Rock The Custard

Keeping up with the typography poster trend but adding a unique vintage twist, we have some fantastic new prints on their way from the very lovely Eilidh at Rock The Custard. We're digging out our old frames to compliment these posters perfectly, but know the contemporary trend of hanging prints with bull-dog clips will look just as great with these!

Liverpool Light Night

"Do something interesting with your Friday night"

Very soon people, we're getting Nook & Cranny ready for a 'flora & fauna' themed exhibition!

Guest post: Richard Kilroy

Photograph by Haruki Horikawa

From Liverpool and now based in the heart of the fashion capital, surrounded by amazing artists and inspiration in London, Richard Kilroy is a highly successfull illustrator. 

"Richard Kilroy's work is routed in the elements of composition, suggestion and simplicity, combining aspects of photorealism with loose and suggestive line. Graduating from Leeds College of Art & Design in 2010, he currently lives in London.

In late 2010 he was selected by Christian Dior and Somerset House as one of five illustrators to produce an original work for 'Dior illustrated: Rene Gruau And The Line Of Beauty'. His most recent commission was to produce a portrait of professor Louise Wilson OBE for her birthday.

His newspaper fanzine on fashion illustration, DECOY, includes original illustrations by himself, Julie Verhoeven, Richard Gray, Tara Dougans and features work and interviews with Jasper Goodall, Cedric Rivrain, Si Scott and more. The second and third issues are currently available from his website.

Richard Kilroy is also currently working on a book with Vivays publishing on the best of contemporary fashion illustration, due for release late 2013.

To date, Richard's clients include Christian Dior, VMAN, Topshop, Onitsuka Tiger, Volt Magazine, Ponystep, Husk, I.T Post, Start Boutique and more."

Illustrations Richard Kilroy.

Richard has let us in on his fashzine DECOY:
"Decoy is my fanzine on fashion illustration, born out of wanting to explore my own work and the work of others, and to simply have fun putting something together that's full of genuine enthusiasm for fashion illustration. In the first three issues I've been lucky enough to feature some of whom I consider to be the greatest illustrators in the industry, with original works by Julie Verhoeven, Richard Gray and Tara Dougans, and features with Jasper Goodall, Ricardo Fumanal, Si Scott and more.

The name came from the idea of what a Decoy is. Something distracting, something visual that's meant to drive your attention. And basically it's a good simple name. It's important to me to have it on newspaper or a large print run. Who wants to see illustrations when they are just a few inches big?!
It's not meant to be a glossy magazine, restricted by deadlines or advertising. That's the joy of self-publishing. It's important to me to keep this aspect no matter how much Decoy evolves."

 

Julie Verhoeven 'Looker' for Decoy issue 2

 Richard Gray for Decoy issue 3.

You can buy the latest edition of DECOY (check out the blog for artist updates and latest inspirations) from Richards site here, his site is well worth adding to your favourites list as new illustrations are constantly being featured and it's great to see how his work is developing. 

Richard Kilroy's work combines the inspirations of the artists he is so lucky enough to feature in his first fanzine, complementing the photo realistic illustrations of models' beautiful faces with the perfect translations of high end fashion. 

With the anticipation of Richard's first book combining the works of top contemporary fashion illustrators, we're excited to know that Richard approached one of Nook & Crannys long standing stockists, Peggy Wolf!

Many thanks to Richard for sharing a peek into the fashion illustration world.

The Giant Spectacular

Inspired by the Titanic, The Giant Spectacular was loosely based on the true story of one little girls letter to her father on board the Titanic, only for her letter to never reach him as diaster strikes. Sadly also, the little girls fathers body was never found. The Giant Spectacular imagined the little girl to reunite with her uncle, her fathers brother, in order to set sail and find their lost loved one. With the little girls trusty dog Xolo, the girl travelled around Liverpool in search of her uncle. The uncle in turn travelled Liverpool, a city renowned for its connections with the Titanic and for its port and dock, in search of his neice. Each Giant performed for the crowds, with the uncle having a nap and snoring outside St.Georges Hall (which hautingly sounded similar to the sea, a great link) the dog 'weeing' on school children and the little girl riding a scooter. All giants were completly interactive with the thousand strong audience. Local school children were invited to shout 'wake up, wake up!' to start the little girl on her journey, who often paused and kneeled to let children sit on her arms like swings, the girl would then rise, smile, blink and begin to wonder off to the sound of incredible music. The performance artists incharge of these 30ft and 50ft high wooden giants became part of the act and danced and cheered alongside the crowds, with what seemed like acrobats moving the giants themselves.
More amazing moments included a canon firing hundreds of letters of love written by the school children of Liverpool, the uncle wearing a scuba divers outfit and being lifted from the river outside the Tate Liverpool. Another memorable moment was when the little girl went to sleep in a giant sized bed complete with mobile, the next day enjoying the sun sat on a deck chair with a giant sized radio beside her. Once the little girl and her uncle were reunited, an intense and heart warming moment as these larger than life wooden puppets embraced, both, including Xolo, boarded a beautiful boat and sailed down the river Mersey to cheers from the hundreds of thousands of visitors who had come from around the world to view the Giant Spectacular.

 

All photographs courtesy of Art In Liverpool's Facebook page. 

While there was so much I missed, The Giant Spectacular was an event aimed at bringing the whole of Liverpool together, everyone somewhere got to see a Giant and the crowds on the final day of the Spectacular weekend summed up how amazing the event was. Although there were issues with the rain (always, hey?) and the final act being pushed forward 2 hours meaning sadly some missed out, the whole weekend was a huge success. I have heard through the grape vine that at one stage en route, the little girl giant 'squatted' and did a wee. I'm not sure how that fits in with the story and many complained, but the idea does bring the giant to life, the same way the dog relieving itself was amusingly real. 

An incredible event that was advertised worldwide that yet again puts Liverpool on the map. The planning behind this amazing weekend was next to none, from closing the roads and informing everyone of public transport changes, to the city sweepers tidying up after hundreds of thousands of people, to the choreographers and artists. Liverpool is once again beaming with pride. 

Karin Soderquist

Welcome to a summery, day dream world from Karin Soderquist. Newly graduated from Camberwell College of Arts in London and originally from Sweeden, Karin created a gang of characters which have been hand illustrated and transformed into wallets, prints, tote bags and pocket mirrors. We're so excited to see the wallets - a new product for us at Nook & Cranny!

Snug Interiors

If you wash, I'll dry because Snug Interiors have some brilliantly bight and fun tea towels on their way to Nook & Cranny very soon! The happy bright colours and illustrative font knows no bounds as the duo from Snug have created cushions, tote bags and summer bulbs for the garden too!

All available very soon!

Jane Beharrell

We've fallen in love again, this time with lino cuts and exclusive one-off monotype printing in bold colours and beautiful texture that perfectly capture wild beasts.

Wild boars, a Fox, a suprisingly friendly looking bear and a beautiful wolf are all captured perfectly in lino cuts with tactile markings making these hairy beasts really come alive! Jane has also created an exceptional way of monoprinting which brings a dream like quality to her imaginative illustrations. Solid animals look as if they are floating, with Jane perfectly capturing detail in their muscle and form, making it seem as if Jane actually got a Wolf to float in water in order for her to make such a believable life study! Her skill for these monoprints are confirmed with the unusual texture and marks made which really enhance the beautifully unique prints (each print is a one-off).  

Follow Janes blog here to keep up with her beautiful life drawings of her dog (we obviously absolutely love these, being such huge dog fans!) and discover a sneak peek into Jane's studio.