Inanimates

Concorde

I'm breaking one of my inanimates rules just this once in that this is something I clearly don't own. But to my eye this is one of the most timeless and elegant forms ever made by human hand.

After 42 years it still looks like its from the future. A perfect demonstration of function driving form - its shape is purely down to the laws of physics which sculpted the design allowing it to fly as high as 60,000 feet at a supersonic mach 2.

I still have fond memories of the deep rumble coming from the skies as it regularly passed over my rented flat in Wandsworth and its distinctive long sleek silhouette.

Yes it was inefficient, dirty and a belonged to a very privileged club. But its hard to imagine that today someone would stump up the huge sums of cash and take such a risk for such a revolutionary and forward thinking passenger plane. Now its gone we're back to boring old subsonic.

 

Graham Jenks

Picture: John Masters

Spray Can

I think I first properly noticed graffiti along the trainlines around Brum when I was a kid. Maybe a flash of some lettering as the train bombed past, barely seen, but sticking in some bit of my brain. One of the first proper things I remember was an amazing astronaut character at Spaghetti Junction. I always hung out the train window to see it. This was about '86. By '87 I was totally obsessed and i'd made the move from spectator to painter.

If this was a film I'd insert a montage here to speed through twenty and a bit years. The first tagging steps, the fucked up pieces and then the ones that came off, some funny chases and not so funny arrests, a little bit of fame, the buzz you get seeing your name fly past on a train, a bus or a wall. Falling out with it, getting back together with it, the  getting close to 40 year old, still at it.

There's something cathartic and totally addictive about using these spray can things. I've tried to stop a few times, maybe even managed a year or two, but they just creep back in and I'm hooked again. Hooked on the smell of the paint, creeping about painting at night. Hooked on the eccentric technique you need to crack to get good at this. Normal drawing with a pencil or pen is nice but it's such a tiny movement. Spraypaint is a big leap forward. With a spray can in your hand it feels more like your whole body is doing the drawing. Stretching your arm, putting up a massive tag, getting right up on your toes, the movements take you out of yourself, a whole day's painting feels like some intense yoga session, only it's one where you eat crisps, drink cans of beer and breathe in paint fumes.

I used to love going out drinking then tagging up in a brave drunken mess all the way home. That kind of activity gets noticed pretty quickly in a paranoid CCTV city like London, a few times it's led straight to an overnighter in the nick with some DNA swabbing thrown in. Older and wiser now, I kind of prefer a quiet spot to paint on my own. Somewhere a bit run down or forgotten. Sometimes for its' visibility and other times as hidden as possible.

Hoping what I put up might have an impact on someone, like that astronaut did for me back in '86.

 

Butch Gordon
Artist & Graphic Designer

http://www.flickr.com/photos/27757619@N07/

Picture: Jess Cooper

Akira Cel

As I grew up images of Battle of the Planets (Gatchaman) were permanently etched into my head. At the time the animation was very limited - freeze frames with just the characters' mouths moving while the scene remained static - but the character design and art direction was sublime.

That all changed in 1988 with the release of Akira. Detailed scenes, lip-synched dialogue and super-fluid motion was realised in the film's more than 160,000 animation cels. I'm the proud owner of one of them. 

My cel (sequence 3, cut 89) depicts the scene near the start of the film just as the as army is about to arrest the motorcycle gang. It including the films most iconic character Kaneda. To own just a small part of this film feels pretty special. The fact its hand painted makes it a piece of art in its own right, something that is lost with today's CG technologies.

A film depicting post-apocalyptic Neo Tokyo was pretty groundbreaking back then. To put that into perspective the following year another well known animation house released The Little Mermaid.

If you want to see my cel in the film it appears around 6.36sec:
http://bit.ly/icc8yB

 

Graham Jenks

Picture: Victoria Lambert 

 

Coffee

As I grow older physical exercise has become a much more of important part of my life. Its not really about just being fit, its much more about mental wellbeing. Like a good nights sleep it refreshes and reinvigorates me. 

I used to smoke and drink a lot more than I do today but these are vices that hinder physical exertion rather than help.

The only vice I have left now is coffee. Coffee and me get on so well, I don't suffer any of the jittery side effects of caffeine just the good ones. Caffeine is actually an ergogenic which increases a person's capability for mental or physical labour. I can't start the day until I've had my one. I am an addict.

The current consensus is that in moderation coffee isn't bad for you. I usually have one, and on occasion two cups a day. I'm sure one day some fresh research will tell us that its bad but sometimes you have to listen to your body - and its saying good.

Graham Jenks
Art Director

Picture: GJ 

 

Squid

One day, in a small museum shop at the base of Snowdonia, I spotted
this spectacular fossil.

It wasn’t for sale, but the man agreed to sell it to me for £70 –
which I thought a very fair price. Especially considering this group
of fossilised squid (Orthoceras) is around 400 million years old.

To put that in perspective, the dinosaurs died out around 65 million years ago.

It’s amazing to think I own something that has survived intact for
such an incredible period. And perhaps even more shocking that I
managed to break off a corner piece during my recent house move.

But don't worry! I have since fixed the fossil using superglue
(Cyanoacrylate). If you believe the packaging, this will hold the
corner in place for another 400 million years.

James Nester
Copywriter

Picture: GJ

Photograph

This is a picture of my great grandfather on a camel. That’s him with
the centre parting, jazzy socks and hat.

Mancunian by birth and Philadelphian by residence, Edward Monnington
ended up in a suit on a dromedary under the Egyptian sun in 1923
thanks to the dalliances of his employer. My camel-riding kinsman was
treasurer of a firm whose president kept a mistress in New York. When
she was found dead in her apartment – supposedly killed by one of her
lovers – the firm boss risked social ruin. Fearing that the man who
signed the cheques which kept his courtesan swimming in furs and
champagne could be subpoenaed if the murder made it into the courts,
he sent my grandfather on a six-month tour of Europe and the Middle
East. It never did go to trial and the murderer wasn’t found, but by
all accounts my great granddad had a pretty nice time on his travels.

Shannon Munro Denny
Writer, Journalist and Editor

Picture: Vaughan Denny

Trainers

I've loved chucks most of my life, from kicking around my old neighbourhood at 7 to discovering skateboarding at 13 they have always been my shoe of choice. 

Even through my teenage years when my hair changed colour nearly every week and my music tastes fluctuated nearly as much, they stayed with me. I even attended my school ball in a tuxedo and chucks and have worn them through a lot of my life defining moments. 

There's something heart warming and feel good about slipping on a pristine stiff and shiny new pair that brightens up my day, so much so that come
payday, once a month I buy a new pair. £30 for happiness? Cheap as chips if you ask me.

Peter Hvid
Art Director

Picture: Peter Hvid

Frankenphone

As a regular subscriber to 'Stuff' magazine, the owner of a MacBook
Pro, an ipod touch and a pretty nice Ricoh camera, you might say I
like a gadget. Yet this was my mobile phone for the best part of six
months!

I became rather attached to old Frankenphone for reasons I'm still not
entirely sure of. Despite it's appearance the phone actually worked
ok, you could make calls, access the three network and despite it
taking twice the time, normally resulting in a shiny thumb blister,
you could also text.

Aside from the usual scratches the back panel was the first casualty,
and at that point I probably should have got a new handset. Instead I
strapped selotape to hold the battery in, and from then on there was
no turning back. The front panel was the next piece to come off, this
created a rather attractive light emitting from the exposed LED. Then
the joystick fell off.

The phone was laid to rest after my girlfriend bought me a new handset
for Christmas, and although I was quite sad to turn it off, deep down
I knew it was for the best.

Leighton Edridge
Art Director

Picture: Leighton Edridge

Ring

My girlfriend presented this ring to me on my birthday in May 2008. It
was a hot sunny day amid an unusually long stretch of beautiful
weather in London. I had just spent the previous 9 days hosting
seminars at Grand Designs Live at Excel London and hadn't enjoyed any
of the great sunshine. I felt like a mole surfacing for the first
time, squinting and jaded.

As it was my birthday and the first day off after an intense stretch,
I quickly snapped out of it. We stayed local and headed up to
Hampstead Heath for a mighty picnic. In the perfect spot, we opened a
chilled bottle of Cloudy Bay and tucked into our lunchtime feast.

The ring was a total surprise to me. What made it most special was
that she had made it for me (herself a talented jewellery designer).
It is a total one-off. You would have to cut my finger off to make one
again. Ironically, until I was given this ring, I had a strange phobia
of them getting stuck on my finger and would normally run a mile from
the prospect of putting one on. This one, however, fit perfectly and
wasn't going to leave my finger.

Cast from white gold, its faceted edges catch the light from multiple
angles. In the bright sunshine of that day, the perfectly polished
edges glistened relentlessly - the majesty of which somehow summing up
that moment.

I'll be honest, I was overwhelmed by the gesture but held it together
because we had only been together for six months, so was still keeping
it kinda cool, but the emotion was real. In fact, by coincidence, that
day was also our 6 month anniversary.

No surprise, we are still together. In fact, we live together now. The
ring has matured and now reflects the rich, ever-changing patina of
life on its surfaces. I only take it off in the flat and never leave
without it. I have been known to run back in panic if, for some
reason, I've forgotten to put it on.

Lord of the Rings has taken on a whole new significance. All respect
to the ring.

Max Fraser
Editor & Publisher
http://www.londondesignguide.com

Picture: GJ

Lantern slides

This box contains the images my father’s father made
His skill and his great passion puts my efforts in the shade
All in splendid monochrome and looking quite first class
The slides are edged in thin black tape (which holds them in plate glass).

Not only did he take them but he processed them as well
I keep them for posterity, ‘cause what a tale they tell.

There are pictures of the family with friends and neighbours too
All dressed to kill with formal hats and children, quite a few
Many stunning landscapes with boats and houses shown
Artistic presentations of the places he had known.

But one I like the best of all, my Dad upon his trike
He wears a fancy sailor suit, (which I’m sure he didn’t like)
Behind him is the hospital, one of north Wales best
Ironically, when really old, it’s where he came to rest.

The reason I must keep them is, I never met Grandad
He didn’t live to see me and it really makes me sad
Yet, somehow, I feel I know him and this box contains the key
A portrait of his very life, my keepsake legacy.

Richard Jenks

Picture: GJ