Regenerate Indonesia Intro

Hello I'm May Cortazzi (AKA Miss Regenerate), I am thrilled and feel very honored to be one of the five short listed for the British Councils UK Fashion Entrepreneur Award 2010. Over the next four weeks I will be blogging to you about my crazy and colorful experiences within the Indonesian fashion Industry.

The first week I will undertake an organized tour organized by the Council which is hosted by a lifestyle magazine called Femina, where I'll be experiencing a varied and exciting journey of The Indonesian Fashion Industry, from the perspective of a designer, Shop collaborator and ethical education campaigner. I will call this experience Regenerate Indonesia, as I'm hoping to learn as much as possible about Indonesia in the context of fashion and looking to spread Regenerate to a global market, collaborating with the people I meet on the way, Miss Regenerate Style. If you are curious as to know what my style is then check out my websites for The Shop and Regenerate.

I will be spending next 10 days in Jakarta, Bandung and Solo visiting a whole range of cultural centers, industry leaders, and entrepreneurs with the view of gaining a better understanding of the opportunities and challenges that wait for me in this exciting new emerging economy.

I have then extended my trip an extra 3 weeks, where I will be meeting and living with key workers, designers, artists and collectives. Developing ideas and exciting new opportunities.. my lips are sealed into this leg of the journey, so you will just have to stay tuned and follow me on twitter and facebook. ;)

So with an expandable suitcase the size of Brazil next stop is Gatwick airport, where I will meet my fellow entrepreneurs.

Read about this trip here:-

http://ukyfe.wordpress.com

May Cortazzi

An Interview with Philip Grisewood

Philip Grisewood works for some of Britain's most edgiest Rock 'N' Roll labels:- House of Gods and Horace who recently held a inspiring womenswear catwalk show of interesting prints and tailored pieces at London Fashion Week named ’Espirt de Corps’. Between working as a graphics designer in both Bali and London, Philip is also has a fantastic portfolio of illustration work and art. Between trips from London to Bali, Miss Regenerate caught up with Mr Grisewood in an exclusive interview, this guy can seriously jump high!

Miss Regenerate 'How long have you been a designer for ‘House of the Gods’ and ‘Horace’?'

Philip 'I have been a designer for both HOTG and Horace for just over three years now. I worked with Adam Entwisle and Emma Hales at ‘Buddhist Punk’ before it became HOTG.'

Miss Regenerate 'What have been your highlights?'

Philip 'My highlights for Horace was when we got the cover for SuperSuper magazine and when Adam and Emma launched the Horace ’Espirt de Corps’ ready to wear collection this season.

Miss Regenerate 'What inspires your work as a designer each season?'

Philip 'I get inspiration from everywhere, from art and advertising to simply watching characters whilst on a tube journey. I get a lot fashion inspiration whilst searching through old photos of bands and pop stars such as David Bowie and Blondie. And of course I get inspiration from the nightlife in London. I try not too look at fashion designers too much, I think films are a good source especially 80s ones!
Also subcultures are a big influence, I have been a skateboarder since I was eleven so I am used to being surrounded hip-hop kids, punks and heavy metallers.'

Miss Regenerate 'What piece of advice would you give to a young designer who is just about to start a label?'

Philip 'My advice to a young designer who is just about to start a label would be to make a commitment to working for another design company for a few years to learn from there mistakes. It is about running a business, which means you need social and management skills as well as creativity.'

Miss Regenerate 'What other art forms take your interest?'

Philip 'Illustration, photography and fine art are other art forms that interest me. I studied fine art at John Moore’s University before graduating with an illustration degree from Camberwell college of Art in 2005. My illustration work is heavily influenced by the techniques I learnt while studying fine art. I was fascinated with texture and the traces left behind from everyday life like tea rings and cigarette burns. So I started layering paint and using different printing techniques over the top to make highly textured illustrations. I mostly use screen-printing, collage, and photocopy transfers, carbon paper and rubber stamps.

I started to use a computer more when I began producing graphics for fashion. This seemed like a natural process to me because my illustrations always had a graphic sensibility. Although my illustrations appear on my textiles and T-shirts, my graphics for garments are more inspired by fashion. And recently my illustrations have become more about fashion.

Something I want to expand on in the future is printing onto textured fabrics in the same way as I layer my illustrations.

Miss Regenerate 'What's the story behind your illustrations?

A lot of the stories behind my illustrations are about Capitalism and pollution. I worked as a temp for many years in big corporate banks, which made me think about these issues. My main source of inspiration was Fritz Lang’s ‘Metropolis’. The movie portrays a futuristic vision of industrialization. The workers run the machines, the machines seem equally to run the lives of the workers. This idea is very closely linked to Karl Marx writings that describe the worker as a commodity. This is why I draw vacant robotic office workers and lines of bosses with comb over’s.

Madness Indonesia

Madness is a project that combines 3 designers based in Jakarta. Those designers are: Ajeng Dewi Swastiari, Bonnie Natasha Arif and Vannie Astecat. They life in a dual perspective and also they believe everybody has two sides that are opposite. Their dark side even could make something creative. They define their project that made by their alter ego by adding craziness, unpredictable and things that are surreal that come from their dreams. As a result their collection is full of things that are unexpected.

A tribute for Indonesia Culture that we adore. The materials we use come from Indonesia, for example: woods, furs, songket, batik, weaving arts and even prade Bali. We process these materials unusually to produce a strangely beautiful accessories.

When their soul meets the body, it has it own way to put them up together without knowing the reasons, yet still reachable for them to see and to grab it. They believed that their alter egos would simply pull out such a breathtaking breakthrough in fashion nowadays and tomorrow. They are
m a d n e s s.