Interview with Merrimaking

Known for their distinctive animal hoods worn by festival goers and people alike, who are the masterminds behind Merrimaking?

I've interviewed the two people we have to thank, Meg and Harri, for creating their imaginative ideas and allowing us, the public to commission just about any animal we want. I've got my cheetah cub hood (see below), what will you choose? To get yours click here.

Where did you get the name Merrimaking?
M: I love explaining this. My name's Meg and Harriet goes by 'Harri', which when you merge the two is 'Merri'. And we make stuff...

What was the first hood you ever made, and why did you make it?
M: It was a Panda hood for a party, and then some Tigers and Leopards from some cycles. Together with another really good friend from uni we used to make and wear them all the time, I used mine to keep my pet rat in. It's funny though, the hoods are so different now. I guess 3 years of constantly doing one thing (in our case, sewing) really does make you better at it! We even use the right coloured threads to match now.

What's your favourite hood?
M: The bear that I wear. Our friend and seamstress at the time, Kelly, embroidered into the side of it, it's got a funny lining and it's so scruffy, I love it!

H: I always seem to swap my hoods at festivals so my favourites come and go. The one we just can't part with for love nor money is the stag we made over a year ago for a catwalk, we've pranced around in it at so many events since then. It's pretty battered but still wonderfully grand!

What's the strangest hood you've been asked to make?
M: I had to make a jelly fish hood once, that was like no other

H: A pair of pterodactyls, I never did get to see a photo of them being worn out and about! Must have been a memorable sight...

What process do you go through when making each hood?
M: If it's a commissioned hood then we need to talk to whoever's commissioning it to work out how they'd like it to be, sometimes using photos to match colouring and markings. And then we need to choose the right fur fabric to suit, the right lining, design a new pattern for the ears if they're unusual and really it's a case of cutting all the pieces (getting very fluffy in the process) and sewing it together.

I saw Selfridges sell your hoods, how did you managed to get them interested in your work?
M: It was one of those knock-on things. Gabby Young and her brand wore the hoods, and because of that we came to have our pieces on sale as part of the Supermarket Sarah concession in Selfridges. The buyers must have seen the hoods there and got in touch. It was very bizarre really.

Selfridges Window Display

I see you also sell jumpers/tshirts - are you planning on expanding any further to make other products?
M: The bigger picture is to keep on designing and making new pieces, 'a wardrobe of playful ideas' ... we want to keep Merrimaking interesting for the customer and also, we want to keep ourselves inspired. It's boring making the same thing all the time.

H: Yeah it's great to keep brainstorming and creating new pieces. I love it, we want lots more products!

Is it just you two that make/design the hoods and clothing, or do you have a team?
M: It's just us two. For the past year or so we had friends working as seamstresses's, which was a LOT of fun. We've just moved to Brighton and have had to leave that side of things behind, so it's us two again for the time being and we're working mostly on new designs before the 2012 festivals get started.

Where to you hope to take this in the future?
H: I like where we're at right now. I'm hoping to build on what we're already got into something bigger. It'll always be a festival/art based fashion brand run by friends, and the dream is to expand so that we can work in a bigger team of friends and bringing out new products all the time. I'm really looking forward to it.

M: If Merrimaking can remain a platform for Harri and I to earn a living doing something creative and we enjoy it then I'm happy. I'd like to employ some friends back in too.

Is your website the only place currently where you sell your hoods?
M: Also festivals and Secret Emporium events. We stock through a couple of independent shops too.

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Interview with Patchwork Apparel

An up and coming English brand known by their distinctive t-shirts with patchwork pockets are becoming more popular with their fanbase growing rapidly. I found them while browsing through tumblr and completely fell in love with their designs. I did a Q&A interview with them to get to know the brand a bit better and get the word out there. And yes, I've ordered my t-shirt (at a student friendly affordable price of £10, what's not to love)

Grab yours now at Patchwork Apparel Store   

Who is Patchwork Apparel?

There are two of us. One of us is working hard to pay off University debt (all orders greatly appreciated), and the other is studying Film & Media Production at University in Sheffield. 

When did the brand start?

The brand only started in January, I think, late January on a Friday night in order to make money to pay off the debt from University, so we are still relatively new to this. We had no idea that it would take off as well as it has, we are so thankful for all the support and interest that this has gained so far.  

Where did the idea stem from for your patchwork clothing?

It stemmed from a number of different areas. Tantum clothing is obviously a clear inspiration to our shirts, the pocket idea seemed like such an easy concept but they charge (in my opinion) far to much for a shirt, you're talking fifty quid, its mad. Normal kids can't afford that. Besides inspiration from major clothing lines, we saw pocket shirts in a number of stores around Manchester and Sheffield, but they were poorly stocked and still, what we thought, were asking to much per shirt so I guess we thought we could do it better, and cheaper. We wanted to create a low cost alt option which we think we have achieved.

You currently do t-shirts on your website, are you hoping to branch out to other items?

We've thought about it, and yeah it'd be awesome to expand but right now we're still just focusing on the shirts, especially with summer around the corner. We definitely want to keep it just as clothing at the moment, maybe expanding into oxford style shirts, crewnecks and hoodys. We're still testing the water so it'd be a couple of months before we consider dropping a new item. 

How popular is the brand at the moment?

Its pretty mad. We never expected the reaction that we've received. The shirts have gone pretty much worldwide, we're consistently getting emails asking us if we ship to new destinations, so we add it, and ship the shirts and we're just expanding and expanding. Its ever growing, especially with something like Tumblr, the images of our shirts are just forever circulating. I guess with blogging and social networking, theres no way it would be as wide spread as it is. 

How have you got the word out there about what you do?

Blogging, Tumblr, Forums and word of mouth really. Like I said, they just keep doing there rounds on Tumblr so the brand is advertising itself really, its cool because its like our customers are targeting new customers in ways that we couldn't reach personally. 

Is your website the only place we can purchase your patchwork t-shirts?

Yeah, currently anyway. We've had talks with a few small shops in Sheffield, and it'd be awesome to expand onto the street. It's hard though, as we currently are only making them to order, shops obviously want a higher demand and we don't want to agree to something that we couldn't keep up with.

Do you do custom patterns/take any ideas from your followers?

No not currently, but its a cool idea, but again because we're such a small new brand we don't want to take on more than we can handle. We've had a few messages about custom designs but its difficult because if everyone wanted one, theres no way we could sort it out. We definitely will look into it though.

Where do you hope to take Patchwork Apparel in the future?

Worldwide? I don't know really, anywhere and everywhere. We've been offered a few crossover deals with a couple of other small clothing brands but nothing is set in stone as of yet. Right now, it seems it can only grow, and thats down to everyone who's ordered a shirt so thank you. Keep checking us out, we couldn't do it without the support. Check out our webstore here. 

http://patchworkapparelstore.bigcartel.com/category/tees

And if anyone has any queries, send us an email and we'll get back to you as soon as possible. 

patchworkapparel@hotmail.co.uk

Thank you! 

 

  

Erna and Hrefna Project 09-10

I came across something rather interesting while I was scrolling through tumblr, which led me to the website of Ariko Inaoka. A photographer who is documenting the life of two Icelandic twins yearly from 2009 at the age of 9, until they are 16.

"My intention for this project is to capture the very precious period of their growth from child to teenager, physically as well as psychologically. The relationship between identical twins is an interesting subject matter. I often hear that identical twins have telepathic connections between them. This is true with Erna and Hrefna. They are always together. They almost never fight each other. Spending time with them I feel such comfort in their companionship but at the same time I feel strange because I have never seen such a powerful connection between any two human beings. They say to me, "We dream same dreams sometimes"".

I find this so interesting, I love looking back on old photos of me, friends and family and seeing how we've changed over the years. I changed a lot from a child, to a teenager to an adult, I'd love to have photographs like these to look back on. 

The Cinemagraph

Those of you familiar with twitter and tumblr may well be aware of this new image, part video part photograph. An imaginative concept that unlike a video or a photograph you're kept engaged, you can't tear your eyes away from trying to figure out how it works, or if it's even real.

Almost like the moving newspaper photos in Harry Potter, but the difference, these images can only work on the internet, and only one part of the image moves, the rest of  it is perfectly still. 

Cinemagraphs were started by Kevin Burg (visual graphics artist) and Jamie Beck (photographer) after they began experimenting with the gif format, and this has resulted in what we have today. They aim in the future to 'push this new art form and communication process as the best way to capture a moment in time or create a true living portrait in our digital age while embracing our need to communicate visually and share instantly'. 

They have produced a range of different cinemagraphs, photos of model Coco Rocha and New York Fashion Week have been made into these perfect spectacles of capturing a moment in time. More natural and landscape versions of these have been made, all of which draw you in like no other digital imagery.

To see more of these, head to their website: http://cinemagraphs.com/

Now less talking more seeing - enjoy

Next on the cards for cinemagraphs is a collaboration with Oscar de la Renta, I definitely can't wait for that!

Coco Rocha: "it's more than a photo, not quite a video"

Miss Golightly

So Charlotte and I have finished our photography and styling editorial project, which doesn't actually have to be in till Thursday, but we're ahead of the game. Here's our editorial spread, in the style of Oh Comely magazine, and below the images that we've used, edited in the style of the magazine.

60's Photoshoot

Charlotte (http://charlottehayto.blogspot.com/) and I had our 60's inspired photoshoot today. It's in aid of our photography and styling project for University. We have to end up with three final images, that are put together into an editorial shoot in the style of a particular magazine. It also has to link back to a particular era, of which we picked the 60's.

I was, to put it lightly, rather stressed this morning. Not because I was worried it wouldn't go well, just because I wanted everything to come together the way I imagined. It is always hard when you have an idea in mind of exactly how you'd want something like this to look, and when it comes to hair and make-up, we had to put faith in another person's hands, and it paid off. Gemma Court did a wonderful job, it was better than I'd imagined so Charlotte and I were both very happy. We wanted a small beehive style look, Carey Mulligan-esque in An Education. Not too over the top, but enough that it had a 60's air about it. And the make-up to be kept simplistic and chic.

We set up shop in The Kings Arms, to do the hair and make-up and did the shoot on Roupell Street & Theed Street, London. It really is such an amazing location, we have Alyson our lecturer to thank for pointing us in the right direction. It was almost as if we'd suddenly gone back in time and were standing on a road in 60's London. All the doors are bright colours, and just looked so quaint and perfect.

Our model Lyudmyla Prykhodko of Beau Belle Models,was fantastic. She was up for any type of look and the style we went for really suited her. I'm not gonna lie, Charlotte and I was slightly envious of her never ending legs and amazing figure. She needed no direction, a pleasure to work with, and we got some really great shots. I've picked my favourites, and Charlotte and I will pick our final three, which once finished will be also posted on my blog as well as Charlotte's. Go check out Charlotte's blog for behind the scenes photographs from todays shoot! Charlotte was the stylist for today's shoot, and I was the photographer.

And again, a HUGE thank you to Gemma and Lyudmyla, without you the shoot wouldn't have been half as successful! And here's the lovely photos (the final chosen images will be edited)