London based duo Marcus Wilmont and Maki Aminaka Löfvander are the masterminds behind Aminaka Wilmont, a label that is rising high with collection after collection that combined experimental cutting and avant-garde print, yet incredibly sexy and chic. Marcus talked to Everzine about their past, present and future.

Where did you grow up?

Maki grew up in both the North of Sweden and in Japan, splitting her time between the hectic city life of Tokyo and Osaka, and the quiet countryside of Northern Sweden. I grew up in Copenhagen. 

How did you meet and how did the label started?

Maki was the studio manager for eccentric designer Robert Cary-Williams and I was doing my Masters degree at the Royal College of Art. I applied to do the internship at RCW and it was Maki who interviewed me and took me on. Robert was actually the first person to notice how well we worked together and that we shared an obvious mutual directional aesthetics. He was very encouraging in helping us to make the decision to start out on our own. When I won ITS in 2005 we finally had the incentive and modest funds to try and make it work. We really have not looked back since and it has been an extraordinary journey so far.

What was the Influence behind the AW 12 collection?

The main source of inspiration was perfume and scent, and how it is constructed in 3 'layers' - called top notes (Head), middle notes (Heart) and base notes - that all release over different time-intervals. The idea that something as beautifully invisible and abstract as scent is 'constructed' was a revolutionary thought to us, and once you are made aware of this particular sense another surreal but wonderful world opens up.

We were also very conscious that it needed some strength and toughness in order to balance everything out so we went for a neo-punkish direction for the styling of the show.

Can you describe your partnership?

We work on every aspect of the collection together but the development creatively happens through conflict between us. When we start a new season we each go away and develop a direction we are inspired by. We then come together and work our way through the ideas - which is always a tumultuous and difficult process. But it is through this process that the final direction is created and without this conflict our work would not attain the necessary strength, quality
and depth.

Your label started in 2006, after 6 years, what was the most important thing that you have learnt along the way?

Listen to yourself and do not take criticism too personally. Always remember that the fashion industry is build primarily on perception rather than actuality.

How do you re-charge yourselves in terms of ideas and creativity?

I read. It is my way of switching off, but also for discovering things that will catch my eye and later on stir my curiosity. Maki recharges by hanging out with her best friends. They never sit still and are always out discovering the most unbelievable places, people and experiences in the city. I suppose they challenge the idea that life is what you make it and that if experiences are out there why not seek them out? 

In a few days time you will be showing your Spring Summer‘13 collection, what can we expect from it?

It is a tougher woman this season. The visuals we where looking for was of a neo-punk girl stumbling into a perfumery and making a serious mess... The shapes are both very fitted but also loose in a sensual and unique form. The draping is effortlessly complex, fully utilizes the graphicness of the prints and is framed by the exclusive lightweight and tailored leather pieces. 

Any new projects or plans for the future?

So much is going on at the moment. We are quietly launching on-line store this season coming with AMINAKA WILMONT 'Untitled' which is us releasing some exclusive new styles mid-season. We are doing a joint film project with some friends that will be a running project throughout. And finally, we are toying with the idea of a special happening to do with our studio and the way we work.

At just 18 Fannie moved to London from Sweden to study tailoring. After a number of internships with highly acclaimed designers, like Giles Deacon and Hussain Chalayan, she launched her first collection before even graduating from the London College of Fashion. Her reputation grew as she received the New Gen award from the British Fashion Council for three consecutive years.

Her trademark metal chain designs mix, clean, geometric shapes with intricate details. Her unique hand-made accessories are now stocked globally and have been worn by artists including Lady Gaga, Rihanna and Katy Perry.

EVERZINE: What is the inspiration behind your AW'12 collection?

FANNIE SCHIAVONI: I draw inspiration from a lot of different places when I start a new collection. I looked at Victorian embellishment and also the movie “Waterworld”, which I realise is very random, however I never have one straightforward influence for my collections. The more important element to me is the handcraft techniques I use, I tend to work with the materials as opposed to sculpting on a mannequin or design sketches.

What attracted you to move to London and to study at LCF?

It wasn’t really planned, I initially wanted to take a year out and travel the world, London just happened to be my first stop and I ended up staying. I am really happy I ended up at the tailoring course at LCF though - I love pattern cutting. I also try to aim as high as possible and the vast competition is what attracted me to apply for a BA in womenswear at LCF.

Currently you work is more focused on metal-based accessories, but you previously studied tailoring and womenswear design. How did this change of direction happen?

My final year collection at LCF was partly inspired by my hometown; which has a rich medieval history - that’s how the chain mail accessories came about. The buyer at Browns Focus in London then saw them and put an order in before I had even graduated.

Do you think your experience working with Hussein Chalayan influenced your accessories design and the running of your label?

Interning at Hussein Chalayan was amazing and I think it’s all down to Hussein himself. Being the head of a company it’s extremely important how you treat your employees and I think Hussein is doing a great job and that’s why many people in his company have been there for over 20 years; he has such a pleasant working environment that trickles down to even the interns. I try to mirror this with my working environment and I now have a few interns that have been with me for over a year - I take that as a sign I am doing something right.

When you were growing up in Sweden, did you always want to be a designer or do you still have dreams you may wish to one day fulfill?

It constantly changed, I considered a lot of careers, but they were all creative. My initial ideas were photographer, architect, fashion designer and if I had to do it all over again I would love to explore photography.

My dream for the future would be being the creative director for a bigger company. I like the ability to be able to steer a company in your own artistic direction and work across a number of different fields.

How do you think your upbringing in Sweden has helped shape your designs?

My Swedish heritage has no doubt influenced my design aesthetic. I still appreciate and love designers such as Louise Gray or Fred Butler, but when I design I only find harmony in simplicity.

You had previously collaborated with British contemporary artist Simon Henwood on a hugely successful project, 'Black Sun' for DIESEL. Are you working on any new collaborative projects?

I recently created a menswear capsule collection sold exclusively in Paul Smith.

Do you think you may be doing more womenswear alongside your accessories in the future?

Yes, I don’t see myself converting fully into a womenswear brand, but I do find myself missing pattern cutting.

What can we expect from Fannie Schiavoni in the next 12 months?

Firstly there will be a lot of influence from upcoming travel; mainly Tokyo
which is my favourite city. Then for next season I am aiming for bigger and bolder pieces.

Malarky’s work adorns the brick walls and doorways of London. Walk 100 yards in Shoreditch or Brixton and chances are you’ll get a smile from one of his vividly colourful 2D animal characters. One-eyed bats and three eyed cats. He chose this corner as the location of this interview as it the latest to get the Malarky treatment.

W: Wow, it’s huge.

M: Thanks.

W: So we’re supposed to ask each other questions about our pasts and our what we do. Then discuss the possibility of a collaboration.

M: Yeah. Do you wanna start?

W: Yes I do. So Malarky, where were you born?

M: Bromley – have you any idea where that is?

W: No. I’m sorry. Is that where you started creating street art?

M: Sort of. It all started through skating. Looking at the different graphics on skate- boards and graffiti at the parks got me interested in that sort of of DIY culture. I started making my own stickers and put them up everywhere. And stickers then became spray- paint.

W: Respect.

M: What about you?

W: Before I came to England, I wanted to be a comic artist or a character designer. To do what you do perhaps. Growing up in Hong Kong, you can’t get away from Japanese manga. I still have a huge collection of Dragon Ball Z.

M: I love that cartoon.

W: Really?!

Will bends his knees and pumps, shooting a pretend fire ball at Malarky.

W: “Kamehameha!”

Malarky carries on the conversation while William returns to a normal standing position.

M: So why did you come to England?

W: To study in an art foundation course. It was here that I really started to develop my style, while still taking inspiration from those early Japanese influences, developing how I draw and use colours. Did you study art?

M: Architecture.

W: Really? Very cool.

M: During the day I was learning how to design buildings and at night I was sneaking around painting them. I was inspired by the work of The Burning Candy Crew.

Will whips out his iPhone for a quick Google search.

W: Extreme.

M: I started with letter pieces but I wanted my work to interact with the surrounding so I developed my characters. It’s fun to adapt my painting to work with the wall and the street. Whatever the shape or space, I can always work around it. It’d be boring if it was the same thing all the time.

W: Yes. Being spontaneous is key. After moving to England I started to listen to lots of different music. I love freeform jazz and try to take inspiration from it to work in a spontaneous way.

A box of fish and chips, being carried by a local, catches Will’s eye .

W: Oh, sweet branding.

M: So how’d you end up working in advertising?

W: When I was studying, I was also creating flyers for clubs and met people who were working as digital designers. I became known as the guy who ‘draws and programs’. Advertising was becoming more digital so I soon got my first job.

M: Do you enjoy the work?

W: In the UK, advertising already allows a lot more freedom than in my native Hong Kong. Especially at The Corner where we are collaborating with many different talents and producing really fresh work. I can be designing a poster one moment and programming a website the next. It is full on. I left home to live here so I need a job to prove to myself and my family back home that I can do well in London.

M: My family think I’m an architect.

W: Really?

M: Well, I was working in an architecture firm in Newcastle but I got fed up with the office culture. So I went to live and paint in Barcelona. I developed my style on the walls of the Catalan capital. I’m in London now but I’ll keep traveling and painting in different places. I won’t stop as long as I’m still enjoying it.

W: What inspired you to do the piece in the school?

Will’s referring to an 18 feet high wall that Malarky painted for a community project.

M: Community is important to me. Those kids were pretty wild. They just say what they think straight away, which was interesting. They were really into what we were doing. It was the same when I first started to paint in Brixton, some parents walking by would be telling their little kids, ‘look there is another monster going up on the wall’, and the kids loved it. It’s that kind of thing that inspires me.

W: Yes. I keep myself inspired with self-initiated projects, working with a new generation of programmers. We have been working on apps that, let’s say, instead of using Flash or Photoshop, us our own version of Flash and Photoshop that we are building. Right now I am working on a music video for a Japanese DJ, as well as finishing a browser- based game.

M: The bits of that that I understand sound good. So you’re big on digital.

W: ‘Digital’ is a strange word, but yes. It’s significant in everything I do. So, what if we digitize your work?

M: What does that mean?

W: Well...

Will places a hand on Malarky’s shoulder.

W: Look at this wall. The community can look at it and enjoy it but imagine if they could play around with all the individual elements. The eyes, mouth, teeth, colours, patterns, shapes, lines, curves, everything.

M: What, like a collage that hasn’t been glued down?

W: Yes, but digital. Shareable. We can digitize every element of every piece of work you’ve ever done and put them on a website where anyone can create their own Malarky piece. Children, grown ups, whoever. And share it, wherever.

M: Sounds cool.

W: This is so exciting. It can be a picture, a video, or even you going out there to paint their versions of your work, making their digital design a reality.

Will keeps talking excitedly long after the interview is over. If he has any meetings after this one, he’ll surely be late, again.

First we need to talk about Chinese roast duck,“It is such a symbol of Chinese cooking, I wanted to see how the Roast Duck sees Chinatown” said Martin. “In 1998, I started to work in Melbourne’s Chinatown as a waiter, there were only 15 or so shops and restaurants, so people knew each other very well in the community. Since I worked at the same restaurant, 60 hours a week, people started to recognise me, and even said hello to me when I was on the street outside Chinatown. I felt I had a persona in Chinatown, just like the roast duck.”

Martin bought a duck, made a pinhole in its stomach, inserted photo paper and tried to capture an image. It took some trial and error but, after some failed attempts, eventually he managed to produce photos through it. “The most attractive aspect of pinhole photography to me is never the technique, but what a hole can do to form an image. We all know how advanced camera equipment is these days, they make perfect exposures, sharpness and images are so ‘correct’ and ‘accurate'. But pinhole cameras do not have that absolute result, they allow failure. I think failure is fascinating; it leads you to a new door.”

Martin bought a duck, made a pinhole in its stomach, inserted photo paper and tried to capture an image. It took some trial and error but, after some failed attempts, eventually he managed to produce photos through it. “The most attractive aspect of pinhole photography to me is never the technique, but what a hole can do to form an image. We all know how advanced camera equipment is these days, they make perfect exposures, sharpness and images are so ‘correct’ and ‘accurate'. But pinhole cameras do not have that absolute result, they allow failure. I think failure is fascinating; it leads you to a new door.”

When Martin was a boy, he lived with seven members of his family in a small flat in Hong Kong, the comics that his two uncles often brought home were where Martin first began to pay attention to how images can tell 
a story. Aged 16, he went alone to Australia to study in high school, and it was here he first learnt about photography, “the 18 year old me thought photography was everything. After high school I went on to an art school to study photography, and then decided to pursue it as a career,” said Martin.

To begin with he tried to learn all he could about proper photography: using film, the dark room, medium format, large format, all the craft of traditional photography. When he first encountered the pinhole technique in a school workshop, he disregarded it, “We used a tin can and in my case the results were very sharp and correctly exposed, so right away I thought it’s too easy,” said Martin. “But soon after when I tried to make another tin can into a pinhole camera, the result were very different and I kept failing.” Ever since then Martin has been firmly attracted to the unpredictability and possibility of pinhole photography.

Pinhole cameras work by letting a lot of light through a tiny hole into a light-proof container, the light projects an inverted image onto the opposite end of the container, where you place a piece of photographic paper or film. The aperture is extremely small and it often takes around 20 minutes to properly expose an image. “Instead of 'click', 'click', 'click', you just have to wait. I like this passiveness. It’s like a monk meditating,” says Martin. Photos made with pinhole cameras have a blurry movement quality from the long exposure.

“Most photographs only represent a fraction of time, a fraction of reality. The way of showing this reality is controlled by the photographer. The product of this is a subjective moment, a subjective reality,” muses Martin. “When I use a pinhole camera to photograph a scene, with long exposure time, I am trying to get away from a subjective moment. Imagine a photograph as a container of time, a lens photo takes 1/125s (to expose), but a pinhole photo can be exposed for a few years. I want my photos to represent a longer time, not just a moment.”

Ever since the first tin can in that fateful school workshop, Martin has carried on experimenting using objects of various size, shape and meaning as his pinhole 'camera' Recently when a Hong Kong art organisation invited him to hold a pinhole workshop in a shipping cargo it owned, Martin instead used the whole cargo as his 'camera', “I had wanted to make a big pinhole photo of the HK harbour for a long time,” said Martin. “I regard some of my self-made cameras as important as the final photographs they produce.

When asked what motivates him to make art, Martin names two things, “For some of my work I have a question and I try to find an answer through making art. For other work I am trying to ask a question through making art”, said Martin. “Like Rembrandt van Rijn’s one hundred self portraits, why did he keep painting himself? I guess he wanted to find some answers through his work.”

Martin Cheung lives and works in Hong Kong. Alongside his ongoing series of photographs portraying hotel beds he has slept in - a project he has been undertaking for the past eight years - Martin is working on producing some of his camera designs.

“When I was a kid in Hong Kong, I went to art classes and water colour classes, but I think I gave the teachers there some heart attacks. Because while I learnt, I also messed around a lot, kept questioning them all the time.” Smiled Hin.

Hin was born in the suburbs of Hong Kong. During his childhood, when he was not playing football, he would find himself drawing in a Japanese manga style, or painting watercolours in a traditional Chinese way. Due to his love of sport and art, the two things that most parents in Hong Kong would consider hard to make a living from, at the age of twelve, Hin was sent to study alone to study in England. When his dream of becoming a Premier League footballer collapsed due to a badly fractured knee, he turned his focus firmly to art.

Hin studied illustration in the Kent institute of Art & Design, but the experience was reminiscent to his childhood art classes, “I guess I am naturally too rebellious, so it was never going to work unless I had a very open minded teacher,” said Hin. However failing his degree did not deter him from continuing with art, “I wouldn’t know what else to do,” chuckled Hin. “In London it is a bit different because here it’s very open. In other places, like Hong Kong or small cities, where people tend to conform, when you act a little strange or different, people cannot accept it. By doing art, or by being an artist, you have a a sort of permission to act stupid or crazy. They will just say, ‘oh that’s ok, he is an artist’.”

When asked about his inspiration, aside from influences ranging from Da Vinci to Basquiat to Banksy, Hin sited two movie directors: “the humour from directors Wes Anderson and Michel Gondry, even South Park all have had an impact on me,”. Is humour a big part in your work? “I think if you manage to have humour, you are halfway to succeeding, to surviving in life.” A sentence on his website claimed ‘one must hold on to their inner child and to persevere, above all things, in order to overcome any painful or traumatic experience while at the same time never to deny any truth of the cruel reality in life. Finding harmony between the two is what one believes one must attempt to achieve.”

He also likes to watch people on the street, “I am really interested in people’s behaviour,” Hin explained. “I don’t read many books, as I am part-dyslexic, so observing people is probably my biggest inspiration. Whatever frustrates me, whatever makes me laugh, is a big influence.”

Broadly speaking Hin has created work with two different characters: surreal drawings and sculpture, and masterful, detailed drawings. 'Daydream drawing', surreal and nightmarish with a hint of the later work by Hayao Miyazaki (Japanese animation director), is the former, “this is the very introverted side of me,” said Hin. “Sometimes it is on paper or canvas, some are on the skin of a tambourine. Normally it is whatever I can get hold of. Because these daydream drawings are quite spontaneous, so when the moment comes I just grab the nearest thing that I can draw on.”

Three of the tambourine pieces were based on a long dream that he has, “In this dream, I went to the gates of hell, and in Chinese folklore, there is the pair of gatekeepers, who have human bodies but a bull’s head and a horse’s head respectively. I was there in front of the gate and searching for someone,” mused Hin. “In the dream I was holding an envelope, and there was fire and water, and other things that I brought to hell with me.” On the other two tambourines, there are, what seems to be, windows on the floor, and what looks like a person's face at first glance, but if you look closer it was actually formed by many different small objects like organs.

The 'Sin Animals' series similarly looks like animals from a distance, but on closer inspection reveals many small objects like mobile phones, skulls and spiders, all drawn in excruciating details.

In 'Contradiction Art' Hin displays his extroverted side, in a series of hand drawings that Hin had also reproduced as street art on walls. The work in this series is half very detailed drawings, and half childlike. “The detailed part, you can call it the ‘reality’, the practical side of life. Kind of like our brain, one side of it is logical. And the other part, the childlike drawing, it is about sensitivity, about dreams and fantasies.”

The series is based on finely drawn heads of famous people – Jesus, Hitler and John Lennon feature among others - and the childlike drawing of a body and surroundings. A Superman body connected with the very finely drawn head of Jesus. “This reflects how I sometime see religion – a lot of people only pray when they are in trouble, just like you only ever see Superman appear when you are in trouble, and hope that he will sort everything out.”

Hin continued to say; “I believe there is a crossroads when people suffer, where you can choose to love or hate. One could have easily gone the other way. Hitler could have become an artist. (He worked as a painter selling his drawings, and The Vienna Academy of Fine Arts rejected his application twice.) So the artwork of Hitler in this series is called ‘The possibility of imagination’.”

Taking this series of his art to the street is what Hin will increasingly do in the future. And that will be mostly be after midnight, to avoid unwanted attention from the authority. ‘Have you run into any trouble yet?’ “Close, but not yet.” He smiled.

Explore further:

If you ask Karen Hsu what does she do, she will tell you that she runs a pom pom factory. A pom pom is made by joining several layers of tissue paper together with a metal wire ring, and folded in a specific method. It can be quickly spread out to form a spherical or semi-spherical prop that looks like a blossomed flower. Pom Pom Factory sell pom poms in an array of colours, but more importantly they also create installation design for weddings and corporate events, provide visual merchandising for shops like Selfridges in London, decorating their space using the pom poms as well as other props.

It is an unexpected venture for someone whose interest in visual creativity started after watching the indie movie ‘Run Lola Run’, in her teenage years. “Before that all the movies I watched were pretty mainstream, it opened my eyes to a different approach of filmmaking,” said Karen. She started paying a lot more attention to art and design, wrote her own script and shot short films using a super-8 camera.

After getting a crushing ‘Un-classifiable’ grade from her art exam, her favourite subject, she listened to her parents’ advice and enrolled onto an accounting course, only to give up after a few months. “I realised, for me, it really needs to be something creative” Karen said. After a lot of research and persuasion, her family moved to the UK in 2001, where she later studied a degree in moving images at Central Saint Martins.

After graduation, Karen made her first step into the competitive video production industry, working as a runner for over a year. But with the job paying next to nothing, Karen used up her savings and accepted that she needed another job for the time being. It was while Karen was working in a newly opened fashion boutique that her boss, knowing that Karen studied at art college, asked her to think about how to decorate the shop window. Available for Karen was a minimal budget, and a large supply of tissue paper that was used for wrapping clothes.

So Karen started using the tissue paper to make various props for the window display, by folding several sheets of tissue paper together, it soon developed into what is now her trademark pom pom. People began to walk into the shop and asked where they could purchase the pom poms. Initially, Karen offered to teach people how to make them, but she soon found that they would prefer to pay her to design them. 
A business opportunity had presented itself.

“What we do now is to provide 
a service – spatial and installation design for various events, and shops. Pom poms are one of our main tools or methods,” explained Karen. She acknowledged that others may be able to copy their design and sell them, but what is important for the company now is how to adapt and customise the installation for each different space.

“After the Tsunami in Japan last year, we wanted to take part in a fundraising event for the affected area, so I thought of making the pom poms in the smallest size possible, to resemble Japan’s famous cherry blossom. In Japan it is a symbol of the beauty of life, however long or short it may be.” She and her friends managed to make 600 of the special pom poms in less than a week. They used real tree branches to create the cherry blossom trees. The event raised over £1,000 for the Red Cross.

Happy with the result, Karen posted a photo of the cherry blossom installation on her website. Several months later, London’s iconic department store Selfridges called and expressed their interest. Karen soon found herself quitting her job and focusing on creating an installation with 7,000 pom poms 
for Selfridges.

Since then Pom Pom Factory has been growing steadily with Karen’s sister recently joined her full-time, and some project bookings already made for next summer - in the UK and overseas. Moving forward Pom Pom Factory will soon be launching their range of tissue paper printed with customised patterns. “It will allow us to have a signature look, and be more creative with our installation,” said Karen, “we will also provide tutorials so customers can use our customised tissue paper and manipulate them to discover an plethora of ways to decorate their space.”

Yet Karen had not forgotten her first passion, “I really enjoy the occasional VJ-ing that I do, and one day may be I will put moving images and pom poms together and make a video,” Karen said with a smile.

Since graduated from Industrial Design in Hong Kong, jewellery designer Vance Ng had designed for a luxury custom-made jewellry company, before making a detour into working for an innovative toy design company, in search of a different experience. After years of working in Asia, both to recharge her creative juice and to further develop her knowledge in design, she moved to London to study MA Jewellery Design in Central Saint Martins.

For her final MA collection, ‘Droplets’, Vance wanted to achieve playfulness and translate the idea of collectible figurative toys through jewellery design. “There is a story in my mind that I based on, while designing this collection,” explained Vance, “I imagine that all the clouds above us are made up of these round little pearls, some of them have their wings shine at night time to give us this sparkly starry sky at night. It is when it rains, that these little pearls get to come down and make adventures in our world.”

Using pearls and finely crafted metal elements, she managed to produce a dreamy yet luxury, delicate and cute collection. Like character design, Vance gave each piece a personality (even stated what they each like to do in her lookbook!), and used various colours and parts to emphasise it. Some of the pieces, with a pair of small legs and wings are almost fairy like, while another piece has a pair of feminine legs in heels, dark metal ring and golden leafs decorating the pearl, presenting a more sexy look in 
a cartoon character way. 
All of the pieces have wings and it is not difficult to imagine them flying around in an animation.

Vance Ng is currently working in Hong Kong and musing on her next collection.