Hasta La Ideas

No matter how unlikely it may seem to many readers here in the UK, Clarks shoes have enjoyed cult status in Jamaica for around sixty years. In his new book, entitled Clarks in Jamaica, DJ and designer Al Fingers investigates the relationship between the Somerset shoe company and Jamaican culture…

This spread from the book displays a list of songs by Jamaican artists recorded between 1975 and 2012 that reference Clarks shoes in the lyrics

“I’ve always been intrigued by the Jamaican fascination with Clarks shoes and the way they are referenced within Jamaican music,” says Al Fingers of the book project. “Vybz Kartel’s song, Clarks, brought the phenomenon to many people’s attention in 2010, but the relationship goes back way further,” he continues, “and in compiling this book I wanted to bring attention to that, highlighting the work of artists such as Dillinger and Little John who had sung about Clarks many years before.”

The book tells how Clarks has come to be considered, if Vybz Kartel’s Clarks lyrics are to be believed, “as Jamaican as ackee and saltfish and roast breadfruit”.

From the birth of the company in 1825 in Street in Somerset to the arrival of the first 96 pairs of Clarks shoes in the Caribbean courtesy of Colonel Henry Emerson Smith, who was acting as an agent for Clarks in the West Indies in the early 1900s, through to Clarks promotional push in the 1940s which included ads produced specifically for the Jamaican press, the book is rich in historical detail.

It documents the creation of Clarks’ Desert Boot style, designed by Nathan Clark, the great-grandson of the company founder James Clark. Nathan went on to head up a dedicated export department set up in 1947 called Clarks Overseas. The last on which the Desert Boot (soon to become known in Jamaica as “Clarks booty”) was made was changed in the late 50s to appeal more, specifically, to West Indian men. And the design tweak worked. Along with the Wallabee, the Clarks booty was one of the most sought after shoe among young Jamaican men in the 60s and 70s.

Above, Dennis Alcapone wearing Clarks Wallabees for the cover of his 1971 LP, Guns Don’t Argue

Above, Hugh Mundell wears Strollers, better known as “L-stich” in Jamaica on account of the L-shape created by the stitching, 1982

The book cites numerous tales of how various Jamaicans remember the brand growing up, with stories of Dancehall recording artists coming back from recording sessions in London with suitcases full of Clarks to give to family and friends, and how police even leaned on Clarks-wearing youths believing them to be criminals simply for owning a pair. How else could they afford them, was the reasoning.

As well as images sourced from the Alfred Gillett Trust Archive (which is the official Clarks archive and is situated just down the road from Clarks’ HQ in Street), Al Fingers has filled the book with brand new photographs by Mark Read of DJs and producers and other Jamaicans he’s interviewed specially for the project, and dug out numerous album sleeves and other images of artists wearing Clarks throughout the last few decades. Above singer Little John wears Desert Boots, as does deejay and slelector Jah Stitch, below.

Above, the deejays General Leon (left) and Pompidou (right) wearing Desert Boots and Wallabees respectively, 1986

Above, a page devoted to the Wallabee, featuring a photo of singer Barry Brown from his 1982 LP More Vibes of Barry Brown Along With Stama Rank.

The book also highlights other popular Jamaican fashion items from the last few decades such as the mesh marina (string vest),  the Arrow shirt, Diamond (argyle) socks, and the knit ganzie (a knitted wool sweater or cardigan). There is even a section dedicated to knock-off Clarks produced by Caribbean counterfeiters looking to take advantage of the brand’s popularity.

Clarks in Jamaica by Al Fingers (One Love, £30) is due to be published later this month.

Later this month, to coincide with the launch of Clarks in Jamaica, we will present a selection of spreads from the book in our CR iPad November issue. More info about the CR iPad app, below.

CR for the iPad

Read in-depth features and analysis plus exclusive iPad-only content in the Creative Review iPad App. Longer, more in-depth features than we run on the blog, portfolios of great, full-screen images and hi-res video. If the blog is about news, comment and debate, the iPad is about inspiration, viewing and reading. As well as providing exclusive, iPad-only content, the app will also update with new content throughout each month. Try a free sample issue here.

CR In print

In our November issue we look at ad agency Wieden + Kennedy in a major feature as it celebrates its 30th anniversary; examine the practice of and a new monograph on M/M (Paris); investigate GOV.UK, the first major project from the Government Digital Service; explore why Kraftwerk appeals so much to designers; and ponder the future of Instagram. Rick Poynor reviews the Phaidon Archive of Graphic Design; Jeremy Leslie takes in a new exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery dedicated to experimental magazine, Aspen; Mark Sinclair explores Birmingham’s Ikon Gallery show of work by the late graphic designer, Tony Arefin; while Daniel Benneworth-Gray writes about going freelance; and Michael Evamy looks at new telecommunications brand EE’s identity. Plus, subscribers also receive Monograph in which Tim Sumner of tohave-and-tohold.co.uk dips into Preston Polytechnic’s ephemera archive to pick out a selection of printed paper retail bags from the 70s and 80s.

The issue also doubles up as the Photography Annual 2012 – our showcase of the best images in commercial photography produced over the last year. The work selected is as strong as ever, with photographs by the likes of Tim Flach (whose image of a hairless chimp adorns the front cover of the issue, above); Nadav Kander (whose shot of actor Mark Rylance is our Photography Annual cover); Martin Usborne; Peter Lippmann; Giles Revell and more.

Please note, CR now has a limited presence on the newsstand at WH Smith high street stores (although it can still be found in WH Smith travel branches at train stations and airports). If you cannot find a copy of CR in your town, your WH Smith store or a local independent newsagent can order it for you. You can search for your nearest stockist here. Alternatively, call us on 020 7970 4878 to buy a copy direct from us. Based outside the UK? Simply call +44(0)207 970 4878 to find your nearest stockist. Better yet, subscribe to CR for a year here and save yourself almost 30% on the printed magazine.

Panels by JAKe (two shown, left); Karrie Fransman (two shown, centre); and Krent Able

Ahead of tonight’s Comica Festival launch at Foyles’ flagship shop in London, the bookseller has unveiled a timeline of the store’s history, illustrated by some of the artists appearing at the month-long comics event…

The comic book history of Foyles is installed over 28 panels of the hoarding currently in front of the former Central St Martins building, where the bookshop will move to in 2014. The story charts the history of Foyles from its founding in 1903, by brothers William and Gilbert Foyle, drawn by John Miers, to a wordless depiction of the new site in the last panels of the series by Rian Hughes.

It’s an amusing take on the story of one of the capital’s most famous bookshops, with plenty of laughs at its own expense. For example, Oliver East’s panel (shown below) illustrates Foyles’ once notorious queuing system where customers had to obtain an invoice for a particular book they wanted to buy, pay the bill at another till, and then collect the book in another location. East also describes the way in which books were shelved by ‘publisher’, as opposed by author or subject.

Panels by Hunt Emerson (two shown, centre)

The comic strip is installed on the hoarding in front of 107-109 Charing Cross Road, the former Central St Martins building, next door to Foyles flagship bookshop on 113-119 Charing Cross Road, London.

If you’re unable to see the installation in person, all the panels are here on participant John Miers’ site. A few more of our favourites are below.

Foyles is hosting many of the Comica Festival events including a world premiere of the live performance version of ‘The Tale of Brin and Bent and Minno Marylebone’, Aline and Robert Crumb’s only UK appearance, and an evening with artist, Posy Simmonds. More details on this year’s Comica, which runs until the end of November, at comicafestival.com.

By John Miers (panel one)

By Steven Appleby (panel four)

By JAKe (panel six)

By Woodrow Phoenix (panel 15)

By Oliver East (panel 17)

By Warren Pleece (panel 19)

By Rob David (panel 24)

By Donya Todd (panel 26)

By Rian Hughes (panel 27)

FUEL has been working on some interesting projects for two of the UK’s most notable artistic pairings recently: an identity for a new show by Tim Noble and Sue Webster, and a book of illustrated children’s stories by Jake and Dinos Chapman…

For the former, FUEL has created the identity and a range of other materials including a book and record sleeve (shown above) for Noble and Webster’s new exhibition, Nihilistic Optimistic, which is showing at Blain|Southern London until November 24. The ten inch record, which was produced with the Vinyl Factory, features cover images of the pair by photographer, Dennis Morris, who famously documented the Sex Pistols among a host of other musicians.

FUEL’s typography for the identity sets up the opposing notions of nihilism and optimism, and cleverly reflects the dualism of light and shadow that appears in some of Noble and Webster’s most well-known projection-based pieces. In the book (spread shown, below), alternating letters from the ‘Nihilistic’ and ‘Optimistic’ treatments are combined to form jarring section titles.

For the Chapman brothers, FUEL has designed the hardback book which houses the artists’ most recent work: a series of 15 coloured etchings and stories, apparently for children. Published by FUEL, Bedtime Tales for Sleepless Nights is a reworking of the classic Victorian morality tale and promises “visions of hell and voodoo”.

Next week, FUEL and White Cube Bermondsey will present a special signing event by Jake and Dinos Chapman.

It is set to take place in a Wendy house constructed by the artists (shown below), who will apparently be dressed as bunny rabbits.

Each book purchased on the night will contain a raffle ticket, with a draw taking place at 8pm. The prize? Why a personal bedside reading of the book by the artists in the winner’s own home.

Nihilistic Optimistic is at Blain|Southern London until November 24. Bedtime Tales for Sleepless Nights, FUEL Publishing; £19.95. fuel-design.com.

Creative Review’s November issue is out this week and includes features on Wieden + Kennedy, M/M (Paris), GOV.UK, Kraftwerk, and Instagram, plus 85 pages of great images in our Photography Annual 2012…

The Photography Annual is our showcase of great commercial images produced over the last year. The work selected for inclusion is as strong as ever, with photographs by the likes of Tim Flach (whose image of a hairless chimp adorns the front cover of the CR issue, above); Nadav Kander (whose shot of actor Mark Rylance is our Photography Annual cover, shown below); Martin Usborne; Peter Lippmann; Giles Revell and more.

Nadav Kander’s portrait of actor Mark Rylance (shot for the New York Times) features on our Photography Annual cover…

Inside, Eliza Williams takes a look at ad agency Wieden + Kennedy as it marks its 30th anniversary this year; interviewing Dan Wieden and the top creatives at each of the agency’s eight offices around the world to gain a unique insight to the workings of one of the industry’s top networks

As M/M (Paris) celebrates its 20th anniverary, a major new monograph compiles the duo’s distinctive work. Patrick Burgoyne asks if what they do is design, illustration, or beyond such labels.

Mark Sinclair investigates GOV.UK, the first major project from the Government Digital Service which hopes to change the way we interact with the state, through great design.

With a new biography, a lavish compilation of 45 single sleeves and even an eight-night residency at MoMA in recent months, Kraftwerk fans have had much to enjoy. Anthony Burrill explains the appeal the German sonic scientists hold for those in the design profession.

Will Pye wonders what the future holds for Instagram, the world’s most popular image app.

And Gavin Lucas finds that the tradition of designing and producing printed type specimens and samplers is still alive and kicking in the digital age.

In Crit this month, Rick Poynor opens up the big box that is the Phaidon Archive of Graphic Design.

Jeremy Leslie looks at a new exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery in London dedicated to the experimental magazine, Aspen.

Mark Sinclair reviews the Ikon Gallery in Birmingham’s exhibition of the work of the late graphic designer, Tony Arefin.

CR’s new columnist, designer Daniel Benneworth-Gray, writes about going freelance, a year into making the jump himself.

And as EE’s 4G network launches, Michael Evamy looks at the new brand’s visual identity in his Logo Log column.

Plus, in this month’s Monograph, for subscribers only, Tim Sumner of tohave-and-tohold.co.uk dips into Preston Polytechnic’s ephemera archive to pick out a selection of printed paper retail bags from the 70s and 80s:

Please note, CR now has a limited presence on the newsstand at WH Smith high street stores (although it can still be found in WH Smith travel branches at train stations and airports). If you cannot find a copy of CR in your town, your WH Smith store or a local independent newsagent can order it for you. You can search for your nearest stockist here.

Alternatively, call us on 020 7970 4878 to buy a copy direct from us. Based outside the UK? Simply call +44(0)207 970 4878 to find your nearest stockist. Better yet, subscribe to CR for a year here and save yourself almost 30% on the printed magazine.

CR for the iPad

Read in-depth features and analysis plus exclusive iPad-only content in the Creative Review iPad App. Longer, more in-depth features than we run on the blog, portfolios of great, full-screen images and hi-res video. If the blog is about news, comment and debate, the iPad is about inspiration, viewing and reading. As well as providing exclusive, iPad-only content, the app will also update with new content throughout each month. Try a free sample issue here

(Photo: UnBeige)

Among the highlights of this weekend’s inaugural Designers and Books Fair was Debbie Millman’s on-stage conversation with Steven Heller and Louise Fili. Perched on a Florence Knoll two-seater in an auditorium at the Fashion Institute of Technology, the pair discussed everything from the difference between a logo and a brand (“about $500,000,” according to Fili) to the joys of miniature mannequins (“I love these things,” enthused Heller, who credits the couple’s 2002 book on the subject with nearly pricing him out of the mini-mannequin market. “These are sculptures of commerce, raw commercial art.”). Millman’s well-constructed questions touched on many aspects of their nearly 30-year union, including Heller’s marriage proposal. It will come as no suprise that books played a critical role in his popping the question.

Picture it: summertime, Italy, the early ’80s. Fili and Heller were staying in Tuscany, and kept bumping into two of their design-savvy friends, Paula Scher and Henrietta Condak, who were staying nearby. “It became this game, because we were all on a search, out to get the best stuff in Italy–the best books–before anyone else did,” explained Fili. One day, she and Heller arrived at Florence’s Centro Di with just 30 minutes to spare before the bookshop closed for lunch. They noticed that Scher and Condak had also just walked in. “I saw the look on Steve’s face, because he knows this is not a good thing, when he has competition,” said Fili. “So he had to get away from them as fast as possible and get to the books.” A bit of small talk ensued: How’s the trip? What’s new? Heller saw an exit strategy. “Oh, we’re getting married,” he told Scher and Condak, before making a beeline for the books. “He left me to explain,” said Fili. “I didn’t even know what I had to say about it yet, because I didn’t really have any details.” But all’s well that ends well. Added a grinning Heller after Fili had told the tale, “I got the books and I got the dame.”

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