Amelia’s Magazine | Ohh Deer Pop-Up Shop at Wolf & Badger: Review

Ohh Deer Pop-Up

The only thing I know about Mayfair is that it’s a pretty good property to buy if you’re playing Monopoly. In reality, this pretty ‘n’ posh street is filled with people wearing suits standing outside clubs in the afternoon sun and, as far as I can tell, looking (or at least trying to look) as though they make lots and lots of dough. The cash kind, not the squishy kind.

It is strange but sort of perfect that the latest Ohh Deer Pop-Up is on Dover Street. As I head to the launch I notice that skinny jeans, hipster glasses, tattoos and dyed hair are dotted amongst the briefcases and Oxford shirts, as people make their way to the opening of this creative hubs latest temporary shop. These arty folks are a stark contrast to the suited up worker bees hanging out for cocktails after a hard day in the office.

Ohh Deer Pop-Up
Ohh Deer Pop-Up
Ohh Deer Pop-Up
Ohh Deer Pop-Up

When I get to my destination I am not disappointed. Nestled in a basement shopfront, in independent retailer Wolf & Badger‘s Gallery Room is a wonderful, creative celebration. Although it’s been and gone now, this illustration extravaganza took place between the 21st June and 4th July, with the launch event I popped along to falling on Thursday the 20th June.

I’ve written a lot about online shop and illustration collective Ohh Deer lately. I interviewed Co-Founder Jamie Mitchell a few months ago, I wrote a strange and slightly creepy love letter about them which you can read here. Bearing all this in mind, I was understandably pretty excited to be heading to their pop-up launch.

Ohh Deer Pop-Up Ohh Deer Pop-Up Ohh Deer Pop-Up

The night was filled with the latest contemporary illustration talent and general creative peeps and all sorts of products were on hand, from tee’s to cushions. With free illustrated badges and neon cupcakes on the menu as well as plenty of tipple all ’round, this was a pretty cool pop-up (and my first). Complete with a goodie bag to end the night, and artwork projected onto the wall, this was an illustration spectacular at its best.

Ohh Deer Pop-Up
Ohh Deer Pop-Up
Ohh Deer Pop-Up

Wearing Rosita Bonita seahorse earrings, I bumbled my way inside with a friend and got myself a drink and some cake. Tired after work, this was the perfect way to get my spirits up as well as meet some creatives and browse some great products. Laura Gee‘s beardy cushions and Jack Teagle‘s comics made a particular impression on me, and I also met Drew Turner and saw his spectacular tattoos. The night was a mesh of bright My So Called Life style dyed locks, quirky outfits and plainly clothed artists and arty types too. My friend having abandoned me for her book club down the road, I spent the second part of the night getting to know the amazing Yasmin Dilekkaya of Yas-Ming Ceramics and her lovely mum as well as getting an eyeful of the latest in contemporary illustration.

Ohh Deer Pop-Up
Ohh Deer Pop-Up
Ohh Deer Pop-Up
Ohh Deer Pop-Up
Ohh Deer Pop-Up

One of the especially exciting things about this pop-up was seeing a whole bunch of Ohh Deer products up close and personal. Although I spend a good chunk of my wages buying out their stock and have everything from t-shirts to a notebook myself, there’s something special about seeing it all laid out. As one of those annoying hipster peeps that spends their evenings hanging out in Paperchase until it shuts, I can imagine myself spending my time lingering in permanent Ohh Deer stores one day. Fingers crossed they open one.

Ohh Deer Pop-Up

As an illustration junkie living outside London, this Ohh Deer Pop-up was one of my first real introductions into the illustration world. Meeting some of the collaborators and hearing them talk about the brand was great too. With workshops spread over the pop-up to help build skills and get creative in a flock, there was not much more you could ask for from this young, fresh, determined creative company. Pretty impressively the pop-up also kicked up quite a buzz with Elle, Time Out, The Evening Standard and The Telegraph all giving it a mention, as well as the workshops being completely booked up.

Once all the fun and games was over at the end of the night and and after a long journey home courtesy of National Rail, I realised I had left my cardigan on the train (again). ‘Ohh Deer‘ I said to myself, smiling.

Ohh Deer Pop-Up

To find out more about Ohh Deer and get your hands on their beautiful illustrated products check out their website here www.ohhdeer.com.
Pictures courtesy of Ohh Deer and Yas-Ming Ceramics.

Categories ,Alice Potter, ,art, ,ceramics, ,cupcakes, ,cushions, ,Dover Street, ,Drew Turner, ,Gemma Correll, ,Homeware, ,illustration, ,Jack Teagle, ,Jamie Mitchell, ,Kris Tate., ,Marc Callaby, ,Mayfair, ,Ohh Deer, ,Pop-up, ,Rosita Bonita, ,T-shirts, ,Wold and Badger, ,Wolf & Badger, ,Yas-Ming

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Amelia’s Magazine | The ACOFI Book Tour visits Comma Shop in Oxford

ACOFI book tour Comma Shop 2011

Last Wednesday was my second night on the ACOFI book tour last week – and my first time visiting the lovely new Comma Shop on Iffley Road in Oxford. Comma Shop has only been open since last October and it’s a truly wonderful little store that stocks all kind of goodies. I arrived in brilliant sunshine so it was easy to spot – gleaming like a brightly coloured gem in this mainly residential area, abortion intermingled with car dealerships and hippy cafes. This part of east Oxford is enjoying something of a renaissance thanks in part to the newly refurbished Pegasus Theatre in a nearby side street.

ACOFI book tour Comma Shop 2011 Gemma CorrellACOFI book tour Comma Shop 2011 Gemma Correll
Details from Gemma Correll’s mural for Comma Shop.

Gemma Correll has done a truly wonderful mural on the wall as you enter Comma Shop and everywhere hand made and unusual items have been stacked in expert manner. Dave quit his job in IT to start an innovative designer tea towel business with his partner Sally who was formerly in marketing. To Dry For showcases the work of up and coming designers and the window of Comma Shop is used to showcase the tea towel artwork.

ACOFI book tour Comma Shop 2011 Dave Emery
Dave Emery of Comma Shop.
ACOFI book tour Comma Shop 2011 To Dry For tea towels
To Dry For tea towels in the window.

ACOFI book tour Comma ShopACOFI book tour Comma Shop postcardsACOFI book tour Comma Shop

It comes as no surprise to find that Dave grew up in shops: his parents always ran small shops, ampoule and despite the fact that he saw what long hours they had to work he has clearly caught the bug too. He also previously worked as a merchandiser, sickness which would explain his knack for putting stuff together. Who else would have thought of interspersing my Roger La Borde cards with designs from everyone else? Yup, he’s got an eye, this one.

ACOFI book tour Comma Shop 2011 Roger la BordeACOFI book tour Comma Shop OxfordACOFI book tour Comma Shop OxfordACOFI book tour Comma Shop OxfordACOFI book tour Comma Shop OxfordACOFI book tour Comma Shop OxfordACOFI book tour Comma Shop OxfordACOFI book tour Comma Shop 2011 Dave and Sally
Dave and Sally. Sally has had to take some time out of the business due to the unexpected early arrival of their first child – but I was glad to meet her a bit later in the evening.

ACOFI book tour Comma Shop Oxford Custom Made UK button badgesACOFI book tour Comma Shop Oxford Custom Made UK button badgesACOFI book tour Comma Shop Oxford Custom Made UK button badgesACOFI book tour Comma Shop Oxford Custom Made UK button badges

From 6pm attendees began to dribble into the store and we set to making some fab little fabric rosettes with Anna Butler from Custom Made UK, who was on hand to show everyone (including the children and the men) just how easy it is to make these fun little badges.

ACOFI book tour Comma Shop Oxford Custom Made UK button badges Anna Butler
Custom Made UK button badges from Anna Butler.

ACOFI book tour Comma Shop Oxford Custom Made UK button badgesACOFI book tour Comma Shop Oxford Custom Made UK button badgesACOFI book tour Comma Shop Oxford Custom Made UK button badges Anna ButlerACOFI book tour Comma Shop Oxford Custom Made UK button badgesACOFI book tour Comma Shop Oxford Custom Made UK button badges Anna Butler
Just some of the lovely button badges that were produced in a jiffy.

Anna also runs classes at Darn It and Stitch – the brains behind this new Oxford based haberdashery shop and teaching centre is Jo, who turned up with her partner Luke and friend Sally. Her store is part of a growing trend for a return to hands on creativity – it seems we just can’t get enough of it these days, and I for one heartily approve.

ACOFI book tour Comma Shop Oxford Jo Darn It and Stitch
Jo of Darn It and Stitch.

Many of the goods stocked in Comma Shop are one offs. Amongst those that really stood out were the gorgeous intricate papercut framed artworks of Helen Musselwhite – if you’re an owl fan you can’t go wrong! And I loved the Charity Shop Orphans – reappropriated with a lick of bright paint by Emma Harding. She also produces a zine if you prefer your collectable items in print.

ACOFI book tour Comma Shop Oxford Helen MusselwhiteACOFI book tour Comma Shop Emma Harding Charity shop orphans

Other stuff I love: the fact that Jack Teagle has committed one of my favourite art pieces to print in the form of a greetings card from Toasted. Comma Shop also stocks cards produced by Rachel Wilson, who was on hand with boyfriend Ben to help serve the Juiceology juices and G & D ice cream.

ACOFI book tour Comma Shop Toasted Jack Teagle
Toasted card by Jack Teagle.

ACOFI book tour Comma Shop JuiceologyACOFI book tour Comma Shop G & D ice creamACOFI book tour Comma Shop Rachel Wilson and Dave Emery enjoy ice cream
Rachel Wilson and Dave Emery enjoy some raspberry and chocolate ice cream.

ACOFI book tour Comma Shop Dr.Hauschka
Love the Dr.Hauschka samples displayed in a pottery log and some vintage jelly moulds!

ACOFI book tour Comma Shop Oxford London Walks Baudade
One of the first to turn up was Joanne, known as Baudade. She’s just published a new comic book, London Walks! with the Tate.

ACOFI book tour Comma Shop 2011 Will Mccallum
Will Mccallum, aka Art of Activism, also popped in to buy a book. Although he sadly wasn’t able to stay for the talk his purchase was much appreciated! And it was nice to see a friendly face from someone who is doing good stuff in the world.

ACOFI book tour Comma Shop Oxford Good Biscuits
It made me very happy that Caroline of Good Biscuits (whom I met at Wood Festival) not only came along in person to drop off her delicious creations – vanilla melts, vegan chocolate buttons and chewy pistachio cookies, nomnom – but she also stayed to listen to me talk. What a lovely lady, who was inspired to start a healthy sustainable biscuit brand after her job in local authority led her to work with local food producers. Make sure you try some Good Biscuits if you’re in the Oxford area.

ACOFI book tour Comma Shop Drew and Jo
Drew and Jo. Also present was Drew, who is the press officer for Wood Festival. I wasn’t sure why he looked familiar and then it suddenly twigged that I had met him at Wood, but only when it was late and very dark. Fortunately his unmistakable bush of hair gave him away!

ACOFI book tour Comma Shop 2011 Laura and Helen
Later on we were joined by another member of the Truck clan, younger Bennett brother Chris, with girlfriend Beehive, who was teaching clay model making at Wood Festival. It really was an Oxfordshire love fest for me last week!

The Oxfam Fashion crew
The Oxfam Fashion crew. Apparently the biggest employers in Oxford are the university, publishing (of all sorts) and Oxfam… which has it’s global office there. So it was nice to see quite a few Oxfam types in attendance.

ACOFI book tour Comma Shop 2011 Sarah PlantACOFI book tour Comma Shop 2011 custom made uk
Sadly Sarah Plant of Ferment Zine did not stay for my talk but it was nice to meet someone that I have chatted with on twitter. And we also had a very small visitor in the form of Aisha, who enjoyed making a fabric button.

ACOFI book tour Comma Shop 2011 Laura and Helen
Laura and Helen. Laura Hill Lines works at Bridget Wheatley and is hoping to launch her own jewellery brand soon, featuring big uncut gems. I can’t wait to see what she produces!

Malaika Aleba
Malaika Aleba is a Canadian staying in Oxford over the summer and a writer for the Sierra Club.

ACOFI book tour Comma Shop 2011 postcardsACOFI book tour Comma Shop 2011ACOFI book tour Comma Shop 2011 Anastasia DuckACOFI book tour Comma Shop 2011 Anastasia Duck

Last but very not least it was really lovely to see Michael aka Anastasia Duck – who is a fashion blogger who came along to my launch party at 123 Bethnal Green Road back in January. Not only was it great to see a friendly face but I am very thankful because he did a very speedy and good write up of the event, which you can read here. I like his description of me as being ‘haphazard’….heehee

ACOFI book tour Comma Shop 2011 Jo and Michael

Don’t forget that my final ACOFI Book Tour date is at Tatty Devine Brick Lane with Biscuiteers on Tuesday 7th June. Akeela Bhattay has just posted a very lovely blog about the last event in Covent Garden. See you there x
Here’s who I gave my talk to:

ACOFI book tour Comma Shop OxfordACOFI book tour Comma Shop 2011

Categories ,ACOFI, ,Akeela Bhattay, ,Amelia’s Compendium of Fashion Illustration, ,Anastasia Duck, ,Anna Butler, ,Art of Activism, ,Baudade, ,Biscuits, ,Bridget Wheatley, ,Caroline, ,charity, ,Charity Shop Orphans, ,Chris Bennett, ,Comma Shop, ,Custom Made UK, ,Custon Made UK, ,Darn It and Stitch, ,Dave and Sally, ,Dr.Hauschka, ,Emma Harding, ,Ferment Zine, ,G&D Cafe, ,G&D ice-cream, ,Gemma Correll, ,Good Biscuits, ,Helen Musselwhite, ,Ice Cream, ,Iffley Road, ,Jack Teagle, ,Juiceology, ,Laura Hill Lines, ,Malaika Aleba, ,oxfam, ,Papercut, ,Pegasus Theatre, ,Rachel Wilson, ,Roger La Borde, ,Sarah Plant, ,Sierra Club, ,Tate, ,Tatty Devine, ,Tea Towels, ,To Dry For, ,Truck Festival, ,Will Mccallum, ,Wood Festival

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Amelia’s Magazine | The ACOFI Book Tour visits Comma Shop in Oxford

ACOFI book tour Comma Shop 2011

Last Wednesday was my second night on the ACOFI book tour last week – and my first time visiting the lovely new Comma Shop on Iffley Road in Oxford. Comma Shop has only been open since last October and it’s a truly wonderful little store that stocks all kind of goodies. I arrived in brilliant sunshine so it was easy to spot – gleaming like a brightly coloured gem in this mainly residential area, abortion intermingled with car dealerships and hippy cafes. This part of east Oxford is enjoying something of a renaissance thanks in part to the newly refurbished Pegasus Theatre in a nearby side street.

ACOFI book tour Comma Shop 2011 Gemma CorrellACOFI book tour Comma Shop 2011 Gemma Correll
Details from Gemma Correll’s mural for Comma Shop.

Gemma Correll has done a truly wonderful mural on the wall as you enter Comma Shop and everywhere hand made and unusual items have been stacked in expert manner. Dave quit his job in IT to start an innovative designer tea towel business with his partner Sally who was formerly in marketing. To Dry For showcases the work of up and coming designers and the window of Comma Shop is used to showcase the tea towel artwork.

ACOFI book tour Comma Shop 2011 Dave Emery
Dave Emery of Comma Shop.
ACOFI book tour Comma Shop 2011 To Dry For tea towels
To Dry For tea towels in the window.

ACOFI book tour Comma ShopACOFI book tour Comma Shop postcardsACOFI book tour Comma Shop

It comes as no surprise to find that Dave grew up in shops: his parents always ran small shops, ampoule and despite the fact that he saw what long hours they had to work he has clearly caught the bug too. He also previously worked as a merchandiser, sickness which would explain his knack for putting stuff together. Who else would have thought of interspersing my Roger La Borde cards with designs from everyone else? Yup, he’s got an eye, this one.

ACOFI book tour Comma Shop 2011 Roger la BordeACOFI book tour Comma Shop OxfordACOFI book tour Comma Shop OxfordACOFI book tour Comma Shop OxfordACOFI book tour Comma Shop OxfordACOFI book tour Comma Shop OxfordACOFI book tour Comma Shop OxfordACOFI book tour Comma Shop 2011 Dave and Sally
Dave and Sally. Sally has had to take some time out of the business due to the unexpected early arrival of their first child – but I was glad to meet her a bit later in the evening.

ACOFI book tour Comma Shop Oxford Custom Made UK button badgesACOFI book tour Comma Shop Oxford Custom Made UK button badgesACOFI book tour Comma Shop Oxford Custom Made UK button badgesACOFI book tour Comma Shop Oxford Custom Made UK button badges

From 6pm attendees began to dribble into the store and we set to making some fab little fabric rosettes with Anna Butler from Custom Made UK, who was on hand to show everyone (including the children and the men) just how easy it is to make these fun little badges.

ACOFI book tour Comma Shop Oxford Custom Made UK button badges Anna Butler
Custom Made UK button badges from Anna Butler.

ACOFI book tour Comma Shop Oxford Custom Made UK button badgesACOFI book tour Comma Shop Oxford Custom Made UK button badgesACOFI book tour Comma Shop Oxford Custom Made UK button badges Anna ButlerACOFI book tour Comma Shop Oxford Custom Made UK button badgesACOFI book tour Comma Shop Oxford Custom Made UK button badges Anna Butler
Just some of the lovely button badges that were produced in a jiffy.

Anna also runs classes at Darn It and Stitch – the brains behind this new Oxford based haberdashery shop and teaching centre is Jo, who turned up with her partner Luke and friend Sally. Her store is part of a growing trend for a return to hands on creativity – it seems we just can’t get enough of it these days, and I for one heartily approve.

ACOFI book tour Comma Shop Oxford Jo Darn It and Stitch
Jo of Darn It and Stitch.

Many of the goods stocked in Comma Shop are one offs. Amongst those that really stood out were the gorgeous intricate papercut framed artworks of Helen Musselwhite – if you’re an owl fan you can’t go wrong! And I loved the Charity Shop Orphans – reappropriated with a lick of bright paint by Emma Harding. She also produces a zine if you prefer your collectable items in print.

ACOFI book tour Comma Shop Oxford Helen MusselwhiteACOFI book tour Comma Shop Emma Harding Charity shop orphans

Other stuff I love: the fact that Jack Teagle has committed one of my favourite art pieces to print in the form of a greetings card from Toasted. Comma Shop also stocks cards produced by Rachel Wilson, who was on hand with boyfriend Ben to help serve the Juiceology juices and G & D ice cream.

ACOFI book tour Comma Shop Toasted Jack Teagle
Toasted card by Jack Teagle.

ACOFI book tour Comma Shop JuiceologyACOFI book tour Comma Shop G & D ice creamACOFI book tour Comma Shop Rachel Wilson and Dave Emery enjoy ice cream
Rachel Wilson and Dave Emery enjoy some raspberry and chocolate ice cream.

ACOFI book tour Comma Shop Dr.Hauschka
Love the Dr.Hauschka samples displayed in a pottery log and some vintage jelly moulds!

ACOFI book tour Comma Shop Oxford London Walks Baudade
One of the first to turn up was Joanne, known as Baudade. She’s just published a new comic book, London Walks! with the Tate.

ACOFI book tour Comma Shop 2011 Will Mccallum
Will Mccallum, aka Art of Activism, also popped in to buy a book. Although he sadly wasn’t able to stay for the talk his purchase was much appreciated! And it was nice to see a friendly face from someone who is doing good stuff in the world.

ACOFI book tour Comma Shop Oxford Good Biscuits
It made me very happy that Caroline of Good Biscuits (whom I met at Wood Festival) not only came along in person to drop off her delicious creations – vanilla melts, vegan chocolate buttons and chewy pistachio cookies, nomnom – but she also stayed to listen to me talk. What a lovely lady, who was inspired to start a healthy sustainable biscuit brand after her job in local authority led her to work with local food producers. Make sure you try some Good Biscuits if you’re in the Oxford area.

ACOFI book tour Comma Shop Drew and Jo
Drew and Jo. Also present was Drew, who is the press officer for Wood Festival. I wasn’t sure why he looked familiar and then it suddenly twigged that I had met him at Wood, but only when it was late and very dark. Fortunately his unmistakable bush of hair gave him away!

ACOFI book tour Comma Shop 2011 Laura and Helen
Later on we were joined by another member of the Truck clan, younger Bennett brother Chris, with girlfriend Beehive, who was teaching clay model making at Wood Festival. It really was an Oxfordshire love fest for me last week!

The Oxfam Fashion crew
The Oxfam Fashion crew. Apparently the biggest employers in Oxford are the university, publishing (of all sorts) and Oxfam… which has it’s global office there. So it was nice to see quite a few Oxfam types in attendance.

ACOFI book tour Comma Shop 2011 Sarah PlantACOFI book tour Comma Shop 2011 custom made uk
Sadly Sarah Plant of Ferment Zine did not stay for my talk but it was nice to meet someone that I have chatted with on twitter. And we also had a very small visitor in the form of Aisha, who enjoyed making a fabric button.

ACOFI book tour Comma Shop 2011 Laura and Helen
Laura and Helen. Laura Hill Lines works at Bridget Wheatley and is hoping to launch her own jewellery brand soon, featuring big uncut gems. I can’t wait to see what she produces!

Malaika Aleba
Malaika Aleba is a Canadian staying in Oxford over the summer and a writer for the Sierra Club.

ACOFI book tour Comma Shop 2011 postcardsACOFI book tour Comma Shop 2011ACOFI book tour Comma Shop 2011 Anastasia DuckACOFI book tour Comma Shop 2011 Anastasia Duck

Last but very not least it was really lovely to see Michael aka Anastasia Duck – who is a fashion blogger who came along to my launch party at 123 Bethnal Green Road back in January. Not only was it great to see a friendly face but I am very thankful because he did a very speedy and good write up of the event, which you can read here. I like his description of me as being ‘haphazard’….heehee

ACOFI book tour Comma Shop 2011 Jo and Michael

Don’t forget that my final ACOFI Book Tour date is at Tatty Devine Brick Lane with Biscuiteers on Tuesday 7th June. Akeela Bhattay has just posted a very lovely blog about the last event in Covent Garden. See you there x
Here’s who I gave my talk to:

ACOFI book tour Comma Shop OxfordACOFI book tour Comma Shop 2011

Categories ,ACOFI, ,Akeela Bhattay, ,Amelia’s Compendium of Fashion Illustration, ,Anastasia Duck, ,Anna Butler, ,Art of Activism, ,Baudade, ,Biscuits, ,Bridget Wheatley, ,Caroline, ,charity, ,Charity Shop Orphans, ,Chris Bennett, ,Comma Shop, ,Custom Made UK, ,Custon Made UK, ,Darn It and Stitch, ,Dave and Sally, ,Dr.Hauschka, ,Emma Harding, ,Ferment Zine, ,G&D Cafe, ,G&D ice-cream, ,Gemma Correll, ,Good Biscuits, ,Helen Musselwhite, ,Ice Cream, ,Iffley Road, ,Jack Teagle, ,Juiceology, ,Laura Hill Lines, ,Malaika Aleba, ,oxfam, ,Papercut, ,Pegasus Theatre, ,Rachel Wilson, ,Roger La Borde, ,Sarah Plant, ,Sierra Club, ,Tate, ,Tatty Devine, ,Tea Towels, ,To Dry For, ,Truck Festival, ,Will Mccallum, ,Wood Festival

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Amelia’s Magazine | Ohh Deer Illustration Collective: an interview with Co-Founder Jamie Mitchell

Ohh Deer , Jamie Mitchell illustration

Ohh Deer is more than just a site that sells cool graphic tees, it’s a collective of young creatives featuring some of the most talented emerging illustrators out there. Founded in 2011 by Jamie Mitchell and Mark Callaby, Ohh Deer offers everything from greeting cards to homeware. In fact, Amelia ear-marked one of their lovely cushions (designed by William Branton) in her Christmas Gift Ideas 2012 post. More than just a quirky online shop, jam-packed full of juicy illustrated bits ‘n’ bobs, they also function a bit like a creative agency, working on briefs together (for clients like Universal Music) and helping promote each others work.

The band of merry pens that make up this fresh-faced brand have proven than two leads (of the pencil variety) are better than one with their great products and impressive roster of clients. Rather than brave a tough industry alone, Mark and Jamie decided to work together, bringing a whole host of other bright young things they admired on board too. There’s now a whole range of pencils involved, including Nicholas Darby, Alice Potter, Ruben Ireland, Miguel Mansur, Jamie Mills and Kris Tate. The site also stocks products by various other illustrators including Jack Teagle and Emma May to name but a few.

Ohh Deer, Jamie Mitchell illustration

The result is Ohh Deer, the equivalent of a sort of ‘super-freelancer’ with more time, talent, range and skills than one illustrator could muster alone. Fun, fresh, beautiful, honest, scary, relevant, Ohh Deer illustrations cover a lot of bases with their vast range of styles. Complete with a young, contemporary vibe, the company is straight out of the dreams of many a creative-type.

If you don’t already follow Ohh Deer on Facebook then you should, as it quickly becomes obvious that their brand-name gives them an edge for cracking all manner of social media-friendly and meme-happy jokes. This isn’t just a collective that follows visual culture, they’re part of it.

Ohh Deer , Jamie Mitchell illustration

Last year, to give my wardrobe an injection of all things illustration, I took out a subscription to the Ohh Deer T-shirt Club. This, like my Stack Magazines subscription, is one of my monthly indulgences. Whether it’s a design featuring a lemon with adorably bulgy eyes or kitchen utensils with attitude, these staples give my wardrobe, and my creativity, a boost each month. There’s so much stuff on the site I want that it would be impossible for me to list it all here, but currently I’m drooling over some lovely wooden neck-creatures , wishing I could buy ALL the stationery as well as lusting after a whole batch of other penned goodies that make me shiver with creative delight. They even have copies of Wrap in their shop, an illustration magazine which comes with 5 sheets of illustrated wrapping paper each issue.

With all this in mind, I spoke to co-founder Jamie Mitchell about how he came to setup the business and what Ohh Deer has in store for 2013.

Ohh Deer , Jamie Mitchell illustration

What gave you the impetus to start Ohh Deer?
The business was founded as a means to support myself and Mark. After a while we added several Illustrators to our collective and since then it’s blossomed. We’ve realised the potential to help other creatives and we’re determined to create something synonymous with contemporary Illustration.

What philosophy do you think is at the heart of the business?
The business feeds back a direct proportion of profit to the artist who’s work it is, and that’s how we like to do it. Ohh Deer as a business needs enough profit to grow, and be able to launch people to a higher level of recognition but our core aim is to support illustrators, and a lot of support for freelancers comes financially.

Ohh Deer
Ohh Deer
Ohh Deer

What kind of plans do you have for Ohh Deer in the future?
We’re now on the highstreet, and hopefully will be in Topshop and Paperchase nationwide soon. Our next step is to get the brand recognised internationally, and the same process will hopefully be applied to several amazing countries.

How did you go about picking illustrators to collaborate with?
The original selection of Illustrators were picked from people who’s work we admired on Twitter, these were people we were in regular contact with and whose work we would love to own. Since then we’ve added Illustrators and Artists to the roster who embody everything we love about the field. We all have a contemporary feel to our work, and we all work differently.

Ohh Deer, Jamie Mitchell illustration

You started Ohh Deer with Mark Callaby, do you both run the project full-time?
Me and Mark founded the company in 2011, and we run the company from a HQ in Loughborough. Full-time there’s also Laura and soon to be Ricky who will be doing lots of tech related wizardry.

You originally pursued a career in Architecture, is this something you might look back to in future?
I might drift back to Architecture for small projects, I still love to design space, but never for anything permanent, I imagine my career will be very varied, as design can change so much from one project to the next.

Hannah Richards, Ohh Deer

What are the influences of your own personal illustration style?
A childhood diet of David Attenborough.

What other projects are you working on right now?
Ohh Deer is where the majority of my time is spent, I’m completing Album artwork for a very talented Musician at the minute. I’m doing a piece for an exhibition in Oxford about ‘contemporary fairytales’, I’m doing some work for a company called Kigu, who make brilliant onesies. I’ve just started a collection of Dinosaurs (because I love them) but also because I’ve been asked by the Natural History Museum to produce contemporary Dino products. I had an interesting email in my inbox this week about wallpaper design, so that could be happening too soon. Ohh Deer products will soon be on sale in Topshop and Paperchase as well as Scribbler and hopefully some other high street chains – so our mission to create a ‘launchpad’ for the artists is definitely taking shape. Next it will be the world.

Drew Turner, Ohh Deer
Rebecca Potter, Ohh Deer
Kris Tate, Ohh Deer

How often do you put pen to paper?
I don’t get to draw all that often, I don’t have any free time at all, I’m working to be able to do more, by hiring a PA to manage some of the details, but I normally output a single Illustration every two months or so.

What’s the best aspect of starting up your own business?
Being your own boss. I’m unemployable – and by that I don’t mean I’m not professional, I just get restless, bored and disappointed with an unvarying list of jobs to do. I also love the ability to help support and nourish the careers of lots of awesome illustrators – our online following allows us to showcase work and host public facing competitions to see what other brilliant work is out there.

And the worst?
Not having enough hours in the day.

Jaco Haasbroek, Ohh Deer

What advice would you give to budding illustrators?
Say yes to everything – Don’t expect to make any money to begin with, and when you’ve got some projects under your belt, don’t let big companies bully you for cheap labour, you’re a very talented individual and don’t you forget it!

Ruben Ireland, Ohh Deer


The beautiful illustrations in this piece were provided by Jamie Mitchell. The Ohh Deer products are by a range of illustrators and you can find them all on the Ohh Deer website.

Categories ,Alice Potter, ,architecture, ,collective, ,contemporary fairytales, ,cushions, ,David Attenborough, ,dinos, ,draw, ,Emma May, ,Graphic Design, ,greeting cards, ,Homeware, ,illustration, ,illustrators, ,Jack Teagle, ,Jamie Mills, ,Jamie Mitchell, ,Kigu, ,Kris Tate., ,Mark Callaby, ,Miguel Mansur, ,natural history museum, ,Nicholas Darby, ,Ohh Deer, ,onesies, ,Online Shop, ,Paperchase, ,Ruben Ireland, ,Sandra Dieckmann, ,Scribbler, ,shop, ,T shirt Club, ,topshop, ,twitter, ,Universal music, ,William Branton, ,Wrap Magazine

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Amelia’s Magazine | Pick Me Up Contemporary Graphic Art Fair 2011: Sam Arthur of Nobrow speaks at Mokita

Sam Arthur of Nobrow by Yelena Bryksenkova
Sam Arthur of Nobrow by Yelena Bryksenkova
Sam Arthur of Nobrow by Yelena Bryksenkova.

Since Nobrow burst onto the scene in 2008 I’ve been a massive fan of their beautifully produced books and magazines – somehow they’ve managed to print a huge collection of work in just a short space of time and for the past two years they’ve been showcasing their wares at Pick Me Up. This year several of their featured artists were also amongst the newer names showing in the Ones to Watch section on the first floor so I was intrigued to hear Sam Arthur, this one half of Nobrow, medicine in conversation with Kingston University illustration lecturer Geoff Grandfield with interjections from Adrian Shaughnessy and Valerie Perezon. Below is a rough transcription of the conversation that ensued during the Mokita Symposium.

Nobrow 5 - A Few of My Favourite Things
Nobrow 5 – A Few of My Favourite Things.

Geoff: How did you decide that there was a market for your work?
Sam: We were inspired by publishers such as Le Dernier Cri, Bongout, and Fantagraphics: small places with an avante garde output. And we felt we could do something similar in this country. We’ve both been through the art college system, but I felt that most illustration was very industry based, always destined for a client. No one was generating their own material, for their own sake, so we felt there might be a gap in the market that we could exploit. Our aim is to get illustrators to do their own work – we just set a theme and a colour palette. We were unsure it would take off but we knew it was really important to print everything nicely.

Nobrow 5 - A Few of My Favourite ThingsNobrow 5 - A Few of My Favourite Things
Pages from Nobrow 5 – A Few of My Favourite Things

Geoff: In a way you turned the clock back.
Sam: We have a mix of influences, but we love all the old methods of printing. I guess these anachronistic methods of production have met the internet with Nobrow. People say that we have a very strong look but we love lots of different types of work and I think the similarity comes from the way we print things, and our restricted colour palettes. We look at every bit of work that comes to us and store it in memory bank for later. Then we might come back to it at the right time and ask does it communicate the right idea and can we work with this person on an individual basis? We are drawn to relatively expensive ways of printing, which is quite risky really but we want our stuff to look good, smell good and feel good.

Ford Almanac 1964
One of the images Sam chose for a slide show: a famous cover of the Ford Almanac 1964, illustrated by Charley Harper.

Geoff: Like scratch ‘n’ sniff?
Sam: There is definitely a shift back towards attention to detail; I had a paper merchant in recently and she was trying to push coated paper stock onto me, but of course I wasn’t interested. She moaned that no new graphic designer will ever uses it – I guess it’s because we like to be different and coated stock seems so common.
Geoff: Who is your audience?
Sam: In terms of an easily identifiable market it’s mainly students and working practitioners – there is a danger that we will never turn a profit and it will always be that way… For the people that aren’t so easy to label I’m sure there’s some marketing speak for them… maybe Rainbow Sky Crap Thinkers or something! But for us the most important thing is to remain close to our customers via our website and social networking.
Adrian: Mark Valli of Magma said he set up the shop because he realised that there was a big non professional audience, so maybe that is changing?…

Nobrow 5 - A Few of My Favourite ThingsNobrow 5 - A Few of My Favourite Things
Nobrow 5 – A Few of My Favourite Things.

Valerie Perezon: What is your editorial line?
Sam: We don’t mind how you describe yourself, we just chose what we like. Online we can be more adaptable, for example in a blog you can put across whatever idea of yourself you like. You can be illustrator or an artist one week and then a circus performer the next. But it all starts with being able to draw and communicate. For example we saw Jack Teagle at his graduate show and he immediately grabbed us. We are quite often drawn to print making because we like the restrictions of spot colour techniques but I think our tastes are quite diverse: we’re currently working with John Sibbick, who over the years has worked on dinosaur pictures and heavy metal covers.

The Bento Bestiary, illustrated by Ben Newman, former Amelia's Magazine contributor
The Bento Bestiary, illustrated by Ben Newman, former Amelia’s Magazine contributor.

Geoff: Do you ever tackle themes of social change?
Sam: We like to keep our themes interpretable, so that leaves them open to tackle social issues if people want to.

The Bento Bestiary, illustrated by Ben Newman, former Amelia's Magazine contributor
The Bento Bestiary, illustrated by Ben Newman.

Geoff: Did you know that 40% of the printed matter in world is Manga?
Sam: Because the magazine we produce is made up of collections of images on a theme it does tend to limit our mass appeal.
Adrian: There has generally been a huge move towards a very visual culture, but in UK we are still very much a literary culture – we value the word above all and image is not valued as much, apart from the F-word that is, photography… which is revered and valued.
Sam: The French publishing industry is underwritten by the government but here illustrated books are still seen as for children.
Adrian: I think the biggest drivers of imagery come from subcultures where the image is revered, but is it a weapon or a platform? Because something comes from a subculture does that mean by definition that it has a limited period of interest?
Sam: Yeah, and if I become too trendy then I cease to be… but I’m not trendy so that’s fine. Even if we did sell Nobrow Magazine in WHSmith no one would buy it so we know this title will always be relatively niche.

The Bento Bestiary, illustrated by Ben Newman, former Amelia's Magazine contributor
The Bento Bestiary, illustrated by Ben Newman.

The Bento Bestiary is out now and the fifth issue of Nobrow magazine has just been released with the title A Few of My Favourite Things.

Read my transcript of James Jarvis’ talk at Mokita, my review of the whole Mokita symposium or my review of this years Pick Me Up exhibition.

PS: I did scratch ‘n’ sniff for issue 04 of Amelia’s Magazine.

Categories ,A Few of My Favourite Things, ,Adrian Shaughnessy, ,Ben Newman, ,Bongout, ,Charley Harper, ,comics, ,Fantagraphics, ,Ford Almanac, ,Geoff Grandfield, ,Graphic Cosmography, ,Jack Teagle, ,Kingston University, ,Le Dernier Cri, ,Magma, ,Manga, ,Mark Valli, ,Mokita, ,Nobrow, ,Nobrow Press, ,Pick Me Up, ,Sam Arthur, ,scratch ‘n’ sniff, ,Somerset House, ,The Bento Bestiary, ,Valerie Perezon, ,Yelena Bryksenkova

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Amelia’s Magazine | Pick Me Up Contemporary Graphic Art Fair 2012: Review

Pick Me Up 2012 -puck collective
Following on from my review of the newcomers in Pick Me Up Selects section it’s time to take a look at the rest of the exhibitors at this year’s fair. It was seriously busy at the Pick Me Up private view, so I no doubt missed out on a huge chunk of talent in the market place, but what I did find was a fabulous preponderance of screenprints and risograph images: the popularity of these mediums shows no sign of abating, presumably as a counterpoint to these digitally obsessed times.

Pick Me Up 2012 -people of print
People of Print was established in 2008 to sell the work of emerging artists across the globe. Their display stuck to a magenta and turquoise colour scheme that created an eye-catching effect.

Pick Me Up 2012 -ship of fools
Ship of Fools caught my eye with their beautifully curated stand Trapped in Suburbia – check out that explosion – and it was nice to see a collective that isn’t based in the east end of London. Not that I’ve got anything against it mind, it’s where I live after all… but there is art being curated elsewhere in the universe too.

Pick Me Up 2012 -landfill editions
I was pleased to see that output from Landfill Editions has grown greatly recently: their stand features a plethora of beautiful plates, glassware, ceramics and more, commissioned from artists and inspired by the work of Eduardo Paolozzi.

Pick Me Up 2012 -landfill editions
Pick Me Up 2012 -landfill editions
Are Landfill responsible for the Florist stand? It’s adhoc primary coloured artworks are a joy to behold.

Pick Me Up 2012 -liv Bargman
Liv Bargman.

Pick Me Up 2012 -jack teagle
Jack Teagle.

Puck Studio are showing artwork by creative talents working in the South West – which includes two of my fave artists: Liv Bargman (a contributor to my first book, Amelia’s Anthology of Illustration) and Jack Teagle.

Pick Me Up 2012 -Peepshow Collective
Upstairs the Peepshow Collective take the large central space to show a Pitt Rivers inspired Museum of Objects and Origins. It will be a changing display over the course of the exhibition as visitors add to the content.

Pick Me Up 2012 -Print Club London
Pick Me Up 2012 -esther mcmanus
Esther McManus.

Pick Me Up 2012 -Margaux Carpentier
Margaux Carpentier.

Print Club London‘s space was a hive of activity when I visited – not surprising since they have transplanted a fully functioning studio into Somerset House. My favourites on display are by Esther McManus and Margaux Carpentier, who will be on hand to demonstrate their print techniques during the fair.

Pick Me Up 2012 -Nelly Duff
Pick Me Up 2012 -'Bunny Blossom' by American artists Kozyndan.
Bunny Blossom by Kozyndan.

Nelly Duff are based in Columbia Road, where they are known for selling an eclectic selection of paintings and prints from a diverse range of artists.

Pick Me Up 2012 -Soma Gallery
I am so pleased that Soma Gallery is showing at Pick Me Up this year. Fiona has curated a carefully edited selection of work from her stable of regular artists: Peskimo, Gemma Correll, Andy Smith, Crispin Finn and Tom Frost. Look out especially for bargain prints by Peskimo and some great wall slogan artworks from Andy Smith. Loads of bargains to be had!

Pick Me Up 2012 -karolin schnoor
Karolin Schnoor.

Pick Me Up 2012 - sister arrow
Sister Arrow.

Many Hands is a new online shop that sells the work of a variety of artists, including Stone and Spear, Sister Arrow, Thereza Rowe (find her work in my first book!) and many others.

Pick Me Up 2012 -Marcus Oakley Nieves Books
Marcus Oakley for Nieves Books.

Pick Me Up 2012 -Lubok

Beach London have carved out quite a name for themselves in a very short space of time – and this year they join Pick Me Up for the first time with a shop space in prime position before the official exit. They have chosen to showcase the publications of five indie publishers known for their illustrative output, so you can take a peek at new work from Nobrow Press, Nieves Books, Lubok and more. They are also selling copies of both my books, featuring some names you will recognise from the exhibition: Yoko Furusho, Karolin Schnoor, Thereza Rowe and Liv Bargman. Make sure you take a peek when you go through! And check in with my listings to make sure you don’t miss one of the many workshops and talks that are taking place over the next week. Pick Me Up London is one event that graphic artists, illustrators and lovers of either or both should not miss!

Categories ,2012, ,Amelia’s Anthology of Illustration, ,Andy Smith, ,Beach London, ,Bunny Blossom, ,Collectives, ,Columbia Road, ,Crispin Finn, ,Eduardo Paolozzi, ,Esther McManus, ,Gemma Correll, ,Jack Teagle, ,Karolin Schnoor, ,Kozyndan, ,Landfill Editions, ,Liv Bargman, ,Lubok, ,Many Hands, ,Margaux Carpentier, ,Museum of Objects and Origins, ,Nelly Duff, ,Nieves Books, ,Nobrow Press, ,People of Print, ,Peskimo, ,Pick Me Up London, ,Pitt Rivers, ,Print Club London, ,Private view, ,Puck Studio, ,review, ,Risograph, ,Ship of Fools, ,Sister Arrow, ,Soma Gallery, ,Stone and Spear, ,Thereza Rowe, ,Tom Frost, ,Trapped in Suburbia, ,Yoko Furusho

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Amelia’s Magazine | Jack Teagle opens up shop

Flyer designed by Russell Palmer

Two years since their first show in the basement of Shoreditch Town Hall, more about Circuit Wisely presented 17 Artists in an East London live-work space. This second exhibition asked artists to respond to the location and ‘architecture’ of a residential building, investigating its scope for possible comment on the contested geography of East London.

Emily Whitebread Stills from a Film (2010)

The artists work (of which I was one) had to be temporal and capable of negotiating the duplicitous communal spaces of the building, such as the car park, balconies, stairwells, lifts and terraces. Circuit Wisely made it implict that the artwork was not to impinge on the everyday movement occurring within the building, pushing the artists to consider how their work would be installed without marking the building and it’s context within the geographical location.

The exhibition began on the ground level of the first stairwell, Mihaela Brebenel’s installation 1 to 7; G to 6A – Loose Ends invited the viewer to follow the woolen thread wrapped around the handrails and architectural piping. Mihaela’s work explored the notion of navigating a particular space – through externalising the internal sources of what one does and does not see upon entering a residential building.

Mihaela Brebenel 1 to 7; G to 6A – Loose Ends

Continuing upwards, I passed Richard King’s decorative installation and a burning red screen-print by Daniel Wilkins. However my attention was held by Ben Fox’sculptural shanty-town: Sublet City. The contrasting nature of the contemporary East London building and Fox’s fragile houses echo the rapid development of East London, where an organic mixture of old and new is being skewed by the rapid destruction of original property in favour of the new. Beautifully made from found materials, it is accompanied by ‘the house shelters day-dreaming, the house protects the dreamer, the house allows one to dream in peace.’

Richard King Untitled

Dan Wilkins Untitled (2008)

Ben Fox Sublet City

The next level was occupied by Will Jennings’ Portfolio. A critical reflection on the building’s owner and his vast property ‘portfolio’. The publication with it’s selected photography and investigative text aims to create a dialogue between shared landscape and the increasing capitalisation of the concept of home. It is rare that such an opportunity for a piece of work criticising the building is installed in the location that it is criticising. It was interesting to see the interaction and discussion this piece caused with the residence of the building presenting them with the opportunity to re-think their living space. A favourable comparison to make is Hans Haacke’s ‘Shapolsky et al., Manhattan Real Estate Holdings, a Real-Time Social System as of May 1,1971′.

Will Jennings Portfolio

After reading the Portfolio, I continue to walk up the stairs and see Richard King’s second ornamental piece. Hanging in the window, on the level above, the back drop being the East London Skyline, are three beautiful photographs by Alex Ressel.

Richard King Untitled

Alex Ressel A Three Frame Film

‘DIAL 2-2-4-9 AND POINT TO THE SKY’ a vinyl text piece standing opposite a comical 3D image Lost in Space. The image of a famous Robot appears to vibrate from the paper and into a form of hologram – this I am seeing without the help of 3D glasses.

After the completing the stairwell, I made my way to Charlotte Gibson’s Sitting Room Installation made my eyes pop! The collection of brightly coloured collages, furniture, lamps, china, jelly, plastic and string are are arranged in such a way that the space that is inbetween them becomes more important by the string that attaches them, the water and jelly that resides in them and the shadows that are casted by the array of objects.

Charlotte Gibson Sitting Room Installation

Natascha Nanji’s A Tail of Two Cities occupied the lift in the second stairwell. The ceiling was covered with punctured black rubber, the work physically inserted itself into the lift through the weight of the shells contained within the black fabric. The imposition of the transformed the lift experience, from everyday to the uncanny. On one journey a chattering couple walked in unaware of what was above their heads, until a shell grazed the top of the man’s head, alarming him and drawing his attention to the ceiling. A scene from a horror film perhaps?

Natascha Nanji A Tale of Two Cities

After coming down in the lift, I returned to the 5th Floor to find the walkway occupied by Zoe Paul’s Buoy and the terrace contained Susanna JP Byrne’s Cy Cartographer No. Sculpture. Standing tall, the sculpture looks out towards the city – reminiscent of a century guard, looking out over the London landscape. The copper wire felt referential of a school science project and the tripod’s brightly coloured poles appeared similar to the yard sticks used to measure playing fields during practical geography lessons.


Susanna JP Byrne Cy Cartographer No. Sculpture

Zoe Paul Buoy Photograph by Selvi May

Marnie Hollande’s performance piece Gas wowed the audience on the exhibition’s opening night. A figure emerged onto the walkway, her face covered by a shimmering midnight blue mask, the body cloaked in chiffon with attached balloons. Moving onto the terrace to continue the performance, the body and balloons struggled against both the wind and crowd.. The exceptionally strong wind increased the movements of the performer moving within the constraints of her costume. At one point, balloons detached themselves from the costume and were carried into the darkness.

Marnie Hollande Gas

On reflection Jennings, Dray, Fox and Bryne’s pieces directly tackled the building’s geographical location. The other pieces included by Circuit Wisely responded more directly towards the architecture, whereas others echoed the idea of ornamentation. Personally, the importance of the exhibition, lay in tracing perspectives and making connections between the work within the building’s parameters. Circuit Wisely shift away from the stress and importance of individual works when umbrellaed into a singular meaning all too common with groups shows.

The exciting thing about Circuit Wisely is not just the diversity of work on display but the transition they have gone through as a collective of curators. The success of CWII were that the visitor appeared to be completely free to move about the building, but were fact deliberately manoeuvred to encounter the work in relationship to the various movements one can make within the space. The curation and choice of art works allows visitors to experience different environments and transports them from a block of flats to an interesting space for creative people to come together and display work. This show is successful as it is not constrained by the gallery space. It is a platform for the viewer to encounter works in different environments heightening their experience of viewing a group show – and this is the success of the Circuit Wisely curatorial team.

All Photographs by Circuit Wisely

Jack Teagle heroes and villains
Heroes and Villains by Jack Teagle. I *heart* this image.

You may remember that I had a fabulous time at Jack Teagle’s exhibition at Nobrow earlier this year. Then I saw a tweet about his brand new shop and thought it might be time to catch up with one of my favourite illustrators…

What else has been happening since your Dungeons and Desktops exhibition at Nobrow earlier this year?
Just recently I finished my second solo show over in Porto, buy Portugal at the Galeria Dama Aflita. The title was ‘Zona de Combate’ and the focus was on my wrestlers and pop-culture violence. I’ve been contributing to group shows too. The Monsterbation show at the Pony Club in Portland, dosage Oregon, and Tennis Apocalypse, a show in Seattle.

Jack Teagle exhibition

Another group show is coming up in Porto at the end of this year which I will be contributing too as well. I’ve just worked with Mario, the creator of the ‘Causeineedit blog to create a limited run of tshirts, which you can see here. There’s always an exhibition or a publication to work towards, so it’s exciting. I’ve done some editorial illustrations as well as some commercial projects and book design. I’ve been working on painting more, but illustration is something I really want to get my teeth into properly.

Jack Teagle prints

Why the online shop? What are you selling on there?
After selling paintings at shows, I realised that a lot of people were after certain pictures, but they had already been bought up. Painting – then immediately selling the image – wasn’t getting the most out of my work, so I thought a lot more people could enjoy these pictures if I made some up into Giclee prints. I wanted to expand my little business too.

Best buys from your store for:
Granny: Woodland Print
Baby: Skateboarding Cat
Big sister: Happy Print
Little brother? Heroes and Villains Print

You’ve been inspired by a lot of movie monsters – have your favourites changed over the years?
I think some have and some haven’t. I love Nosferatu now, as a child I would have found him a little dull. I loved the totally bizarre monsters, my favourite would have to be The Creature from the Black Lagoon, it’s just such a great design. I’ve always loved mutants and animal hybrids too, especially the Fly.

fear and misery_jack teagle
Fear and Misery prints by Jack Teagle.

What’s the best classic horror movie?
For me it’s Invasion of the Body Snatchers. It still scares me to this day now. It has the most unsettling atmosphere and sense of claustrophobia. Gore and visual effects don’t really do anything for me. It was just down to the mystery and the atmosphere, I remember first watching and wondering what in God’s name are those pods!

What’s this about the Daddy Donkey Mexican Grill?
Daddy Donkey was really fun to work on. I got the job through the YCN. Joel, the owner of the Daddy Donkey chain saw some of my older wrestling work and hand-drawn text and wanted me to work on some Luchador inspired artwork.

How is life in the south west?
It’s been pretty cool recently, I’ve just been working away. Not much happens, but I can finally drive, so that relieves some boredom. It’s always a relaxed atmosphere down this way. I travel up whenever I can, usually to meet clients and see how things are going, every few months (I should get up more often!) My top tip would be, only megabus a journey if absolutely needed! The train is the way to go, the extra money is worth it. I felt like a sardine every time I went on megabus.

Jack Teagle characters wrestling

Who makes the best sketchbooks?
I’m still searching for the perfect sketchbook! I change format every now and then to keep things fresh. I did use Moleskine, but they tend to fall apart if you carry them around a lot. I love a sketchbook with good paper and usually a good hard cover. The Handbook Travelogue sketchbooks are the best I’ve found so far.

I got a bit of a shock the other day when I opened my local East End rag and saw a little piece about a collaboration you’ve done with the Museum of London. Tell me more about Oscar Kirk’s 1919 diary….
I was contacted through Anorak Magazine to work on a project with a few other illustrators on Oscar Kirk’s diary. Oscar was a 14 year old boy who worked on the docks in 1919 and kept a diary which gives a good look on life back then. He also kept the weather and what he had to eat. We were all given a diary extract to illustrate, and then the finished images were published in Anorak Magazine with the original text. The pages were also blown up and put on display in the Museum of London. (We did an exclusive interview with Cathy Olmedillas, founder of Anorak Magazine: to read it click here)

What have you got planned for 2011?
I want to get some more solo shows sorted out, maybe set out to try some resin cast toys too. At the moment the plan is to keep working hard and to chase any opportunity that comes knocking!

You can check out Jack’s shop right here. I’d grab yourself a bit of the action as soon as you can…

Categories ,Daddy Donkey, ,Galeria Dama Aflita, ,Handbook Travelogue, ,Jack Teagle, ,Luchador, ,Moleskine, ,Monsterbation, ,Museum of London Docklands, ,Nobrow, ,Nosferatu, ,Online Shop, ,Oregon, ,Oscar Kirk, ,Pony Club, ,portland, ,Portugal, ,seattle, ,Tennis Apocalypse, ,YCN

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Amelia’s Magazine | Exhibition: Nobrow Press presents Dungeons and Desktops by Jack Teagle.

climate9 defence
Nobrow Jack Teagle 2010

Last night I went along to the official launch of the Nobrow flagship gallery and shop in the heart of Shoreditch – right on Great Eastern Street. They’ve got an extraordinary prime location, malady and I happen to know how much it cost thanks to another gallery owner who also looked at the space but couldn’t afford it. Oh how I wish I had the funding to open fancy shmancy shop spaces….

Anyway, prostate I clearly don’t, but I can write about such things on my blog, direct to you from the messy environs of my HQ/spare room. As I’ve written before (in my review of the Pick Me Up London show), Nobrow Press have gone crazy producing publications in the past few months, and no one appears more often than illustrator Jack Teagle. It’s therefore no surprise that the Nobrow boys have chosen to launch their new venture with Dungeons and Desktops, an exhibition of this extremely talented illustrator’s work.

Nobrow Jack Teagle 2010

Here, look and learn illustrators, is how you make a name for yourself.

Step one: be extremely talented in the first place. I have it on good authority that Jack Teagle was labelled illustrator most likely to succeed in his first year at college. He only graduated last year, and this isn’t even his first exhibition.

Step two: produce lots of great work. Make sure it gets seen all over the place. I was quite surprised to find that Jack had produced artwork together with his girlfriend Donya Todd for the walls of the Sketchbook Magazine Pop-Up Shop as it wasn’t labelled, but it shows that he gets around and gets his work seen. He’s worked for Anorak Magazine. Why, he’s even *threatening* to start doing fashion illustrations for me! And of course, he’s done lots of work with Nobrow already.

Jack Teagle grim reaper
Jack Teagle ghost

Step three: have a brilliant imagination. Jack Teagle is obviously one of those crossover illustrators who is as happy to produce his own work as he is working to the briefs of others. Witness the boy scout attacked by the grim reaper in one painting and then seen chasing a ghost through a dark forest in another. All inspired by childhood dreams: no brief required.

Nobrow Jack Teagle 2010
Nobrow Jack Teagle 2010

Jack Teagle, like all the best artists, clearly has a very strange mind. His work is full of superheroes and villains. He adapts toys to suit his own fantasies. He’s obsessed with fighting and dark forests. So far so normal for a slightly geeky boy, but his work draws inspiration from the styles of the 1950s and has a dark folklorish quality all his own. It’s also very now aesthetically, so I was expecting someone a bit more, well, how can I say this, trendy, than he in fact is. A somewhat bemused but accepting recipient of the well deserved attention being heaped upon him, he’s certainly not your usual Shoreditch type; after tonight he’ll be returning to Newquay in Cornwall, where he grew up.

Nobrow Jack Teagle 2010
Nobrow Jack Teagle 2010

Amongst the beardy fashionistas lingering around the beer barrel there was clearly a bit of money floating around this opening, either that or Jack Teagle already has a lot of devoted fans because those little round red stickers were racing across the walls. If you only have a tenner you can pick up a copy of one of his Nobrow publications, or if you fancy spending a bit more than spare change all the artwork is for sale (well, what’s left that isn’t already sold), and nothing costs more than £300 fully framed. For £75 you can pick yourself up one of a series based on superheroes. I quite fancy the one of Boba Fett, but I think they’d look good all on the wall together. You can also buy pillows, t-shirts and limited edition prints. I’d say this was all an almighty bargain and you should get along and snap something up fast. At prices like these Jack will continue to stay in youth hostels when he comes up to work in London (there’s a nice one near Russell Square apparently) and Nobrow are going to struggle to pay their rent. His work will not stay this cheap for long.

Nobrow Jack Teagle 2010
Nobrow Jack Teagle 2010
Jack Teagle holds up a book for a super fan.

You can check out more info about the exhibition on the Nobrow Press website here and you can buy his comic book Jeff Job Hunter – a tale of “staplers and swords, desktops and dungeons, benefits and beasts” online here. You can visit Jack Teagle’s website here.

I plan to do a proper interview with him soon and with any luck we’ll start seeing some Jack Teagle fashion illustrations on these pages very soon.

Categories ,Anorak Magazine, ,Cornwall, ,Donya Todd, ,exhibition, ,illustration, ,Jack Teagle, ,Nobrow Press, ,Pick Me Up, ,Pop-up Shop, ,shoreditch, ,Sketchbook Magazine

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Amelia’s Magazine | Exhibition Review: Ghosts of Gone Birds

Margaret Atwood by Faye West
Margaret Atwood by Faye West.

Ghosts of Gone Birds. Have you been yet? This fabulous exhibition can be seen at the Rochelle School, Shoreditch up until the 23rd November. From there it goes on tour, so with any luck you will be able to catch it soon at a venue near you.

Gone Birds -albatross
Ghosts of Gone Birds is the brainwave of film maker Ceri Levy, who chanced upon the idea whilst making a documentary called The Bird Effect, which examines the effect of avian life on human life.

margaret-atwood-by marta-spendowska
Margaret Atwood by Marta Spendowska.

At the start of November I attended a special introduction to the exhibition given by the renowned writer Margaret Atwood, who just so happens be a massive fan of birds. She had just returned from a conservation trip to Madagascar, and on her way home she was enchanted to discover that the man at customs was a fan of vultures, of all things… it seems you just have to start the conversation and you will discover a fan of birds.

Gone Birds t-shirt design by Daria Hlazatova
Gone Birds t-shirt design by Daria Hlazatova.

Her contribution to Ghosts of Gone Birds is a knitted Great Auk, which was made at a Stitch ‘n’ Bitch group in Canada using local wool. It’s eye is formed from a local Inuit bead and the Auk is a resident of the Canadian Arctic… so the use of materials and subject work in perfect unity.

Margaret Atwood emphasised the importance of the exhibition as a means to spread the message about the plight of birds beyond the usual enthusiasts. In the unfolding biodiversity disaster that we humans are currently inflicting on the planet birds have become one of the biggest sufferers. According to figures released by BirdLife International birds are now going extinct at a thousand times the natural background rate: that’s a pretty major disaster.

There are loads of great artworks in the exhibition, too many to show, so here are just a few of my favourites:

Angie Lewin - Double-Banded Argus
Double Banded Argus by Angie Lewin.

Ben Newman - Bishop's 'O'O
Bishop’s O by Ben Newman.

Reunion Owl by Billy Childish
Reunion Owl by Billy Childish.

Gone Birds -Red Moustached Fruit Dove by Emily Sutton
Red Moustached Fruit Dove by Emily Sutton.

Jack Teagle - Black Mamo
Black Mamo by Jack Teagle.

Gone Birds -The Unsung Soldier by David Taborn
Detail from The Unsung Soldier by David Taborn.

Gone Birds -The Sound of Extinction by Philip Hardaker
The Sound of Extinction by Philip Hardaker.

Gone Birds -Empty Nest by Jackie Hodgson
Detail from Empty Nest by Jackie Hodgson.

Gone Birds -St Helena Hoopooe by Felt Mistress
St Helena Hoopooe by Felt Mistress.

Le Gun - The Tragic Demise of the White Gallinule
The Tragic Demise of the White Gallinule by Le Gun.

Full listing information can be found here.

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Amelia’s Magazine | Anorak Magazine presents the diaries of Oscar Kirk, circa 1919


‘Chanel No.5′ designed by Jean Helleau. Illustration by Sandra Contreras

When Freud pondered the question of ‘what women want, viagra ’ someone should have told him that there are few things more desirable than a beautiful bottle of scent. Since the early 20th century, the perfume flaçon (small bottle) has taken on many weird and wonderful guises – some of which have gone on to become cultural artefacts and artist’s muses. By no means a comprehensive list, here is a small selection of some of the most jaw-dropping flaçons you’ll ever encounter – some of which even manage to upstage the scents they contain.

Chanel Nº 5
“I always launch my collection on the 5th day of the 5th month, so the number 5 seems to bring me luck – therefore, I will name it Nº 5,” proclaimed Mademoiselle Chanel after putting her initial doubts to one side and deciding to branch out into fragrance. The name itself summed up the scent’s abstract nature, and was a two-fingered salute to the other flowery perfume names at the time. Launched in 1921, No. 5 made greater use of synthetic ingredients, resulting in a blend of rose and ylang ylang that is rich, intoxicating but decidedly ‘unfloral.’ The first bottle was designed by the lady herself, modelled on the Charvet toiletry bottle that once belonged to her then-lover Captain Arthur ‘Boy’ Capel. The resulting flaçon we know and love was created in 1924 by Jean Helleau, and went on to become the subject of Andy Warhol’s famous ‘pop art’ prints, as well as being on permenant display in New York’s Musuem of Modern Art (MOMA) since 1959. The rich gold coloured liquid seen vividly through the glass of the minimalist square bottle, with its simple black letters and jewel-like stopper simply screams luxury. 86 years on, it is still capable of stopping women’s hearts – my fair own included.

Shalimar by Guerlain
Named after the Shalimar Gardens in Lahore, and meaning ‘temple of love’ in Sanskrit, you could half expect a genie to emerge from this fan-shaped bottle with sapphire-coloured stopper, but the sweet vanilla fragrance inside is just as mesmerising. Designed by Raymond Guerlain in 1925 and manufactured by Cristal Baccarat (who along with Lalique, first turned the perfume flaçon into an objet d’art) the design was inspired by the fountains one might find in Indian palaces, and was displayed at the Decorative Arts Exhibition in the same year. The bottle has recently been given a modern make-over by jewellery designer/socialite Jade Jagger, who hasn’t strayed that far from the original, and produced a slightly sleeker version that Raymond himself would have been happy with.

http://www.guerlain.com/int/en/base.html#/en/home-parfum/catalogue-parfums/women-fragrances/women-fragrances-range-shalimar/

www.lalique.com
archnet.org/library/sites/one-site.jsp?site_id=8861
www.baccarat.com
www.jadejagger.co.uk/

‘Shalimar’ designed by Raymond Guerlain. Illustration by Stephanie Thieullent

Flower by Kenzo
I love the beautiful simplicity of this bottle – how the tall thin glass leans gracefully to one side like a delicate stem in a summer breeze, echoing the sweet floral fragrance within – with a trompe l’oeil image of a flower appearing as if it were inside the bottle itself. Launched in 2000, the flaçon was designed by Serge Mansau, a French glass sculptor and stage decorator, who had already honed his craft designing flaçons for the likes of Dior and Hermés. He was given the concept of a flower by Kenzo’s artistic director Patrick Geudj, who wanted to highlight it as a powerful symbol for peace, and was particularly inspired by photographer Marc Ribaud’s image March in Washington (21st of October 1967) in which a girl holds a flower in front of a gun that is being pointed at her. Who knew a perfume could be political?

http://www.flowerbykenzo.com/

www.beautrading.nl/pdf/artist/Mansau_Serge_GB.pdf

(link to Marc Ribaud image!)

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.fenimoreartmuseum.org/files/images/exhibitions/049.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.fenimoreartmuseum.org/node/1704&usg=__riNSXWw_0TeVv4OXO1ET0RqfaJ4=&h=300&w=461&sz=85&hl=en&start=0&sig2=vQA2jbaWUtkmQmQaWcPHZQ&zoom=1&tbnid=P3jXZNjzw5fyeM:&tbnh=95&tbnw=146&ei=XenPTOX-EcSJ4Qb7r6mcBg&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dmarc%2BRiboud%2BMarch%2Bin%2BWashington%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26biw%3D1260%26bih%3D837%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=rc&dur=172&oei=XenPTOX-EcSJ4Qb7r6mcBg&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=35&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0&tx=74&ty=40

‘Flower by Kenzo’ designed by Serge Mansau. Illustration by Kayleigh Bluck.

Shocking by Schiaparelli
Inspired by a bust of Mae West, who was one of Schiaparelli’s major clients, 1937’s “Shocking” was designed by Argentine painter Leonor Fini, and best exemplifies Schiaparelli’s role in the surrealist movement (her designs included her famous lobster dress, and a hat in the shape of high heeled shoe.) The name was inspired by Cartier’s famous ‘shocking pink’ diamond the Tête de Belier (Ram’s Head) and Shocking’s encasing box was dyed in the same pink shade to match. In an era where few fashion houses were releasing perfume, ‘Shocking’ was Schiaparelli’s attempt to compete with her nemesis Chanel (although sadly unlike her rival, the label did not adapt to the changes brought about by WWII and closed in 1954.) The scent itself – a rather dry powdery bouquet of honey rose and jasmine – may not be to everyone’s taste, but the bottle still remains a little piece of perfume history.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mae_West
www.cfmgallery.com/Leonor-Fini/leonor-fini.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cartier_SA

‘Schiaparelli’s Shocking’ designed by Leonor Fini. Illustration by Joana Faria.

Alien by Thierry Mugler
Designed by Mugler himself, this bright amethyst and gold flaçon, made to appear like a ‘sacred stone’ brings to mind 1980’s sci-fi films such as Blade Runner and Tron –  and is a good example of the designer’s flamboyant, theatrical style (check out Beyonc’s motorcycle corset for a better idea). Alien was Mugler’s second fragrance, which he described as a nod to ‘ultra-feminity’ and contains notes of sambac jasmine and cashmeran wood, creating a soft woody- amber bouquet. The flaçon according to the designer “symbolises thoughtfulness and peace of mind” despite appearing as if it’s going to hatch a new life form on a mission to destroy all humanity as we know it, HG Wells-style.
www.thierrymugler.com/us/en/6-fragrances/284-alien

www.imdb.com/title/tt0083658/  (Bladerunner link)

http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/motorcycle-sarah/assets_c/2010/02/Beyonce%20Motorcycle-thumb-281×293-86226.jpg

us.boutique.thierrymugler.com/…/perfumes_fragrance-for-women-angel_-1_10151_11201_44503__2_1_1

‘Alien’ designed by Thierry Mugler. Illustration by Karolina Burdon.


‘Chanel No.5′ designed by Jean Helleau. Illustration by Sandra Contreras

When Freud pondered the question of ‘what women want, more about ’ someone should have told him that there are few things more desirable than a beautiful bottle of scent. Since the early 20th century, look the perfume flaçon (small bottle) has taken on many weird and wonderful guises – some of which have gone on to become cultural artefacts and artist’s muses. By no means a comprehensive list, here is a small selection of some of the most jaw-dropping flaçons you’ll ever encounter – some of which even manage to upstage the scents they contain.

Chanel Nº 5
“I always launch my collection on the 5th day of the 5th month, so the number 5 seems to bring me luck – therefore, I will name it Nº 5,” proclaimed Mademoiselle Chanel after putting her initial doubts to one side and deciding to branch out into fragrance. The name itself summed up the scent’s abstract nature, and was a two-fingered salute to the other flowery perfume names at the time. Launched in 1921, No. 5 made greater use of synthetic ingredients, resulting in a blend of rose and ylang ylang that is rich, intoxicating but decidedly ‘unfloral.’ The first bottle was designed by the lady herself, modelled on the Charvet toiletry bottle that once belonged to her then-lover Captain Arthur ‘Boy’ Capel. The resulting flaçon we know and love was created in 1924 by Jean Helleau, and went on to become the subject of Andy Warhol’s famous ‘pop art’ prints, as well as being on permenant display in New York’s Musuem of Modern Art (MOMA) since 1959. The rich gold coloured liquid seen vividly through the glass of the minimalist square bottle, with its simple black letters and jewel-like stopper simply screams luxury. 86 years on, it is still capable of stopping women’s hearts – my fair own included.

Shalimar by Guerlain

‘Shalimar’ designed by Raymond Guerlain. Illustration by Stephanie Thieullent

Named after the Shalimar Gardens in Lahore, and meaning ‘temple of love’ in Sanskrit, you could half expect a genie to emerge from this fan-shaped bottle with sapphire-coloured stopper, but the sweet vanilla fragrance inside is just as mesmerising. Designed by Raymond Guerlain in 1925 and manufactured by Cristal Baccarat (who along with Lalique, first turned the perfume flaçon into an objet d’art) the design of Shalimar was inspired by the fountains one might find in Indian palaces, and was displayed at the Decorative Arts Exhibition in the same year. The bottle has recently been given a modern make-over by jewellery designer/socialite Jade Jagger, who hasn’t strayed that far from the original, and produced a slightly sleeker version that Raymond himself would have been happy with.

Flower by Kenzo

‘Flower by Kenzo’ designed by Serge Mansau. Illustration by Kayleigh Bluck

I love the beautiful simplicity of Flower by Kenzo – how the tall thin glass leans gracefully to one side like a delicate stem in a summer breeze, echoing the sweet floral fragrance within – with a trompe l’oeil image of a flower appearing as if it were inside the bottle itself. Launched in 2000, the flaçon was designed by Serge Mansau, a French glass sculptor and stage decorator, who had already honed his craft designing flaçons for the likes of Dior and Hermés. He was given the concept of a flower by Kenzo’s artistic director Patrick Geudj, who wanted to highlight it as a powerful symbol for peace, and was particularly inspired by photographer Marc Ribaud’s image March in Washington (21st of October 1967) in which a girl holds a flower in front of a gun that is being pointed at her. Who knew a perfume could be political?

Shocking by Schiaparelli

Schiaparelli’s ‘Shocking’ designed by Leonor Fini. Illustration by Joana Faria

Inspired by a bust of Mae West, who was one of Schiaparelli’s major clients, 1937’s “Shocking” was designed by Argentine painter Leonor Fini, and best exemplifies Schiaparelli’s role in the surrealist movement (her designs included her famous lobster dress, and a hat in the shape of high heeled shoe.) The name was inspired by Cartier’s famous ‘shocking pink’ diamond the Tête de Belier (Ram’s Head) and Shocking’s encasing box was dyed in the same pink shade to match. In an era where few fashion houses were releasing perfume, ‘Shocking’ was Schiaparelli’s attempt to compete with her nemesis Chanel (although sadly unlike her rival, the label did not adapt to the changes brought about by WWII and closed in 1954.) The scent itself – a rather dry powdery bouquet of honey rose and jasmine – may not be to everyone’s taste, but the bottle still remains a little piece of perfume history.

Alien by Thierry Mugler

‘Alien’ designed by Thierry Mugler. Illustration by Karolina Burdon

Designed by Mugler himself, Alien is a bright amethyst and gold flaçon, made to appear like a ‘sacred stone’ brings to mind 1980’s sci-fi films such as Blade Runner and Tron –  and is a good example of the designer’s flamboyant, theatrical style (check out Beyoncé’s motorcycle corset for a better idea). Alien was Mugler’s second fragrance, which he described as a nod to ‘ultra-feminity’ and contains notes of sambac jasmine and cashmeran wood, creating a soft woody- amber bouquet. The flaçon according to the designer “symbolises thoughtfulness and peace of mind” despite appearing as if it’s going to hatch a new life form on a mission to destroy all humanity as we know it, HG Wells-style.


‘Chanel No.5′ designed by Jean Helleau. Illustration by Sandra Contreras

When Freud pondered the question of ‘what women want, clinic ’ someone should have told him that there are few things more desirable than a beautiful bottle of scent. Since the early 20th century, the perfume flaçon (small bottle) has taken on many weird and wonderful guises – some of which have gone on to become cultural artefacts and artist’s muses. By no means a comprehensive list, here is a small selection of some of the most jaw-dropping flaçons you’ll ever encounter – some of which even manage to upstage the scents they contain.

Chanel Nº 5
“I always launch my collection on the 5th day of the 5th month, so the number 5 seems to bring me luck – therefore, I will name it Nº 5,” proclaimed Mademoiselle Chanel after putting her initial doubts to one side and deciding to branch out into fragrance. The name itself summed up the scent’s abstract nature, and was a two-fingered salute to the other flowery perfume names at the time. Launched in 1921, No. 5 made greater use of synthetic ingredients, resulting in a blend of rose and ylang ylang that is rich, intoxicating but decidedly ‘unfloral.’ The first bottle was designed by the lady herself, modelled on the Charvet toiletry bottle that once belonged to her then-lover Captain Arthur ‘Boy’ Capel. The resulting flaçon we know and love was created in 1924 by Jean Helleau, and went on to become the subject of Andy Warhol’s famous ‘pop art’ prints, as well as being on permenant display in New York’s Musuem of Modern Art (MOMA) since 1959. The rich gold coloured liquid seen vividly through the glass of the minimalist square bottle, with its simple black letters and jewel-like stopper simply screams luxury. 86 years on, it is still capable of stopping women’s hearts – my fair own included.

Shalimar by Guerlain

‘Shalimar’ designed by Raymond Guerlain. Illustration by Stéphanie Thieullent

Named after the Shalimar Gardens in Lahore, and meaning ‘temple of love’ in Sanskrit, you could half expect a genie to emerge from this fan-shaped bottle with sapphire-coloured stopper, but the sweet vanilla fragrance inside is just as mesmerising. Designed by Raymond Guerlain in 1925 and manufactured by Cristal Baccarat (who along with Lalique, first turned the perfume flaçon into an objet d’art) the design of Shalimar was inspired by the fountains one might find in Indian palaces, and was displayed at the Decorative Arts Exhibition in the same year. The bottle has recently been given a modern make-over by jewellery designer/socialite Jade Jagger, who hasn’t strayed that far from the original, and produced a slightly sleeker version that Raymond himself would have been happy with.

Flower by Kenzo

‘Flower by Kenzo’ designed by Serge Mansau. Illustration by Kayleigh Bluck

I love the beautiful simplicity of Flower by Kenzo – how the tall thin glass leans gracefully to one side like a delicate stem in a summer breeze, echoing the sweet floral fragrance within – with a trompe l’oeil image of a flower appearing as if it were inside the bottle itself. Launched in 2000, the flaçon was designed by Serge Mansau, a French glass sculptor and stage decorator, who had already honed his craft designing flaçons for the likes of Dior and Hermés. He was given the concept of a flower by Kenzo’s artistic director Patrick Geudj, who wanted to highlight it as a powerful symbol for peace, and was particularly inspired by photographer Marc Ribaud’s image March in Washington (21st of October 1967) in which a girl holds a flower in front of a gun that is being pointed at her. Who knew a perfume could be political?

Shocking by Schiaparelli

Schiaparelli’s ‘Shocking’ designed by Leonor Fini. Illustration by Joana Faria

Inspired by a bust of Mae West, who was one of Schiaparelli’s major clients, 1937’s “Shocking” was designed by Argentine painter Leonor Fini, and best exemplifies Schiaparelli’s role in the surrealist movement (her designs included her famous lobster dress, and a hat in the shape of high heeled shoe.) The name was inspired by Cartier’s famous ‘shocking pink’ diamond the Tête de Belier (Ram’s Head) and Shocking’s encasing box was dyed in the same pink shade to match. In an era where few fashion houses were releasing perfume, ‘Shocking’ was Schiaparelli’s attempt to compete with her nemesis Chanel (although sadly unlike her rival, the label did not adapt to the changes brought about by WWII and closed in 1954.) The scent itself – a rather dry powdery bouquet of honey rose and jasmine – may not be to everyone’s taste, but the bottle still remains a little piece of perfume history.

Alien by Thierry Mugler

‘Alien’ designed by Thierry Mugler. Illustration by Karolina Burdon

Designed by Mugler himself, Alien is a bright amethyst and gold flaçon, made to appear like a ‘sacred stone’ brings to mind 1980’s sci-fi films such as Blade Runner and Tron –  and is a good example of the designer’s flamboyant, theatrical style (check out Beyoncé’s motorcycle corset for a better idea). Alien was Mugler’s second fragrance, which he described as a nod to ‘ultra-feminity’ and contains notes of sambac jasmine and cashmeran wood, creating a soft woody- amber bouquet. The flaçon according to the designer “symbolises thoughtfulness and peace of mind” despite appearing as if it’s going to hatch a new life form on a mission to destroy all humanity as we know it, HG Wells-style.


‘Chanel No.5′ designed by Jean Helleau. Illustration by Sandra Contreras

When Freud pondered the question of ‘what women want, ampoule ’ someone should have told him that there are few things more desirable than a beautiful bottle of scent. Since the early 20th century, order the perfume flaçon (small bottle) has taken on many weird and wonderful guises – some of which have gone on to become cultural artefacts and artist’s muses. By no means a comprehensive list, here is a small selection of some of the most jaw-dropping flaçons you’ll ever encounter – some of which even manage to upstage the scents they contain.

Chanel Nº 5
“I always launch my collection on the 5th day of the 5th month, so the number 5 seems to bring me luck – therefore, I will name it Nº 5,” proclaimed Mademoiselle Chanel after putting her initial doubts to one side and deciding to branch out into fragrance. The name itself summed up the scent’s abstract nature, and was a two-fingered salute to the other flowery perfume names at the time. Launched in 1921, No. 5 made greater use of synthetic ingredients, resulting in a blend of rose and ylang ylang that is rich, intoxicating but decidedly ‘unfloral.’ The first bottle was designed by the lady herself, modelled on the Charvet toiletry bottle that once belonged to her then-lover Captain Arthur ‘Boy’ Capel. The resulting flaçon we know and love was created in 1924 by Jean Helleau, and went on to become the subject of Andy Warhol’s famous ‘pop art’ prints, as well as being on permenant display in New York’s Musuem of Modern Art (MOMA) since 1959. The rich gold coloured liquid seen vividly through the glass of the minimalist square bottle, with its simple black letters and jewel-like stopper simply screams luxury. 86 years on, it is still capable of stopping women’s hearts – my fair own included.

Shalimar by Guerlain

‘Shalimar’ designed by Raymond Guerlain. Illustration by Stéphanie Thieullent

Named after the Shalimar Gardens in Lahore, and meaning ‘temple of love’ in Sanskrit, you could half expect a genie to emerge from this fan-shaped bottle with sapphire-coloured stopper, but the sweet vanilla fragrance inside is just as mesmerising. Designed by Raymond Guerlain in 1925 and manufactured by Cristal Baccarat (who along with Lalique, first turned the perfume flaçon into an objet d’art) the design of Shalimar was inspired by the fountains one might find in Indian palaces, and was displayed at the Decorative Arts Exhibition in the same year. The bottle has recently been given a modern make-over by jewellery designer/socialite Jade Jagger, who hasn’t strayed that far from the original, and produced a slightly sleeker version that Raymond himself would have been happy with.

Flower by Kenzo

‘Flower by Kenzo’ designed by Serge Mansau. Illustration by Kayleigh Bluck

I love the beautiful simplicity of Flower by Kenzo – how the tall thin glass leans gracefully to one side like a delicate stem in a summer breeze, echoing the sweet floral fragrance within – with a trompe l’oeil image of a flower appearing as if it were inside the bottle itself. Launched in 2000, the flaçon was designed by Serge Mansau, a French glass sculptor and stage decorator, who had already honed his craft designing flaçons for the likes of Dior and Hermés. He was given the concept of a flower by Kenzo’s artistic director Patrick Geudj, who wanted to highlight it as a powerful symbol for peace, and was particularly inspired by photographer Marc Ribaud’s image March in Washington (21st of October 1967) in which a girl holds a flower in front of a gun that is being pointed at her. Who knew a perfume could be political?

Shocking by Schiaparelli

Schiaparelli’s ‘Shocking’ designed by Leonor Fini. Illustration by Joana Faria

Inspired by a bust of Mae West, who was one of Schiaparelli’s major clients, 1937’s “Shocking” was designed by Argentine painter Leonor Fini, and best exemplifies Schiaparelli’s role in the surrealist movement (her designs included her famous lobster dress, and a hat in the shape of high heeled shoe.) The name was inspired by Cartier’s famous ‘shocking pink’ diamond the Tête de Belier (Ram’s Head) and Shocking’s encasing box was dyed in the same pink shade to match. In an era where few fashion houses were releasing perfume, ‘Shocking’ was Schiaparelli’s attempt to compete with her nemesis Chanel (although sadly unlike her rival, the label did not adapt to the changes brought about by WWII and closed in 1954.) The scent itself – a rather dry powdery bouquet of honey rose and jasmine – may not be to everyone’s taste, but the bottle still remains a little piece of perfume history.

Alien by Thierry Mugler

‘Alien’ designed by Thierry Mugler. Illustration by Karolina Burdon

Designed by Mugler himself, Alien is a bright amethyst and gold flaçon, made to appear like a ‘sacred stone’ brings to mind 1980’s sci-fi films such as Blade Runner and Tron –  and is a good example of the designer’s flamboyant, theatrical style (check out Beyoncé’s motorcycle corset for a better idea). Alien was Mugler’s second fragrance, which he described as a nod to ‘ultra-feminity’ and contains notes of sambac jasmine and cashmeran wood, creating a soft woody- amber bouquet. The flaçon according to the designer “symbolises thoughtfulness and peace of mind” despite appearing as if it’s going to hatch a new life form on a mission to destroy all humanity as we know it, HG Wells-style.

supermundane
Illustration by Supermundane.

Anorak Magazine in collaboration with a bunch of my favourite illustrators, price presents a show based on the diaries written by a London teenager nearly 100 years ago? Yes please! Tell me more, page Cathy Olmedillas… the brains behind the whole shebang….

How did you come across the Oscar Kirk diary, and why were you inspired to create artwork for an exhibition to accompany it?
I am an avid Twitter user and a big fan of the Museum of London Docklands. I discovered that they had serialized on their website and on their twitter feed the 1919 diary of a 14 year old London messenger boy. I fell in love with Oscar’s mischievous tone and thought it would be lovely to bring it life with illustrations. I asked the Museum whether we could publish and illustrate some of his entries and they kindly accepted. Supermundane, Anorak’s art director, went on commissioning illustrators and when they saw their lovely artwork, they decided to exhibit it for a month, next to Oscar’s actual diary.??

michael kirkham
Illustration by Michael Kirkham.

How did you chose which sections should be illustrated and was there any art direction on how they should approach the subject??
Picking only 11 entries out of a whole year’s worth was quite a task! I picked a selection of entries that were either touching (brought Lilac to his friend), or funny (like the one where he call his dad a beast), or those that told something about history (like the riot in the Strand) and finally those that carried the most visually striking elements. (such as him going to the armless and legless lady show!) Supermundane picked illustrators who all had very different styles and they were given complete freedom to bring the entry to however it inspired them.

eleni karlokoti
Illustration by Eleni Karlorkoti.

?What will captivate children in this exhibition??
I think that finding out how people lived hundreds of years ago is always captivating to children. Hopefully with this beautiful artwork it will convey things about Oscar and the 1900s in a modern visual language they understand. You can watch historical re-enactments, or special effects movies that give you a feeling of travelling back in time but you can’t replace history told by someone who lived it on a daily basis. A kid can relate to him because he goes through the same things as a kid these days (throwing a football over the neighbour’s fence) but also they can discover that in the 1900s you could see shows with four feet man!!

?Why should more institutions such as the Museum of London collaborate with illustrators??
Through drawing I think you can convey so many amazing things because it involves tapping into imagination and creativity. If you want to bring to life certain aspects of history illustration is a very vivid way of doing that. I think (hopefully modestly!) that we have given this diary a new lease of life and have made it contemporary to kids and adults alike. It also shows how different illustrators interpret words differently, I find that fascinating. For example, Supermundane stayed away from actually drawing the armless lady, choosing to focus instead on Oscar and in contrast, Adrian Fleet boldly drew a man with four feet!

adrian fleet
Illustration by Adrian Fleet.

?What are you favourite bits of life in 1919?
I love the care Oscar takes of his uniform, polishing his leather satchel and his shoes every day. It’s a bit quaint but I think it shows the great pride he had in working at the Port London Authority.

??Where are Oscar’s family now, and how did you track them down?
Oscar’s Diary was brought to the Museum of London Docklands by Oscar’s daughter. They have moved away from the Docklands. John from the Museum was saying it would be really lovely if we could find out more about the people who are mentioned in Oscar’s Diary, such as Robert Fulcher. So if anyone knows about Robert Fulcher, get in touch! ??

gemma correll
Illustration by Gemma Correll.

Has Anorak got any other exhibitions in the pipeline, or other exciting collaborations you can tell us about?
We are currently really busy finishing a food book for kids, which we are trying to get to the printers before Christmas. We have a couple of in store events lined up with H&M (and Letter Lounge) just before Christmas. ??

Why should people download the Anorak iphone app? Is it aimed at adults or children?
Our iPhone App is 100% aimed at kids but we hear some adults play the games too! It carries stories, drawing games and a couple of mad colourful games. We have just updated it with Oscar Diary for our friends overseas who can’t come to the exhibition.

How can interested illustrators get involved with Anorak magazine?
The best thing to do is email us examples of your portfolio via our site. We look at every portfolio and do reply to all emails! I must admit though that right now, we have commissioned everything we need to for this year so don’t despair if you don’t get commissioned quickly from us.

You can read the diary in full here and catch the exhibition which is on until the 29th of November.

Categories ,Adrian Fleet, ,Anorak Magazine, ,Cathy Olmedillas, ,Eleni Karlokoti, ,Eleni Karlorkoti, ,Gemma Coleell, ,illustration, ,Jack Teagle, ,Michael Kirkham, ,Michale Kirkham, ,Museum of London Docklands, ,Oscar Kirk, ,Oscar Kirk’s 1919 Diary, ,Supermundane

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