Amelia’s Magazine | Sir Paul Smith can do no wrong

A couple of weeks back Amelia’s Magazine were thrilled to be invited to the Paul Smith showroom to have a sneak preview of the SS10 collection. Exactly as I’d imagined the new ranges featured Paul Smith’s usual cacophony of bright colour and were peppered with ethnic inspired patterns and florals galore.

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With several projects on the go at the moment Sir Paul is one busy bee, having recently supported the exhibition of British artist Rob Clarke at his store within the departure lounge at Heathrow’s controversial Terminal 5. Presently Paul Smith Jeans are about to launch a limited edition T-shirt to celebrate the release of artist Sam Taylor-Wood’s directorial debut; ‘Nowhere Boy’, with a percentage of the sale price going straight to Maggies Charity Appeal, which hopes to raise £3million to fund a new cancer treatment centre at Newcastle’s Freeman Hospital.

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Image courtesy of Paul Smith

Continuing the artistic theme he will also be staging a ‘Hockney Christmas’ at his Albemarle Street furniture store exhibiting a selection of David Hockney prints in the run up to Christmas (1-24th December). As if all of the aforementioned projects weren’t enough, the upcoming festive season will see Sir Paul putting his signature stamp (in organic ink) on a limited edition bottle in collaboration with Evian water.

With so many projects in 2009 there seems to be no end to the power of both Paul Smith’s brand and talents. So you may be wondering what Sir Paul could possibly have left in store for us in 2010? In short, quite a lot. With numerous new stores to open, collections and diffusion lines to design for and a wealth of creatives to collaborate with there will always be something new to look forward to.

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Highlights from next summer’s collections included a beautiful series of ladies bowler hats made in collaboration with renowned hat makers Christys’ London. Made from 100% wool these beauties are available in blue, pink, black, red and fawn, and are inspired by the dapper dressing style of the men documented in the photographic book ‘Gentlemen of Bacongo’.

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Bright tribal inspired show necklaces were also present having featured heavily on the London Fashion Week catwalk back in September. Vibrant wooden beads in red, orange, blue and yellow take their inspiration from Africa and are designed to be worn in a dramatic layered effect ensuring they’re the centre piece of any outfit.

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The main theme running throughout Sir Paul’s SS10 collection was menswear for women reflected through checked suits, flat mannish brogues and bowler hats. Expect a multitude of beautiful African inspired tribal and animal prints designed and styled to be layered and worn with intent to clash!

Categories ,Christys’ London, ,David Hockney, ,Evian, ,Freeman Hospital, ,Gentlemen of Bacongo, ,Heathrow Airport, ,Maggies Charity, ,Nowhere Boy, ,Paul Smith, ,Rob Clarke, ,Sam Taylor-Wood, ,Terminal 5

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Amelia’s Magazine | Review: London College of Communication Green Week, 6th-10th February 2012

LCC Green Week 'Urban Farming Installation' by Deborah Moon

Urban Farming Installation by second year Interaction & Moving Image students as part of LCC Green Week illustrated by Deborah Moon

Within an atmosphere of playfulness and improvisation the London College of Communication organised a Green Week between the 6th and 10th of February – part of the nation wide People and Planet Green Week. It was packed with workshops, pop-up installations, film screenings and talks aiming to encourage students to share ideas for improving sustainability in their creative practice and at home. Under the motivational general title ‘You Can Make a Difference‘ the week explored the themes of ‘found’, ‘upcycle’, ‘change’, ‘waste’ and ‘activism’. Every day of the week the upper galleries of the college hosted both student led initiatives and the work of invited creatives.

LCC Green Week Sarah Bagner from Supermarket Sarah with plastic bags quilt photo by Maria Papadimitriou

As the designer of Plastic Seconds – a jewellery line that uses recycled plastic and other found materials – I was invited by Sarah Bagner from Supermarket Sarah to make a wall on the first day of the event and talk to the students about the usage of ‘rubbish’ we do not often think to use anew in design… Sarah, even though still jet-lagged from a trip to Tokyo photographing local ‘walls’ for her upcoming book, played a major part in the event making installations and collaborating with the students throughout. On the third day of the week she teamed up with Tiziana Callari and created a quilt made out of discarded plastic bags – seen above.

Supermarket Sarah for London College of Communication Green Week by Jo Ley

Supermarket Sarah for London College of Communication’s Green Week by Jo Ley

Plastic Seconds wall installation at LCC green week photo by Maria Papadimitriou

Plastic Seconds display

LCC Green Week Skip Sisters

Sarah Bagner had also invited the super fun Skip SistersJulia Burnett, Edori Fertig, Liz Honeybone, Pia Randall-Goddard and Helen Turner who search the skips of South London for raw materilas and then turn them into sculptural objects, clocks, jewellery and textiles. Apart from the installation above the Skip Sisters also rummaged through the college’s printing studios for discarded paper which they transformed into beads for jewellery making.

LCC Green Week Veja Shoes photo by Maria Papadimitriou

Veja was another sustainable brand Sarah Bagner had invited to the event.

LCC Green Week Face Shields by Jody Boehnert at EcoLabs

Some of the most striking – and possibly emotionally charged – objects on show were these ‘Face Shields‘ from Climate Camp 2007, designed by Jody Boehnert at EcoLabs, which were used as part of a mass action at Heathrow against the proposed third runway.

'Face Shields' Time2Act Climate Camp 2007 Green Week LCC by Lizzy Holbrook

Face Shields by Lizzy Holbrook

Wooden Objects by Gregor Garber LCC Green Weekphoto by Maria Papadimitriou

I was quite taken by these really well made and well presented reclaimed wood toy kits made by the college’s 3D technician Gregor Garber, who salvages good quality wood from shelving or broken easels. He thinks it a shame that maquettes by interior design students can look rather samey because of the standard materials they use, so during his workshops he encourages students to use all sorts of more interesting and varied looking reclaimed materials – as in the examples below.

reclaimed wood interior design models by Gregor Garber LCC green week photo by Maria Papadimitriou

LCC Green Week pop-up bicycle powered cinema by Maria Papadimitriou aka Slowly The Eggs

LCC Green Week pop-up bicycle powered cinema by Maria Papadimitriou aka Slowly The Eggs

The collective Magnificent Revolution brought into the college their bicycle powered cinema!

London College of Communication Takeaway LCC Green Week photo by Maria Papadimitriou

During my visit on the last day of the events I was happy to see LCC students’ Azra Bhagat and Laura Carless ‘Green Takeaway’ stall where they displayed tons of reclaimed takeaway coffee cups – along with these ceramic mugs and glasses – which they had turned into tiny city flower pots by adding seeds.

LCC Green Week Furniture Upcycling 1 photo by Maria Papadimitriou

Also on the last day unused and ignored furniture from around the college was given pretty make-overs by the students and the resulting pieces will be auctioned on the Supermarket Sarah website!

Book Swishing at LCC Green Week photo by Maria Papadimitriou

Throughout the week there was a book swishing point, accompannied by this lovely hanging books display, where students could bring a book in and take one away.

LCC Green Week 'my apple is jetlagged' wall painting photo by Maria Papadimitriou

In terms of more student led events this wall painting highlighting the issue of food miles was created by a team of them as the week unfolded.

Other highlights were Garudio Studiage creating a ‘Lucky Skip’ interactive installation where all those unattractive Christmas presents could be put to good use or passed on to someone else, and Food for Good, an initiative by three graphic and media design students who pick up left over food from restaurants, bakeries and supermarkets and trasnport it to charities. Finally there was a lot of extra cycling related activity in the middlele of the week, which I unfortunately missed, including letterpress artist, poet and cyclist Dennis Gould exhibiting his work as featured in Boneshaker Magazine and talking about his love of cycling.

All photography by Maria Papadimitriou.
Skip Sisters photo by London College of Communication.

Categories ,activism, ,bicycle powered cinema, ,books, ,Charities, ,cinema, ,Climate Activism, ,Climate Camp, ,Deborah Moon, ,ecolabs, ,Film Screening, ,Food for Good, ,Food Miles, ,Found, ,Furniture, ,Garudio Studiage, ,Green Week, ,Gregor Garber, ,Heathrow Airport, ,Heathrow third runway, ,installation, ,Interior Design, ,Jet-Lagged, ,jewellery, ,Jo Ley, ,Jody Boehnert, ,LCC, ,Leftovers, ,Lizzy Holbrook, ,London College of Communication, ,Magnificent Revolution, ,Maquettes, ,Maria Papadimitriou, ,painting, ,people and planet, ,People and Planet Week, ,plastic bags, ,Plastic Seconds, ,recycling, ,Sarah Bagner, ,Skip Siters, ,Slowly the Eggs, ,Supermarket Sarah, ,Swishing, ,talks, ,Tiziana Callari, ,Toys, ,Upcycling, ,Urban Farming, ,Veja, ,Walls, ,Waste, ,wood, ,workshops

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