Steph Wilson, DR. ME, Women Who and Benedict Redgrove at Nicer Tuesdays August

Date
31 August 2016

August’s Nicer Tuesdays was an amalgamation of alternate creatives from various backgrounds. A mix of collage artwork, political messages, communicative advice and an insight into the attraction of process, the evening left us noticing the meaning, beauty and incredibly hard work behind the creative industry.

Mark Edwards, one half of creative studio DR.ME opened the night describing the process behind their recent publication Cut That Out. Inspired by the immediacy of illustrating with collage, the pair decided to make a collage every day for a year. In order to keep on track they set themselves constrictions: “Each collage was 230mm x 180mm, the size of an envelope. They could be bought for £10 each, available at 1pm everyday.” Placing these restrictions on themselves was a decision Mark took very seriously. “They went up for sale at 1pm everyday without fail, even when I was in Paris with my girlfriend or up mount Snowdon on a stag do”.

Once the project was completed DR.ME approached Thames & Hudson about publishing their year’s worth of work in a book, but unfortunately “they said, and I quote, ‘we only publish books on people who are famous or dead’, and since we’re neither, they suggested we pitch another idea.” The result is Cut That Out, which showcases the most innovative use of collage from 50 graphic designers across 15 countries. An exhibition of the works will be on show at KK Outlet from 5 — 29th October and is available to buy “in all good book stores, (and some bad ones too)”.

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Mark Edwards, DR.ME at Nicer Tuesdays

Next up photographer Steph Wilson talked us through her fast-paced career in creating work with political messages embedded, often cushioned by humour or wit. The photographer described that creating successful work was all about “creating a balance”, to make work with a talking point but to make it approachable. “There is a reason why cat videos go viral, people want to see something cute.”

From a background in fine art photography and painting Steph kickstarted a path editorially through an internship at Dazed. This allowed her work to cause much more impact due to social media than if she was presenting in gallery, she says. She talked us through Emoji a project commissioned by Ashleigh Kane that was responsible for causing a stir on It’s Nice That and many others over the past few weeks, which demonstrates the real life use of emojis to cover nudity on social media platforms. The series references the classic aubergine cover up, a kitten — “you can only cover a pussy with a pussy” — a strategically placed sparkle to cover a naked behind, and one that seems to cause the most of a stir, a Sarah Lucas-inspired piece showing fried eggs covering nipples.

Steph additionally gave the audience a sneak peak of an upcoming series for Dazed, displaying “coping mechanisms for anxiety”. The series is stunningly shot, with the photographer’s calm style drawing attention to a disorder that affects many. It is a project that sums up the photographers talent for combining serious issues represented communicatively.

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Steph Wilson at Nicer Tuesdays

Post interval, the next speaker was Otegha Uwagba from Women Who, a new platform “in URL and IRL” that connects the dots between artists, makers, thinkers and entrepreneurs. The project grew “from a period of feeling lost” for Otegha who sought to create “a format to provide support and influence”.

To begin the launch of the platform Otegha wrote Little Black Book to showcase and encourage the content that would be provided on Women Who. The book contains a range of advice from money management, which Otegha believes to be “just as important as the creative side of working”, and guidance on networking, highlighting how working as a woman “is an entirely different experience from being a man”.

Following the success of the Little Black Book (the first print run sold out almost instantly), Women Who provides interviews with empowering women which Otegha hopes will “allow women who are similar to collaborate” explaining that the whole experience has provided her with “an excuse to buddy up with other creatives.” With events planned over the autumn, Otegha appears filled with excitement about how this community will grow, and we are too.

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Otegha Uwagba, Women Who

Finally, our last speaker was the joyful Benedict Redgrove, a photographer and filmmaker whose work highlights the enchanting quality of functionality. Benedict’s ability to shoot grand objects by concentrating on the calmer, graphical side grew from an interest in the objects themselves. “Form follows function, and the beauty is in its purpose” he explained. “Designs often look great but do they work? Often products look good but they’re useless, a bit like Kim Kardashian.”

Benedict displayed a variety of projects from his career including a vast project he has been completing with NASA over the past five years. He additionally gave us a behind the scenes description of his film documenting how a tennis ball is made, commissioned by ESPN for the US Open. The video hypnotised the entire It’s Nice That editorial team when we first saw it, and the Nicer Tuesdays audience too, and it was just as captivating to hear him talk about the process. Shot and made in just four hours the film displays 24 different manufacturing processes, amid which Benedict admits he “got totally lost, it’s hypnotic, we were lulled into it”. Undeterred by the heat and sheer noise of the factory, Benedict rushed between the alternative operations, using the noise of machines to provide a soundtrack to the film which is “utilitarian and pure in its process.” Benedict also mentioned the impressive success of the film, which rocket fuelled from 5,000 to 1.4 million views in three days after it was published by It’s Nice That.

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Benedict Redgrove at Nicer Tuesdays

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Supported by Park Communications

Nicer Tuesdays is also supported by Park Communications one of London’s eminent, most friendly and approachable printers.

Nicer Tuesdays is a monthly event curated by It’s Nice That held at Protein Studios in London. Tickets for the event sell out quickly, to buy tickets ahead of general sale please sign up to our newsletter.

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