The theme for the next Pecha Kucha Night Kathmandu is ‘Envisioning Nepal in 2020’.
Designers and artists as well as policy makers and other interesting folk are each to each give their 20-slide point of view. Im very excited by this theme in particular, Nepal has an amazingly talented and energetic bunch of young people. I wish i could be there to see it. I am so excited to see PKN doing so well and am very proud to have a part in setting up the first one. Hats off to the inspiring Sujan Chitrakar for all his super-human organising powers.
join their facebook group or like them here to get updates
from craft to digital and back again
This post was done as a commission for the UK Crafts Council 40:40 exhibition
I was asked to respond to 3 objects from their collection
the final objects chosen can be viewed on their 40:40 website
http://onviewonline.craftscouncil.org.uk/4040/responder/1
What I find interesting about craft is learning from the different techniques and ways of using materials. The process of finding successful techniques and then refining and developing those processes is similar to how i approach my illustration work.
Through three craft objects i will try to explain 3 different aspects of my approach to work. Craft processes, Digital processes and from From digital back to craft
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Craft Processes
Nora Fok’s knitted nylon ‘Bubble Bath’ makes use of a simple and delicate knitting technique. With an unusual material and a simple starting point she repeats and layers of bubbles to build up an exquisitely beautiful object.
I will try to explain how i developed my way of creating images as i think it may have similarities to Nora’s craft process. I created many screen prints for the fair trade company People Tree. These prints need to be extremely simple graphic shapes, with one or two flat colours as the printing process is quite simple. I was drawing plants and floral imagery but needed to keep it very simple and graphic so that it could be easily translated to the screens. As I enjoyed the freedom of reducing imagery to basic shapes I began to play with these in my digital work. They became more and more abstract and and stylised as I worked on them. I built up layers of these images to create more and more complex images. In the end the image has become quite complex, but it is still derived from simple abstracted screen printed shapes. I think the process has similarities to Fok’s work in that the beauty comes from the layers of these simple handmade shapes as they build on top of each other.
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Digital Processes
I work almost entirely digitally now and am very grateful to the computer as a tool. When i began illustrating i was creating images by hand and they were often either compromised by limitations of the materials and tools, or ruined by mistakes. Digital images on the other hand are almost endlessly malleable and so allow a lot of experiments with colour and layout.
I am very interested in the possibilities of digital tools. Drummond Masterton’s piece makes use of the crisp lines and vectors of the CNC, subverting the intended uses of the hardware. When myself and my friends in college started using digital tools to edit drawings rather than photos twelve years ago it also felt like we were also subverting the intended use of the software. Its exciting to think that when the technology is so new, its makers cant foresee exactly how it will be used.
When i saw Drummond’s work I was reminded of this film by the artist duo Semiconductor, they have taken 20hz radio waves and interpreted it as audio. What we are hearing is solar wind. I find it incredible to think of the possibilities with digital media. In this case it allowing us to see and hear things outside the limits of our perception.
[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/30668685 w=500&h=283]
Semiconductor 2011
For my own work, digital media allows me to print and work with colours and saturation levels outside of what is possible to produce by hand. It also allows me to produce images with much more creative flexibility than i could do otherwise.
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From Digital back to Craft
Having started off from an interest in craft I have come full circle with my digital work. My latest projects are re-interpreting the digital images i have created as craft. I had been looking to work again with textures and natural colours and create something ‘physical’ because much of my recent work was entirely screen based. I was also keen to apply my design work to something that benefitted others. In 2010 I took eight months off to live and work in Nepal and India creating craft objects with fair trade craftspeople.
I was fascinated by Michael Eden’s piece. He has created a rapid-manufactured object in the shape of a traditional tureen. In process this is the mirror opposite of my own recent work. Whereas he has made a traditional design using a digital process i have been making digital designs using traditional processes. My rugs are graphed so that each pixel is converted to a carpet knot. I hope to experiment more with the processes between digital media and craft as i see it as a rich area at the moment with current technology.
Ivor Cutler and clowning in Walker Books
Im a big fan of the late scottish poet and comedian Ivor Cutler. I had read an interview with David Shrigley ages ago and he mentioned him as his biggest influence and since managed to get hold of some of his amazing recordings… he has a wonderful surreal and skewed view of the world. This BBC4 documentary is really really worth watching if you dont know his work..
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmEARHNmsZg?wmode=transparent]
I was absolutely in AWE when my editors Deirdre and Lucy mentioned they worked together with him at Walker. I didnt even know he had done books… they were big fans of his and david lloyd who i work with now was his publisher and editor. WOW! Apparently Ivor had a thing for printing his own stickers and then sticking them all over the office, this is david’s old typewriter…
I also discovered at Walker recently that not only has my old editor Lucy studied as a clown (amongst many other fascinating things) but that my new editor David worked for 12 years as a clown and successfully taught a goose how to dance (!)
What a magical place Walker books is….!
this is david, maria and deirdre (taking the photo) and me editing our new book ‘dont worry, i have a plan’ recently..
I will be sure to keep you up to date with any new stories i hear from the office. In the meantime you can follow them on twitter. they meet very interesting people and eat a lot of cake
Serge Seidlitz’s rugs
One of my favourite illustrators, Serge Seidlitz has made some AWESOME rugs with us at NODE. He ended up making 22 of them (!)
Theyll be on display at his show SERGE VS SPACESHIP EARTH from the 25th Oct in the Coningsby Gallery London. Theres lots more besides the rugs… i love this upholstered chair
If you want to get your own designs made into a lovely rug drop me a line.
Burton snowboards
I recently did some designs for snowboards (and clothing) for Burton. WOO HOO! Heres some of the images i did for them… the first three were roughs… the actual finished boards are up on the burton site.
South Ken Kids Festival
Im very very excited about the South Ken Kids festival next month.
The line-up is really AMAZING… have a look… quentin blake / marc boutavant / kitty crowther
the entire list is really amazing, ive really never seen such an exciting line-up like that before and im very honoured to be alongside those names
Quentin Blake, Stephanie Blake, Marc Boutavant, Lauren Child, Kitty Crowther, Polly Dunbar, Sara Fanelli, John Hegley, Joëlle Jolivet, David McKee, Julien Neel, Axel Scheffler, Viviane Schwarz, Hannah Shaw, Olivier Tallec
I will be doing 3 different events. see my events page here. It includes a DRAWING DUEL with Joëlle Jolivet …. Im not exactly sure what is involved but im sharpening all my best pencils in preparation (owl is sharpening his beak just in case it gets nasty)
The full programme can be viewed from here
PS if you look on the website you might see a stray owl has accidentally fallen in there. we are very sorry about that. myself and owl are working on our professionalism over the next month to make sure this wont happen again.
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SOUTH KEN WORKSHOPS
We also did some school workshops and invented our own little stories
In the original early version of the story owl bumps into animals on the way down when he falls from the nest. So, in the workshops we invented some things that could happen to owl on his fall. Here he bumps into birds/down chimneys and into the mouth of a crocodile! Fold a page in half and do a before and after fall!
Wired magazine
‘Your watch is the new Tech Frontier’ i did a little illustration for the 11.11 issue of wired magazine (UK) and it ended up getting animated for the ipad version! its the one with james dyson on the cover. the article is here
Claudia Janke | Dear Clare
My lovely ex-studiomate Claudia Janke is a photographer specialising in human rights issues. She wanted to highlight the issues she photographs to a wider audience and came up with the idea of writing a series of letters to her friend Clare and publishing the letters as a zine called Dear Clare. Each issue focuses on a different cause. The second issue documents garment exploitation in India and has been released to coincide with London Fashion Week. It aims to provoke thought and debate around the role that consumers have to play in the fashion industry. The magazine inspires shoppers to take action and to put into practice the power that every consumer has to change the situation and supports the growing ethical fashion movement.
Claudia is self-funding this project and printing the magazines and posters all with her own money.. How cool is that?? Claudia ROCKS!!!
The outdoor photography exhibition of images from the magazine will take place along Regents Canal in Islington from 15 – 25 September.
Dear Clare is available at the Regent???s Canal exhibition, cafes, bars and shops in Islington and Hackney and online at www.dearclare.com