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Championing creativity

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New Originals: introducing the London Rollergirls

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Sponsored / Miscellaneous We've picked our favourite entries from A/D/O's Water Future Design Challenge

Earlier in 2018, A/D/O launched the Water Futures Design Challenge. It was an attempt to get designers and creators to begin conceptualising and imagining innovative new ways in which we can start thinking about solutions to the (currently) toxic attitude many of us have toward drinking water. The crisis is now global, and A/D/O want each and every one of us to consider reimagining our destructive drinking water culture and contemplate designing alternative realities.

Sponsored Content — 11 October 2018
Work / Miscellaneous Palladian Dream: the corrupt, sin-worshipping chapel of the 21st century

The Western world is fascinated by sin. Whether it’s gluttony, envy or lust; healthy food fads, FOMO or sex scandals, narratives of sin provide a framework for how society prescribes cultural norms and defines what it means to be human. And no other institution encapsulates this obsession with immorality quite like the Catholic Church.

Daphne Milner — 08 October 2018
Work / Miscellaneous Asafo flags embody cultural meanings and narratives from Ghana’s Fante people

Barbara Eyeson, the creative director of Asafo Flags, has been collecting and researching the medium for ten years, currently working towards curating an exhibition in London showcasing the exquisite flags. Her family come from Fante’s tribes lining the southern coast of Ghana and Fante people live to the west of Accra, in fishing villages such as Anomabu, Saltpond, Mankessim, Elmina and in the town of Cape Coast. Traditionally, the flags, called Frankaa, are key items of Asafo regalia that adorn the central shrines of Fante villages. The cultural significance of Asafo flags still stands strong often displayed at different social events including festivals, ceremonies and festivals and “are still made and used today as an important part of communal life in Fante villages,” Barbara tells It’s Nice That.

Jyni Ong — 11 September 2018
Sponsored / Miscellaneous From witty still lifes to wacky illustrations, we introduce three talents at JSR

London-based creative management agency JSR represents artists in the fields of photography, illustration, CGI and moving image. Launched in 2005 by Jamie Stephen the agency now represents more than 40 artists, comprising a mix of established and emerging talent. It’s Nice That has selected three of the represented creatives for you to check out.h3. Andy Rudak

It's Nice That — 10 September 2018
Features / Miscellaneous A week at Eike König's female-led and thought-provoking After School Club

At Eike König’s After School Club, there’s everything a design student could ever need. Want to print an A2 artwork of something you’re working on? You can do it and it’s free. Need advice on what typeface is best for something? One of the world’s best designers is sitting over there. In need of a cold coffee to combat the summer heat and your hangover? The cafe serves it with ice or ice cream.

Lucy Bourton — 06 August 2018
Features / Miscellaneous We ask Nadine Redlich, Wieden+Kennedy and more to visualise their highlights of the World Cup

So, the World Cup is officially over for another four years… But what a tournament it was! With 32 teams and a total of 65 matches played across 12 venues, Russia proved itself a worthy host for one of the most entertaining World Cups ever. Packed full of sensational goals, the most expensive tournament to date was also one of the friendliest, bringing people together from all over the world, and allowing the underdogs (see Iceland and, of course, Croatia) to rise, with fewer than ten red cards for the first time ever.

Ruby Boddington — 20 July 2018

Features / Photography “Staying vocal is essential”: Janet Delaney's empowering photographs of 1980s marches

Political history has an awful habit of repeating itself. It seems that no matter the decade, the country or the party involved, governments make terrible decisions that afflict, and often outrage, the general public. In these instances, an equilibrium of passion and exasperation is reached; crowds band together, and two forms of creativity often become their means of protest. The first is a tightly gripped placard voicing concern and the second is photography or, more importantly, photographers; those who document the times when others convene en masse to shout about a social concern. During the 1980s in San Fransisco, there was one particular photographer who embodied this feeling more than many: the gifted, excited and then indignant, Janet Delaney. Janet, who grew up in Los Angeles, began her relationship with San Fransisco during a visit when she was just 14. It was the Summer of Love and the photographer recalls the first day she visited Haight Ashbury – the counterculture birthing district of the 1960s – as seeming “a bit like what I imagined a European city might be”. At this age, inspired by a visit from a German exchange student when she was 11, Janet fantasised about Europe. She loathed “the mall and car culture of LA”, instead covering her bedroom walls with paintings by impressionist artists of European city streets. The city along the coast wasn’t something she gave much thought at all, “coming from Los Angeles,” she says, “I honestly was without a clue about real city life.”

Lucy Bourton — 17 October 2018
Work / Art Yang Qi’s work expresses a strong Chinese and German cultural background

Düsseldorf-based artist Yang Qi is an important member of the Chinese creative diaspora living in Germany. With a PhD in ancient Chinese idiograms, as well as lecturing in the subject since the 1990’s, Yang’s work explores the idea of Chinese graphic symbols. The powerful thick, black, brush strokes in the artist’s work seem familiar to the viewer as they bare a pictorial resemblance to Chinese calligraphy. However, these strokes are in fact independent of any language. Yang’s work significantly experiments with the semiotics of cultural language with particular reference to Chinese pictograms and German expressionism; merging his native cultural identity with his adopted homeland.

Jyni Ong — 16 October 2018
Work / Film Jenny Schweitzer's latest documentary explores gender, competition, and chess

Basketball changed Jenny Schweitzer’s life. A photographer inspired by the work of Helen Levitt, Sally Mann, and Diane Arbus — photographers who told entire, revealing, personal stories in single frames — Jenny found herself studying the medium at the Rhode Island School of Design. “During my sophomore year at RISD, I went to a screening of Steve James’ Hoop Dreams,” she tells us. “After viewing that documentary, I decided to pursue film. What strongly appealed to me was that no other medium can command such a personal, emotional impact as a powerful, well-executed film.”

Josh Baines — 16 October 2018
Work / Exhibition Ronan McKenzie curates I'm Home, an exhibition exploring the black British female experience

“As I am British myself, I am especially interested in the narratives and lives of other British artists, and to be honest, I have never been to a show that solely showcased black British female photographers, and I think one should exist, so I created it,” states London-based photographer Ronan McKenzie.

Ruby Boddington — 16 October 2018
Work / Photography Photographer Andrea Artemisio's wacky realisations breathe fresh air into magazine editorial

“What I love most about fashion is its power — as costume — to signify elements of someone’s life,” photographer Andrea Artemisio tells It’s Nice That. His photography work, though, isn’t as straightforward as model dress-up and point-and-shoot. Andrea creates imagery that makes the viewer feel slightly off-kilter, and fully immersed in a kind of alternative reality.

Laura Isabella — 16 October 2018
Work / Graphic Design Deep Throat Studio may have been borne out of failure but it thrives today

Deep Throat Studio is a Prague-based graphic design studio founded by Jozef Ondrik and Zdenek Kvasnica. We’ve long admired the studio’s output across print and web design, creating a broad output for a range of clients from large firms to non-profit organisations since they started out five years ago. Despite the fact that Deep Throat Studio have several brilliant projects to highlight, the studio was actually borne out of a “total fail from start to finish” when the pair were first commissioned to design a visual identity for a fashion house in LA. Although the project deteriorated, Jozef and Zdenek explain how “funnily enough it made us stronger and brought us closer together and that’s how it all began.”

Jyni Ong — 16 October 2018

Work / Photography Sunny Side Up: a fake new exhibition by Sunny, a fake artist

Sunny Side Up is artist Sunny’s new solar-themed show that doesn’t actually exist. And neither does Sunny. Confused? You should be used to fake news by now…

Daphne Milner — 16 October 2018
Work / Photography Charlie Kwai's latest series "flirts with a seductive facade of Chinatown"

Photographic series by born-and-bred Londoner, Charlie Kwai, provide sneak peeks into the various neighbourhoods and cultures which inhabit this giant city. From businessmen to behind-the-scenes at fashion shows, Charlie’s work may allow us to be nosey from afar, but the way he takes the photographs is very much in the subject’s face. With a flash always clamped to the top of his camera, if you hang around anywhere interesting for long enough, you might just spot him darting around, particularly if you’ve been in Chinatown recently.

Lucy Bourton — 16 October 2018
Work / Art Artist Danny Fox on his new book, A Cut Above The Eye

“The same old shite, really” is artist Danny Fox’s response when asked about what he’s been up to since we last spoke. This, of course, isn’t quite true. Danny’s modesty stops him from mentioning his latest book Danny Fox: A Cut Above The Eye, which was published by Copenhagen’s V1 Gallery only a couple of months ago. The publication documents the Los Angeles-based painter’s artworks from the past seven years and traces his creative evolution between the years 2011 and 2018. But this impressive feat doesn’t subtract from Danny’s good-humoured self-reflections: “I was living the high life for a bit, had a house up on the hill and it was very nice. It had fruit trees in the yard and you could smell the lemons in the morning. I’ve moved back into the studio now, Los Angeles street. Hell.”

Daphne Milner — 15 October 2018
Work / Exhibition Unit Editions’ study of Letraset takes on a new form in this Sheffield exhibition

Letraset: The DIY Typography Revolution, held at the Sheffield Institute of Arts, takes a comprehensive look at the history of the rubdown lettering system. Based on the Unit Editions book of the same name, the exhibition considers both the heyday of Letraset – with millions of sheets being sold from the beginning of the 1960s until the 1990s – and its present-day revival.

Billie Muraben — 15 October 2018
Work / Animation Thomas Traum directs Kenzo’s latest video set in a Rousseau-inspired haven

Kenzo’s latest campaign film for Collection Memento No3 directed by Thomas Traum, sees Kenzo’s latest garments amidst atmospheric tropics. Using all the tools on the market, the high-definition render recreates the sultry landscapes of Henri Rousseau paintings in their latest campaign. Accompanied by a thrumming soundtrack by Still and art directed by Charlie Noon, the 52 second video sees two Kenzo-adorned characters exploring the forested thickets of Thomas’s imagination.

Jyni Ong — 15 October 2018
Work / Art Artist Yuko Mohri creates improvised ecosystems through found objects

Japan-based artist Yuko Mohri is internationally renowned for her kinetic installations. Her interactive installations detect invisible and intangible forces such as magnetism, gravity and light and cause a performative chain of events that raise themes of chance and transience.

Jyni Ong — 15 October 2018

Work / Photography The Red Road Project is a celebration of Native American cultures

According to Native American teachings, the Red Road is a positive path that guides its followers away from addiction, vices and violence. It is from this learning that photographer Carlotta Cardana and writer Danielle SeeWalker’s collaborative series The Red Road Project got its name. Over the past few years, the duo have travelled across the US in order to meet and photograph the country’s Native American population. 

Daphne Milner — 15 October 2018
Features / Publication Myth-busting: Split's Oli Bentley on interrogating northern identity through typography

The North looms large in our collective consciousness. Both reductive and somehow not enough, the very phrase connotes and denotes so much that in many ways, the North seems to be less of a place than an idea — a myth, almost.

Josh Baines — 15 October 2018
Sponsored / Product Design Peer inside the creative minds behind KOMONO's Signature Collection

They say time waits for no man or woman. Who “they” are is one of life’s bigger questions, and one to ponder another day. Back in 2009, Belgian horology buffs Raf Maes and Anton Janssens founded KOMONO, a watch brand that’s more than a watch brand; KOMONO is a community of dreamers and designers dedicated to perfectly timed accessories, and rooted in the Belgian tradition of fierce dedication to quality and craft.

It's Nice That — 15 October 2018
Work / Exhibition Studio Makgill present ten objects that capture the beauty of simplicity

Today marks the opening of a small but perfectly formed exhibition in Bermondsey: Beautifully Simple. The show was put together by Brighton-based Hamish Makgill, founder of design and branding agency Studio Makgill, and his team as a way of celebrating the studio’s tenth birthday. At the centre of the exhibition is a simple idea (and, as you’ll immediately spot, simplicity is a recurring theme here) – displaying a selection of ten objects and projects from around the world that embody the studio’s design philosophy.

Matt Alagiah — 12 October 2018
Regulars / Nicer Tuesdays Margot Bowman talks us through the creation of her short, Common Misconceptions

Joining us at Nicer Tuesdays September was creative director and filmmaker, Margot Bowman. Speaking through the process and reasons behind the creation of her short, Common Misconceptions made in collaboration with Lynette Nylander and Boiler Room, Margot highlighted the misconceptions of men’s attitude towards women in club culture.

It's Nice That — 12 October 2018
Work / Graphic Design Creative director Scott King on the John Grant album artwork he likens to “producing a piece of mini-theatre”

Towards the close of 2017, American singer-songwriter John Grant contacted creative director Scott King to ask whether he’d be interested in doing the artwork for his new album, Love is Magic. “He really liked the Saint Etienne Home Counties sleeve I’d just done, and said he ‘loved’ the Roisin Murphy Overpowered campaign that I did many years ago. He was very complimentary, so I was easily won over,” Scott tells It’s Nice That. “It’s been a very long job, almost a year from the initial discussions to the album release, and we had quite a few false starts, but it was an enjoyable process.”

Billie Muraben — 12 October 2018

Work / Graphic Design Good Type’s new fonts continue to rivet the typographic community

Oslo-based type foundry Good Type offer accessible retail and custom typefaces with an exceptional attention to detail. Established two years ago by Kenneth Knutsen, the type foundry has rapidly expanded. Their typefaces have been used by the design elite like Pentagram, to Reebok and Crack magazine.

Jyni Ong — 12 October 2018
Work / Digital Area of Work's CGI objects will make you do a double take

Comprised of art directors and graphic designers Amine Ghorab and Scott Renau, Paris-based creative studio Area of Work produces the kind of work which makes you do a double take. Slick and hyperrealistic, the duo’s output is as compelling as it is adept.

Ruby Boddington — 12 October 2018
Work / Photography Romain Jacquet-Lagreze’s Concrete Stories captures rooftop scenes, but not the kind you’d imagine

Hong-Kong-based photographer Romain Jacquet-Lagreze’s series Concrete Stories captures sensitive and humble scenes on the rooftops of the densely populated capital. Over here, the word “rooftop” can bring to mind pools slapped atop Soho bars, or palm-fringed penthouses barely occupied by oligarchs. Romain’s Concrete Stories explores another kind of resilient rooftop-dweller, one intent on not letting luxury buildings and high rises take away their community and culture.

Laura Isabella — 12 October 2018
Regulars / Friday Mixtape DJ Python's Friday Mixtape is expansive, eclectic, and excellent

Now, here at It’s Nice That, we like deep house. Come to our studio and you’ll see a bunch of us sat behind laptops nodding our heads to Theo Parrish 12"s and Jus-Ed radio sets. We also like reggaeton. Which means we were always going to be super into the music that Brian Piñeyro makes as DJ Python.

Josh Baines — 12 October 2018
Work / Photography Peter Funch returns to New York to document visual similarities in the city's workers

Around this time last year, we wrote about a series of photos, taken over nine years, which showed the same people in the same spot, on the same road in New York City, in scarily similar compositions. The series, titled 42nd and Vanderbilt, is the work of Danish photographer Peter Funch’s keen eye. Now, online publication Topic has employed that same keen eye to document the workers of the city in Peter’s signature formulaic style.

Ruby Boddington — 12 October 2018
Work / Digital Sun Yunfan's surprising visuals create a new kind of poetic language between her music and art

“Born in a mountainous area in China, I have always been fascinated by animals, strangely shaped rocks and landscapes,” multi-disciplinary artist Sun Yunfan tells It’s Nice That. Yunfan is one part of electronic music/ visual art duo Shanghai Restoration Project. With partner Dave Liang, she works from their Brooklyn apartment living room, creating genre-bending, border-traversing and retro-futuristic visuals and music.

Laura Isabella — 12 October 2018

Work / Publication Far Near is a curated book series broadening the perspectives of Asia

Far Near is a new book series dedicated to the conversation surrounding multi-national Asian identity. Curated by Lulu Yao Gioello, the publication expands the dominative ideas around Asia through intimate images and personal accounts of those within the Asian diaspora. Volume one centres around movement, featuring over 30 stories across 308 pages delicately bound together using exposed Swiss binding with a unique hand-stamped slip cover.

Jyni Ong — 12 October 2018
Regulars / Nicer Tuesdays Superimpose explain the worth in creating a studio that's culturally rooted and fully independent

Superimpose, a global but fully independent studio based in London (and soon LA), were the second to take the stage at September’s Nicer Tuesdays.

Its Nice That — 11 October 2018
Work / Animation Gabriel Gabriel Garble's new animated film sees perfume as pure escapism

Vacuum, a new short film by London-based animator Gabriel Gabriel Garble, opens with a mechanical whir and a bird’s-eye view of a supermarket conveyor belt. As a pack of six vacuum-packed grapes passes along the belt in front of us, a cold voice from a PA system cuts across the incessant drone: “Organic scents are prohibited by law in public spaces.”

Matt Alagiah — 11 October 2018
Work / Photography More insane – and insanely good – work from photographer JP Bonino

We were first introduced to the work – and the insane universe – of Uruguay-born and now Paris-based photographer JP Bonino as part of The Dream Team project back at the end of 2017. Shown to us by multidisciplinary and equally mad creative Max Siedentopf, JP made us a series of photographs where subjects had snakes for belts, eyes were kept open with matchsticks and wannabe brides flew through the air with their sights set on the bouquet. In the year that’s followed JP’s work has continued to be as bonkers as ever, particularly in a new series of promotional images for Argentinian musician, Louta.

Lucy Bourton — 11 October 2018
Work / Illustration De Stijl inspired illustrator Jacco Bunt explores sacred geometry

“I have no memories of being a child and drawing,” says shape-mad Dutch illustrator Jacco Bunt. Like a lot of 18-year-olds, Jacco found himself applying for art school. Unlike the bulk of them, he did it without a portfolio. That didn’t work out, so he took up another course, quit, entered the world of work, and then began exploring his creative side. It wasn’t until he was 20 that he began drawing in earnest.

Josh Baines — 11 October 2018
Work / Film Matt Houghton's latest film explores the wild combination of brutality and care in boxing

Matt Houghton’s a director with an eye for documentary storytelling which he renders into short films with the aesthetic nuances of a feature. Well-known for his short Landline documenting a helpline set up by a chaplain from Cheshire lending a listening to ear to gay farmers, Matt has recently released a new film, Hands Up, Chin Down. Equally as insightful as Landline, this time the director focuses his lens on the boxing community centred around the voice of Jerry Mitchell, a respected coach in the amateur boxing field.

Lucy Bourton — 11 October 2018

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