First Dates for those who create: two-thirds of Nous Vous on their special three-way relationship

Date
12 February 2016

Three-way creative powerhouse Nous Vous formed in Leeds in 2006, and the trio’s six legs belong to designers, artists and illustrators Jay Cover, Nicolas Burrows and William Edmonds. The collective has made a name for itself through a colourful and community-minded approach to creativity, born from close personal friendships and making things fun. We caught up with Nicolas and Jay to talk about how their relationship works, and where it’s going next.

Nicolas Burrows

How did you meet?

Leeds is small and we were aware of what each other was doing, and noticed similar aspirations/attitudes in each other’s work. We met at an exhibition in the end I think.

How did you know you could work together?

Because we were happy to experiment and to get things wrong, and we all had and still have a mutual respect for each other’s work and approach. And because a lot of projects we worked on ended up better having been done together than they would have been had they been individual responses.

What’s been your favourite project you’ve worked on together?

Probably what we’re trying to do now – start a small press. We’ve only just begun but it feels like a good way to work together, allowing individual freedom but through a channel that’s been collaboratively curated and designed.

What makes your [creative] relationship special?

We can be totally ourselves when working together. We’re almost incapable of taking anything seriously. When things go wrong we manage to make it into something funny or fun so nothing ever seems that bad. We’re very tolerant of each other’s foibles.

What’s the best thing about Jay?

Healthy competition and sound advice.

What’s the worst thing about Jay?

Sometimes we lock horns over ideas, we can all be stubborn.

What does your future together look like?

As mentioned above, we’re working on a small press. If we an get that up and running we’ll be free to make our own content (images, writing etc.) and design our own books to distribute through our own steam. I think we’re shifting towards ways of working like this where we can focus on our own work within a collaborative framework or something that’s been jointly curated. So more self-driven output less working for the man.

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Nous Vous: A Watery Line, Tetley

Jay Cover

How did you meet?

We met through mutual friends who were involved in the music and art scene in Leeds in 2006. And continued meeting, bumping into one another at events and exhibitions.

How did you know you could work together?

It became clear we all had a similar ethos and similar aspirations and we felt at ease with one another. This wasn’t a guarantee that working together would work, this happened slowly. We met at a stage when we were figuring out our approach to practice and evolved this together. Not having a solid, defined way of working really helped with the openness necessary to collaborate effectively.  

What’s been your favourite project you’ve worked on together?

The projects we enjoy the most are probably the exhibitions we do together, they’re a good combination of self-motivated hard work and fun. Our A Watery Line show at The Tetley in Leeds was a good example, we took over floor of the gallery; put on an exhibition, created a site-specific installation, organised several workshops for the community with other artists we admired, each took a room and did a two week residency focussing individual projects and invited people to evening events, featuring music, poetry readings and drinking. I guess when we find that place where we can all input as individuals, consider what we want to promote collectively and organise and curate activity together through talking and refining collective ideas. 

What makes your [creative] relationship special?

Hard to say because don’t have much idea of what the comparison is. But one thing we all hold dear is that we’re very good friends, first and foremost, if this was compromised because of work we’d probably break up the band. 

What’s the best thing about Nicolas?

Constant on-tap inspiration and insight into personal practice (that other people never see). 

What’s the worst thing about Nicolas?

We’re all a bit messy and un-organised.

What does your future together look like?

We’re currently setting up our publishing arm (Nous Vous Press) in a more significant way, we’ve always made prints, publications and objects for leisure but felt it was time to take this more seriously and potentially as a way of exploring how we earn income and evolve our practice. Paying more attention to the press creates a context for our personal practice so we can focus more on creating the work we want to make and share with people. So we’ll see where that goes. 

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Nous Vous: Dartford Ecology

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Nous Vous: Green Man 2014

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Nous Vous: Green Man 2014

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Nous Vous: Walker Arts Centre

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About the Author

Emily Gosling

Emily joined It’s Nice That as Online Editor in the summer of 2014 after four years at Design Week. She is particularly interested in graphic design, branding and music. After working It's Nice That as both Online Editor and Deputy Editor, Emily left the company in 2016.

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