Valentines is fast approaching and at Elphick’s we love these gorgeous Love inspired prints.  Ranging from £12 for a Claire Hartigan ‘Valentine Bears’ to £130 for Kate Gibb’s ‘I Love You’ if you don’t have anyone else to treat then just buy one for yourself.

Sheffield native Pete McKee captures the iconic mod culture of 1960s Britain, his inspiration is the vividly remembered places and characters of his youth in the ’60s and ’70s – the days when everyone had a cigarette on the go and working men’s clubs were full of working men (and occasionally their wives). And when holidays meant fish and chips on the seafront at Skegness.

During the 60’s and 70’s, coupled with the obligatory stay pressed trousers and parka, the Desert Boot was the must-have item for every self-respecting mod and remains today an emblem of understated style. The special edition styles, for men and women, will feature exclusively commissioned artwork from McKee that have been masterfully screen-printed on to luxuriously soft Italian leather.

]]> http://www.fusedmagazine.com/2009/12/03/pete-mckee-special-edition-desert-boot/feed/ 1 http://www.fusedmagazine.com/2009/05/29/teepay/ http://www.fusedmagazine.com/2009/05/29/teepay/#comments Fri, 29 May 2009 12:35:24 +0000 Kerry http://www.fusedmagazine.com/?p=2208

Ever fancied yourself as a designer? Got an eye for detail or a knack for sense of humour? Well lucky for you Howies are launching a brand new concept website which allows mere mortals like us the chance to express a creative flair. Whether you’re into car parts or cows this concept suits everybody.

Got your attention and now your wondering how right? Well it’s really quite simple, just follow these simple steps and voila, you are a fully-fledged fashion designer (well in the internet world anyhow).

1. Design your t-shirt.

2. Upload the designs onto the teepay.com site.

3. Market it however you like, be it friends, family or random people.

4. Howies will help promote your t-shirt.

5. Get more than 30 orders and Howies will print your design onto organic t-shirts.

6. Sit back and await your royalties cheque for all your hard work (ahem). All designers get 10% off every t-shirt they sell.

Officially launching on the 1st of June the website is available for you to check out and see what some of the other designers are doing. Go to www.teepay.com for more info and guidelines.

We know it’s way off but certainly think this exhibition is one for the diary that needs booking in. From 31st August-12th September, the printmaker Graham Carter will be exhibiting his East meets West silkscreen print show at Coningsby Gallery, London.

Taking childhood experiences of American re-runs and comic books and combining them with the Japanese culture and style that has helped shape the adult he now is, Graham Carter has created a collection of silkscreen prints that feature a world of robots, giant bears, origami creatures and yetis.

Working as an illustrator for the last ten years has meant collaborations with Saatchi & Saatchi on advertising campaigns and as a founding member of the illustration collective Peepshow, it has meant working with the likes of the BBC and Diesel, but it is his love of silkscreen printing that has drawn him to exhibit his first London solo show in eight years this August.

East meets West has the nostalgia of 40s and 50s America, but depicts traditional oriental imagery and landscapes allowing a collision of cultural reminiscience.

“I’m not entirely sure where it comes from but I’ve always had an affinity with eastern mythology, folklore and design. More and more it keeps creeping into my work.”

Graham has also taken his passion further as the show will also feature new 3D screen prints which combine laster cut Perspex characters that work with screen printed backgrounds and foregrounds to create a whole new layer to the work literally and metaphorically. Only a few have been made and Graham believes the enjoyment he had in creating them shines through in the design and construction and that is what will get people excited when they see them.

For more information visit www.debutart.com.

Words: Alexandra Rochester

In Daisy de Villeneuve and Natasha Law’s first exhibition together, No Love Lost at Eleven Fine Art, they will explore a darker side of friendship and women’s relationships (Image: Daisy de Villeneuve – Best Friends Necklace).

With Villeneuve’s character being fictional and Law’s work coming from her personal memories, the exhibition will be portraying a wide range of images. Such as people with whom things take a turn for the worse – they can be demanding, self-obsessed, mad or just plain sinister but once in, they have a way of spoiling our daily life, peace of mind and have to be dealt with some way.

The large pieces of work that will be displayed, will be surrounded by it an exuberant display of smaller works, other imaginary portraits, objects, accessories, scribbles and pages of notebooks, each contributing to the loose narration of the exhibition.

After the success of Eleven, her last solo show, Natasha Law has exhibited in Mumbai and was the second artist invited to make an installation for the Matches Art Project in London. In May 2009, she will exhibit in Tokyo at the Paul Smith Gallery.

Image: Natasha Law – Wood For the Trees

This exhibition will be giving Natasha Law the opportunity to unsettle the sleek aesthetic of her signature semi-nude gloss on aluminium works and will give her a chance to experiment with other media and subjects.

But still not losing her well known expressive lines, and the joyful use of bright bold colours that she has always used in many pieces of her artwork.

Illustrator, designer and writer Daisy de Villeneuve has made a name for herself with her funky, felt-tip illustrations. She has produced books for Pocko Editions, He Said She Said and I Told You So, while her drawings have graced shoeboxes and homeware for Topshop, packaging for Moët & Chandon, cosmetic bags for Boots and T-shirts for the V&A.

In 2004 she had a solo show at London’s Fashion & Textile Museum. For the exhibition, Daisy de Villeneuve will produce her first limited edition print.

No Love Lost exhibition dates 1st April to 2nd May 2009 and private view Tuesday 31st March 2009, 6-8 pm.

Image credits:
Natasha Law – Woods for the Trees (single), 2009. Cut paper, pencil and household paint on paper. 14 x 11 in / 36 x 28 cm.
Daisy de Villeneuve – Best Friends Necklace, 2009. Felt tip pen on paper. 12 x 8 in / 30 x 21 cm.

Words: Faye Patrick

Valentine’s Day…Those beautiful words…I love you, te quiero, je t’aime, mina funani wena, the sweetest in Zulu do you not think? A great day for partners and stalkers alike, the 14th of February is drawing near, following Friday the 13th in a bittersweet manner in fact. Best avoid walking under any ladders if you have a night of romance planned on Saturday. Champagne and a la carte dinners, bundles of lovely expensive roses, hand holding and smiling longingly at your other half, city breaks to crisp winter locations, what is there not to love about this day of happiness and joy?

Maybe I’m being too soppy. Maybe you HATE Valentine’s Day and all those stupid bears holding foam hearts and all the cards saying shmooshy things you would rather cut your tongue out than say and all that commercial bollocks. Maybe you hate that your lover has only just had a birthday and your anniversary is next week and Christmas has only just gone and New Years cost a bomb and it’s a recession people! Or maybe you are single, happily single, but would rather not have coupledom rubbed into your face like a huge insensitive cream pie.

Whatever your view, the date is set, there’s nowt we can do about it, so unless you want to be a miserable git, better get used to it. For an alternative route to showing you care, try Fused favourites, ‘Girls Who Draw’. They have released a selection of Valentine’s Day cards for those of us who don’t want to wallow quite so deeply in the sickly sweet pink marshmallow cake of love, but who still have a little bit of sentimental mush secretly trapped inside our hardened souls!

The cards include kitsch captions like, “Your so sweet I could eat you up” alongside cute fairy cakes, or “You’re my type” being tapped out of a classic typewriter. Sounds a little more tongue-in-cheek than “Happy Valentine’s Day to the love of my life, the sparkle in my night sky, without you I would die” and all that gobbledegook that, to be honest, if you wouldn’t feel comfortable saying yourself you shouldn’t really leave to some disgruntled aspiring poet.

The Girls Who Draw team are also busy with an exhibition in London this month, check out their website for more news on that: www.girlswhodraw.blogspot.com

Words: Amelia Philips

Colourbox Sofa

Do you know what we love about Colourbox? That his poignant and often dark observations are disguised under pretty, bubbly, naïve patterns and colours that make you feel all warm inside! That’s not to say we are missing the point. It’s just pleasing to see illustration that is accessible to all as beautiful and interesting visually, before realising the meaning behind it being scribbled in the first place.

The mysterious Colourbox describes his work as “exploring the link between words and imagery, the World around us and the World within us, and the absurdity and obscurity of life in general”, which although very wordy, surprisingly makes a lot of sense. His mix of graphics and doodles, textures and colours is quite common and current in terms of successful design, but his individual style gives us a real sense of being inside his brain and seeing things fresher.

The use of puns or superior and prophetic language, add a humorous twist. I would love to meet the enigma described as “a fraud of everything, a king of nothing”, who obviously got on the wrong side of our friend. Colourbox’s personal struggles within himself are also revealed with expressions like “My opinion is designed”, and “Behind the mountain there is another mountain”. This gives real depth and elevates his illustrations from a commercial venture or frivolous fancy into a visual diary or ‘proper works of art’. The bright colour contrasts give a ray of sunshine to his work, he’s a pretty happy chappy really.

Colourbox Sterile

Our favourite comments have to be “To laze is to think” and “A moral life is a sterile life”, although not technically an order to take the day of work, loot your local offy and sit on the sofa all day ‘thinking’ productively.

Colourbox Kong Von Nichts

To see more of this very interesting fellow, have a peep at www.colourboxonline.com. If you are really a fan, prove it by visiting his shop and parting with your precious pounds

Words: Amelia Philips