Origin

Tomorrow I am off to Origin: The London Craft Fair at Old Spitalfield's Market and I can't wait!

I'm looking forward to being wowed and inspired by all the amazing designs, jewellery and textiles on show. I've been working so much on my own designs recently that it will be interesting to see what other people are up to. I always find it so uplifting to see other people's ideas, creativity and talent- especially when it is in more of a craft context.

I'm particularly looking forward to seeing Abigail Brown's beautiful textile bird creations. I've already seen some of the smaller ones in Selvedge's shop on Archway Road and they look so lovingly handmade and full of personality.

I was also really pleased to see that there is a great range of textile designers who are experimenting with and combining print and stitch which is always a plus in my book and very close to my own interests.

Top to bottom: Abigail Brown, Helen Beard, Becky Adams, Caren Garfen, Maxine Sutton, Lowrie Davies, Ollie Zwitserlood, Thornback & Peel

Meet Tilda...

Photoshoot for my 'Tilda' outfit which is inspired by the wild and androgynous side of both David Bowie and Tilda Swinton.

Photography by Daniel Sims.

Quidams 2

The Quidams article I collaborated with Daniel Sims on has now been posted on Amelia's Magazine. Check it out here.

As if from a Dream

After what had been a magical weekend we decided to spend our final night of Latitude simply drifting through the festival. With no agenda we found ourselves sitting atop the large books outside the Literary Stage- donuts in one hand and chocolate dip held precariously in the other. Happily munching away with Vampire Weekend echoing in the background, it seemed a perfect end to the weekend.

With the masses up at the Obelisk Arena, the crowds had thinned out to the point where the festival began to resemble its Mean Fiddler days. The dust from the day had finally settled and the sun was just a whisper of warmth in the evening air.

As we got up and turned to head for Cabaret Stage we caught sight of a peculiar glow of light. Bobbing and shimmying, it was surrounded by a small gathering of people. As the light dispersed, four towering bubble-like creatures flickered into view, their immense height and width contrasting with their feather-light appearance.

Whilst Latitude is notorious for having all kinds of ephemeral creatures wandering through the festival both day and night, there was definitely something more surreal about these serene giants. Gently they tip-toed on stilts away from the bright lights of the festival into the secret darkness of the trees and, along with a growing crowd of enchanted people of all ages, we followed them Pied Piper-like into the darkness.

Unknown to us at the time it was in fact Quidams- a French street theatre company known for, amongst other things, inflatable self illuminating costumes and characters reminiscent of Tim Burton (before Disney devoured him, obviously). At the time, however, who they were and where they had come from didn’t seem important. It was far more exciting to simply engage with the moment.

Clumsy yet graceful, with only a wordless language of slow gestures and hypnotic light we were lead to the Waterfront stage. They shuffled tentatively onto the unlit platform and there was a simultaneous jaw-dropping as the four figures proceeded to creep silently (and unaided) across the submerged catwalk giving the appearance of walking on water.

What had been a small gathering was now a swarming crowd blocking the bridge and congregating on both sides of the lake. As if out of a Studio Ghibli film, we watched as the four illuminated characters arrived on the other side of the bank and surrounded a covered luminous globe. Performing a kind of magic to the strange and dramatic music, the orb began to rhythmically float and descend, each time getting a little higher. Finally it rose high above our heads shedding it’s gossamer-thin covering and blooming into a huge and glowing full-moon.

As the four characters deflated and drifted off into the night, the moon signaled the perfect end to an unbelievable weekend.

It was definitely not the biggest act, but for the brief time it lasted, the festival site was transformed into a Moomin-esque world caught somewhere between fiction and reality. Quite simply, it was Latitude at its best.




Words, photographs and illustration a collaboration between Sophie Parker & Daniel Sims.

Drawing on Childhood

I don't think I have ever produced a range of prints without, at some stage, taking a glance back at the huge rickety bookcase in the hall that houses the many many books from my childhood.

There is something about these book illustrations that I find captivating. Truthful, often humorous and occasionally dark, it is always the more strange and unusual ones that catch my eye and return to my memory time and time again.

I have recently been looking at the beautiful, dream-like work of Alan Marks.

Snippets

See Chelsea's article on Latitude here...

and here.

See UAL's coverage here.

And finally...

my tutor Melanie Bowles (and author of 'Digital Textile Design') has posted my work on her blog here.

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Behind the Scenes

Setting up.

Ready and waiting.

The models arrive.

Hanging around.

Backstage.

Finishing touches.

Hold on to your hat!

Here we go...

Photographs by Daniel Sims.