Welcome to the first issue of the PROVIDE paper, a new publication which exists to celebrate independent creativity and all that is good in connection with our little shop. We arrived in Digbeth this summer and are proud to now call it home, so it made sense to use the neighbourhood as our starting point for this issue. We put out a call to local people and friends of PROVIDE to submit whatever they wanted to share with our readers. The brief was vague because we wanted to give people the freedom to create what they liked, and it’s been really exciting going through all the submissions that have come in. Thank you to everyone who took the time to submit work; even if your submission hasn’t made it to print, we are grateful for your contribution and welcome you to create something new for future issues. The theme for the next issue will be ‘Choose Adventure’, and details of how you can submit work will be published on Facebook (www.facebook. com/provideshop) and Twitter (@provideshop) in the near future, so keep an eye out for that. All that’s left to say is please enjoy the following pages, and if you see something you like get in touch with the artist and let them know!
Our contributors for Issue 01: Sam Walker Tjark Johnny Wilson Alex McKie David Robson Sam and Zeb William West Simon Peplow
Rear image by SAM WALKER // www.flickr.com/photos/samwalkerpk
TJARK
“I’ve been into photography for about 8 years, I started out with a Fujifilm compact camera, but I later made the switch to analogue with an Olympus OM-10. About a year or so later I got into Lomography when I was given a Fisheye, and I’ve been a huge fan ever since.” JOHNNY WILSON // www.lc-adventures.com // www.flickr.com/johnnytakespictures
B
y the time you read this, the PROVIDE shop will have been open for a month. Hopefully you’ve had a chance already to come and visit our new home in Digbeth, Birmingham, and if not we’re looking forward to welcoming you soon. Last year when plans for the shop were just getting underway, lots of people asked “why take the risk of opening a physical store in a recession, when the High Street is in such a bad state?” Sensible people suggested opening online first, to test the water and raise some ‘brand awareness’ instead of jumping in at the deep end with a bricks and mortar store, and all the financial and other commitments that come with it. But that was never an option. From the very beginning, PROVIDE has been about people and community. Whilst acknowledging that the internet has made communicating with others infinitely faster and given small businesses and artists new, global audiences, we are spending less time with other people in the real world. For many people, shopping is now nothing more than consumption. You make a purchase with a few clicks and wait for a parcel to arrive. The whole process isolates you. You are disconnected from the people who made the product and the people who sold it to you. There is nothing to be experienced; you can’t feel the texture of the shirt or the paper in a magazine. When you look at the world around you, it’s clear that our consumption habits have a lot to answer for. Our natural habitat is straining under the pressure of our demands on its resources and our young people are straining under the pressure of the media they absorb. So, in developing the concept for PROVIDE it was vital that the shop be about more than just consuming products. We want to sell things that you can’t get anywhere else in Birmingham. We want to provide a platform for designers, makers and artists that we admire, who put more than just time and money into what they produce. PROVIDE will only work with people who love what they do, and who want to share their passions with the world. We want to provide a space where you can come and learn about these products, try them on, read before you buy and have a chat about the person who made it and why they chose to make it like that. Of course, we also have an online shop for our
friends who aren’t able to make it to Digbeth as regularly as they’d like, but our little shop on Gibb Street will always be the best place to find our most up to date offerings. PROVIDE is a totally independent operation, with no corporate head office, no boring people in suits telling us what to do, and very little regard for how anyone else thinks a shop should be run. We’re not limited by seasonal collections, so make sure to come by regularly to see what’s new in store, or just to have a chat. A lot of work has gone in to creating PROVIDE, and now it’s time to hand it over to you, our customers and collaborators. Bring your ideas, your creativity and your motivation and help us build something new and exciting that challenges how people shop, how businesses trade, and ultimately how people live. We can’t wait. Choose Adventure. Embrace Failure. Defy Impossible.
“Shooting around Digbeth was a part of a narrative still film project. However once I began searching around it became more of a personal project for me and I took full advantage of what the place had to offer. I wanted to show the gritty, run down, abandoned side of the area.�
ALEX MCKIE // mckiecreative.tumblr.com
“I have taken these pictures in Digbeth over the past five years. Some of the pictures are recent and can still be seen / found like it, others have changed since. The images are from a series of pictures that I have been collecting since 2006, with the primary aim to visualize what is going on in a dyslexic mind, if spelling becomes an issue.” Further images can be seen here: www.visualdyslexia.blogspot.co.uk
TJARK // www.tjark.carbonmade.com
TJARK
1.
Chink in my armour Shivering ships with no calm harbour; And so the “Boy King’s” slandered. I’ll be straightforward Honest and Candid. These iron rings round my neck Expose the fleshy expulsion of emotion. Servant to feral deeds, carnal needs.
This synthetic Corrupting the grid, one by one each node. And so we wrestle, back and forth, and we will tussle. If we fail, we fail but then fail better. Better, until the chink is not absolute.
Words by DAVID ROBSON
The
way
Here
we
sit
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life
stand
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tell
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see
to
all
tears
Who’s But
we
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live are
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About We
why couldn’t
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live give
you
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lie streets died.
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other
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simple
full
life
knew side
of
life pride.
question that
is
to
us so
that even
(“It’s not the easy way out, it’s the way life is, don’t judge the way we are, we
Words by SAM and ZEB
not
on
answer haven’t
two
the
we
all this
or
what
that
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you we
upon
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do
people
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For
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upon
time
Wondering As
it
hard question tried.
you all”)
Lost Soul // Painting by WILLIAM WEST
SIMON PEPLOW // www.simonpeplow.com
Supersonic Festival – 10th Anniversary 19–21 October 2012 Custard Factory, Birmingham 2012 marks the ten year anniversary of this dynamic, experimental, multi-disciplinary arts festival, which identifies the otherwise indescribable connections between contemporary music, art, performance and film. To commemorate this impressive and very special milestone this year, Capsule propose to work with Supersonic alumni and emerging artists to celebrate the achievements of the festival thus far whilst also focusing firmly on the contemporary. Because as well as giving a warm welcome to many influential, era-defining artists over the years, Supersonic always has an uncanny knack for highlighting new acts before everyone else is talking about them. As ever, Capsule’s programme has a sense of spectacle at the very heart of it, always aiming to capture the imagination of the audience, and with a friendly, bustling atmosphere to boot, there is little wonder why the festival draws fans, performers and industry folks from across the globe. The line up so far: Body / Head, Bohren & Der Club Of Gore, Carlton Melton, Clifford Torus, Dope Body, Drunk In Hell, Dylan Carlson, Flower / Corsano Duo, Goat, Hey Colossus, Hookworms, Hype Williams, Islaja, Jarboe, JK Flesh, Kevin Drumm, KK Null, Lau Nau, Lichens, Merzbow, My Disco, Nicholas Bullen, PCM, Rangda, Richard Dawson, Ruins Alone, Sir Richard Bishop, Six Organs Of Admittance, Small But Hard showcase, Stian Westerhus, SWLLWS, Thomas Ankersmit, Tim Hecker, Tomutonttu, Ufomammut, Warm Digits, Zeni Geva. Go to www.supersonicfestival.com for line up additions, exhibitions, talks and workshop info as well as details on how you can get involved.
“Supersonic is a place to be educated and surprised: new, experimental and intellectually nourishing.” – WIRE
At PROVIDE, we like people who challenge the status quo, so it made sense for us to get in touch with Saint, who will be supplying the beer at our Grand Opening. Dedicated to British craft, The Saint Brewing Co. was formed with a simple vision: to make a great lager, here in Britain. After two years of test-runs, trials and re-trials using a special brewing process and the finest ingredients, they crafted an easy drinking premium British lager. It’s now produced in small batches, sold through select outlets across the UK and enjoyed by people who prefer something a little different to the major-brewery lagers. Find out more at: www.enjoysaint.com
published by: PROVIDE SHOP LTD • The Cust ard Factor y • Gibb S treet • Bir mingha m B9 4A A • Tel 0121 224 8224 • hello @ provideshop.com • w w w.provideshop.com