SHINING SPOTLIGHT ON THE DISTANCE COUTURE COLLECTION
“Distance Couture is a collection designed to make people stay tf away from you. It’s basically PPE for civilians. Our t-shirts make social distancing just that little bit easier by keeping close talkers at bay and scaring off that bloke who gets up in your space in the fruit & veg aisle. And all profits go straight to the NHS, via NHS Charities Together. Don’t just stay alert. Stay tf away from each other”. ❤️
Not only is this collection helping raise vital funds for NHS Charities Together, but is spreading an important message too, bringing word of the cause to a new audience.
We’re super excited to speak to some of the artists behind the designs, we chat all things from what made them want to get involved with the collection, what they hope to get from the campaign and where they find inspiration. If you’re curious too then read on!
Kick starting the conversation with Katy Edelsten, Katy is a London based maker, painter, clay-er and play-er.She likes colours, patterns, silly stuff, and staying 2m away from everybody at all times.
Q: Hey Katy, can you tell me a bit about yourself?
Hey there! I'm Katy Edelsten and I'm a London based Artist and Advertising Creative. I really like drawing and painting and making things out of clay and words. Most of my work is commissioned based but I also sell prints and original bits online.
Q: What made you get involved with the Distance Couture collection?The Distance Couture girls got in touch and I just thought it was such a smart and funny way to make a T-shirt and give back to our wonderful NHS. My mum was a doctor and I figure I can't quiiiite do that but I can draw a thing or two to help!
Q: What do you hope to get out of your campaign once it’s over? Lots and lots of wear!! I just hope people enjoy their t-shirts and wear them about. I'm already planning more T-shirts for other projects so I'm very grateful for the turbo boost into T-shirtdom.
Q: Where do you get your inspiration from for your creative work?It’s boring af to say but, just life really! To me, this brief was basically "How do you get people to stay away from you" so I had a good loooong think about the things we're all doing in lockdown. I drew ‘Let’s Talk’ during The Sourdough Starter phase so it's a fun reminder of a strange time when everyone one was exclusivley talking about sourdough and I was absolutely not interested. For the 'I'm Soooo random" one I just had to cast my mind back to my irritating self in my teenage years…! In general I just look for stories and laughs in the stuff around me.
Q: What’s next for you after Distance Couture? I'm still working at my Advertising job, so lots of that! And I've just moved into a much brighter art studio so I'm doing a lot of painting under the window. I have some cards and prints
launching in August/ September with EastEnd Prints so pootling towards that and trying to use this time to find new people to collaborate with.
Leyla Reynolds is an artist and producer working in London whose practice concerns the absurdity of popand political culture, often in regard to its relationship to blackness. A founding member of gal-dem, she helped create gal-dem's signature visual style over the years and curated the list of creatives that they now work with. She has extensive experience in workshopping and arts education events, judged the 2019 World Illustration Awards for editorial illustration and recently co-curated and produced the 2019 Activating Newham exhibition with Create London.⠀
Q: Hey Leyla, can you tell me a bit about yourself?
Hi! I’m an artist / producer / creative making work around politics and pop culture. I like to comment on the absurdities and conventions in society that oft go unnoticed.
Q: How did you hear about Print Social?I worked with Print Social first a few years back as part of the Diane Abbott Care Package campaign, made in response to the outpouring of misogynoir that had reached fever pitch
during the 2017 election campaign. Print Social seems to have a history of backing work that makes a difference so that’s something I’m in favour of.
Q: What made you want to get involved with the Distance Couture collection? It’s a quirky take with an important ambition: to support a service which is being grossly diminished by ideology and neglect. What’s not to love?
Q: Can you tell us a little bit about the idea behind your design?I tried to reproduce the physical embodiment of that ‘ick’ feeling when you see that unwelcome lockdown text we’ve all become so familiar with.
Q: What do you hope to get out of your campaign once it’s over? I hope we make lots of money for the NHS charities together!
Dave Anderson is an illustrator currently based in London. Dave’s comic prints have succeeded in climbing the walls of London’s Jealous and Lazarides Galleries, Liberty’s department store, London Art Fair and exhibitions in Berlin, Glasgow and Philadelphia. The unsettling greetings cards made from those prints can be found in the Scribbler, Paperchase and Urban Outfitters chains. Dave is represented by Pocko.
Q: Hey Dave, can you tell me a bit about yourself?I'm an illustrator, animator and designer of dog toys who loves comedy and writing jokes. Originally from South Wales, after college in London I packed up my poncho and went and lived in Lima for five years. My Peruvian wife and I have now moved back across the Atlantic and have accidentally set ourselves up in revolutionary Barcelona.
Q: What made you get involved with the Distance Couture collection?At the drawing desk I'm hardly at the front line of the coronavirus crisis. It's not often you get a proper opportunity to help make even just a few quid for something so needed and valuable as the NHS. If it can be done through taking the mickey out of some of our less-than-ideal behaviour, well that's right in my wheelhouse!
Q: What do you hope to get out of your campaign once it's over?The dream is multiple sightings of the "Pub Bore" T-shirts stretched over numerous beer bellies in pub gardens across the nation, sending pints of cash to the NHS to help manage the virus (and hopefully not the inevitable sunburn and accidents getting in and out of picnic benches that come with an all-dayer in a pub garden).
Not to be excluded, I've ordered a "Pub Bore" for myself so at least the people near me might be forewarned as, yet again, I embark on the long story about the one time I met Holly from Red Dwarf.
Q: Where do you get your inspiration from for your creative work?If you're mining for comedy material, then I'd say it's all around you. You've got to be in the right frame of mind to be receptive to it all, which takes practice (and of course, some days are funnier than others!). Everyone's funny, even if they don't know it. The only difference is people interested in making comedy are quickly writing those funny things down before they evaporate.
Analysing jokes is usually a case of dissecting the bird and killing the song. However, good sources I can identify are tangents in conversations that put two incongruous thoughts together, how human beings behave in unusual or slightly stressful situations, twisting phrases or song lyrics that transform their meaning, or even flashes where the seemingly mundane can suddenly look absolutely ridiculous (I spent a short period last Christmas in awe at how absurd it is to erect a tree in your living room).
I'm a big advocate for time off being just as valuable as the time "on". I find it's when the mind's switched off - brushing your teeth or, as I used to do on a lunchbreak, wondering around a massive Sports Direct - that is when the really good ideas percolate into your brain.
Q: What's next for you after Distance Couture?There's always "irons in the fire" (he says as they're taking his sofa away...) but after working on a few animated spoken word projects with some comedians and writers, I'm looking for ways of how I can translate what I've learned with regards to my own comedy writing.
As for illustration, The Distance Couture project has made me think more about the various ways my artwork can appear on products. Could be time to get the shop going again.
However, the more pressing matter is, after quarantine, getting used to wearing anything else but sweatpants. I've become attached (possibly literally.)
Marco is an Italian design and art director living in Spain. Marco has been published in over 20 books about design, branding, illustration, typography and photography. During this time he has lived and worked in Venice, Berlin, LA, Spain and across South America. Also, exhibiting in Paris, Barcelona, Berlin, London and Seoul. Marco doesn’t have ideal commissions but he loves everything he does, even if it’s not his dream project, because he can learn something more. Marco has just one artistic goal and that is to never stop creating. Marco is represented by Pocko.
Q: Hey Marco, can you tell me a bit about yourself?I’m an Italian designer and art director living in Spain. Some call me an artist and illustrator, but it is not true. I have an incredibly cool studio in Spain where I live, and people are happy when they come inside – this makes me happy too.
Q: How did you hear about Print Social?My agents at Pocko told me about the project, and I thought it was a great idea getting involved!
Q: What made you get involved with the Distance Couture collection?All positive social causes are good causes for me. I want to get involved if I can help it.
Q: Can you tell us a little bit about the idea behind the design?I just hate when people start talking about their tattoos. I mean, who cares! The design fits really well for the campaign cause.
Q: What do you hope to get out of your campaign once it’s over? Getting involved in another great campaign where I can help people.
You can follow Distance Couture over on their instagram @distancecouture.
