C.H.M
Fabric of life
We chat to Ian Berry who cuts up thousands of pieces of denim from jeans, jackets, and other denim clothing to create portraits, urbanscapes and other works of art Your work is mind blowing and you don’t even realise it’s been created in denim. Why did you choose this medium? When I first started, I’d over emphasise that it was denim, using buttons, pockets and zips. Over time, I started using pieces to make it look more like a painting or a photograph, hiding that it’s made from denim jeans. My work isn’t about it being made in denim, other than it’s the material of our time, and I portray contemporary life – so what better material to use. In truth, it was a simple observation. I saw a pile of jeans piled up in my old bedroom, and noticed the shades next to one another. I hadn’t wanted to use my old jeans as they held memories for me. I had just done a collage in newspaper of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown and thought, I could do that in denim too! I started working with denim and started to think of my connection with it, and saw how other people connected with it. There’s something in the denim that allows people into my work.
Where did you get your creative genes (pun intended) and did you study art? My parents and family around me aren’t arty at all. They do say it skips generations. My maternal grandad was a draughtsman and designed engines, he was in a protected job during the war. My dad’s father had been a master maker, and used to make creative cakes. Interestingly though he worked in the textile factory as a carder. Sometimes I feel that I should use wool as I’m from Huddersfield, which was a woollen manfucturing area.
What was the first thing you made with a pair of jeans? I made a few portraits of the people who made
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BEAUTIFULLY BRITISH MAGAZINE
denim famous and changed public opinion about the fabric. I was amazed that icons such Marlon Brando, Marilyn Monroe, James Dean and Debbie Harry seen wearing denim on and off screen made it what it is today. I went on to make James Dean’s portrait in his hometown in Indiana with the museum there, and Debbie Harry’s actual portrait, which made it a bit sweeter.
Each piece documents and tells a story, what inspires your designs? While everyone wants to talk about my work being in denim, many fail to connect all the work together. Taking away the portraits, my work is a lot about community and the changing fabric of our lives, especially urban environments. From a rural beginning, I see denim very much an urban fabric now. So while my work can seem as versatile as denim itself, I look at aspects to document changes in our lives such as the closing pubs, laundrettes and newsstands. I do find that in portraying a familiar site in a common material, it creates something new and people see the beauty in these ever-changing locations. The exhibition, Behind Closed Doors showed the flip side of this, showing materialised homes in London portrayed almost as Elle Decoration spreads but interrupted by a sole person in a melancholy image. You’d think someone who lived like that would be happy, but it questioned people. Many people in the gallery said they saw themselves and the whole body together. I think this was some of my most powerful work. I recently did Hotel California, as I wanted to bring some brightness into the studio. I also love to challenge
