Tom Frost: The Wild Collection

Yorkshire Sculpture Park presents a solo exhibition of work by illustrator Tom Frost.  

The Wild Collection opens in YSP’s Garden Gallery on 21st June.

Frost’s beautifully evocative and nostalgic work reflects the young artist’s passionate interest in vintage art and memorabilia – including old matchboxes, tin toys, folk art and children’s books – and often features familiar animals such as pelicans, owls and foxes.

For The Wild Collection, Frost has taken inspiration from YSP’s varied wildlife and historic landscape to create charming new works. Using YSP’s bees and their honey; the Park’s infamous sheep and Highland cattle; along with butterflies, fish, leaves and beetles, Tom has created limited edition screen prints, marquetry and wooden toys.

Yorkshire Sculpture Park
21st June – 7th September 2014

The Moonstones...

Sweet little animated music video by Muxxi, created for Pictoplasma festival. 

We'll be launching some new card/wrap designs by her later this year... 

 

The Moonstones from Muxxi on Vimeo.

Introducing... Laurent Moreau

The author and illustrator of several children's books, Laurent Moreau lives and works in Strasbourg, France, having moved there to study at the Ecole des Arts Décoratifs. The images for these six cards, are all taken from his most recent book Après, published by Hélium éditions, Paris.

His fresh and modern images are full of decorative plants and animals, which he says emanates from growing up in the countryside, among fields and trees - "I love nature, it makes me feel good, laying in the grass, looking closely at the leaf of a tree, a pebble..."

Eschewing the use of a computer, Laurent creates his artwork almost entirely by hand, enjoying the tactility of paper, the smell of the ink, and the textures of his materials. His passion for traditional printing techniques such as engraving, and silkscreen, inspires use of a limited range of colours - "I’m not so at ease with the computer, so I draw with pencils, paint with gouache, I cut and paste… I change techniques. I like being spontaneous, the gesture, the line, little dots…" 

His artistic influences include BlexBolex, Sophie Dutertre, Jochen Gerner, Atak, Olle Eksell, and Saul Steinberg. Aside from drawing, Laurent dabbles in Polaroid photography, enjoys gardening, cooking, and plays in a rock band with friends.

The 4 x 6" cards are printed on premium textured card, and come with coordinating coloured envelopes. Available now, you can see the full range online here

Imitation is NOT the sincerest form of flattery.

We have some rather disappointing news to share with you, and we're writing this in support of one of the designers we've worked with, Eloise Renouf.

Eloise recently came across some new spring/summer season products on sale in Debenhams department store, with pattern designs that bear more than a passing resemblance to her own work, which is sold on Etsy.

This is one of the pattern designs by Eloise, used on our giftwrap and notebooks.

And these are some of the kitchenware items produced by Debenhams.

Eloise has taken this matter up with Debenhams, but their response has been very dismissive. She posted on her Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/eloiserenoufdesign;

I've been speaking with the head of buying for home wares. They have actually admitted buying my work for "inspiration". The wrapping paper has been gracing their office. They have simply "drawn inspiration" from "a variety of sources" and so their design is "original".

We're a teeny tiny company, and value the talent of the artists we work with, by paying them a licence fee for their designs. If we can manage to find the money within our limited budget, then surely larger companies could easily do so, rather than using someone in-house to create an imitation.

This is a widespread problem for many small businesses/artists. Other people we've worked with, such as Gemma Correll, and Tatty Devine, have been victim to even more blatant copying of their designs.

So we want to help name-and-shame those responsible for this kind of behaviour, in an effort to perhaps persuade them to change their ways. As well as raising public awareness of this issue, so that they can make their own judgement over where they choose to shop.

UPDATE, 5th March 2014:

Post by Eloise Renouf Design.

Introducing... Vikki Chu

New for Spring 2014, is a collection of eight greeting cards featuring the delicate watercolour lettering, floral patterns, and wild animals of Vikki Chu. The 4 x 6" cards are printed on premium textured card, and come with coordinating coloured envelopes.

Vikki Chu is a freelance illustrator and pattern designer from Richmond, Virginia, now based in New York. Whilst Vikki enjoys experimenting with new techniques, and uses Photoshop for post-processing, she regards freehand drawing as the most important and enjoyable part of the illustration process.

"I usually use either a Rapidograph pen or a mechanical pencil. When starting an illustration, I like to dive straight into the drawing and build from there. My sketches are very loose, which I like, because it keeps me engaged in the drawing process. When sketching from life, I carry a refillable brush pen filled with an ink/water mix for washes. Watercolors are also great and I have been using them more frequently."

Available now, you can see her full range online here

Lizzy Stewart: Hard Wood and Heavy Water exhibition

Lizzy Stewart has her first London solo exhibition opening this week, at DreamBags JaguarShoes.

The venue will be transformed into an immersive graphic novel:

 "Hard Wood and Heavy Water is an elegant visual poem, a tale woven together through object and history; incorporating a network of rope festoons, small sculptures and props (from toys to tea pots and trinkets), native heathers and herbs centre pieces…it’s make believe setting is a silent sea cove, within which two houses, separated by a stretch of water are each represented on either side of the exhibition space, North and the South, divided by tide and rock." 

The exhibition is open from 31st January – 16th March 2014,
DreamBagsJaguarShoes 32-34 Kingsland Road, London E2 8DA

Introducing... Muxxi

Our new range of cards this summer has been designed by Norma de León, an illustrator from Guatemala City, who works under the name Muxxi.
There are eight greeting cards in the range, which are printed in the UK using vegetable based inks on card produced from sustainable managed forests, whilst the accompanying gift wrap is made from 100% recycled paper.

From digital illustrations to murals, Muxxi's work centers around surrealistic dream worlds filled with mysterious, sweet and colourful creatures. She explains  “I always had attraction for the surreal; movies, pictures, animations etc. My characters are a mix of all those things inside my mind. I love patterns, organic shapes, something abstract and harmonic at the same time. Above all, I like the spontaneity in what I do, and thinking of something lovely and cute.”

Muxxi has exhibited her art around the world, in Germany, Canada and the UK. She also has appeared in numerous publications including Computer Arts, and the Pictoplasma Character Compendium. For more about the artist, visit www.muxxi.me

You can see our full range online here

Sarah Andreacchio

Our final new range for this spring is a vibrant series of  'Animal Habitat' cards by Sarah Andreacchio

Currently living in Rouen, France, Sarah's designs are full of joyful animals and plants. She experiments with various techniques including gouache, papercut collages, and computer based illustration. These are brought to life with unusual palette choices and large blocks of colour, producing beautifully simple, exuberant results.

Sarah also writes a blog called ‘My Vintage Avenue‘ devoted to children's book illustration of the 1950s, which is where we first encountered her. The work of artists from that era such as Abner Graboff, Stig Lindberg, Miroslav Sasek and many others have all influenced her style.

If you are interested in seeing more of Sarah's work, and to buy prints or original artwork by Sarah, head on over to her website: cargocollective.com/sarahandreacchio

Alyssa Nassner

Our second new range for this season, is by Alyssa Nassner

A surface designer and illustrator from Baltimore, Alyssa's illustration style is inspired by vintage botanical prints, science, nature, and hand rendered typography. Alyssa strives to keep her work playful and fun, aiming to brighten someone's day, by adding a bit of colour to their home.

Alyssa is an active contributor to the worldwide illustation community online, co-running the collaborative blog 'Ten Paces and Draw'. As a career that often results in working alone from home, or spending late nights in a studio, the project encourages artists to share and interact, creating new work in the process.

To celebrate the launch, Alyssa is offering a special discount on purchases of prints from her online store.
For more details visit: http://www.alyssanassner.com/betty-dupree/ 

Osian Efnisien

We are launching three new card ranges for Spring 2013.
First up, and appropriately enough for St David's Day, we have eight cards by Welsh artist Osian Efnisien.

Brought up in the isolated mountains of Snowdonia, North Wales, Osian would spend the dark winter months indoors watching cartoons, playing Super Mario Cart, and drawing.

Influenced by the 'Superflat' culture of Japanese artist Takashi Murakami, his work has progressed from street art ad campaigns for fictitious brands, to solo gallery shows exploring two dimensional character variations, and geometric patterns.

Osian's work featured in the latest Pictoplasma Book, and he will be speaking at the Pictoplasma Character Conference in Berlin this April, alongside Jon Burgerman, and Feltmistress.

Here he is being interviewed about his practice, for a Welsh news channel.

If however, you're not fluent in Welsh, you can find out more by visiting Osian's website: cargocollective.com/motatomi

Slapsefjell

Written and illustrated by Bjørn Rune Lie, Slapsefjell (Slush Mountain) tells the tale of a day in the life of a fictional mountain village. It is an homage to childhood winters spent in his Norwegian homeland, and it's culture of cabin trips, skiing and the great outdoors. 

Without a strict storyline as such, Bjørn's playful and humourous paintings take you on a tour around the town centre and ski slopes, give a chance to meet some of the local characters, and see what's going on. Although unable to read the language, we were captivated by the books anthropomorphic animals, and beautifully detailed landscapes. 

This led us to work with Bjørn in reproducing several images from Slapsefjell as a range of Christmas cards. In addition, he has created new work for the accompanying wrapping paper.  

Originally published by Magikon Forlag (ISBN 9788292863046), we have heard that plans are underway for a French edition, although as yet, not one in English.

The Imagined Brand Mini Expo

Nicholas John Frith has a solo exhibition opening at Lion Street Store in Rye, East Sussex this friday. 'The Imagined Brand Mini Expo' will showcase a series of illustrated at typographical works depicting fictitious products, packaging and signage, and is open until 3rd September.

We have a set of Christmas cards designed by Nicholas launching very shortly too. You may have seen a glimpse of them previewed on our Facebook page. If you didn't here's a couple of them...

My Two Toms & friends...

'My Two Toms' are Tom Cops and Tom Stubbs, who play instrumental songs inspired by traditional Appalachian folk music. Their 2010 American tour supporting Charlie Parr, was captured by Tom Cops' medium format camera, and produced our debut photobook 'Midwest'.

When not playing music, the other half of the eponymous duo, Tom Stubbs, is a partner in Somerset based Biggerhouse Films. On their first journey across the US in 2007, again supporting Charlie Parr, Stubbs took his video camera. The resulting film is a touching and humourous documentary of life on the road for touring musicians, surviving without the luxuries of hotels, private jets or a competent tour manager...

 

Play

My Two Toms released an LP on Bristol's Stitch-Stitch records, with guests musicians including Matt and Kate from Movietone/Crescent, and François (laterly of François & The Atlas Mountains). The LP is adorned with beautiful sleeve art by Norweigan illustrator Bjørn Lie. We have commissioned Bjørn to produce a collection of Christmas cards and wrapping paper for us, which we'll be releasing very shortly.

East London Comics & Arts Festival

Ben Newman and Tom Frost and some of our other friends, are amongst the artists exhibiting at the East London Comic and Arts Festival next weekend. Organinsed by London comics publisher Nobrow, ELCAF will be taking place at The Village Underground, Shoreditch on Sunday 17th June.

In addition to the multitude of stalls selling comics, zines, artwork and other goodies, there will be talks, seminars and workshop, topped off with live music in the evening.
For further information, visit www.elcaf.co.uk

introducing... Eloise Renouf

Here's a preview of our new notebooks designed by Nottingham based illustrator and designer Eloise Renouf, which will be launched next month.

Eloise draws upon inspiration from nature and mid-century design, and re-interprets these with additional modern influences and her own personal perspective. The notebooks have a mix of plain, lined and squared pages, with spot illustrations thoughout. We will also be producing an accompanying range of wrapping paper.

There's a profile of Eloise in the current issue of Uppercase Magazine, who selected her work for their cover. http://www.uppercasegallery.ca/uppercase-journal/2012/3/27/cover-artist-eloise-renouf.html

We'll be running a competition to give away pairs of notebooks very shortly. Follow us on Twitter or Facebook to find out when.

'Print' exhibition in Bath

Tom Frost's screen prints are in increasingly high demand. If you're looking to pick some up for your walls, head on over to Bath, where he has some of his work included in the exhibition 'Print' at the Rostra gallery.

He will be showing alongside such talented artists as the wonderful Bjorn Rune Lie,  and Sir Peter Blake.

Opens Saturday 5th May, FFI
http://www.rostragallery.co.uk

Blogged: Atticus and Finch

Atticus Finch was the name of the lawyer in To Kill A Mockingbird, as played by Gregory Peck in the film adaptation. Atticus and Finch is an interiors and design blog by Emily Bludden who kindly wrote about us and Leah Duncan recently: http://atticusandfinch.co.uk/2012/04/you-me-betty-and-dupree/

Pick Me Up

Pick Me Up is an annual contemporary graphic arts fair held at Somerset House in London. The exhibition showcases the very best illustrators, graphic artists, and designers from around the UK.

Three of the artists we have collaborated with are all participating in the event this year, each producing new and exclusive work for the occasion. Soma Gallery are representing Tom Frost and Gemma Correll, whilst Lizzy Stewart will feature as part of the Many Hands collective.

The show runs from 22 March – 1 April 2012

http://www.somersethouse.org.uk/visual-arts/pick-me-up-2012

Royal Television Society Awards

Our congratulations to Ben Newman, and everyone else involved in producing this animated trailer, which won Best Promo at last nights Royal Television Society Awards


BBC Radio 4 - Life & Fate TVC from devilfish on Vimeo

Tom Cops exhibition

Folks in Bristol will have an oppourtunity to see some of the photographs from Tom Cops 'Midwest' book exhibited at Cafe Grounded in Bedminster from 5th February until 25th March.


On the opening night, Tom's bluegrass band My Two Tom's will be performing live from 7.30pm.

The book documents the 2010 tour his band made around the American Midwest, supporting the acclaimed Minnesotan blues musician Charlie Parr. The images capture moments, people and places of small town USA.

Cafe Grounded, 66-68 Bedminster Parade, Bedminster, BS5 9HT