• James Jarvis Interview

    November 26th, 2007 |

    James Jarvis is best known for his Amos Toy’s creations, his recent YOD Figure is his latest, but he’s also just released a book of his selected drawings from over the years, fittingly titled "James Jarvis Selected Drawings". I spoke to James about his work over the years, the development of his company Amos and more.

    As an artist, I’ve read interviews with you when you say you consider yourself an illustrator before anything else, how has this transposed into making figures and other mediums?

    I think what I tend to say is that above all else I consider myself someone who draws. Drawings are the raw material for everything else: illustrations, toys, comic books and everything else I do.

    What initially influenced your interest in art, and who or what did you look towards for inspiration in developing your style?

    My initial influence I guess was my parents. They are very cultured people and exposed me to an amazing array of visual and intellectual culture from an early age. I was brought up on amazing children’s books by Richard Scarry, Hergé, Uderzo, Maurice Sendak, David McKee and Alfred Bestall Rupert the Bear.

    When I think about style I look much more to an intellectual consideration of what I do rather than the purely visual. The particular intricacies of my way of drawing is evolving constantly – I am always re-evaluating how I draw. But my way of thinking about drawing and about visual creation in general is much more consistent.

    How did Amos toys come about?

    I’ve answered this question so many times, but basically… When the toys I made with Silas became popular(ish) we realised that they could, and should, have a life of their own, outside of and independent from the insular world of ’streetwear’. So in partnership with Russell and Sofia we started Amos.

    Many of your early toys were made famous for their colaboration with Silas, what was your relationship with the brand?

    I met Sofia and Russell who ran Silas when they were working for Slam City Skates. I went to see them while I was still at college in Brighton in ‘92 or ‘93 to show my work and I used to hang out in the shop when I moved back to London to go to the RCA. When Slam started Holmes they asked me to do graphics for them. When they left Slam to start Silas I carried on working with them…

     

    You’ve been involved in numerous colaborations over the years, what were some of your favourite?

    I’m not sure that apart from working with Silas I’ve done many true collaborations. When I left college I did a shit-load of crap illustration jobs to make a living. I think an illustration commission is very different to a true collaboration, where I think you are given more responsibility and more room to be oneself. Sofia and Russell were really the first people to let me just get on with it.

    What artists around today do you admire?

    DELTA, Geneviève Gauckler, KAWS, Gary Panter, Parra, Will Sweeney

    I’ve heard you’re a keen runner? How often do you run?

    I run every day – I do between 50 and 70 miles per week, depending on what I am training for. I run to work and back during the week. I’ve qualified to run the London Marathon next year as an Elite athlete, which is quite exciting.

    Are you a fan of Streetwear, what brands do you like at the moment?

    I find it quite diverting, but I have no interest in ‘Streetwear’ as any kind of seriously culturally substantial entity at all.  I like clothes and I think about what I wear, but I can’t say I have any deeper engagement than that.

    You recently colaborated with Will Sweeney’s label Alakazam, have you got any plans to develop your own clothing label?

    We’ve already been making shirts for Amos, which is fun. But in terms of Fashion with a capital ‘F’ I don’t think it is where my strengths lie.

    Where do you see Amos headed? What are your plans for the future?

    The liberating thing about Amos is that as my own company it is a vehicle for any project that we want to put out there. With regards to really big undertakings like animation we realise we need partners because such things are logistically so huge.

     

    Tell is a little about your book ‘Selected Drawings’, 240 pages sounds like a big undertaking? What lead you to create a book?

    I made a paperback book with relax magazine in Japan several years ago which reproduced a small selection of my drawings, and I had for a long time wanted to do something similar. It took me until this year to get it together. When we published Vortigern’s Machine last year we realised that it was possible to put books out there ourselves. In a way it was an easy project because the drawings were already there. They just needed to be scanned and edited. The hard part was looking over all that old work and trying to decide if it was of any worth or not.

    Alongside the book, you have developed a set of new figures, can you tell us about these, and where the inspiration came from?

    Alongside the book we are releasing Illustrated YOD, which is YOD decorated with drawings of beaked demons.

    To buy the book and the newly released tee’s and figures of James Jarvis Amos, check out the online store here.

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    Category - News    

  • Vans X Jahan

    November 26th, 2007 |

    Slam X Hype Blogger Jahan has been commissioned to create a number of images for Vans. The Art will be on show in Taipei on the 15th December and will be assembled as a calender for 2008 to be used as a promo tool by Vans. Amazingly intricate work , take a look for yourself, [...]

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    Category - News    

  • Soph 07/08 Holiday Collection

    November 26th, 2007 |

    Soph are about to release their Holiday capsule for their A/W range. The collection includes a Border Sweater, featuring their new Scorpion logo in 3 colours, Black, Grey and Oatmeal, the same 3 colours and theme carries through to their Beanie for the collection. Accompanied by a new glasses frame available in Black and Brown.

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    Category - News    

  • Union Tee’s and Sweat’s

    November 26th, 2007 |

    Here are some really nice new tees, hoodies and crew necks from the legendary store Union. They are available now at Union LA.

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    Category - News    

  • Madsaki x Jam Home Made Wallets

    November 26th, 2007 |

    Madsaki the graffiti artist who has made a name for himself with his work with Clot recently has put his personal touch on a collaboration with Japanese accessories and leather label Jam Home Made. The two wallets, two very traditional pieces, one a men’s and the other a women’s long wallet both with some very [...]

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    Category - News    

  • Undefeated Winter Tees

    November 26th, 2007 |

    Big things are happening at Undefeated currently especially with the opening of the online store and going live with there very own radio station. It doesn’t stop there they have also released a number of quality prints as part of there Winter line, The Fall Brawl, Babe Ruthless, Cocaine Cowboys and CB tees prove the [...]

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    Category - News    

  • F2 by Geoffroy de Boismenu

    November 26th, 2007 |

    F2 is the latest book by the photographer Geoffroy de Boismenu. The books title is taken from the camera that was used for the all the pictures in the book the Nikon F2. The book features some amazing black and white pictures taken between 1992 and 1995 in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Florida and New York. [...]

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    Category - News    

  • Neighborbood Opening In Hong Kong

    November 26th, 2007 |

    Conope have reported some very interesting news about Neighborhood opening in Hong Kong, following in the footsteps of Visvim and their predecessors, Bape and Undercover. NBHD can add this retail branch to their recent online store. It will be interesting to see how NBHD who are so strong at holding their brand image approach their [...]

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    Category - News    

  • FALSE Season 4: An Invasion Is Imminent

    November 25th, 2007 |

    False are now merging into their 4th Season, with a further development and expansion into a wider range of products. To coincide with the launch of the Singapore based Custom made streetwear label’s new website, Slam X Hype blogger and head of False, Le Messie gives us a run down of the brand and their new movements, alongside imagery from their latest collection arriving in stores soon.

    It’s been awhile, we’ve been toiling at our latest release for about 8 months now since we released Season 3. I made 3 versions of a Season 3.5 that didn’t see the light of day amongst other things.. After all the obsessive compulsive tendencies and withdrawals.. the idea, concept and aesthetics of Season 4 popped up from nowhere…

     

       

    FALSE Season 4: An Invasion Is Imminent

    The invasion of the forests, homeland, the occupied territory, the mind, the soul, the individual… an invasion is imminent in any form nowadays. The internet, radio, t.v and publications rule the mind more than anything else telling us what to think and do. It’s true in every sense now that resistance is futile in this internet age. No wonder colonies are formed in India and various parts of the world. Hey the Amish might have it good. For those of us that aren’t Amish or running away joining anti technology movements, it’s good to understand the False behind the ‘Truth”. What it is for what it is and taking that in aid of defining your own true self. This season the beauty of the animal kingdom, freedom, origin, a false anti-poaching campaign and destruction of false ideologies run dormant in my designs and ideas. All too often residing behind a military mind-set. The best form of military in this day an age is firstly a False one and secondly one that fights for animal rights.

    Established in late 2005, I wanted to create a brand with substance, my focus went away from the overly ambitious mind-set to make everything and anything pertaining to independent fashion. It was more of a focal point for me to come out with products that were individually hand-made and that made sense to what I would adorn.

    I believe in order to be ‘one’ and to understand what’s real you must first try and understand the fake and the false.. It made some sense that in an industry mainly ego-driven with looking good, it could meet that mind aesthetic and at the same time bring about the concept to consumers of what they might be buying into is a false identity or false sense of awareness or false acceptance, eventually understanding that on all levels in life that false nature is true and upon acceptance, they come out of the situation with a little more truth in the matter.

    These thought processes are evident in my designs and their messages.  

    It began as an obsessive-compulsive order to have control of all our works and hand-making them made that possible. It just then went into the direction of passion and craft over commerce. The idea resonated till today and we’re still very comfortable with and proudly pulling screens, cutting labels and stitching at the level we’re at. All hand-work with each garment is done by us one at a time, all labels are individually made, cut and sewn, various packaging is hand-made, screens have to be washed often in between screening to maintain quality of print, it’s a very long and tiring process to be making so many garments individually but it is well worth it.

     

    These thought processes are evident in my designs and their messages.  

    It began as an obsessive-compulsive order to have control of all our works and hand-making them made that possible. It just then went into the direction of passion and craft over commerce. The idea resonated till today and we’re still very comfortable with and proudly pulling screens, cutting labels and stitching at the level we’re at. All hand-work with each garment is done by us one at a time, all labels are individually made, cut and sewn, various packaging is hand-made, screens have to be washed often in between screening to maintain quality of print, it’s a very long and tiring process to be making so many garments individually but it is well worth it.

     

    For our Season 4 I decided to make the leap to move away a little more from my mixed-media designs and focus on more mature, minimal, clean thought provoking designs based on ideas surrounding the military, mysticism, wildlife, philosophy, physics and shapes. We’ve also added to our craft various customization projects.

    Projects in the oven and dropping soon include FALSE Magazine, FALSE Sounds, The Black Watch Co. and Schadenfreude.

     

    M(endacious)-65: Original military issued m-65: individually washed, black on black screened, stitched labels, screened labels, velcro removable "enlist" name tag, black on black embroidered patches.

     

    Chuck Liberators: Original Chuck Taylors: individually hand riveted, velcro detail over laces, black rivets, silk-screened labels.

    Photography by "Yazer Aziz". More info and images from the soon to be released Season Four from False at their newly launched site here.

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    Category - News    

  • Gas Books

    November 25th, 2007 |

    It has been 10 years since the first release of GASBOOK series and 2007 is a beginning of the next 10 years. While looking back on the past 10 years, Gas As Interface Co., Ltd. is now working on new projects for the next 10 years – as 10TO10. Over 10 years Gas have produced [...]

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    Category - News    

  • Original Fake Color Cards

    November 25th, 2007 |

    La MJC was kind enough to give us a preview of 2008 Original Fake… "Here is a preview of the future Original Fake collection which will come out in beginning  of 2008.  The word ‘color’ will be the key direction, and trust me the KAWS’s fans will not be disappointed!…You’ll find in this collection some [...]

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    Category - News    

  • WK Interact Preview

    November 25th, 2007 |

    We mentioned a week or so back, that WK Interact was about to embark on his biggest Solo show in NYC, ‘The Trail’ will be held at ESPEIS ARCHETYPE gallery in NYC and kicks off 30th November. Supertouch got an inside peak into the set up. With more to come I’m sure. The details for [...]

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    Category - News    

  • Stussy “Mascots & Mugs” Tees

    November 25th, 2007 |

    Stussy recently released limited edition “Mascots & Mugs” T-shirts celebrating graffiti legends Blade, Doc, Daze and Tack. All four artists are featured in “Mascots & Mugs – The Characters and Cartoons of Subway Graffiti”, which we mentioned just the other day of the interview at Stussy also.  The shirts are available at Stussy L.A, Stussy [...]

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    Category - News    

  • Devilclot X Levis HK Release

    November 25th, 2007 |

    And people say the Hype is over, Streetwear is dead! That may be the case in certain neighborhood’s, but I think this proves its not the case everywhere, Japan’s Devilock, Hong Kong’s Clot and levis got together to release this limited edition pair of jeans over the weekend and this is what happened! I can’t [...]

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    Category - News    

  • Bearbrick World Wide Tour x Bape x Stussy x Roar x Fragment Tees

    November 25th, 2007 |

    To commemorate the start of medicom’s 2007 Bearbrick World tour which kicked off over the weekend, the Japanese Toy company have released numerous tee’s with their closest friends, which include Fragment, Roar, Bape, and Stussy.
    Thanks to Hypebeast for the images.

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    Category - News    

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