Two of Us, Inspiration
First published in the August instalment of the Two of Us monthly(ish) thematic email, ‘Inspiration’. Sign-up here if you wish to receive future emails direct to your inbox.
Inspiration
This month we wanted to talk briefly about inspiration – what inspires us, our work, and how we can draw on inspiration from further afield and apply it to what we do.
As always, we welcome feedback, comments and conversation regarding the content of this email and are always keen to stay in touch.
Ash & Ian
In most working and personal relationships there exists a balance between common interests, inspiration and more individual inclinations – this is the same for us. We started Two of Us because of a common interest and common goal, but we also feel it’s good to embrace the differences within our inspirations.
Whilst Ash has a healthy collection of design books and looks up to designers; Max Bill, Paul Rand, Michael Wolff to name a few, he doesn’t often look to design for inspiration. He appreciates the importance of having industry knowledge and to be aware of what’s currently trending, but he often finds inspiration comes from exercise, socialising and aspirational figures in other fields.
A lot of Ian’s early inspiration came from music and the relationship between the sound and visual – the record sleeves of Peter Saville (Factory Records), Peter Blake (The Beatles, Oasis), Stanley Donwood (Radiohead), as well as the music photography of Jill Furmanovsky, Kevin Cummins and Gered Mankowitz. His initial inspiration in the aesthetic developed considerably to the concept, the story, and the wider affect that art, image making and design can have in society.
Monique Br?ring
Inspiration is such a vast subject we wanted to mix things up a bit and get the input of someone we both admire – so we reached out to our friend Monique Br?ring and asked her a few questions. Monique is based in Amsterdam and creates conceptual imagery that is thought-provoking and beautifully crafted. You can see examples of Monique's work above, but we urge you to check out more of her stunning work here.
1. Can you remember what first inspired your interest in image making?
I have no particular recollection of anything that inspired my interest in making images – I have always made images by either doodling, drawing, making collages, crafts, digital works and taking photos. A thought is already an image in my head, which I am anxious and curious to see if and how I can reproduce that so-called clear image in my mind. The creative process fascinates me hugely and I’m addicted to the ‘creative flow’.
2. Where or what do you now turn to for inspiration as a practitioner?
“You live in a project” a friend once said to me when looking around my apartment. I am a careful collector of anything that is appealing to me – my apartment is stacked with different materials; books, toys, garbage finds, party shop items, all sorts of paints, packaging, papers, clay… Next to that I have a digital archive of song texts and poems, which are selected for their beautiful word combinations and playful descriptions of situations. Being surrounded by my finds – the potential relationship between the objects and/or their context – is what inspires me.
3. Do you look for inspiration when you have ‘creative block’ or is it something you consciously build in as part of your creative process?
Whether I’m inspired or not, sometimes frustration can take over at any time during the creative process, which is a sign that I am getting ahead of myself. This is when I decide to let go – ‘ping-pong’ ideas around with friends and look for collaborations which often give new routes to pursue. Before I know it the perception of time has waned, and once again I’m absorbed, and I love that.
Other resources
A joint favourite band of ours, The Maccabees were heavily inspired by their studio location, Elephant and Castle on their fourth album, Marks To Prove It. They were also featured in Elephant Days – a documentary about Elephant and Castle. You can read more about the documentary here.
Paul Smith talks about the inspiration behind his spring/summer ’17 collection here – “Having called West London his home since the 1970s Paul’s experiences, then and now, feed into this collection as past and present brush up against each other.”
The True Story of the Controversial Building That Inspired Nike’s Air Max.