Soupa illustrator Clare Loveday has been getting creative making handmade products and started up her own online shop selling tote bags, hair bands and cards. Check out her new collection, which is being added to on a regular basis here. My favorite has got to be the silk screen printed orange branch tote bag, which reminds me of a pair of trousers I owned (and wore) in the 90's! www.clareloveday.com www.folksy.com/shops/ClareLoveday www.etsy.com/shop/ClareLoveday
Zine's have recently become a popular output for designers and illustrators - not just for those of the political persuasion. In 2011, there are so many digital outlets such as blogs, Twitter, Facebook for example, where you can have your own voice so you might wonder why people still like to cut and stick their thoughts and images into a little book. However, with a rise in popularity Zine's have been given a designer's touch and are as appealing to the style-savvy as those who like to read the opinion's of others. You might even learn something! This book celebrates and showcases the more 'visually refined' of zines where artists and designers have started to experiment and update this medium which has long enjoyed a cult status. Some may also say that it is the impact of the recession that is promoting the 'make do and mend' attitude not only in crafts – but also in self-marketing and the arts.
The spot gloss cover and open spine give a shiny impression but it is the pastel pages which really caught my eye and really give the feel of zine. A jam-packed book full of inspirational projects, and some great examples of various print process make this a book I'd definitely recommend.
Behind the Zines: Self-Publishing Culture Editors: R. Klanten, A. Mollard, M. Hübner Publisher: Gestalten
If you went along to Dazed Live earlier this month, you might well have seen some copies of our latest Soupa Zine. Wonder how they got there? Well, we sent over a few copies over to Jotta a couple of weeks back who were curating the zine part of the festival.
The focus of the zine exhibition was to chart the history of London's self publishing scene – so early 70s punk zines to contemporary fanzines sat side by side.
Unfortunately we didn't get down to the actual event, however the guys over at Fever zine have some great pics of the event here. Fever zine's flickr stream. Can you spot our Zine? We can!
Soupa member Chris Airplays has just launched a new clothing label called The Diggers. The name comes from hunting for records, digging in the crates, and the main theme of the label is the excitement of finding something new. With this in mind Chris set the first brief under the title 'New Discoveries' and commissioned three illustrators, Mr Gauky, Keaton Henson & Nate Trapnell to design the first collection. Check out The Diggers site here.
Although, there’s a lot to cover, I’ll keep it brief and tell you about some of things we did (with the aid of a few pics).
In preparation for the festival we made our own special edition Soupa Zine (above) containing lots of exciting new illustrations, photographs and bite-size stories. You can read the zine in full here: http://issuu.com/jospencer/docs/soupazine-mar-2011-23
We made little packs for each zine maker who came to the workshop and we also took along our fantastic retro typewriter which I picked up for about £2 in a recycling centre.
I did a bit of typing to encourage people to give it a go – blank white pages can be a bit intimidating!
While many of the zines contained important messages about women’s issues, we also wanted people to relax, have fun and be creative. Fellow Soupa member, illustrator Elissa Elwick brought along her friendly characters, the Bob Wob’s (watching you from above, and below) and was on hand with Anna Spencer to help people create their own illustrations.
Throughout the day, there was live music and this seemed to attract a lot of people to the workshop – all of whom worked really hard creating something unique to them. As you can see, the workspace was a mess with glue, cuttings and pencils everywhere, but as far as I’m concerned, all the better to take pictures of.
I took five minutes out to catch up on the other events going on at the festival and headed downstairs where I met Mary Kilvert, an illustrator who makes products which include these pretty cushions. Loving the one of these print-perfect sheep!
I was glad we had taken some old magazines for cutting up as these were providing some unexpected inspiration for zines (thanks to my sister for passing them on to me). The illustration below is a great example of this.
Over the weekend, the Soupa team are helping to create a Master WOW Zine that will be a lasting reminder of the amazing work created.
If you came along to WOW this weekend, we hope you had a really good time!
Posted by Clare Kelly
We will be uploading our pictures from the weekend to our Flickr stream very soon.
Inkygoodness are calling for submissions for – Colour Me Totem – their first online creative project!
Colour Me Totem
Here’s your chance to be part of the inkygoodness Character Totem project..
Discover your inner character – doodle, ink, paint or digitally design your own Character Totem. Give him a name & send us the results!
All you need to do is:
All you need to do is download the Colour Me Totem pdf below and get drawing. Give your characters a name, along with your web address & contact details and keep a close look at their gallery for your Totem to appear.
Send your submissions to: inkygoodness@easy.com – no later than Friday 25th March. All entries will be uploaded to their evolving Character Totem online gallery. The best entries will be displayed in the Neurotitan Gallery as part of the official Character Totem exhibition at Pictoplasma this year – so what are you waiting for? Get involved!
Those of you who follow @okjo_soupa on Twitter won't have failed to notice that there's been a lot of YARNfest talk of late.
If you were lucky enough to come along, or unlucky and not able to come, here's a little round-up of events for your pleasure...
The Soupa crew (Jo, Anna, Elissa, Jessica, Jamie, Clare) were up very early indeed and made their way to The Book Club to get started on the Zine Workshop.
Elissa, Jessica and Anna were on hand to help out those who attended the workshop by showing them how to create characters. We were really chuffed with the turn-out with many people booking in advance and then staying for the duration of the workshop.
Oschon Wespi-Tschopp of Cure Studio came along with a screen and some really vibrant inks to enable all those who came along to screenprint their own cover. This was a great introduction to screenprinting and produced some great results. Jo was also able to help demonstrate the art of hand stitching to ensure that no one's zine fell apart!
We saw some really fantastic work being produced and Efdeay were in attendance to provide a zine template which could be worked into as much or as little as people liked.
At 5pm, the workshop drew to a close and the floor and tables were testament to the amount of creativity that had taken place with bits of magazines, glue and pens strewn about the place! This did take some time to clear up but because some of those on the workshop were reluctant to leave, we did have some help!!
Soupa then disbanded for the evening to get ready for the next day of YARNfest (and have some much needed sleep).
http://www.flickr.com/photos/okjo/sets/72157625975085229/
Team Soupa enjoyed a chilled out morning before rocking up to The Book Club for day two of the proceedings. Once again, the basement were the event was taking place, was completely ram-jammed and lots of people had turned up for the quiz – a fully interactive event that called for improvisation, wit and a sprinkling of talent. Then came the SCAT PACK with their improvised 'film' which has been a hit at Edinburgh Fringe due to its quick thinking talent. Read more about that here.
This allowed everyone to relax a bit before thoughts turned to the Illustrationarium which would see Soupa members Jessica Allan, Luke Waller, Harriet Gray and Carlos Garde-Martin illustrate live on a overhead projector (not seen since school days) while authors and storytellers such as Helen Smith, Rachel Rose Reid and Katy Darby read and performed. A tough task if ever there was one! Soupa felt very proud of all its talent who put so much into it and created some really unique pieces in front of this live audience.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/okjo/sets/72157625975208423/
I don't know why you don't like Mondays really. But perhaps if your name was Jamie Littler and you were about to do a live illustration of a book cover in front of the author Hanif Kureishi, you'd be a little worried about Monday's too!
However, this Monday at The Queen of Hoxton turned into a pretty good one with Jamie doing a beautiful illustration that nearly made Team Soupa weep with joy! There were three other illustrators from other collectives from AMMO Magazine Claire Hartley, from Paperfox press Robin Boyden, from Hidden Dingbat Phil Howell and Lauren Baker taking part too and while Jamie didn't win in the final round, he did win his own round, and though we are biased, he was our winner for sure.
This was the culmination of YARNfest for Soupa but everyone left feeling energised and ready for the next one. If you missed it, be sure to keep your eyes peeled for more news about the next YARNfest event – we wouldn't want you to miss out!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/okjo/sets/72157625984252863/
Gemma Mitchell, Osch Wespi-Tschopp, James Hurst, Anna Spencer, Elissa Elwick, Clare Kelly, Jamie Littler, Carlos Garde-Martin, Jessica Allan, Harriet Gray and Luke Waller.
< more info and to book here >
Come along and make your own zine with the help of HATO press, EFDEAY, Soupa and Cure Studio. There will be an opportunity to create characters with Elissa Elwick and Jessica Allan, make narratives with EFDEAY and stitch, fold and make the zines with Soupa friends.
We may even be bringing some screen printing screens to print the covers so come along and get inky!
You can just pop along, if you decide last minute. Or come along for the whole session, spend hours on creating your perfect zine or just pop in and have a go.
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Release the doodle and turn words into pictures. Join in with YARN downstairs at the Book Club and create your own illustrations using an OHP, pens, paper and whatever else you can find!
In partnership with Cure Studio and Soupa Creative Network
Book a slot here (or pop in on the day): http://www.yarnfest.com/illustrationarium/
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< more info and to book here >
Hear the words and see the story illustrated live.
Authors, storytellers and illustrators, include Chris Cleave, Helen Smith, Rachel Rose Reid, Neil McFarland, Carlos Garde-Martin, Luke Waller, Harriet Gray and Jessica Allan.
In partnership with Cure Studio and Soupa Creative Network
Katy Darby will also be joining us. Katy Darby’s work has been read on BBC Radio, won various prizes, and appeared in magazines including Stand, Slice and Mslexia. She teaches writing at City University, edits the literary magazine Litro (www.litro.co.uk) and runs monthly fiction event Liars’ League (www.liarsleague.com). Her first novel, Whores’ Asylum, will be published in 2012.
Chris Cleave’s debut novel Incendiary won a 2006 Somerset Maugham Award, was shortlisted for the 2006 Commonwealth Writers Prize, won the United States Book-of-the-Month Club’s First Fiction award 2005 and won the Prix Spécial du Jury at the French Prix des Lecteurs 2007. His second novel is titled Little Bee in Canada and the US, where it is a New York Times #1 bestseller. It is titled The Other Hand in the UK, where it is a Sunday Times bestseller. It was shortlisted for the Costa Book Awards.
Rachel Rose Reid is a Storyteller, creating Live Lit performances to melt boundaries and build bridges between the oral tradition of our ancestors and the spoken word of today. She has been named a rising star of the festival circuit by the Independent on Sunday, and is a winner of the UK Young Storyteller of the Year. She has been a featured artist at Latitude, Camp Bestival, Port Eliot, the London Literature Festival, Burning Man and the Secret Garden Party, at storytelling festivals Festival at the Edge and Beyond the Border and on BBC Radio.
Helen Smith is an award-winning novelist and playwright. She’s the author of Alison Wonderland, Being Light, The Miracle Inspector, and The Emily Castles Mystery Series, as well as children’s books, and plays.
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::: COME DOWN AND SUPPORT JAMIE LITTLER OF SOUPA CREATIVE NETWORK! :::
Four Illustrators, one book cover, who will win?
Four illustrators representing illustration networks across London will pit their pens, pencils, brushes and glue against each other in a battle to create the best book cover for Hanif Kureishi’s ‘Buddha of Suburbia’ live on the night. Hanif Kureishi will read excerpts on the night as well join Jon Gray of Gray318 on the judging panel.
In partnership with Faber and Faber
Who’s taking part?
From Soupa: http://www.soupa.co.uk/ Jamie Littler http://www.jamielittler.co.uk/
For AMMO Magazine: http://www.ammomagazine.co.uk/ Claire Hartley http://clairelouisehartley.co.uk/
From Paperfox press: http://www.paperfoxpress.com/ Robin Boyden: www.robinboydenillustration.com
From Hidden Dingbat: http://www.hiddendingbat.co.uk/ Phil Howell and Lauren Baker
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Soupa members Luke Waller and Harriet Gray have been busy this month organising their latest exhibition, The Pencil, to showcase their most recent works.
You are invited to join us for the launch on 2nd Feb from 7pm
This intimate exhibition will run throughout the whole of february at the Wheatsheaf's exhibition space 'arty bars' in Shifnal, Shropshire.
for more details about the venue please visit www.artybars.co.uk
to celebrate the new year Soupa member Harriet is having a sale in her etsy shop ... aaand you can also get an extra 10% off with coupon code : HELLO2011
wishing you all a wonderful new year!
Unfortunately the Soupa Emporium is no more - purely due to time it takes to run the shop. We don't have the man hours to run it at the moment but if you do want to buy anything from the Soupa members - please do email them individually. Thank you for your support - the blog and site will still be running - and look out for new projects in 2011.
If you would like to buy some handmade local goodness, Soupa members Luke Waller and Harriet Gray will have a stall next sunday 12th december at cherry's real food cafe in Ironbridge, from 11 till 4pm. The christmas fair has been organised to raise money and awareness of Leukaemia research, so you'll be helping a good cause and getting your christmas shopping ticked off, ace!
REVERTING TO TYPE
curated by Graham Bignell of New North Press and graphic designer Richard Ardagh
10th–24th Dec 2010 and 4th–22nd Jan 2011
Exhibition open daily 10am-6pm
Private view: Thursday 9th December 6–9 pm
Reverting to Type is an exhibition of contemporary letterpress practitioners, showcasing how a centuries-old craft is being reinvented for modern day usage.
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Venue: Standpoint Gallery, 45 Coronet Street, London N1 6HD
Web: www.standpointlondon.co.uk
Airside invites you to come out to play, as from the ashes of Airside Shop arises our new online shop and social space, Airside Play.
We are opening up our North London studio for the public launch of Airside Play, so come join us for a Saturday afternoon of drinks, cakes and lively conversation.
Plus, you’ll get an exclusive look at Airside’s brand new range of limited edition design products, including The Joy of Cycling A2 screenprint and our tasty Veg-a-Porter brooches.
Be amongst the first to get your hands on the 2011 Airside Calendar or To The Victor, The Spoils – the debut album from Flashman,Fred Deakin’s (Lemon Jelly) new collaboration with The Beta Band’s Robin Jones.
All items will be available to buy at special launch party prices.
So come out to play at the Airside Play launch party. Make sure you ask your mum first though.
Saturday 27th November 2010 12-5pm @ Airside Studios 339 Upper Street, London N1 0PB
Download: Pay&Display INVITE
Click on the image above to download full pdf with information.
FEATURING ARTISANS OF DISTINCTION: Sharon Elphick, Gemma Booth, Modern Toss, Cardigan, Maria Rivans
You are invited to join us for drinks to celebrate the launch of Pay & Display, our ephemeral emporium. Housing an irresistible array of exclusive L.E. prints, photography, mid-20th century furniture and assorted accoutrements we’ve created a unique Christmas shopping opportunity for the visually discerning throughout December, RSVP. RECEIVE 10% OFF any purchase on the night with this invite.
82 Gloucester Road, Brighton BN1 4AQ
www.payanddisplay.wordpress.com
download the invite here Made in Clerkenwell 25-28 Nov 2010(3)
Deadline extended : 5.30pm | 29th October
Factory believe in unearthing levels of potential that may not always be immediately evident and have setup a fantastic competition to reflect this.
The brief is for any budding artist, designer or illustrator to come up with an original design to be artworked straight onto the walls of the main thoroughfare hallway. The top prize will arrest Factory's clients upon entrance to the premises and captivate their attention all the way to our first floor reception and second floor landing.
The runner-up artwork will captivate an audience heading from the impressive newly installed Dolby surround sound mixing suite to our graphics and editing studios.
Entries must be received by 4th September 2010.
For more about terms and conditions for entry download the pdf here.
