In admiration of the English mountaineer George Mallory, a group of men form an exploration party in quest of his camera that is said to be left behind on Mount Everest. Each collection unveils a chapter of this adventure. SS10 sees the men set off to get to the foot of their first mountain…

Designed in Japan by keen mountaineer Mitsuo, very little is known about this label. Available in just a handful of select retailers worldwide, ‘M’ is manufactured using traditional techniques in a small workshop in Japan. Natural dyed cotton is washed in the rivers by the workshop and dried under the sun on the riverbeds before being put into production; this ancient Japanese tradition is used by very few designers today. As well as their beautiful design and construction, garments have an element of purpose to them; the SS10 collection feels just right for a trek in the foothills but equally appropriate for the city too, with integrated backpacks on shirts, heavy cotton shorts and jackets forming the core of the collection.

Seriously, you all need to check out this totally exclusive brand. After popping into Coggles myself and getting the rundown from Mr. Jake Bancroft himself (Men’s buyer) I had to give him the upmost respect for scouting out these beauties. I mean, have you seen the shirts?!?!?! CRAZY.

Check out the Collection at Coggles NOW!

Believe.

Hush is stimulated, influenced and driven by his cross cultural experiences. Having originally trained as a graphic designer and illustrator at Newcastle School of Art and Design, his work has taken him across Asia and Europe, whilst simultaneously developing his prominence as a contemporary artist. Hush now resides in the UK painting in his studio daily. Hush’s work has been described as a sensory assault of shape, color, and character. Inspired by the portrayal of the female form in art, the artist builds up and tears down layers of paint and images as he works, “letting the canvas and marks take their own path.” The result is an enigmatic synthesis of anime, pop-infused imagery and graffiti that exposes the conflict between power and decay, innocence and sexuality, and the fusion of Eastern and Western culture. We sat down with Hush to discuss his most recent show.

Tell us about how you got drawn into the artistic creative world, and what it was that attracted you?

Drawing as a kid… at school because i was knowing as being able to draw i would create characters for some of the graf crews around at the time, this was late 80’s and probably my first real introduction to the scene and tagging. Art had always been an interest which took its natural course and a 5 year stretch at art school followed. Graduating in graphic design and illustration led me to designing flyers etc for DJ mates early 90s. As i came out of the rave haze i moved to Asia to work as a designer/illustrator in Hong Kong and Asia for a good few years while working on my art in the underground scenes. The history of living through those times are relevant to my work and have inspired the art i make today.

What’s the favorite medium you’ve worked in?

I enjoy working in all mediums and thrive on mixing them up to achieve a certain complexity to my finished pieces. What is important is the street as my studio work is influenced heavily by seeing the different textures and works in their chosen context. My work references the aging process and distress that naturally happens to pieces put up in the street.

What projects do you have going on at the moment?

Well i have my solo show coming up in London with Urban Angel which opens on Thursday 12th November in London. I’m showing a few pieces at Miami Basel in December. Next year i have a show in San Francisco with White Walls / Shooting Gallery in May and then with Anonymous Contemporary Art Gallery in New York in October.

I also have a few exciting projects i’m working on with other artists and i might be releasing a vinyl character later next year.

Can you talk a bit about the show…

The manga style girls feature heavily in this show as I’m portraying the cute innocent looking females as being sexual but innocent. Really it’s a comment on the hentai/manga/pornography scence and how its sold as cute but has darker undertones. The titles of the work in English lead the viewer to believe the message in the image but the Japanese typography within the works tell a completely different story to the viewer once traslated. I like the juxtaposition of this and the idea of the works and message being ‘lost in translation’ to the non Japanese speaking audience.

Your work contains many references to Japanese pop culture. Why?

Everyone always presumes im into that whole scene, I like the style and all the pop imagery around that, but I suppose I was first introduced to the style from ‘the designers republic’ who where a few guys who did the ‘red hot chilli peppers albums back in the 90s’. My time working and traveling round asia also made a huge impression on me and influnced my work a lot. The idea behind using the manga style girls was always and still is just a contemporary use of showing the female form, as a reference to the use of the female form throughout art history.

You often juxtapose this imagery with elements of graffiti and sculpture. What makes you bring them together in your work?

All of them are as important as each other and contain their own beauty when viewed. (I get the same buzz when looking at a door full of tags as I do when viewing say the ‘three graces’. The statues are mixed up in my work with the manga as a pointer towards progess while still retaining some of their original message. The tags and graf are included to place the work in time and also to show how beautiful the action of tagging is.

Your work has evolved rapidly over the past few years. How does your new work differ from what you have done in the past?

I believe progress is important and always push myself to move forward. This body of work has turned out much more graphic and relies much more on the image rather than technique. The ‘Sweet modern girl series’ in the show, I decided to make a lot more painterly and look forward to showing them, they’re a lot freer and I suppose different to what people expect from me.

How do gallery shows differ from other pieces you produce?

The constraints of working within a canvas differ slightly but because im referencing the actions, textures and distress from the streets i tend to keep the work looking similar to my street pieces just more complex. I obviously spend alot more time on my gallery works and the attention to detail is much more evident. I always think a gallery show should stretch further than paintings hung on walls though as its an experience i want to convey to the viewer, so by installing large scale pieces on the walls in the gallery helps to educate the viewer to your influences and techniques.

Have you ever had any run-ins with the law regarding your street art pieces?

Yes, if you get caught, usually if your polite and come up with one of many back pocket excuses you get away with it. I suppose my works different as its paste up on the street for the majority of the time and isn’t classed as criminal damage

Where do you find inspiration?

EVERYWHERE

More innovation from UNIQLO. I would also like to introduce to you the latest version of UNIQLO CALENDAR. Using a tilt lens which gives a great minature effect, UNIQLO have captured the autumn colours in Japan for all to see. So just sit back and enjoy.

The prolific artist HUSH has returned to put on another sure to be killer show at Urban Angel in london. For this gallery show, manga style girls feature heavily as HUSH portrays the cute innocent looking females as being sexual but innocent. Bold juxtapositions and a strong use of color and textures that give canvas work a ’street-art’ depth that is rare to see translated so well to the gallery. This is most definitely one not to miss.

For those of you keen on high-street goings on in the world, you may have seen on TV that UNIQLO has been expanding globally over the past few years and has pretty much dominated london. They have recently unveiled their Paris flagship, and have been pushing a new message/tagline “UNIQLO FROM TOKYO TO THE WORLD”. With my love for UNIQLO being one of the longest running features on this blog, its great to see a little bit of Japanese magic still continuing to invade the very essence of mainstream highstreet culture.

UNIQLO continue to create a new concept in high street affordable fashion, combining both technology and high design in their clothes. Constant high profile collaborations with Japanese artists, lauded high fashion powerhouses, and still simple well made garments. They are continuing in their domination of the high street and below we have some images we got of their marketing prior to opening the new flag shop in Paris on 2nd October.

Yoshi Blessed Music has released a new CD “Offering” by singer Ken Matsuda from Japan!!

Hand died denim from Japan is always a good sign. Here’s an exclusive first look as Context drops another collabo today, this time with Kicking Mule Workshop for an ultra limited-edition pair of denims. A small production of only 50 pairs worldwide, the shuttle-loomed denim leaves a clean white selvage line—but the dying process is what really sets them apart.

CH gives us the down low on the process here. To make the dye, harvests of the indigo leaves from the Okayama Prefecture in Japan happen only twice yearly. Referred to as the AWA method, the leaves ferment for the dipping stage, which takes place in Kojima City, Okayama Prefecture by hand over several weeks.

The upshot is an organic indigo color that lends the Context x Kicking Mule Workshop 1980 Hand Dye Jean a distinct look, deeply rooted in the region’s history. Each pair comes with an informational pocket insert detailing the technique (also printed by the dye company) and they’re numbered on the inside pocket, as well as on the Context muslin carrying sack.

I went back to Namba and Shinsaibashi and had another evening shooting, and got some of what I think are my best shots yet. These are some of the classic ‘OSAKA’ landmarks, and they are looking HOT. Take a look and holler at me.

The bad ass traditional japanese puppet theatre show thingy.

The big famous crab on Shinsaibashi-suji…..an amazing restaurant with complimentary giant mechanical crab. Does it get better?

And this bad boy is ‘Glica Man’ a huge light up sign, but in japan his name is ‘Gu-ri-co Man’ as they don’t sound out the sound for ‘Gl’.

Babies born, people getting older…good times.