Diamonds in the rough
This is another entry that sort of fits with my D&AD New Blood 2010 saga, only this time its not entirely about the mentioned exhibit (this was to be part of the ‘Blood Clot’ article, I decided this isn’t entirely relevant to that). When I was in London for New Blood I visited quite a number of small shops and so on in the brief moments of rest I could find, and possibly the most enjoyable visit to anything in London was the superb ‘Lik & Neon’ shop on Sclater Street (around Brick Lane/Truman Brewery area). It was truly one of the most charming places I have ever been and yet it was no bigger than a double sized stand at New Blood, and in the shop there were a number of small brilliant details.
First of all the shop’s unique angle was that there were 4 docile sleeping cats just lazing around the place; 2 on the counter, 1 in the CD rack and 1 on a chair by the t-shirts. Pretty whacky and it was pretty cute too, and I can safely say that this ‘Norfolk Boy’ hasn’t encountered such a retail experience in his time.
One of the famous 'Lik & Neon' cats just chillin' out
Another Feline...
So that was pretty awesome, cats + shop = something worth visiting. Also generally speaking the place had a really interesting interior too, as it was both white and minimal like something in the vain of the Apple store, but that was also complimented by the garish electro clash style items for sale within the shop, which provided a lively sense of immediacy that was fascinating and very intriguing, especially to someone like myself who is more used to the uniform globalized generic shopping experience we all endure these days and have for some time.
Hard place not to like really...
If there was one more thing I could say about the shop itself before I waffle on about how cool the stuff I bought there was, I would say that if the video below was turned into a shop with cats, it would in fact be ‘Lik & Neon’:
So anyway the place sold loads of stuff mostly short run magazines, fanzines, illustrations mini books, CDs, Cassettes, T-shirts, accessories and other stuff, and I myself bought 3 pretty cool little books.
First off is the rather quaint title by J. Homersham called ‘Musetopia’ which is a collection of illustrations by who I can only assume is the mentioned author unless otherwise. Each illustration is a cutsey little quip and pun joke uttered by odd little characters, drawn up in a naive black pen style that is rather charming. Take a look and make sure you seek out a copy for yourself as I believe it only costed about £3 or so (most of the zines are A5 and cost no more than £5).
Very nifty little book indeed it is, definitely worth every penny spent…
Next is the peculiar, noisy and garish ‘zine called ‘Legends of Circumstance’ which seems to be an odd kind of illustration meets writing piece; which made little sense to me at all owing to the fact I only looked at the pictures and didn’t read it per say, but it was interesting to flip through anyway. I really like this one as there are some pieces that involve photocopier manipulation effects that remind me of a time when I as a creative was just so much freer and did more things out of sheer pleasure and interest, and even without a purpose I was happy to do stuff, but sadly the world has really crushed that part of me that wants to create lately, so I should take heed of this inspiration and find something that I want to do whilst I have the time.
Lastly of the books is ‘One – Nil A Football Zine’ by Peter Willis, which is a sort of self showcase of the illustrator’s work, which I am a little less fond of than the other two ‘zines, but all same I am happy I bought in the end anyway. I guess maybe I am a little cynical of this guys style; but I find that any illustrator’s style does work, given the right content and context, and I not entirely sure that footy works with this guy’s style perhaps. I think some of the illustrations are rather nifty and neat, well here it is then:
Well thats pretty much all I have to say on the matter of the awesomeness that was Lik & Neon, and the nicieties from there I purchased so I advise that you give these links a good look:
http://www.appallingnonsense.co.uk/pint.html
http://www.daveandfran.com/?p=93
http://www.deadtreesanddye.com/
Diamonds in the rough | SUB-BLOG: Bouncing Soles…
As a side dish to this blog that fits in I would like to note the visit I paid to the Spitalfields Doc Martens shop, which was also really incredible and that was a real treat for me as I have been into DMs since I was about 19 or so and have had a real love for that brand ever since.
The design of the shop is absolutely fantastic and has loads of neat touches like the those plastic drapes you get in a truck delivery bay at the back of a Tesco, a yellow industrial lighting theme and a warehouse style floor plus the wooden palettes are a very cool touch. Proper rough and ready style interior that made the experience really interesting and I basically want to go back. Of course as well there were the DMs themselves and being a DMs shop there were more styles then I had ever known about, shame I couldn’t affored them though.
(Source: http://www.drmartens.com/page.asp?navid=43)
(Source: http://www.drmartens.com/page.asp?navid=43)
(Source: http://www.drmartens.com/page.asp?navid=43)
(Source: http://www.drmartens.com/page.asp?navid=43)
Speaking on the design of the shoes; what is total madness in my view is the fact they were selling pre-worn DMs that had been manufactured to have scuff marks and dents at the tip like any old used pair of DMs would have, only it was built in for an extra price! Mental, if you really want to look cool in dirty/scruffy/haggard clothes, make them dirty yourself, its so fake that people by pre-haggard threads these days, very phony.
(Source: http://www.drmartens.com/productlist.asp?story=worn)
(Source: http://www.drmartens.com/productlist.asp?story=worn)
If you want a pair of scuffed-up DMs; buy a new pair and kick a wall for an hour or so, that’ll do it, or play football in them only using bricks instead of a ball or just get a life or better yet, buy mine off me for a huge price, there’re beaten-up in a way that to some looks aesthetically pleasing…
Aside from that I have to say I was very pleased with the cool postcards they were giving for free too, which I happily snatched up alongside a free poster as well. Fairly simple designs that look pretty classy, yet also robust and strong, and these items make very good use of the cultural heritage that is tied so firmly to the Dr Martens brand. These postcards are part of a series of things being done by Doc Martens to celebrate their 50th anniversary, and its worth giving the campaign a look as there are some cool special covers of old tunes that are DM wearers favorites as performed by new bands such as The Noisettes (as pictured in the cards) among others like Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, ect…
Well thats pretty much it for this entry and I hope that it has been good for you too, and given you an insight into something interesting. Hope you have enjoyed this article as much as I enjoyed the experiences and items/things/stuff myself, and hopefully this marks a renewed period of consistent blogging for me as I have had a severe lack of motivation for doing anything lately…
Also have a look at these links as well:
http://campaign-design.blogspot.com/2009/08/dr-martens-spitalfields-market-pop-up_21.html
http://www.drmartens.com/page.asp?navid=43
http://www.drmartens.com/productlist.asp?story=worn
http://50.drmartens.com/artists/duke-spirit
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