Meet: Jessica Jane Charleston

Jessica Jane Charleston

.... is a printer, poet, illustrator and publisher based at Bow Arts in East London. We met her in her studio on a sunny Tuesday evening.

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”The Cat Circus is as marvellous as it is mundane. There isn't a huge difference between your standard household cat and the cats in the circus, except that they are stripey... And they can balance on things, like one another. Oh - and they swim in the sea.”

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“I am inspired and fascinated by other printmakers, and it's wonderful to know so many successful ones. James Dodds is a friend of the family and master of all things print. I feel very privileged to be able to see how he works.”

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“I would like to tour with the presses, like a music band does, but I would visit other private presses instead, setting up workshops and making books. The first place I would go is India. To Tara Books in Chennai, a fantastic independent publisher.“

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"You can't really control the ink all the time, sometimes it just does whatever it wants and you go 'arghh'. But then you see an opportunity in those little mistakes, like with "Next-to-Nothing", where we used spotted pages for the inside covers. That gave a really nice look and made each book unique, because they each contained a unique mistake. And you can't digitalize this, that's for sure."

(Note: "Next to Nothing" is a limited edition print in 102 exemplars. It was published by Shed Press, Jessica's co-venture with fellow printess Amelie Genestine-Charlton. "Next-to-Nothing" contains poems by Jessica's father David Charleston, who by the way owns an independent bookshop in Suffolk.)

“Shed Book is working on a book with poet Tony Mitton where words take the shape of pictures. It’s, well, technically fiddly – but I like that.”

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As an extra feature, we have the great honour (and permission) of bringing you a poem from Jessica’s own hands. According to the author herself it’s on the “darker sides of love”:

lover

i know you’ll find me

when i’m not looking

you’ll plough right through

as soon as i’m resting

and you’ll be terrible

and beautiful:

the sickening cure

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To learn more about Jessica and her work, visit her website: www.jessicajanecharleston.com and Shed Press' homepage on www.shedpress.org. 

(Photos by Mat Burri)

Meet: Babette Wasserman

Babette Wasserman

... is an award-winning jewellery designer based in London. We met her in her pop up shop on Portobello Road.

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“I’m putting a bit of myself into every single design. My aim is to create the most beautiful thing I can possibly design … I don’t know if you’ve seen that film ‘Like Water for Chocolate’ where the woman was cooking sumptuous dishes, and she expressed many emotions through her cooking, maybe it’s a little bit the same with my jewellery [laughs].”

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“I love rose gold. I think it has such a beautiful feminine tone. I launched rose gold vermeil in my jewellery and cufflinks about ten years ago.  At that time no one else in UK was using rose gold.  Hublot watches had just launched a rose gold with the black rubber strap watch and this inspired me.  I had a feeling rose gold was coming back into fashion in a big way and I told all my customers to watch for this upcoming trend and to be at the start of the curve!  My designs mixed cubic zirconia’s (little diamontes), Chalcedone or white obsidian semi-precious stones with the rose gold, the contrast is stunning.  Now rose gold is just as popular as silver for me and I produce every single design I do in a rose gold option!"

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“I decided to move back home to my parents so I could put all my money into my new business. When I received my first big order from John Lewis, I roped my whole family into helping packing the cufflinks into their boxes. My parents and my sisters all helped, they were teasing each other that one had more boxes to pack than the other! It was very sweet.”

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“Jewellery encompassed 3 of the disciplines I enjoyed at art school, sculpture, working with metal in a dimensional way and fashion… It was a logical step for me to go into jewellery which in effect is making mini precious wearable sculptures.”  

Model: Simba the dog

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“It’s a piece of my aesthetic passion.”

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See more of Babette's design on www.babettewasserman.com.

Meet: Abigail Brown

Abigail Brown 

is a textile artist, hand-making animals and other creatures. We met her in her studio at Cockpit Arts...

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 “My grandmother was a seamstress, so I grew up with the smell and feel of the fabric. That’s still a part of me. Even though she died when I was very young I come to think of her every time I work.”

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“Years and years ago, someone bought my entire stock off my online shop, and I had no idea where it went. When I put up something new it happened again. And then after a while, a guy got in touch and told me he was building a 6 feet wire tree and had been equipping it with all my animals. He then commissioned 6 more. The best part was when I found out that he worked with traumatised children and that my animals helped him communicate with these kids by making them feel safer.”

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“It’s a budgerigar. But we just call it a budgie.”

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"I was recently commissioned to produce some of my papery maché animals for Paul Smith shops in Paris and Milan. I wanted to recreate some of the most unusual animals, certainly I didn't know most of them existed until I researched them and I hoped other people wouldn't either. Did you know there's such a thing as a Numbat? or a Jerboa?"

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"After my degree I saved to buy a new sewing machine and had in mind to buy one of the newest models available. In the shop the owner asked why I felt it needed to be new and said the older ones were far more reliable and so away I came with this lovely Bernina from the 1970's! I've been incredibly happy with this machine... I hope it's got a lot more life left in it! I wouldn't want a new one now!"

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This pheasant is watching over Abbie when she works. 
And no, it's definitely not a toy!

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To see pictures of Abbie's wonderful creatures and find out what a jerboa and a numbat looks like, check out her website, www.abigail-brown.co.uk, and her blog, abigailbrownscreatures.blogspot.co.uk/.

Meet: Justin Rhodes

Justin Rhodes 

is the man behind the belt maker brand, Elliot Rhodes. We met him in his shop on the Duke of York Square.

                                              

 

"Belts... but not as you know them"

(Elliot Rhodes' slogan)

                                                
 

 

“It’s all about experimenting for me, we are never standing still, always trying new materials, new formats. Just to try it out, we produced some buckles from Megalodon shark teeth and sterling silver, and it was beautiful, that combination of the prehistoric and the modern.” 

                                                

“Our vision is to change how belts are perceived, so instead of simply being something that keep your pants up, belts should be a means to self-expression like a piece of jewellery or a handbag.”

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“A customer got me in contact with this Argentinean sculptor. She wanted to make her creations into something more saleable, so we worked together to make this collection. Now, instead of putting the sculpture on your table, you wear it around your waist. That’s how I want our belts to be, like another format for art.” 

                                                

 “It’s a buffalo horn buckle on a stingray belt strap. We use all sorts of exotic skins, crocodile, ostrich, python, alligator, shark… right now it’s definitely alligator that is in hot demand.”

                                              

 
... oh, and this is what a 1 million year old fossil shark tooth framed in sterling silver looks like. Makes one h*** of a belt buckle!

Check out Elliot Rhodes belts, buckles and other accessories at www.elliot-rhodes.com

Meet: Jacoob Mathias

Jacoob Mathias 

 

is a Danish artist, resident in the provincial town Naestved. We met him - and his daughter, Tilde - in his studio.

                                              

Jacoob and Tilde with Tilde's scooter, in front of canvas and mural, seated on something we didn't quite know what was.

                                               

“There are so many squares in our lives. If you start thinking about it, you will realize how many boxes we surround ourselves with all the time. Windows, houses, tables, papers. You gotta ask yourself: Why? [Big smile] So I began making things rounder, more organic. It gives a whole new life, you know. And now it’s just obvious, when you see a rounded canvas hanging on the wall. You feel like, that’s exactly how it should be.”

                                                  

“We all went on a vacation last summer. My girl, my boy, their mothers, me. It went well. Not all peace and harmony, but it went well.”

                                                

“I had worked on this canvas for quite some time. Then it just came to me, one morning. A friend of mine came by for a short visit, but I asked her to lie down on the couch. I got going with some swift lines, you know, when there’s not too much thinking. I try not to think too much when I work. It’s her mom, actually.”

                                              

"You need to get one of this as well, all of it. 'Jac Mat Art Studio', that's the name I want people to remember." 

(Sorry Jac)

                                                

"I'm ready to conquer the world now. From here."

                                              

Check out Jacoob's work - colourful, erotic, full of life - at www.jacoobmathias.com