WINDOW WORK

Owl Paints the Raven’

In collaboration with THE ELDERSTATESMAN

An artist interpretation of the Inuit myth by Jade Townsend

For the lead up to Christmas I created a window for HOSTEM which was to feature the beautiful cashmere pieces by the incredible brand The Elderstatesman.

For the window I was inspired by an Inuit myth. Its a beautiful story called ‘Owl Paints the Raven’ and is a tale of how the plumage of both Owl and Raven came to be coloured. I made the owls with stunning cashmere from The Elderstatesman studio, painted hand made paper and then suspended them. The owls are flying way with the product amongst a beautiful old pear tree installed especially for the display.

The story starts with two birds, Owl and Raven, who have stark white plumage.

The Raven has become bored with his plain features and asks Owl if she is bored with being white as well. The Owl responds that she too is unsatisfied by her colouring. Raven proposes that the birds paint each other’s plumage so that they are no longer as white as the snow around them, and Owl agrees.

Raven paints Owl first, drawing gray circles of various sizes all over his friend’s feathers. When he is finished, Raven is overcome by what a good job he has done and steps back so that Owl may look at herself. Turning his head to the sun and staying still as possible, Raven the waits while Owl paints him. Once Owl has finished, she begins to admire her work. However, when she looks back at herself she realizes that Raven now looks more beautiful than she does. Owl accordingly goes over to the lamp from which Raven had taken the burnt-fat and pours the remnants over Raven.

Owl then flies away; Raven shrieks after her, ‘Oh, you sharp-clawed Owl, oh, you keen-eyed Owl, what have you done?! You have made me blacker than soot, blacker than night!

I kind of imagined myself as the Raven… I suppose, as I was making them. I love how visual the story is.

CASELY-HAYFORD WINDOW COLLABORATION IN HOSTEM

FREELANCE WINDOW DESIGN

The first window installation at HOSTEM was going to have to be spectacular, considered and an organic extension of what aesthetically the store has already achieved. The avant-garde luxury menswear store chose the tailored threads of Casely-Hayford, their creative vision and ‘Desert Storm’ collection as inspiration. Oh, plus some help from me.

CCH: Casely-Hayford Spring/Summer 11 collection was inspired by the purity and aesthetic of the nomad. We turned to american artist Georgia O’Keeffe for inspiration for the subdued colour palette and the tranquil mood of the collection.

We wanted to realise our nomadic theme by drawing on elements taken from her work which deals with the sombre tonality of death, expressed through her vivid use of skulls, positioned within a setting of calm and still- a morbid tranquility. It illustrates the notion of a new beginning that negates excess – expressed though O’Keeffe’s work which explores anddissects the power of nature.

JT: Together Charlie, Joe and myself developed the ideas. The HOSTEM magazine which features a beautiful story of their clothes led us down a path which encouraged us to consider ‘distortion’. From there we embraced the collision of ‘distortion and movement’. The mannequins took on half man half beast attributes, which I made from wire and manipulated to look as though they were being ‘blown away/apart, blown up’.

The hoofs I made from hessian a nod at both C-H and HOSTEM, a way to pull together the forms, fabrics and environment. The mannequins suspended in the air sway and blow in the breeze, created by a hidden fan.

The Casely-Hayford window installation will be in HOSTEM, 41-43 Redchurch Street, London for the next month.

HERMÈS, CHRISTMAS WINDOWS, UK

FREELANCE WINDOW PRODUCTION

Hermes were quick to snap up Kyle Bean fresh from the back of his success an art student in Brighton. Known for his clever and precise creations with paper this window was the first of two collaboration between himself and Hermes.

The theme was, ‘travelling band’, with Rebecca Cocks, long time Hermes window designer drawing up the illustrations and the team at CREEA (including myself), bringing the ideas to fruition.

HERMÉS, SHELL BIKE WINDOWS, UK

FREELANCE WINDOW PRODUCTION

Freelance work for Hermès. Literally never want to see a shell near a bike ever again. They did look amazing though.

I worked on this window with the usual team which includes Rebecca Cocks and CREEA. It was a pretty huge task… with lots of different varieties of shells in heaps of colours. We decorated 13 bikes altogether which were installed across all the stores in the UK. I loved going to see them in Bond St because there was always a crowd of passers-by taking pictures of them! The just looked great!

HERMÈS, CAROUSEL HORSES, UK

FREELANCE PAINTING

I was invited by Hermes to paint 13 horses for the windows for the UK. I worked with Creea, first making them from fibre-glass and then taking inspiration from prints on the scarfs from the new collection which I painted. They were truely beautiful and I was given one as a gift at the end of the installation.