Scarves

Amelia’s Magazine | London Fashion Week S/S 2011 Presentation Review: Ascher Scarves

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Prangsta, ailment illustrated by Joana Faria

Now, ask here’s a treat. Hopefully you caught Georgia Takacs’ wonderful insight into the awe-inspiring world of Prangsta Costumiers last week: the celebrated (if somewhat unconventional) Alice in Wonderland-esque bazaar in New Cross.

Now I would never in a million years suggest that readers of Amelia’s Magazine come to the site just to look at pretty pictures, rx what with our bursting-at-the-seams stock of fabulous writers, but in order to bring a little sunshine and entertainment to a so far grey Wednesday, feast your eyes on some glorious images and illustrations from Prangsta.

Georgia, who wrote the article, took part in a shoot with the team there, capturing the many faces that pass through the doors and even more of the craft-packed corners of this wonderful find. So here they are. I’m convinced you could look at this place all day and never get bored – I hope you agree!


Illustration by Krister Selin

The latest shoot focuses on a somewhat macabre Snow White, shown with an array of weird and wonderful friends:






Illustration by Rachel de Ste. Croix


Prangsta, story illustrated by Joana Faria

Now, medical here’s a treat. Hopefully you caught Georgia Takacs’ wonderful insight into the awe-inspiring world of Prangsta Costumiers last week: the celebrated (if somewhat unconventional) Alice in Wonderland-esque bazaar in New Cross.

Now I would never in a million years suggest that readers of Amelia’s Magazine come to the site just to look at pretty pictures, what with our bursting-at-the-seams stock of fabulous writers, but in order to bring a little sunshine and entertainment to a so far grey Wednesday, feast your eyes on some glorious images and illustrations from Prangsta.

Georgia, who wrote the article, took part in a shoot with the team there, capturing the many faces that pass through the doors and even more of the craft-packed corners of this wonderful find. So here they are. I’m convinced you could look at this place all day and never get bored – I hope you agree!


Illustration by Krister Selin

The latest shoot focuses on a somewhat macabre Snow White, shown with an array of weird and wonderful friends:






Illustration by Rachel de Ste. Croix

Prangsta also worked with ethereal fashion photographer Ellen Rogers, and the result is astonishing. Rogers’ photographs make heavy use of photographic techniques from long ago, evoking (for me at least) images of Marlene Dietrich in Hot Venus and the eery portraits of death popular in the Victorian age. Whatever they evoke, this marriage of Prangsta and Rogers is incredible.




Photographs by Ellen Rogers

To read the original article about the wonderful world of Prangsta, click here.


Image courtesy of Ascher

On Tuesday I went to see a beautiful collection of scarves from Ascher London, order presented in a suite at Number One Aldwych. Marking their first collection of scarves in thirty years, the collection consists of some brand new designs sitting alongside classic designs from the Ascher library, reworked in new colourways.

Ascher was founded as a fabric house in 1947; their fabrics graced the catwalks of an amazing list of couturiers including Dior, Yves Saint Laurent, Givenchy, Schiaparelli, Lanvin and Mary Quant. A husband and wife team, Lida designed and Zika printed the fabrics.


Rose Pom Pom, designed by Ascher studio, was featured prominently in a collection of dresses in Christian Dior’s 1954 collection

Fabric shortages during the Second World War lead to a rise in the popularity of colourful headscarves as an easy way to liven up dull uniforms. During the 1940s Ascher took advantage of this trend, initially reproducing nineteenth-century prints in vivid new colourways.


A selection of scarves from the Ascher archive

Later, they became the first studio to approach and join forces with artists to produce scarves from illustrations and paintings, boasting another impressive list of those involved: Matisse, Derain, Berard, Moore, Cocteau, Nicholson and Sutherland.


Image courtesy of Ascher

Sam Ascher, grandson of Lida and Zika, talked me through the current collection along with some vintage scarves and artwork from the Ascher archive. This included a rare opportunity to see some original and never-used ink illustrations by Cecil Beaton, complete with his handwritten instructions outlining the repeat pattern.

All of the scarves are made in Italy using luxurious silk twill, silk chiffon, cashmere and modal with hand rolled edges and the quality is immediately apparent.

Screen printing (rather than digital printing) allows the designs to be reproduced exactly, so that each design is as perfect as if it had been hand-painted. Some multi tonal scarves are produced using up to ten screens, ensuring each of the artists’ original brushstrokes is retained in perfect detail. There is definitely no cutting of corners where Ascher is concerned.

The collection look book features an illustrated guide of How To Wear Your Ascher Scarf. Names like The Sports Car and The Parisian Loop conjure up images of glamorous femme fatales racing around the Home Counties in classic cars. The whole collection captures the optimistic glamour and elegance of the post-war era.


Images courtesy of Ascher

One of the scarves designed by Henry Moore is described in the look book as Bridging the gap between fashion and fine art, Aschers designs are described as equally at home in a frame or worn on an evening out.

The designs were celebrated with a retrospective at the V&A back in 1987 and they are still held in many museum collections, evident by the two Henry Moore wall hangings on display, which I was told had been unexpectedly sent over by the Tate that morning.

All photography by Naomi Law, unless otherwise stated

Written by Naomi Law on Monday September 27th, 2010 9:40 am

Categories ,Ascher, ,Cecil Beaton, ,Dior, ,Givenchy, ,Henry Moore, ,How to Wear, ,Lanvin, ,london, ,London Fashion Week, ,Mary Quant, ,matisse, ,Number One Aldwych, ,S/S 2011, ,Sam Ascher, ,Scarves

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Amelia’s Magazine | An Interview with Knitwear Designers Brenda Aherne and Helen Delany of Electronic Sheep

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Electronic Sheep

Known for their knitwear scarves, Electronic Sheep has carved itself a place in the market with its distinctive designs. Named after the Philip K. Dick novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, this fashion brand has a futuristic feel of its own, and its unique patterns as well as trend-setting styles give it an exciting edge. These scarves are straight out of a sci-fi movie, while still effortlessly maintaining wearability. The patterns are creative with an urban edge, and the use of block colours and type reminds me of graffiti. They sell a mix of products including scarves, sweater dresses and bobble hats. All knit-tastic and colour-packed.

Brenda Aherne and Helen Delany founded Electronic Sheep way back in 1999. Co-Director Brenda has a BA in Fashion from the National College of Art & Design in Dublin as well as a post-graduate qualification in Knitwear from LSAD. Before Electronic Sheep she worked as a Knitwear Technology specialist and Accessories Designer. Co-Director Helen has a BA in Graphic Design and has studied at Dublin’s National College of Art & Design, Central Saint Martins and The School of Visual Arts in New York. Helen has designed and art directed for The Sunday Times Magazine, Swarovski, Glamour US and The V&A among others. I spoke to them both about Blade Runner, purl and what they’ve learnt so far.

Electronic Sheep AW 2013

If you could describe Electronic Sheep in five words, what would they be?
BOTH: Warm Stories Knit Fashion Pictures

How did you two meet?
HELEN: We met in the late seventies, when we were young kids. Brenda moved in next door to me and the friendship began when I was invited around to her garden. This was to take part in a home movie shot on the cine camera. We soon figured out that we both liked making stuff and designed some new outfits for my two Yorkshire Terriers. Then we parted for a few years when Brenda became a ‘bold’ goth pre-teen, and I was forbidden to hang out with her. From thirteen onward our renewed friendship took hold with a vengeance and we became badasses together instead!

Electronic Sheep AW 2013

How did you come up with the name Electronic Sheep?
HELEN: Brenda won an award after her Postgrad in Knitwear, and to claim the cash she had to set up a company. She needed something quick and relevant. At the time she used high tech Shima Seiki knitting machines, hence the ‘Electronic’ part, and everything was made with yarn/wool so that’s where the Sheep came in. I was working at Wired magazine and was immersed in the sci-fi world which also influenced the name.

Electronic Sheep AW 2013
Electronic Sheep

Can you tell me a bit more about your A/W13 collection Typhoon Puppets?
BOTH: The main influence for the Typhoon Puppets collection was meteorology, but parallel to that other themes developed – like the use of our own comic collaged throughout and references to cities. It is a personal statement about how we feel and as city people, a lot of the imagery is a result of what we see around us. For example the scarf ‘Open 24 Hours’ depicts a girl eating noodles in the rain, the signage and clothing are both Asian and English; these are the strongest changes we are observing right now – dramatic weather/mixing cultures. Typhoon Puppets refers to how we have little control over the world and therefore are puppets in a storm.

Electronic Sheep
Electronic Sheep

How do your two different backgrounds (Brenda in Fashion and Helen in Graphic Design) come into play when you’re creating a collection?
HELEN: Having worked together for so long our disciplines overlap and we have similar interests and backgrounds, so we are often drawn to the same things. Conceptually it is a fluid process but when it gets down to the details and production our two strengths play an important part. I get pretty technical with the computer stuff and drawings, and I’m a bit of a control freak about details but that’s the curse of Graphic Design! Brenda is a ‘proper knitter’ and obviously more precious about the fashion side and knit techniques. I think one discipline relies equally on the other for what we do – we have managed to push the detail in our jacquards because we know both sides of the process – graphics and knit.

Your collections have a vast range of influences, how do you get the inspiration for a collection?
HELEN: We live in two different cities – Brenda in Dublin and me in London. Between us we have also lived and worked in New York, Munich and Rome. I think this is a major influence on us, and we delve into our past a great deal subconsciously, as well as deliberately. So it is our own experiences giving us inspiration, and we also collect a lot of things, to the point of being hoarders. Whatever we feel most strongly about at the time of designing becomes the subject of the collection, but usually it has been brewing-up for about a year.

Electronic Sheep

Your AW12 collection Pink Noir led to ‘A Knitted Film’, do you feel all creative pursuits are interrelated?
BOTH: Yes we think so – we are interested in the idea and then the medium. It is important to respect and protect the expertise of each field but we like creative processes overlapping. If it makes it stronger we will collaborate with other designers/artists to keep the level of output high. For ‘A Knitted Film’ we collaborated with a video artist Cliona Harmey to get her slant on things, and we collaborated with a musician to do the soundtrack. So they are all interrelated, but some people are better at certain things than others.

Electronic Sheep
Electronic Sheep AW 2013

Is it important to you that your pieces are practical?
BOTH: At the moment: yes. When we started out we handmade a lot of pieces ourselves, and experimented with fabric items. But production got complicated and we found ourselves glueing on felt dots to skirts at 3am etc. While it was fun the downside was time and also durability. We like that our knitwear is easy to wear and it keeps you warm. Plus we don’t have to worry about a dot falling off.

Do you both knit as a hobby?
BOTH: In an ideal world we would knit on the porch in rocking chairs, but normally we never get around to it. Brenda is naturally really good at knitting and crochet, she can also make knitted dolls. I think knitting is really relaxing and I like doing it but it has taken me 2 years to do 20 rows of plain/purl.

Electronic Sheep
Electronic Sheep

You’ve been around since 1999, how do you think the market has changed in the last ten years or so?
BOTH: It has changed in many ways style-wise, but in our experience a significant change is that people are more aware of product sources. There is in an increase in people buying covetable, durable items as opposed to throw-away fashion. That is good for progressive designers and in the long term, for the environment. It has a long way to go, but if people continue to look at who is designing and making their clothes, the knock on effect is great and really positive.

Electronic Sheep
Electronic Sheep

Do you have anything big planned for the second half of 2013?
BOTH: We have a lot of shows coming up in 2013. We are part of an exhibition which will show our work and film at the Irish Embassy in London and other spaces in the UK. The AW13 collection is also in Fashion Shows in London, Dublin and New York in September. Every October we like to do a launch at the Old Shoreditch Station also known as Jaguar Shoes, which is a fun way to celebrate the new collection.

You can see the Electronic Sheep website here www.electronicsheep.com
Electronic Sheep

Photographs where clothes are modelled are by David Poole. Product photographs were kindly supplied by Electronic Sheep.

Written by Jessica Cook on Sunday June 2nd, 2013 11:40 pm

Categories ,A/W’13, ,David Poole., ,Dublin, ,Electronic Sheep, ,Fashion Shows, ,Irish, ,Jaguar Shoes, ,knit, ,knitwear, ,london, ,Old Shoreditch Station, ,Pink Noir, ,Scarves, ,Sci-Fi, ,Typhoon Puppets

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Amelia’s Magazine | An interview with the creators of Jessie and Buddug, the Shop

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JASPER GARVIDA lfw s/s 2011 Rachel Clare Price
A selection of Jessie’s corsarges

Walking around Broadway Market, approved one cold wintery Saturday, feeling hungry and looking at all the delicious food I could ill afford, (oh the joys of being a student!). I came across a treasure trove of a stall run by the delightful Jessie and Buddug and instantly fell in love with their charming designs. Since this initial visit, I have returned time and time again to buy unique necklaces as birthday (incredibly successful!) gifts.

So you can imagine my delight coming across their Columbia Road shop, originally located in the upstairs of one the picturesque houses adorning the street. Jessie and Buddug have recently expanded ‘downstairs’, and in celebration of their success, I had the pleasure of interviewing the talented textile artists for Amelia’s Magazine.

I first noticed your designs at Broadway Market on Saturday, was this your first venture?

Buddug: We started broadway market after we graduated 5 years ago and got the shop 2 years ago.

What was your experience of the market? Do you still have a stall there?

Buddug: We still have a stall at Broadway Market, we feel it has grown so much since we started. It’s been cold and wet at times but it’s been great learning what people buy. Its been great socially too, speaking with our friends and customers.

As friends from home, what has it been like to work together?

Buddug: We met when we were on art foundation and always said we we would like to collaborate together in the future. We find it easier that we both do our own work and then display together because we both have different working hours.

You previously occupied an upstairs room in Columbia Road, how did the opportunity to expand into a downstairs space arise?

Buddug: We got offered a place at ground level by Bev who had the shop before us, she made handmade clothes and toys etc, she offered it to us before anyone else which was an honour and we jumped at the chance.

What was your experience of the Goldsmiths Textiles course (which sadly no longer exists?)

Jessie: I was at Goldsmiths, at a very tricky time, the course was going through a real denial period, as they were finding the debate about what to do with textiles and fine art really hard. Which made it hard for us as students and as someone who is passionate about cloth and textiles and most of all making, I found the course incredibly frustrating!

But I had very supportive parents; Primmy Chorley and I am close friends with Audrey Walker and Eirian and Denys Short. So I always had a huge back up behind me in the textile world. I did feel incredibly pulled between the two worlds though and I was lucky enough to come out fighting, determined to set up my own business and to carry on my making process.

Overall I am pleased I went through the Goldsmiths experience, as the academic and written side of it, (for me) has helped me today to think the way I do and pushed me in other ways.

What course did you study Buddug and what was your experiences?

I studied at London Guildhall (now London Metropolitan University)in Jewellery, silversmithing and other crafts. I enjoyed the experimenting with different materials. It was very much a hands on course.

Buddug’s designs for Urban Outfitters.

Buddug, what was it like to work for Urban Outfitters?

It was quite difficult working for URBAN OUTFITTERS, due to the ammount i had to make! and I waited a long time for payment!

Jessie, what role does recycling play in your practice? Why is it important to you and how did you first become interested in using recycled materials?

Recycled materials has and I believe will always be a huge part of my work, I like it that it creates a timeless feeling, I guess it started from the scrap books I made with my Mum when I was young and colleting and using found and recycled items for me creates a story, old clothes and books hold some kind of story and depth to them.

A detail from Jessie’s seating plan for her Wedding Collection.

And how did the wedding collection develop?

I was asked to create a whole wedding theme for a lady who used to buy my cards at Broadway Market, I handmade her invites, table names and a seating plan and really from here I got other customers and then early this year I designed some invites which were slightly quicker to make and I did a huge wedding show in London and its kind of gone from here I have made for several weddings this summer and I am already making for 2011-2012 weddings.

An enamel plate by Buddug.

Buddug, how did you start designing the Home Ornaments collection?

I’ve always been interested in developing the enamel process since university and always liked/inspired by objects mother and grandmother had in the kitchen, I invested in a bigger kiln, which was a challenge to make bigger things!

What materials do you like working with and why?

Jessie: Fabrics, worn clothing, paper they all hold such a good quality and are embedded with an excisting narrative

Designs by Jessie Chorley

Buddug: I’ve always tried to use things that are around me and be inventive with the materials i already have/been thrown away and in old/secound hand things, there’s such a quality in materials and making process and a added charm in old things and it’s actually nicer to use…

Broach by Buddug

I like to combine different materials metal and fabric. fabric and paper or wood…but i mostly enjoy metal and enamel. I really like the solidness of metal and the duribility of it as a raw material.

What was it like to make the stage set for: the launch of Laura Dockrill’s book Ugly Shy Girl and how did you became involved in this?

Buddug: I can’t remember were we met Laura Dockrill, but she asked if we were interested in doing the stage for her. It was quite a challenge because we didn’t know the size of the stage but the best thing was Jessie’s bunting it was really big and yellow!

Have you made or participated in Set Design before? Is this something you will continue to participate in?

Jessie: Yes for me it is a real passion, I love to create things and watch others create a story with the objects I make. A lot of quite random masks and house like boxes which I display in the shop are often borrowed for shoots, and I always like the outcome. For me styling our shop is like creating a stage set I love making it all different each week and then watching the customers come in and their response to it!

My degree show was also about staging and the response of the audience and the creator, for this I made a huge seven foot book which you could walk inside.

Buddug: I haven’t done much set design before, but wold love to, it’s been quite good having practice doing the shop window.

What are the inspirations for your collections?

Jessie: Story telling, people places and preserving memories creating beautiful things from lost or found objects.

Buddug My inspiration for my work is a collection of things I find and come across, I usually collect and draw in sketch books. Nature, a sense of home comforts and memories/naustalgic sences. It’a quite a mish mash of ideas and influencs.

Design by Buddug

We have a few pieces in the shop were we bring things together such as the fabric bows with enamel buttons, but we find it easier to make our own work and display together.

Do you both run and participate in the organisation of the workshops?

Jessie: No I run the workshops I have done for quite a few years now. For me I love to go out and meet other people and hopefully change the way they see the world through making, I have worked with a lot of charities, which is both frustrating and very rewarding at the same time, I am always touched by certain characters which can feed directly in to my work.

The whole workshop trend has gone huge now though and people expect so much more, and have so much more since places like hobby craft became so big and shows like The Knit and Stitch.

I am currently organising my Christmas workshops which will be in November in North London. I will have some day workshops creating simple gift wrap and gifts.

Jess Chorley

Buddug Jess does a lot of workshops, I’m yet to start, but it might be something I would be interested in doing when I’m a bit older.

What’s next for Jess Chorley and Buddug?

Buddug: At the moment we are preparing for christmas, thinking of making stocking filler ideas and promoting our little shop. Nothing too big, taking up projects as they come along…

To find out more please visit: www.jessiechorley.com, www.buddug.com and www.jandbtheshop.com

Written by Sally Mumby-Croft on Tuesday August 24th, 2010 12:35 pm

Categories ,Broadway Market, ,Columbia Road, ,goldsmiths, ,Home Ornaments, ,Laura Dockrill, ,London Metropolitan University, ,textiles, ,wales, ,Weddings

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