oxbridge and then decided he wanted to be an actor. Rob’s path I know less well but I’ve seen him around at festivals as part of Lost & Found for many years and gradually made his acquaintance.

Macbeth-Broadway-Theatre-2010001

So I thought it was high time I got me another dose of Shakespeare. As Rob opined, Catford is only 15 minutes from London Bridge on the train. Why not? I caught the train down one evening last week and trotted along to the local Broadway Theatre, where a gaggle of school children were also in to watch the play that evening. Amongst the audience members there was also my mate Thom, whom I know from Climate Camp. Turns out his dad runs the theatre. It is a small world indeed.

Macbeth-Broadway-Theatre-2010002

Macbeth begins with the famous witches, which for this adaption were played by three slippery boys – including Louis admirably togged up in torn basque and sporting a pearl earring. Throwing themselves around a spartan stage before falling on top of each other they were an engaging introduction to the production – which moved along at a cracking speed – and I enjoyed their thumping dance moves: the clumsiness a foil for their intuitive guile. Gareth Bale was expertly cast as Macbeth, but seemed not far from madness from the very get go, thereby making his descent into utter loon territory less vertiginous. Helen Miller’s Lady Macbeth was alluring enough to believe that dear hubby could never resist her scheming machinations, which were soon leading the terrible twosome into far deeper trouble than their vaunting ambition and guilty conscience could cope with.

Macbeth-Broadway-Theatre-2010003
Macbeth-Broadway-Theatre-2010004

I must confess that even now in my adult years I struggle with the language of Shakespeare, (possibly even more so than I did as a girl, when I was studying every last phrase). My concentration not helped by the schoolgirls next to me, who started rustling papers and making notes to each other half way through. But the story really isn’t too difficult to follow and the cracking pace of scene changes snapped me back to the stage often enough. Louis reappeared several times as various ne’er do wells between reprising his role as a witch at intervals and Rob’s expressive face was perfectly suited to convey the sorry state of Macduff, who suffers the biggest bum deal of all. Of course the beauty of Shakespeare is that his stories are so timeless, and the political backstabbing and machinations of many centuries ago can just as easily be applied to the era of the Spanish Civil War, as here, or to today’s world.

Macbeth-Broadway-Theatre-2010006

This play was as enjoyable a rendition of Macbeth as any, and if you fancy a good dose of Shakespeare on a cold February evening you could do worse than make the trip down to Catford. Local it may be, but it was far from amateur. And if you live in South London, well, what are you waiting for – get down there and support your local theatre.

Macbeth at the Broadway Theatre runs until 20th February.
Do you ever get that hundred-heartbeats-a-second feeling when you see a piece of jewellery that’s really one of a kind? That piece you’ve got to have, drug now, before anything else happens, before another breath can be taken? I get this feeling, and I call it Frillybylily-itis.  The beautiful jewellery of London based designer Lily McCallin is a collection of forgotten treasures with a charm and delicate beauty that is hard to ignore. Each piece is created individually from recycled trinkets, charms, beads, or indeed whatever Lily can lay her hands on, to create a truly individual look that draws inspiration not only from the elegance of a bygone era, but indulges in a cheeky, modern aesthetic that never fails to bring a smile to your face.

blue_eyes

Imagery throughout depicting Frillybylily products, created and photographed by Lily McCallin

Frillybylily is showered with as much love in production as it deserves in wearing, and with a keen eye for hunting down the kind of pieces most of us would take a lifetime to find, Frillybylily takes all the hard work out of becoming a costume jewellery connoisseur. As each day passes and the contents of the high street seems to morph further into one tangled mess of the same drab, rehashed ideas, Frillybylily is a ray of light, a hope of salvaging some kind of pride and enjoyment in affordable but quality designs. What’s more, they come with the added bonus of appeasing the fashion conscience as McCallin is keen to utilise an eco-friendly outlook in her work. Her delightfully girlish website lists the recycled percentage of each piece so you can rest assured that you’re not only ‘doing your bit for the environment’ but are getting gorgeous jewellery and feeling wonderful for it in return.

train_bracelet

Each piece is layered with an array of intricate and interesting trims and touches from the naval graving chunky chains adorned with antique gems, to an experimentation with Perspex and fridge magnets that transports you back to the innocence of childhood and a fascination with all things sparkly. Don’t necessarily be distracted by the name, this jewellery is not simply frilly, there are also some standout, chunky designs that, if taken care of properly, will see you through season after season never failing to draw admiring glances. Any neckline would long for the Junglist Massive Necklace (pictured below), a menagerie of leaves, wooden hoops and overflowing crystals that wouldn’t look out of place if Tarzan’s Jane decided to finally add a little edge to her look. Charm bracelets are overloaded with a minutia of striking gold accessories, semi-precious stones and quirky one-offs in a colour palette that varies from the Japanese pop freshness of apple greens and candy pinks to a deep jade that emanates a mysterious allure.

junglist_massive

There must be something in the name, because Lily Allen was unable to resist a Frillybylily charm necklace, whilst the brand has been touted by Grazia, Time Out and has even had an exclusive line in Urban Outfitters. But there’s no need to worry about one of London’s best kept secrets getting too mainstream; Lily promises never to make two pieces the same, though if you are inclined to invest in a truly stunning and personal project, you can work together to create your own commissioned piece. These ventures are not limited to jewellery alone and with a foray into chandeliers, bridal accessories and a growing men’s range offering the same humour and eye for detail that characterises its sister collection –    Frillybylily could be a more permanent fixture in your life soon. Just don’t hesitate when you feel your breath quickening as you begin to covet her infectiously enjoyable work; once they’re gone, they’re really gone.

horseshoe
Do you ever get that hundred-heartbeats-a-second feeling when you see a piece of jewellery that’s really one of a kind? That piece you’ve got to have, website like this now, before anything else happens, before another breath can be taken? I get this feeling, and I call it Frillybylily-itis.  The beautiful jewellery of London based designer Lily McCallin is a collection of forgotten treasures with a charm and delicate beauty that is hard to ignore. Each piece is created individually from recycled trinkets, charms, beads, or indeed whatever Lily can lay her hands on, to create a truly individual look that draws inspiration not only from the elegance of a bygone era, but indulges in a cheeky, modern aesthetic that never fails to bring a smile to your face.

blue_eyes

Imagery throughout depicting Frillybylily products, created and photographed by Lily McCallin. ‘Blue Eyes’ necklace.

Frillybylily is showered with as much love in production as it deserves in wearing, and with a keen eye for hunting down the kind of pieces most of us would take a lifetime to find, Frillybylily takes all the hard work out of becoming a costume jewellery connoisseur. As each day passes and the contents of the high street seems to morph further into one tangled mess of the same drab, rehashed ideas, Frillybylily is a ray of light, a hope of salvaging some kind of pride and enjoyment in affordable but quality designs. What’s more, they come with the added bonus of appeasing the fashion conscience as McCallin is keen to utilise an eco-friendly outlook in her work. Her delightfully girlish website lists the recycled percentage of each piece so you can rest assured that you’re not only ‘doing your bit for the environment’ but are getting gorgeous jewellery and feeling wonderful for it in return.

train_bracelet

‘Train’ bracelet.

Each piece is layered with an array of intricate and interesting trims and touches from the naval graving chunky chains adorned with antique gems, to an experimentation with Perspex and fridge magnets that transports you back to the innocence of childhood and a fascination with all things sparkly. Don’t necessarily be distracted by the name, this jewellery is not simply frilly, there are also some standout, chunky designs that, if taken care of properly, will see you through season after season never failing to draw admiring glances. Any neckline would long for the Junglist Massive Necklace (pictured below), a menagerie of leaves, wooden hoops and overflowing crystals that wouldn’t look out of place if Tarzan’s Jane decided to finally add a little edge to her look. Charm bracelets are overloaded with a minutia of striking gold accessories, semi-precious stones and quirky one-offs in a colour palette that varies from the Japanese pop freshness of apple greens and candy pinks to a deep jade that emanates a mysterious allure.

junglist_massive

‘Junglist Massive’ necklace.

There must be something in the name, because Lily Allen was unable to resist a Frillybylily charm necklace, whilst the brand has been touted by Grazia, Time Out and has even had an exclusive line in Urban Outfitters. But there’s no need to worry about one of London’s best kept secrets getting too mainstream; Lily promises never to make two pieces the same, though if you are inclined to invest in a truly stunning and personal project, you can work together to create your own commissioned piece. These ventures are not limited to jewellery alone and with a foray into chandeliers, bridal accessories and a growing men’s range offering the same humour and eye for detail that characterises its sister collection –    Frillybylily could be a more permanent fixture in your life soon. Just don’t hesitate when you feel your breath quickening as you begin to covet her infectiously enjoyable work; once they’re gone, they’re really gone.

horseshoe

‘Horseshoe’ necklace.
Macbeth-Broadway-Theatre-2010005
Photography by Adam Levy

It’s not often that I will voluntarily submit to Shakespeare – which must be something to do with it reminding me of school trips where me and my best mate Aisha would generally be raucous to annoy the middle aged audience and then wolf whistle through the applause. (well, illness she wolf whistled and I egged her on.)

Macbeth-Broadway-Theatre-2010000

So I don’t think I’ve seen Macbeth since I studied it for A-Level English. But I decided that attendance should be compulsory for a play that features not one but two random friends. I found out about this production through the miracle of communication that is Facebook, when Rob Wilson posted about his part as Macduff. And then I noticed a very familiar witch in the publicity shots. Louis Brooke! Whom I’ve known since he was a precocious 17 year old that I looked after on a children’s camp. He went off to Oxbridge and then decided he wanted to be an actor. Rob’s path I know less well but I’ve seen him around at festivals as part of Lost & Found for many years and gradually made his acquaintance.

Macbeth-Broadway-Theatre-2010001

So I thought it was high time I got me another dose of Shakespeare. As Rob opined, Catford is only 15 minutes from London Bridge on the train. Why not? I caught the train down one evening last week and trotted along to the local Broadway Theatre, where a gaggle of school children were also in to watch the play that evening. Amongst the audience members there was also my mate Thom, whom I know from Climate Camp. Turns out his dad runs the theatre. It is a small world indeed.

Macbeth-Broadway-Theatre-2010002

Macbeth begins with the famous witches, which for this adaption were played by three slippery boys – including Louis admirably togged up in torn basque and sporting a pearl earring. Throwing themselves around a spartan stage before falling on top of each other they were an engaging introduction to the production – which moved along at a cracking speed – and I enjoyed their thumping dance moves: the clumsiness a foil for their intuitive guile. Gareth Bale was expertly cast as Macbeth, but seemed not far from madness from the very get go, thereby making his descent into utter loon territory less vertiginous. Helen Miller’s Lady Macbeth was alluring enough to believe that dear hubby could never resist her scheming machinations, which were soon leading the terrible twosome into far deeper trouble than their vaunting ambition and guilty conscience could cope with.

Macbeth-Broadway-Theatre-2010003
Macbeth-Broadway-Theatre-2010004

I must confess that even now in my adult years I struggle with the language of Shakespeare, (possibly even more so than I did as a girl, when I was studying every last phrase). My concentration not helped by the schoolgirls next to me, who started rustling papers and making notes to each other half way through. But the story really isn’t too difficult to follow and the cracking pace of scene changes snapped me back to the stage often enough. Louis reappeared several times as various ne’er do wells between reprising his role as a witch at intervals and Rob’s expressive face was perfectly suited to convey the sorry state of Macduff, who suffers the biggest bum deal of all. Of course the beauty of Shakespeare is that his stories are so timeless, and the political backstabbing and machinations of many centuries ago can just as easily be applied to the era of the Spanish Civil War, as here, or to today’s world.

Macbeth-Broadway-Theatre-2010006

This play was as enjoyable a rendition of Macbeth as any, and if you fancy a good dose of Shakespeare on a cold February evening you could do worse than make the trip down to Catford. Local it may be, but it was far from amateur. And if you live in South London, well, what are you waiting for – get down there and support your local theatre.

Macbeth at the Broadway Theatre runs until 20th February.
Macbeth-Broadway-Theatre-2010005
Photography by Adam Levy

It’s not often that I will voluntarily submit to Shakespeare – which must be something to do with it reminding me of school trips where me and my best mate Aisha would generally be raucous to annoy the middle aged audience and then wolf whistle through the applause. (well, order she wolf whistled and I egged her on.)

Macbeth-Broadway-Theatre-2010000

So I don’t think I’ve seen Macbeth since I studied it for A-Level English. But I decided that attendance should be compulsory for a play that features not one but two random friends. I found out about this production through the miracle of communication that is Facebook, patient when Rob Wilson posted about his part as Macduff. And then I noticed a very familiar witch in the publicity shots. Louis Brooke! Whom I’ve known since he was a precocious 17 year old that I looked after on a children’s camp. He went off to Oxbridge and then decided he wanted to be an actor. Rob’s path I know less well but I’ve seen him around at festivals as part of Lost & Found for many years and gradually made his acquaintance.

Macbeth-Broadway-Theatre-2010001

So I thought it was high time I got me another dose of Shakespeare. As Rob opined, Catford is only 15 minutes from London Bridge on the train. Why not? I caught the train down one evening last week and trotted along to the local Broadway Theatre, where a gaggle of school children were also in to watch the play that evening. Amongst the audience members there was also my mate Thom, whom I know from Climate Camp. Turns out his dad runs the theatre. It is a small world indeed.

Macbeth-Broadway-Theatre-2010002

Macbeth begins with the famous witches, which for this adaption were played by three slippery boys – including Louis admirably togged up in torn basque and sporting a pearl earring. Throwing themselves around a spartan stage before falling on top of each other they were an engaging introduction to the production – which moved along at a cracking speed – and I enjoyed their thumping dance moves: the clumsiness a foil for their intuitive guile. Gareth Bale was expertly cast as Macbeth, but seemed not far from madness from the very get go, thereby making his descent into utter loon territory less vertiginous. Helen Miller’s Lady Macbeth was alluring enough to believe that dear hubby could never resist her scheming machinations, which were soon leading the terrible twosome into far deeper trouble than their vaunting ambition and guilty conscience could cope with.

Macbeth-Broadway-Theatre-2010003
Macbeth-Broadway-Theatre-2010004

I must confess that even now in my adult years I struggle with the language of Shakespeare, (possibly even more so than I did as a girl, when I was studying every last phrase). My concentration was not helped by the schoolgirls next to me, who started rustling papers and making notes to each other half way through. But the story really isn’t too difficult to follow and the cracking pace of scene changes snapped me back to the stage often enough. Louis reappeared several times as various ne’er do wells between reprising his role as a witch at intervals. During the later stages of the play Rob’s expressive face was perfectly suited to convey the sorry state of Macduff, who suffers the biggest bum deal of all. Of course the beauty of Shakespeare is that his stories are so timeless, and the political backstabbing and machinations of many centuries ago can just as easily be applied to the era of the Spanish Civil War, as here, or to today’s world.

Macbeth-Broadway-Theatre-2010006

This play was as enjoyable a rendition of Macbeth as any, and if you fancy a good dose of Shakespeare on a cold February evening you could do worse than make the trip down to Catford. Local it may be, but it was far from amateur. And if you live in South London, well, what are you waiting for – get down there and support your local theatre.

Macbeth at the Broadway Theatre runs until 20th February.
Macbeth-Broadway-Theatre-2010005
Photography by Adam Levy

It’s not often that I will voluntarily submit to Shakespeare – which must be something to do with it reminding me of school trips where me and my best mate Aisha would generally be raucous to annoy the middle aged audience and then wolf whistle through the applause. (well, page she wolf whistled and I egged her on.)

Macbeth-Broadway-Theatre-2010000

So I don’t think I’ve seen Macbeth since I studied it for A-Level English. But I decided that attendance should be compulsory for a play that features not one but two random friends. I found out about this production through the miracle of communication that is Facebook, when Rob Wilson posted about his part as Macduff. And then I noticed a very familiar witch in the publicity shots. Louis Brooke! Whom I’ve known since he was a precocious 17 year old that I looked after on a children’s camp. He went off to Oxbridge and then decided he wanted to be an actor. Rob’s path I know less well but I’ve seen him around at festivals as part of Lost & Found for many years and gradually made his acquaintance.

Macbeth-Broadway-Theatre-2010001

So I thought it was high time I got me another dose of Shakespeare. As Rob opined, Catford is only 15 minutes from London Bridge on the train. Why not? I caught the train down one evening last week and trotted along to the local Broadway Theatre, where a gaggle of school children were also in to watch the play that evening. Amongst the audience members there was also my mate Thom, whom I know from Climate Camp. Turns out his dad runs the theatre. It is a small world indeed.

Macbeth-Broadway-Theatre-2010002

Macbeth begins with the famous witches, which for this adaption were played by three slippery boys – including Louis admirably togged up in torn basque and sporting a pearl earring. Throwing themselves around a spartan stage before falling on top of each other they were an engaging introduction to the production – which moved along at a cracking speed – and I enjoyed their thumping dance moves: the clumsiness a foil for their intuitive guile. Gareth Bale was expertly cast as Macbeth, but seemed not far from madness from the very get go, thereby making his descent into utter loon territory less vertiginous. Helen Miller’s Lady Macbeth was alluring enough to believe that dear hubby could never resist her scheming machinations, which were soon leading the terrible twosome into far deeper trouble than their vaunting ambition and guilty conscience could cope with.

Macbeth-Broadway-Theatre-2010003
Macbeth-Broadway-Theatre-2010004

I must confess that even now in my adult years I struggle with the language of Shakespeare, (possibly even more so than I did as a girl, when I was studying every last phrase). My concentration was not helped by the schoolgirls next to me, who started rustling papers and making notes to each other half way through. But the story really isn’t too difficult to follow and the cracking pace of scene changes snapped me back to the stage often enough. Louis reappeared several times as various ne’er do wells between reprising his role as a witch at intervals. During the later stages of the play Rob’s expressive face was perfectly suited to convey the sorry state of Macduff, who suffers the biggest bum deal of all. Of course the beauty of Shakespeare is that his stories are so timeless, and the political backstabbing and machinations of many centuries ago can just as easily be applied to the era of the Spanish Civil War, as here, or to today’s world.

Macbeth-Broadway-Theatre-2010006

This play was as enjoyable a rendition of Macbeth as any, and if you fancy a good dose of Shakespeare on a cold February evening you could do worse than make the trip down to Catford. Local it may be, but it was far from amateur. And if you live in South London, well, what are you waiting for – get down there and support your local theatre.

Macbeth at the Broadway Theatre runs until 20th February.

Macbeth-Broadway-Theatre-2010005
Photography by Adam Levy

It’s not often that I will voluntarily submit to Shakespeare – which must be something to do with it reminding me of school trips where me and my best mate Aisha would generally be raucous to annoy the middle aged audience and then wolf whistle through the applause. (well, here she wolf whistled and I egged her on.)

Macbeth-Broadway-Theatre-2010000

So I don’t think I’ve seen Macbeth since I studied it for A-Level English. But I decided that attendance should be compulsory for a play that features not one but two random friends. I found out about this production through the miracle of communication that is Facebook, viagra when Rob Wilson posted about his part as Macduff. And then I noticed a very familiar witch in the publicity shots. Louis Brooke! Whom I’ve known since he was a precocious 17 year old that I looked after on a children’s camp. He went off to Oxbridge and then decided he wanted to be an actor. Rob’s path I know less well but I’ve seen him around at festivals as part of Lost & Found for many years and gradually made his acquaintance.

Macbeth-Broadway-Theatre-2010001

So I thought it was high time I got me another dose of Shakespeare. As Rob opined, no rx Catford is only 15 minutes from London Bridge on the train. Why not? I caught the train down one evening last week and trotted along to the local Broadway Theatre, where a gaggle of school children were also in to watch the play that evening. Amongst the audience members there was also my mate Thom, whom I know from Climate Camp. Turns out his dad runs the theatre. It is a small world indeed.

Macbeth-Broadway-Theatre-2010002

Macbeth begins with the famous witches, which for this adaption were played by three slippery boys – including Louis admirably togged up in torn basque and sporting a pearl earring. Throwing themselves around a spartan stage before falling on top of each other they were an engaging introduction to the production – which moved along at a cracking speed – and I enjoyed their thumping dance moves: the clumsiness a foil for their intuitive guile. Gareth Bale was expertly cast as Macbeth, but seemed not far from madness from the very get go, thereby making his descent into utter loon territory less vertiginous. Helen Miller’s Lady Macbeth was alluring enough to believe that dear hubby could never resist her scheming machinations, which were soon leading the terrible twosome into far deeper trouble than their vaunting ambition and guilty conscience could cope with.

Macbeth-Broadway-Theatre-2010003
Macbeth-Broadway-Theatre-2010004

I must confess that even now in my adult years I struggle with the language of Shakespeare, (possibly even more so than I did as a girl, when I was studying every last phrase). My concentration was not helped by the schoolgirls next to me, who started rustling papers and making notes to each other half way through. But the story really isn’t too difficult to follow and the cracking pace of scene changes snapped me back to the stage often enough. Louis reappeared several times as various ne’er do wells between reprising his role as a witch at intervals. During the later stages of the play Rob’s expressive face was perfectly suited to convey the sorry state of Macduff, who suffers the biggest bum deal of all. Of course the beauty of Shakespeare is that his stories are so timeless, and the political backstabbing and machinations of many centuries ago can just as easily be applied to the era of the Spanish Civil War, as here, or to today’s world.

Macbeth-Broadway-Theatre-2010006

This play was as enjoyable a rendition of Macbeth as any, and if you fancy a good dose of Shakespeare on a cold February evening you could do worse than make the trip down to Catford. Local it may be, but it was far from amateur. And if you live in South London, well, what are you waiting for – get down there and support your local theatre.

Macbeth at the Broadway Theatre runs until 20th February.

serenity

Illustration:  Serenity, help by Katy Gromball

Valentine’s Day approaches once again, help and where is the love?  Is the love in Clinton Cards?  Is the love in all those ‘must have’ Valentine’s gifts the glossy magazines are trying to suggest we need?  Is the love in flowers that have been flown thousands of miles, produced by underpaid workers with health problems because of all the chemicals used in their production?  Hmmm, perhaps not…

inadream

Illustration:  In a Dream, by Katy Gromball

There’s no denying cut flowers are beautiful.  I’ve never been a flowers girl myself, but I do see the appeal.  Flowers should be beautiful, natural, simple gifts that allow us to enjoy a beautiful bit of the outdoors indoors.  Yet most of the flowers that we buy in this country have a past that is neither innocent nor desirable.  It’s ironic that the pretty things we use to express our affection for loved ones can in fact be severely detrimental to the health and well-being of the people and environments that produce them.  It is therefore high time ethical flowers became the norm and not the slightly more expensive niche option.

lovelyplace

Illustration:  Lovely Place, by Katy Gromball

Flowers can either be grown in greenhouses, where maintaining the right temperature and conditions needs a lot of energy, or produced in countries with a naturally hotter climate.  The vast majority of flowers we buy in this country are imported from Colombia, Kenya or Holland. 

I remember studying the colonial history of France in Algeria at university.  The French colons made Algeria, where the Muslim population originally didn’t drink alcohol, into an important exporter of wine.  So while the natives didn’t have enough wheat because their land had been taken over by the French, the French were happily drinking wine with their cheese.  Perhaps the flowers situation can’t be compared.  But flowers take up enormous swathes of land that could otherwise be used for food production.   The fact that they are grown as a monoculture crop means they severely deplete soils and biodiversity. 

lovers

Illustration:  Lovers, by Katy Gromball

Moreover, flower production requires huge amounts of water.  Clean drinking water is an increasingly scarce global commodity.  Coupled with the extremely high use of pesticides, fungicides and herbicides in flower production, and the toxicity released into rivers because of this, there is clearly a huge problem.  Pesticides directly affect the health of the workers who are in contact with them, whether in greenhouses or outdoors.  Are cheap flowers worth all this?

So what are the alternatives?  Where possible, it really is best to buy UK grown flowers.  The UK  floriculture season lasts from about March to October, but most florists will provide for Valentine’s Day as well by using fairtrade flowers.  Below are a few ideas for online suppliers, but it’s probably best to research your own local area and find out which florists supply UK grown or fairtrade flowers.   If you know any good florists or suppliers in your area, please post links to them or give details in the comments section they’ll be useful all year round.

hurrah

Illustration:  Hurrah, by Katy Gromball

ETHICAL FLOWERS

Bella and Fifi, Bristol-based ethical florist.

Park Flowers,  Soil Association Organic certified flowers. 

Eco Flowers Delivered– “I love you and the Earth too”.  Delivered same or next day.

Bath Organic Blooms, Seasonal, organically-produced flowers from Somerset, delivered UK-wide.  Not for Valentine’s though as the season starts in March.

——————————————————

Visit illustrator Katy Gromball’s online shop, for a truly beautiful and unique print to go with (or instead of)  flowers.

Categories ,Carbon footprint, ,Colombia, ,Cut flowers, ,DDT, ,fairtrade, ,Flowers, ,holland, ,Katy Gromball, ,Kenya, ,Pat Thomas, ,pesticides

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Amelia’s Magazine | Flowers – Where’s The Love?

Macbeth-Broadway-Theatre-2010005

It’s not often that I will voluntarily submit to Shakespeare – which must be something to do with it reminding me of school trips where me and my best mate Aisha would generally be raucous to annoy the middle aged audience and then wolf whistle through the applause. (well, case she wolf whistled and I egged her on.)
So I don’t think I’ve seen Macbeth since I studied it for A-Level English. But I decided that attendance should be compulsory for a play that features not one but two randomly known friends. I found out about this production through the miracle of communication that is Facebook, buy more about when Rob Wilson posted about his part as MacDuff. And then I noticed a very familiar witch in the publicity shots. Louis Brooke! Whom I’ve known since he was a precocious 17 year old that I looked after on a children’s camp. He went off to Oxbridge and then decided he wanted to be an actor. Rob’s path I know less well but I’ve seen him around at festivals as part of Lost & Found for many years and gradually made his acquaintance.

So I thought it was high time I got me another dose of Shakespeare. As Rob opined, Catford is only 15 minutes from London Bridge on the train. Why not? I caught the train down one evening last week and trotted along to the local Broadway Theatre, where a gaggle of school children were also in to watch the play that evening. Amongst the audience members there was also my mate Thom, whom I know from Climate Camp. Turns out his dad runs the theatre. It is a small world indeed.

Macbeth begins with the famous witches, which for this adaption were played by three slippery boys – including Louis admirably togged up in torn basque and sporting a pearl earring. Throwing themselves around a spartan stage before falling on top of each other they were an engaging introduction to the production – which moved along at a cracking speed – and I enjoyed their thumping dance moves: the clumsiness a foil for their intuitive guile. Gareth Bale was expertly cast as Macbeth, but seemed not far from madness from the very get go, thereby making his descent into utter loon territory less vertiginous.
Helen Miller’s Lady Macbeth was alluring enough to believe that dear hubby could never resist her scheming machinations, which were soon leading the terrible twosome into far deeper trouble than their vaunting ambition and guilty conscience could cope with.

I must confess that even now in my adult years I struggle with the language of Shakespeare, (possibly even more so than I did as a girl, when I was studying every last phrase). My concentration not helped by the schoolgirls next to me, who started rustling papers and making notes to each other half way through. But the story really isn’t too difficult to follow and the cracking pace of scene changes snapped me back to the stage often enough. Louis reappeared several times as various ne’er do wells between reprising his role as a witch at intervals and Rob’s expressive face was perfectly suited to convey the sorry state of MacDuff, who suffers the biggest bum deal of all. Of course the beauty of Shakespeare is that his stories are so timeless, and the political backstabbing and machinations of many centuries ago can just as easily be applied to the era of the Spanish Civil war, as here, or to today’s world.

This play was as enjoyable a rendition of Macbeth as any, and if you fancy a good dose of Shakespeare on a cold February evening you could do worse than make the trip down to Catford. Local it may be, but it was far from amateur. And if you live in South London, well, what are you waiting for – get down there and support your local theatre.

Macbeth at the Broadway Theatre runs until 20th February.
Macbeth-Broadway-Theatre-2010005
Photography by Adam Levy

It’s not often that I will voluntarily submit to Shakespeare – which must be something to do with it reminding me of school trips where me and my best mate Aisha would generally be raucous to annoy the middle aged audience and then wolf whistle through the applause. (well, more about she wolf whistled and I egged her on.)

Macbeth-Broadway-Theatre-2010000

So I don’t think I’ve seen Macbeth since I studied it for A-Level English. But I decided that attendance should be compulsory for a play that features not one but two random friends. I found out about this production through the miracle of communication that is Facebook, this when Rob Wilson posted about his part as Macduff. And then I noticed a very familiar witch in the publicity shots. Louis Brooke! Whom I’ve known since he was a precocious 17 year old that I looked after on a children’s camp. He went off to Oxbridge and then decided he wanted to be an actor. Rob’s path I know less well but I’ve seen him around at festivals as part of Lost & Found for many years and gradually made his acquaintance.

Macbeth-Broadway-Theatre-2010001

So I thought it was high time I got me another dose of Shakespeare. As Rob opined, Catford is only 15 minutes from London Bridge on the train. Why not? I caught the train down one evening last week and trotted along to the local Broadway Theatre, where a gaggle of school children were also in to watch the play that evening. Amongst the audience members there was also my mate Thom, whom I know from Climate Camp. Turns out his dad runs the theatre. It is a small world indeed.

Macbeth-Broadway-Theatre-2010002

Macbeth begins with the famous witches, which for this adaption were played by three slippery boys – including Louis admirably togged up in torn basque and sporting a pearl earring. Throwing themselves around a spartan stage before falling on top of each other they were an engaging introduction to the production – which moved along at a cracking speed – and I enjoyed their thumping dance moves: the clumsiness a foil for their intuitive guile. Gareth Bale was expertly cast as Macbeth, but seemed not far from madness from the very get go, thereby making his descent into utter loon territory less vertiginous. Helen Miller’s Lady Macbeth was alluring enough to believe that dear hubby could never resist her scheming machinations, which were soon leading the terrible twosome into far deeper trouble than their vaunting ambition and guilty conscience could cope with.

Macbeth-Broadway-Theatre-2010003
Macbeth-Broadway-Theatre-2010004

I must confess that even now in my adult years I struggle with the language of Shakespeare, (possibly even more so than I did as a girl, when I was studying every last phrase). My concentration not helped by the schoolgirls next to me, who started rustling papers and making notes to each other half way through. But the story really isn’t too difficult to follow and the cracking pace of scene changes snapped me back to the stage often enough. Louis reappeared several times as various ne’er do wells between reprising his role as a witch at intervals and Rob’s expressive face was perfectly suited to convey the sorry state of Macduff, who suffers the biggest bum deal of all. Of course the beauty of Shakespeare is that his stories are so timeless, and the political backstabbing and machinations of many centuries ago can just as easily be applied to the era of the Spanish Civil War, as here, or to today’s world.

Macbeth-Broadway-Theatre-2010006

This play was as enjoyable a rendition of Macbeth as any, and if you fancy a good dose of Shakespeare on a cold February evening you could do worse than make the trip down to Catford. Local it may be, but it was far from amateur. And if you live in South London, well, what are you waiting for – get down there and support your local theatre.

Macbeth at the Broadway Theatre runs until 20th February.
Do you ever get that hundred-heartbeats-a-second feeling when you see a piece of jewellery that’s really one of a kind? That piece you’ve got to have, drug now, before anything else happens, before another breath can be taken? I get this feeling, and I call it Frillybylily-itis.  The beautiful jewellery of London based designer Lily McCallin is a collection of forgotten treasures with a charm and delicate beauty that is hard to ignore. Each piece is created individually from recycled trinkets, charms, beads, or indeed whatever Lily can lay her hands on, to create a truly individual look that draws inspiration not only from the elegance of a bygone era, but indulges in a cheeky, modern aesthetic that never fails to bring a smile to your face.

blue_eyes

Imagery throughout depicting Frillybylily products, created and photographed by Lily McCallin

Frillybylily is showered with as much love in production as it deserves in wearing, and with a keen eye for hunting down the kind of pieces most of us would take a lifetime to find, Frillybylily takes all the hard work out of becoming a costume jewellery connoisseur. As each day passes and the contents of the high street seems to morph further into one tangled mess of the same drab, rehashed ideas, Frillybylily is a ray of light, a hope of salvaging some kind of pride and enjoyment in affordable but quality designs. What’s more, they come with the added bonus of appeasing the fashion conscience as McCallin is keen to utilise an eco-friendly outlook in her work. Her delightfully girlish website lists the recycled percentage of each piece so you can rest assured that you’re not only ‘doing your bit for the environment’ but are getting gorgeous jewellery and feeling wonderful for it in return.

train_bracelet

Each piece is layered with an array of intricate and interesting trims and touches from the naval graving chunky chains adorned with antique gems, to an experimentation with Perspex and fridge magnets that transports you back to the innocence of childhood and a fascination with all things sparkly. Don’t necessarily be distracted by the name, this jewellery is not simply frilly, there are also some standout, chunky designs that, if taken care of properly, will see you through season after season never failing to draw admiring glances. Any neckline would long for the Junglist Massive Necklace (pictured below), a menagerie of leaves, wooden hoops and overflowing crystals that wouldn’t look out of place if Tarzan’s Jane decided to finally add a little edge to her look. Charm bracelets are overloaded with a minutia of striking gold accessories, semi-precious stones and quirky one-offs in a colour palette that varies from the Japanese pop freshness of apple greens and candy pinks to a deep jade that emanates a mysterious allure.

junglist_massive

There must be something in the name, because Lily Allen was unable to resist a Frillybylily charm necklace, whilst the brand has been touted by Grazia, Time Out and has even had an exclusive line in Urban Outfitters. But there’s no need to worry about one of London’s best kept secrets getting too mainstream; Lily promises never to make two pieces the same, though if you are inclined to invest in a truly stunning and personal project, you can work together to create your own commissioned piece. These ventures are not limited to jewellery alone and with a foray into chandeliers, bridal accessories and a growing men’s range offering the same humour and eye for detail that characterises its sister collection –    Frillybylily could be a more permanent fixture in your life soon. Just don’t hesitate when you feel your breath quickening as you begin to covet her infectiously enjoyable work; once they’re gone, they’re really gone.

horseshoe
Do you ever get that hundred-heartbeats-a-second feeling when you see a piece of jewellery that’s really one of a kind? That piece you’ve got to have, website like this now, before anything else happens, before another breath can be taken? I get this feeling, and I call it Frillybylily-itis.  The beautiful jewellery of London based designer Lily McCallin is a collection of forgotten treasures with a charm and delicate beauty that is hard to ignore. Each piece is created individually from recycled trinkets, charms, beads, or indeed whatever Lily can lay her hands on, to create a truly individual look that draws inspiration not only from the elegance of a bygone era, but indulges in a cheeky, modern aesthetic that never fails to bring a smile to your face.

blue_eyes

Imagery throughout depicting Frillybylily products, created and photographed by Lily McCallin. ‘Blue Eyes’ necklace.

Frillybylily is showered with as much love in production as it deserves in wearing, and with a keen eye for hunting down the kind of pieces most of us would take a lifetime to find, Frillybylily takes all the hard work out of becoming a costume jewellery connoisseur. As each day passes and the contents of the high street seems to morph further into one tangled mess of the same drab, rehashed ideas, Frillybylily is a ray of light, a hope of salvaging some kind of pride and enjoyment in affordable but quality designs. What’s more, they come with the added bonus of appeasing the fashion conscience as McCallin is keen to utilise an eco-friendly outlook in her work. Her delightfully girlish website lists the recycled percentage of each piece so you can rest assured that you’re not only ‘doing your bit for the environment’ but are getting gorgeous jewellery and feeling wonderful for it in return.

train_bracelet

‘Train’ bracelet.

Each piece is layered with an array of intricate and interesting trims and touches from the naval graving chunky chains adorned with antique gems, to an experimentation with Perspex and fridge magnets that transports you back to the innocence of childhood and a fascination with all things sparkly. Don’t necessarily be distracted by the name, this jewellery is not simply frilly, there are also some standout, chunky designs that, if taken care of properly, will see you through season after season never failing to draw admiring glances. Any neckline would long for the Junglist Massive Necklace (pictured below), a menagerie of leaves, wooden hoops and overflowing crystals that wouldn’t look out of place if Tarzan’s Jane decided to finally add a little edge to her look. Charm bracelets are overloaded with a minutia of striking gold accessories, semi-precious stones and quirky one-offs in a colour palette that varies from the Japanese pop freshness of apple greens and candy pinks to a deep jade that emanates a mysterious allure.

junglist_massive

‘Junglist Massive’ necklace.

There must be something in the name, because Lily Allen was unable to resist a Frillybylily charm necklace, whilst the brand has been touted by Grazia, Time Out and has even had an exclusive line in Urban Outfitters. But there’s no need to worry about one of London’s best kept secrets getting too mainstream; Lily promises never to make two pieces the same, though if you are inclined to invest in a truly stunning and personal project, you can work together to create your own commissioned piece. These ventures are not limited to jewellery alone and with a foray into chandeliers, bridal accessories and a growing men’s range offering the same humour and eye for detail that characterises its sister collection –    Frillybylily could be a more permanent fixture in your life soon. Just don’t hesitate when you feel your breath quickening as you begin to covet her infectiously enjoyable work; once they’re gone, they’re really gone.

horseshoe

‘Horseshoe’ necklace.
Macbeth-Broadway-Theatre-2010005
Photography by Adam Levy

It’s not often that I will voluntarily submit to Shakespeare – which must be something to do with it reminding me of school trips where me and my best mate Aisha would generally be raucous to annoy the middle aged audience and then wolf whistle through the applause. (well, illness she wolf whistled and I egged her on.)

Macbeth-Broadway-Theatre-2010000

So I don’t think I’ve seen Macbeth since I studied it for A-Level English. But I decided that attendance should be compulsory for a play that features not one but two random friends. I found out about this production through the miracle of communication that is Facebook, when Rob Wilson posted about his part as Macduff. And then I noticed a very familiar witch in the publicity shots. Louis Brooke! Whom I’ve known since he was a precocious 17 year old that I looked after on a children’s camp. He went off to Oxbridge and then decided he wanted to be an actor. Rob’s path I know less well but I’ve seen him around at festivals as part of Lost & Found for many years and gradually made his acquaintance.

Macbeth-Broadway-Theatre-2010001

So I thought it was high time I got me another dose of Shakespeare. As Rob opined, Catford is only 15 minutes from London Bridge on the train. Why not? I caught the train down one evening last week and trotted along to the local Broadway Theatre, where a gaggle of school children were also in to watch the play that evening. Amongst the audience members there was also my mate Thom, whom I know from Climate Camp. Turns out his dad runs the theatre. It is a small world indeed.

Macbeth-Broadway-Theatre-2010002

Macbeth begins with the famous witches, which for this adaption were played by three slippery boys – including Louis admirably togged up in torn basque and sporting a pearl earring. Throwing themselves around a spartan stage before falling on top of each other they were an engaging introduction to the production – which moved along at a cracking speed – and I enjoyed their thumping dance moves: the clumsiness a foil for their intuitive guile. Gareth Bale was expertly cast as Macbeth, but seemed not far from madness from the very get go, thereby making his descent into utter loon territory less vertiginous. Helen Miller’s Lady Macbeth was alluring enough to believe that dear hubby could never resist her scheming machinations, which were soon leading the terrible twosome into far deeper trouble than their vaunting ambition and guilty conscience could cope with.

Macbeth-Broadway-Theatre-2010003
Macbeth-Broadway-Theatre-2010004

I must confess that even now in my adult years I struggle with the language of Shakespeare, (possibly even more so than I did as a girl, when I was studying every last phrase). My concentration not helped by the schoolgirls next to me, who started rustling papers and making notes to each other half way through. But the story really isn’t too difficult to follow and the cracking pace of scene changes snapped me back to the stage often enough. Louis reappeared several times as various ne’er do wells between reprising his role as a witch at intervals and Rob’s expressive face was perfectly suited to convey the sorry state of Macduff, who suffers the biggest bum deal of all. Of course the beauty of Shakespeare is that his stories are so timeless, and the political backstabbing and machinations of many centuries ago can just as easily be applied to the era of the Spanish Civil War, as here, or to today’s world.

Macbeth-Broadway-Theatre-2010006

This play was as enjoyable a rendition of Macbeth as any, and if you fancy a good dose of Shakespeare on a cold February evening you could do worse than make the trip down to Catford. Local it may be, but it was far from amateur. And if you live in South London, well, what are you waiting for – get down there and support your local theatre.

Macbeth at the Broadway Theatre runs until 20th February.
Macbeth-Broadway-Theatre-2010005
Photography by Adam Levy

It’s not often that I will voluntarily submit to Shakespeare – which must be something to do with it reminding me of school trips where me and my best mate Aisha would generally be raucous to annoy the middle aged audience and then wolf whistle through the applause. (well, order she wolf whistled and I egged her on.)

Macbeth-Broadway-Theatre-2010000

So I don’t think I’ve seen Macbeth since I studied it for A-Level English. But I decided that attendance should be compulsory for a play that features not one but two random friends. I found out about this production through the miracle of communication that is Facebook, patient when Rob Wilson posted about his part as Macduff. And then I noticed a very familiar witch in the publicity shots. Louis Brooke! Whom I’ve known since he was a precocious 17 year old that I looked after on a children’s camp. He went off to Oxbridge and then decided he wanted to be an actor. Rob’s path I know less well but I’ve seen him around at festivals as part of Lost & Found for many years and gradually made his acquaintance.

Macbeth-Broadway-Theatre-2010001

So I thought it was high time I got me another dose of Shakespeare. As Rob opined, Catford is only 15 minutes from London Bridge on the train. Why not? I caught the train down one evening last week and trotted along to the local Broadway Theatre, where a gaggle of school children were also in to watch the play that evening. Amongst the audience members there was also my mate Thom, whom I know from Climate Camp. Turns out his dad runs the theatre. It is a small world indeed.

Macbeth-Broadway-Theatre-2010002

Macbeth begins with the famous witches, which for this adaption were played by three slippery boys – including Louis admirably togged up in torn basque and sporting a pearl earring. Throwing themselves around a spartan stage before falling on top of each other they were an engaging introduction to the production – which moved along at a cracking speed – and I enjoyed their thumping dance moves: the clumsiness a foil for their intuitive guile. Gareth Bale was expertly cast as Macbeth, but seemed not far from madness from the very get go, thereby making his descent into utter loon territory less vertiginous. Helen Miller’s Lady Macbeth was alluring enough to believe that dear hubby could never resist her scheming machinations, which were soon leading the terrible twosome into far deeper trouble than their vaunting ambition and guilty conscience could cope with.

Macbeth-Broadway-Theatre-2010003
Macbeth-Broadway-Theatre-2010004

I must confess that even now in my adult years I struggle with the language of Shakespeare, (possibly even more so than I did as a girl, when I was studying every last phrase). My concentration was not helped by the schoolgirls next to me, who started rustling papers and making notes to each other half way through. But the story really isn’t too difficult to follow and the cracking pace of scene changes snapped me back to the stage often enough. Louis reappeared several times as various ne’er do wells between reprising his role as a witch at intervals. During the later stages of the play Rob’s expressive face was perfectly suited to convey the sorry state of Macduff, who suffers the biggest bum deal of all. Of course the beauty of Shakespeare is that his stories are so timeless, and the political backstabbing and machinations of many centuries ago can just as easily be applied to the era of the Spanish Civil War, as here, or to today’s world.

Macbeth-Broadway-Theatre-2010006

This play was as enjoyable a rendition of Macbeth as any, and if you fancy a good dose of Shakespeare on a cold February evening you could do worse than make the trip down to Catford. Local it may be, but it was far from amateur. And if you live in South London, well, what are you waiting for – get down there and support your local theatre.

Macbeth at the Broadway Theatre runs until 20th February.
Macbeth-Broadway-Theatre-2010005
Photography by Adam Levy

It’s not often that I will voluntarily submit to Shakespeare – which must be something to do with it reminding me of school trips where me and my best mate Aisha would generally be raucous to annoy the middle aged audience and then wolf whistle through the applause. (well, page she wolf whistled and I egged her on.)

Macbeth-Broadway-Theatre-2010000

So I don’t think I’ve seen Macbeth since I studied it for A-Level English. But I decided that attendance should be compulsory for a play that features not one but two random friends. I found out about this production through the miracle of communication that is Facebook, when Rob Wilson posted about his part as Macduff. And then I noticed a very familiar witch in the publicity shots. Louis Brooke! Whom I’ve known since he was a precocious 17 year old that I looked after on a children’s camp. He went off to Oxbridge and then decided he wanted to be an actor. Rob’s path I know less well but I’ve seen him around at festivals as part of Lost & Found for many years and gradually made his acquaintance.

Macbeth-Broadway-Theatre-2010001

So I thought it was high time I got me another dose of Shakespeare. As Rob opined, Catford is only 15 minutes from London Bridge on the train. Why not? I caught the train down one evening last week and trotted along to the local Broadway Theatre, where a gaggle of school children were also in to watch the play that evening. Amongst the audience members there was also my mate Thom, whom I know from Climate Camp. Turns out his dad runs the theatre. It is a small world indeed.

Macbeth-Broadway-Theatre-2010002

Macbeth begins with the famous witches, which for this adaption were played by three slippery boys – including Louis admirably togged up in torn basque and sporting a pearl earring. Throwing themselves around a spartan stage before falling on top of each other they were an engaging introduction to the production – which moved along at a cracking speed – and I enjoyed their thumping dance moves: the clumsiness a foil for their intuitive guile. Gareth Bale was expertly cast as Macbeth, but seemed not far from madness from the very get go, thereby making his descent into utter loon territory less vertiginous. Helen Miller’s Lady Macbeth was alluring enough to believe that dear hubby could never resist her scheming machinations, which were soon leading the terrible twosome into far deeper trouble than their vaunting ambition and guilty conscience could cope with.

Macbeth-Broadway-Theatre-2010003
Macbeth-Broadway-Theatre-2010004

I must confess that even now in my adult years I struggle with the language of Shakespeare, (possibly even more so than I did as a girl, when I was studying every last phrase). My concentration was not helped by the schoolgirls next to me, who started rustling papers and making notes to each other half way through. But the story really isn’t too difficult to follow and the cracking pace of scene changes snapped me back to the stage often enough. Louis reappeared several times as various ne’er do wells between reprising his role as a witch at intervals. During the later stages of the play Rob’s expressive face was perfectly suited to convey the sorry state of Macduff, who suffers the biggest bum deal of all. Of course the beauty of Shakespeare is that his stories are so timeless, and the political backstabbing and machinations of many centuries ago can just as easily be applied to the era of the Spanish Civil War, as here, or to today’s world.

Macbeth-Broadway-Theatre-2010006

This play was as enjoyable a rendition of Macbeth as any, and if you fancy a good dose of Shakespeare on a cold February evening you could do worse than make the trip down to Catford. Local it may be, but it was far from amateur. And if you live in South London, well, what are you waiting for – get down there and support your local theatre.

Macbeth at the Broadway Theatre runs until 20th February.

Macbeth-Broadway-Theatre-2010005
Photography by Adam Levy

It’s not often that I will voluntarily submit to Shakespeare – which must be something to do with it reminding me of school trips where me and my best mate Aisha would generally be raucous to annoy the middle aged audience and then wolf whistle through the applause. (well, here she wolf whistled and I egged her on.)

Macbeth-Broadway-Theatre-2010000

So I don’t think I’ve seen Macbeth since I studied it for A-Level English. But I decided that attendance should be compulsory for a play that features not one but two random friends. I found out about this production through the miracle of communication that is Facebook, viagra when Rob Wilson posted about his part as Macduff. And then I noticed a very familiar witch in the publicity shots. Louis Brooke! Whom I’ve known since he was a precocious 17 year old that I looked after on a children’s camp. He went off to Oxbridge and then decided he wanted to be an actor. Rob’s path I know less well but I’ve seen him around at festivals as part of Lost & Found for many years and gradually made his acquaintance.

Macbeth-Broadway-Theatre-2010001

So I thought it was high time I got me another dose of Shakespeare. As Rob opined, no rx Catford is only 15 minutes from London Bridge on the train. Why not? I caught the train down one evening last week and trotted along to the local Broadway Theatre, where a gaggle of school children were also in to watch the play that evening. Amongst the audience members there was also my mate Thom, whom I know from Climate Camp. Turns out his dad runs the theatre. It is a small world indeed.

Macbeth-Broadway-Theatre-2010002

Macbeth begins with the famous witches, which for this adaption were played by three slippery boys – including Louis admirably togged up in torn basque and sporting a pearl earring. Throwing themselves around a spartan stage before falling on top of each other they were an engaging introduction to the production – which moved along at a cracking speed – and I enjoyed their thumping dance moves: the clumsiness a foil for their intuitive guile. Gareth Bale was expertly cast as Macbeth, but seemed not far from madness from the very get go, thereby making his descent into utter loon territory less vertiginous. Helen Miller’s Lady Macbeth was alluring enough to believe that dear hubby could never resist her scheming machinations, which were soon leading the terrible twosome into far deeper trouble than their vaunting ambition and guilty conscience could cope with.

Macbeth-Broadway-Theatre-2010003
Macbeth-Broadway-Theatre-2010004

I must confess that even now in my adult years I struggle with the language of Shakespeare, (possibly even more so than I did as a girl, when I was studying every last phrase). My concentration was not helped by the schoolgirls next to me, who started rustling papers and making notes to each other half way through. But the story really isn’t too difficult to follow and the cracking pace of scene changes snapped me back to the stage often enough. Louis reappeared several times as various ne’er do wells between reprising his role as a witch at intervals. During the later stages of the play Rob’s expressive face was perfectly suited to convey the sorry state of Macduff, who suffers the biggest bum deal of all. Of course the beauty of Shakespeare is that his stories are so timeless, and the political backstabbing and machinations of many centuries ago can just as easily be applied to the era of the Spanish Civil War, as here, or to today’s world.

Macbeth-Broadway-Theatre-2010006

This play was as enjoyable a rendition of Macbeth as any, and if you fancy a good dose of Shakespeare on a cold February evening you could do worse than make the trip down to Catford. Local it may be, but it was far from amateur. And if you live in South London, well, what are you waiting for – get down there and support your local theatre.

Macbeth at the Broadway Theatre runs until 20th February.

serenity

Illustration:  Serenity, help by Katy Gromball

Valentine’s Day approaches once again, help and where is the love?  Is the love in Clinton Cards?  Is the love in all those ‘must have’ Valentine’s gifts the glossy magazines are trying to suggest we need?  Is the love in flowers that have been flown thousands of miles, produced by underpaid workers with health problems because of all the chemicals used in their production?  Hmmm, perhaps not…

inadream

Illustration:  In a Dream, by Katy Gromball

There’s no denying cut flowers are beautiful.  I’ve never been a flowers girl myself, but I do see the appeal.  Flowers should be beautiful, natural, simple gifts that allow us to enjoy a beautiful bit of the outdoors indoors.  Yet most of the flowers that we buy in this country have a past that is neither innocent nor desirable.  It’s ironic that the pretty things we use to express our affection for loved ones can in fact be severely detrimental to the health and well-being of the people and environments that produce them.  It is therefore high time ethical flowers became the norm and not the slightly more expensive niche option.

lovelyplace

Illustration:  Lovely Place, by Katy Gromball

Flowers can either be grown in greenhouses, where maintaining the right temperature and conditions needs a lot of energy, or produced in countries with a naturally hotter climate.  The vast majority of flowers we buy in this country are imported from Colombia, Kenya or Holland. 

I remember studying the colonial history of France in Algeria at university.  The French colons made Algeria, where the Muslim population originally didn’t drink alcohol, into an important exporter of wine.  So while the natives didn’t have enough wheat because their land had been taken over by the French, the French were happily drinking wine with their cheese.  Perhaps the flowers situation can’t be compared.  But flowers take up enormous swathes of land that could otherwise be used for food production.   The fact that they are grown as a monoculture crop means they severely deplete soils and biodiversity. 

lovers

Illustration:  Lovers, by Katy Gromball

Moreover, flower production requires huge amounts of water.  Clean drinking water is an increasingly scarce global commodity.  Coupled with the extremely high use of pesticides, fungicides and herbicides in flower production, and the toxicity released into rivers because of this, there is clearly a huge problem.  Pesticides directly affect the health of the workers who are in contact with them, whether in greenhouses or outdoors.  Are cheap flowers worth all this?

So what are the alternatives?  Where possible, it really is best to buy UK grown flowers.  The UK  floriculture season lasts from about March to October, but most florists will provide for Valentine’s Day as well by using fairtrade flowers.  Below are a few ideas for online suppliers, but it’s probably best to research your own local area and find out which florists supply UK grown or fairtrade flowers.   If you know any good florists or suppliers in your area, please post links to them or give details in the comments section they’ll be useful all year round.

hurrah

Illustration:  Hurrah, by Katy Gromball

ETHICAL FLOWERS

Bella and Fifi, Bristol-based ethical florist.

Park Flowers,  Soil Association Organic certified flowers. 

Eco Flowers Delivered– “I love you and the Earth too”.  Delivered same or next day.

Bath Organic Blooms, Seasonal, organically-produced flowers from Somerset, delivered UK-wide.  Not for Valentine’s though as the season starts in March.

——————————————————

Visit illustrator Katy Gromball’s online shop, for a truly beautiful and unique print to go with (or instead of)  flowers.

Categories ,Carbon footprint, ,Colombia, ,Cut flowers, ,DDT, ,fairtrade, ,Flowers, ,holland, ,Katy Gromball, ,Kenya, ,Pat Thomas, ,pesticides

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Amelia’s Magazine | Carbon Conversations Courses, London

Angel3Courtesy of George and Betty Woodman and Marian Goodman Gallery, pills New York

When I hear the word Surrealism, for sale instantly the likes of Salvador Dali, approved André Breton, André Masson and Max Ernst come to my mind. Well I can now add Frida Khalo, Leonora Carrington, Eileen Agar and many more female Surrealist artists to that male dominated list, thanks to Manchester’s Art Gallery! Their current exhibition, Angels of Anarchy, sets out to not only celebrate the works of female artists but to educate and inform those who know little (people like me) or nothing at all about the important role females played in the Surrealist movement. How about that?

Angel Courtesy Private collection, Dilbeek, Belgium © DACS 2009

The exhibition covers five main categories within Surrealism – Portrait/Self-Portrait, Landscape, Interior, Still Life and Fantasy; the medium used ranges from sculpture to photography to film and the more traditional oil on canvas. Thanks to Salma Hayek’s performance in the eponymous film, Frida Khalo -who features in both Portrait/Self Portrait and Interior – is probably the name most will recognise but you will not be disappointed with the other lesser-known artists on display.

Angel2

Courtesy ADAGP Paris, Musée National d’Art Modern – Centre Georges Pompidou. Courtesy Photo CNAC / MNAM, Dis. RMN / courtesy  Jacques Faujour

The most interesting piece comes in the form of film by photographer/filmmaker Lola Alvarez Bravo -who incidentally went to school with Frida and was one of her closest friends. The 30 seconds (approx) of rare footage is left untitled but is captivating from start to end, not least thanks to the presence of Frida herself; the artist is more stunning on film that I had imagined. There is no audio in this eerie film and it’s quite foretelling that Frida is welcoming death into her home in the shape of an innocent looking girl; this was shot when Frida was in ill health and I thought this was one of many nice surprises within the exhibition. Bravo documented much of Frida’s life and she went on documenting even after her death; there is a poignant shot of Frida’s room after her death (Frida’s Room 1954), where her wheelchair, paintbrushes, a self-portrait and a picture of her husband are strategically placed in order to sum up her life. This particular scene left a lump in your throat!

Fini_Le-Bout-du-MondeCourtesy Manchester Gallery

Another big name featured in the exhibition is Eileen Agar – whose Angel of Anarchy (1936-1940) mixed media head dress is featured alongside its opposite number Angels of Mercy (1936-1940) – only two surviving pieces of four, are portraits of Joseph Bard (her husband) and to see them both is quite magical. Angel of Anarchy is wrapped in rich African bark cloth decorated in Chinese silk, beads and osprey and ostrich feathers and has a decadent aura about it. Angel of Mercy is quite the opposite but none less impressive to its corresponding part, using only her skills to sculpt the piece and her hand to paint it.

Agar_Angel-of-AnarchyCourtesy Manchester Gallery

Whist big names like Kahlo, Agar, Oppenheim and Cahun are used to encourage people to visit the exhibition the lesser known artists really do shine and in some cases surpass their well known counterparts. Kay Sage’s beautiful black and white, landscape photography will lead you into the word of the extra-ordinary within the ordinary – her vision of seeing something interesting within what seems to be an ordinary landscape impressed me a great deal! Leonora Carrington’s self portrait (1937-1938) will immediately grab your attention as it did mine; I faced this one particular piece for a good10 minutes and I must admit I was truly transfixed and consumed in my trail of thought! This, in my opinion, is by far was the best self portrait (oil on canvas) in the entire show. I felt deep sympathy for Carrington and I was left wondering and wanting to know more about this wonderful talent.

Angel1

Courtesy Banco de Mexico Deigo Rivera & Frida Kahlo Museums Trust, Mexico DF / DACS 2009

The exhibition is over teeming with beautiful oils on canvas and sculptures that include a rarely seen Lee Miller torso cast that has only even been exhibited once before. Surrealist literature is present in the form of Leonora Carrington’s En Bas ( Down Below 1945) a memoir of her emotional journey after Max Ernst is arrested by the Nazis which leads her to being institutionalized in a mental hospital in Spain. There are video instillations by Francesca Woodman documenting herself exploring the female form and a beautiful interpretation of ‘There was a Miller on a River’ (1971), by Eva Svankmajerova. This old folk song tells the story of a young soldier returning home after 20 years. His parents do not recognise him, rob and murder him; once they realise it was their son they take their own lives. Such a brutal act is given a beautiful lease of life in Svankmajerova’s gorgeous illustrations.

Oppenheim_SquirrelCourtesy Manchester Gallery

Another nice surprise is the room ‘Teenangels’ in which the Manchester Art gallery has teamed up with art students from Levenshulme High School who have came up with their own Surrealist inspired artwork. I would have happily been left to think they were part of the Angels of Anarchy exhibition had I not seen the sign! Seeing interaction between a prestigious art gallery like Manchester’s and GCSE art students topped the exhibition off perfectly.

All in all this was a good exhibition which ran from the 26th of December 2009 to the 10th of January 2010. Penny Slinger describes her work as ‘a protest against females being seen as mere objects at a male’s disposal’. This exhibition sets out to break the notion that Surrealism is a male dominated movement and it does so successfully. Without the likes of Frida Kahlo, Claude Cahun, Edith Rimmington, Meret Oppenheim and the rest of the female Surrealist featured in the exhibition I doubt very much that women in art would be where they are today. They helped the female cause for decades to come and paved the way for equality in Art. They proved that chicks can do what guys do… and dare I say in some cases even better? If you were one of the lucky few who visited the show then you surely came away enlightened, informed and inspired by those surrealist amazons…just like I did.

Visit www.manchesterartgalleries.org/angelsofanarchy for more information.
Thumb
Want to reduce your carbon footprint in 2010, order  with a group of lovely people, more about  AND reduce your overdraft by saving some money on energy bills?  The Carbon Literacy Forum are co-ordinating free Carbon Conversations courses across several London boroughs, starting in February 2010…

If you are a tad tired of always being against things and would like to start doing something more positive and creative when it comes to environmental issues, but don’t want to go it alone, then this course may well be for you.Transition-Town-Training

Image courtesy of transitiontowns.org

The Carbon Literacy Forum is co-ordinating a 6-session course starting in January, which will help participants reduce their carbon footprint.  Facilitators from various Transition Towns, including Hackney, Stoke Newington, Highbury, Waltham Forest, Primrose Hill and other environmental groups will be involved.  The course will be run in groups of 8-10 people with fortnightly meetings consisting of a mixture of information, group discussion, and learning activities. The aim is to “understand the issues around climate change and carbon reduction, and learn practical ways to reduce carbon and save energy and money”.  So, not a bad idea for the post-Christmas overdraft and loooong wait until next payday either then!!  Plus, DIY-ing with other people is much more fun than reading books and apocalypse-predicting articles, and figuring out how you’ll ever do anything by yourself. 

There are nine courses planned altogether – two in Highbury, two in Hackney, one in Waltham Forest, one in Angel, Islington, one in Westminster, one in Lambeth and one other to be confirmed. 

The purpose is for participants to learn how to monitor key areas of their carbon footprint, including home energy, travel and transport, food and water, and other consumption and waste, after taking part in a questionnaire at the beginning of the course to calculate their current carbon footprint.  You’ll also be encouraged to keep a brief, simple diary of the steps you take to reduce your carbon footprint.  By the end of the course you will have ideally created your own personal plan for reducing your carbon footprint, tailored to your own lifestyle.Hackney Transition Town flyer

The facilitators will also organize special workshops and talks, and you’ll get to borrow books and energy-monitoring equipment. An online network will also be set up for people who have been on the courses to share information, tips and discuss issues with other, and facilitators will also signpost members to public workshops, talks, local community groups, and relevant Council services.  All the organizers ask you to bring is enthusiasm and a willingness to ask questions and share your learning with the rest of the group! 

Importantly, once you have completed one of the 6-meeting courses, you will be able to start facilitating meetings yourself.  You will need to attend a half-day’s ‘facilitation workshop’, after which you can pair up with another facilitator and start organizing your own group.  It would be a super way to spread the initiative to more areas and regions. You could even tailor them to your particular area or interest, such as how to reduce carbon footprint in the creative industries (might also be a great way to network with like-minded people!).  The Carbon Literacy Forum will provide help and support to people looking to start their own meetings.

[Image courtesy of transitiontowns.org]

Participation in the London Carbon Conversations courses is free, apart from the £15 Carbon Conversations handbook you’ll need to get at the beginning to follow the course.  The book is very detailed and should come in handy long after you’ve finished the course, especially if you start your own meetings.

Hackney Transition Town Seedy Sunday flyer, by www.hollygregson.com/ILLUSTRATION.htmlIf you contact London Carbon Conversations, they will be able to advise which group is nearest to you.  If you can’t make the planned dates and times, you can mention which dates are most suitable for you. They will put you in touch with a group that hopefully meets at a more convenient time. 

If you live or work in Hackney, the local course will be held near Broadway Market, E8 on fortnightly Mondays, 7-9pm, starting from 8th February.

Alison Thorpe and Abbie Maxwell are facilitating The Hackney course, so to join the group or express an interest, email Alison[AT]phonecoop.coop for a Joining Form.  For more info on the London-wide initiative contact Tom Hitchman of the Carbon Literacy Forum at Tom Hitchman[AT]carbonliteracyforum.org.
[Hackney Transition Town Seedy Sunday flyer, above, by Holly Gregson]

I will be attending the sessions in Hackney, so even if you can’t make it for the course, I will try my best to keep you posted via the Earth section at Amelia’s Magazine!

Categories ,carbon conversations, ,Carbon footprint, ,climate, ,Climate Change, ,earth, ,Hackney Transition Town, ,Holly Gregson, ,london, ,Transition network, ,transition towns

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Amelia’s Magazine | Carbon Conversations Courses, London

Angel3Courtesy of George and Betty Woodman and Marian Goodman Gallery, pills New York

When I hear the word Surrealism, for sale instantly the likes of Salvador Dali, approved André Breton, André Masson and Max Ernst come to my mind. Well I can now add Frida Khalo, Leonora Carrington, Eileen Agar and many more female Surrealist artists to that male dominated list, thanks to Manchester’s Art Gallery! Their current exhibition, Angels of Anarchy, sets out to not only celebrate the works of female artists but to educate and inform those who know little (people like me) or nothing at all about the important role females played in the Surrealist movement. How about that?

Angel Courtesy Private collection, Dilbeek, Belgium © DACS 2009

The exhibition covers five main categories within Surrealism – Portrait/Self-Portrait, Landscape, Interior, Still Life and Fantasy; the medium used ranges from sculpture to photography to film and the more traditional oil on canvas. Thanks to Salma Hayek’s performance in the eponymous film, Frida Khalo -who features in both Portrait/Self Portrait and Interior – is probably the name most will recognise but you will not be disappointed with the other lesser-known artists on display.

Angel2

Courtesy ADAGP Paris, Musée National d’Art Modern – Centre Georges Pompidou. Courtesy Photo CNAC / MNAM, Dis. RMN / courtesy  Jacques Faujour

The most interesting piece comes in the form of film by photographer/filmmaker Lola Alvarez Bravo -who incidentally went to school with Frida and was one of her closest friends. The 30 seconds (approx) of rare footage is left untitled but is captivating from start to end, not least thanks to the presence of Frida herself; the artist is more stunning on film that I had imagined. There is no audio in this eerie film and it’s quite foretelling that Frida is welcoming death into her home in the shape of an innocent looking girl; this was shot when Frida was in ill health and I thought this was one of many nice surprises within the exhibition. Bravo documented much of Frida’s life and she went on documenting even after her death; there is a poignant shot of Frida’s room after her death (Frida’s Room 1954), where her wheelchair, paintbrushes, a self-portrait and a picture of her husband are strategically placed in order to sum up her life. This particular scene left a lump in your throat!

Fini_Le-Bout-du-MondeCourtesy Manchester Gallery

Another big name featured in the exhibition is Eileen Agar – whose Angel of Anarchy (1936-1940) mixed media head dress is featured alongside its opposite number Angels of Mercy (1936-1940) – only two surviving pieces of four, are portraits of Joseph Bard (her husband) and to see them both is quite magical. Angel of Anarchy is wrapped in rich African bark cloth decorated in Chinese silk, beads and osprey and ostrich feathers and has a decadent aura about it. Angel of Mercy is quite the opposite but none less impressive to its corresponding part, using only her skills to sculpt the piece and her hand to paint it.

Agar_Angel-of-AnarchyCourtesy Manchester Gallery

Whist big names like Kahlo, Agar, Oppenheim and Cahun are used to encourage people to visit the exhibition the lesser known artists really do shine and in some cases surpass their well known counterparts. Kay Sage’s beautiful black and white, landscape photography will lead you into the word of the extra-ordinary within the ordinary – her vision of seeing something interesting within what seems to be an ordinary landscape impressed me a great deal! Leonora Carrington’s self portrait (1937-1938) will immediately grab your attention as it did mine; I faced this one particular piece for a good10 minutes and I must admit I was truly transfixed and consumed in my trail of thought! This, in my opinion, is by far was the best self portrait (oil on canvas) in the entire show. I felt deep sympathy for Carrington and I was left wondering and wanting to know more about this wonderful talent.

Angel1

Courtesy Banco de Mexico Deigo Rivera & Frida Kahlo Museums Trust, Mexico DF / DACS 2009

The exhibition is over teeming with beautiful oils on canvas and sculptures that include a rarely seen Lee Miller torso cast that has only even been exhibited once before. Surrealist literature is present in the form of Leonora Carrington’s En Bas ( Down Below 1945) a memoir of her emotional journey after Max Ernst is arrested by the Nazis which leads her to being institutionalized in a mental hospital in Spain. There are video instillations by Francesca Woodman documenting herself exploring the female form and a beautiful interpretation of ‘There was a Miller on a River’ (1971), by Eva Svankmajerova. This old folk song tells the story of a young soldier returning home after 20 years. His parents do not recognise him, rob and murder him; once they realise it was their son they take their own lives. Such a brutal act is given a beautiful lease of life in Svankmajerova’s gorgeous illustrations.

Oppenheim_SquirrelCourtesy Manchester Gallery

Another nice surprise is the room ‘Teenangels’ in which the Manchester Art gallery has teamed up with art students from Levenshulme High School who have came up with their own Surrealist inspired artwork. I would have happily been left to think they were part of the Angels of Anarchy exhibition had I not seen the sign! Seeing interaction between a prestigious art gallery like Manchester’s and GCSE art students topped the exhibition off perfectly.

All in all this was a good exhibition which ran from the 26th of December 2009 to the 10th of January 2010. Penny Slinger describes her work as ‘a protest against females being seen as mere objects at a male’s disposal’. This exhibition sets out to break the notion that Surrealism is a male dominated movement and it does so successfully. Without the likes of Frida Kahlo, Claude Cahun, Edith Rimmington, Meret Oppenheim and the rest of the female Surrealist featured in the exhibition I doubt very much that women in art would be where they are today. They helped the female cause for decades to come and paved the way for equality in Art. They proved that chicks can do what guys do… and dare I say in some cases even better? If you were one of the lucky few who visited the show then you surely came away enlightened, informed and inspired by those surrealist amazons…just like I did.

Visit www.manchesterartgalleries.org/angelsofanarchy for more information.
Thumb
Want to reduce your carbon footprint in 2010, order  with a group of lovely people, more about  AND reduce your overdraft by saving some money on energy bills?  The Carbon Literacy Forum are co-ordinating free Carbon Conversations courses across several London boroughs, starting in February 2010…

If you are a tad tired of always being against things and would like to start doing something more positive and creative when it comes to environmental issues, but don’t want to go it alone, then this course may well be for you.Transition-Town-Training

Image courtesy of transitiontowns.org

The Carbon Literacy Forum is co-ordinating a 6-session course starting in January, which will help participants reduce their carbon footprint.  Facilitators from various Transition Towns, including Hackney, Stoke Newington, Highbury, Waltham Forest, Primrose Hill and other environmental groups will be involved.  The course will be run in groups of 8-10 people with fortnightly meetings consisting of a mixture of information, group discussion, and learning activities. The aim is to “understand the issues around climate change and carbon reduction, and learn practical ways to reduce carbon and save energy and money”.  So, not a bad idea for the post-Christmas overdraft and loooong wait until next payday either then!!  Plus, DIY-ing with other people is much more fun than reading books and apocalypse-predicting articles, and figuring out how you’ll ever do anything by yourself. 

There are nine courses planned altogether – two in Highbury, two in Hackney, one in Waltham Forest, one in Angel, Islington, one in Westminster, one in Lambeth and one other to be confirmed. 

The purpose is for participants to learn how to monitor key areas of their carbon footprint, including home energy, travel and transport, food and water, and other consumption and waste, after taking part in a questionnaire at the beginning of the course to calculate their current carbon footprint.  You’ll also be encouraged to keep a brief, simple diary of the steps you take to reduce your carbon footprint.  By the end of the course you will have ideally created your own personal plan for reducing your carbon footprint, tailored to your own lifestyle.Hackney Transition Town flyer

The facilitators will also organize special workshops and talks, and you’ll get to borrow books and energy-monitoring equipment. An online network will also be set up for people who have been on the courses to share information, tips and discuss issues with other, and facilitators will also signpost members to public workshops, talks, local community groups, and relevant Council services.  All the organizers ask you to bring is enthusiasm and a willingness to ask questions and share your learning with the rest of the group! 

Importantly, once you have completed one of the 6-meeting courses, you will be able to start facilitating meetings yourself.  You will need to attend a half-day’s ‘facilitation workshop’, after which you can pair up with another facilitator and start organizing your own group.  It would be a super way to spread the initiative to more areas and regions. You could even tailor them to your particular area or interest, such as how to reduce carbon footprint in the creative industries (might also be a great way to network with like-minded people!).  The Carbon Literacy Forum will provide help and support to people looking to start their own meetings.

[Image courtesy of transitiontowns.org]

Participation in the London Carbon Conversations courses is free, apart from the £15 Carbon Conversations handbook you’ll need to get at the beginning to follow the course.  The book is very detailed and should come in handy long after you’ve finished the course, especially if you start your own meetings.

Hackney Transition Town Seedy Sunday flyer, by www.hollygregson.com/ILLUSTRATION.htmlIf you contact London Carbon Conversations, they will be able to advise which group is nearest to you.  If you can’t make the planned dates and times, you can mention which dates are most suitable for you. They will put you in touch with a group that hopefully meets at a more convenient time. 

If you live or work in Hackney, the local course will be held near Broadway Market, E8 on fortnightly Mondays, 7-9pm, starting from 8th February.

Alison Thorpe and Abbie Maxwell are facilitating The Hackney course, so to join the group or express an interest, email Alison[AT]phonecoop.coop for a Joining Form.  For more info on the London-wide initiative contact Tom Hitchman of the Carbon Literacy Forum at Tom Hitchman[AT]carbonliteracyforum.org.
[Hackney Transition Town Seedy Sunday flyer, above, by Holly Gregson]

I will be attending the sessions in Hackney, so even if you can’t make it for the course, I will try my best to keep you posted via the Earth section at Amelia’s Magazine!

Categories ,carbon conversations, ,Carbon footprint, ,climate, ,Climate Change, ,earth, ,Hackney Transition Town, ,Holly Gregson, ,london, ,Transition network, ,transition towns

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