threaded the PICK ‘N’ MIX issue 2010 new zealand $17.00 $12.95 australia
09. THREADED 9, 2010
Remember the days when 50 or even 20 cents in your pocket was actually enough to buy something and, indeed, more than something? You could afford to mix things up a little. With a pick ‘n’ mix system firmly in place in every corner store across this fine land, you could choose your poison and even name your price. Nowadays, we still want freedom of choice but it could be argued that the price of individuality just keeps going up and up and up. So let’s celebrate those who say “damn the expense” and pick ‘n’mix as they like, even if they have only about 50 cents to rub together. And how do we do that? Well for a start, with issue 9 of Threaded, we’re giving you the freedom to be choosy: to be selective, to consider all the options. Of course, after you’ve perused the entire range, you might just decide to take a lucky dip or, better yet, eat your way through the whole menu, so to speak. The ‘pick ‘n’ mix’ ethos can be found in almost all aspects of life. It’s an act of selecting and choosing that can be acquired casually, accidently, by learning, by experience or with great care. So for the pick ‘n’ mix issue, we pulled out all the stops: picked up the pieces, picked up speed, picked up steam, picked up the ball and ran with it, picked up the slack, and even picked up the tab in some cases. But if you don’t like our mix ‘n’ match, or have mixed feelings, then don’t mix your words – pick a bone with us, pick us to pieces but, whatever happens, don’t get lost in the mix. Unless of course you want to, that is. Because, if you’re really serious about this, you have to pick ‘n’ mix ‘em as you see ‘em… Foreward by Scott Alexander Young
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CONTENTS
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fiona grieve
Editor Fiona Grieve DESIGN Kyra Bradcock Art Direction Kyra Bradcock Fiona Grieve COVER Threaded Gina Gibbons Luellen Wright Sue Jowsey 3d DESIGNER Lucas Milner PHOTOGRAPHY Neil Finlay Karen Crisp PRACTITIONER SHOWCASE Supply Sue Jowsey & F4 Ghostpatrol & Miso Creature Strategy Design & Advertising Student Showcase Kirsty Barlow Hayley Roberts Tirelle Peter Brent Hayward Ilse-Marie Erl Adrienne Vaughan Josephine Ross Laura Marsh William Bardebes Raewyn Graham proofing All About Words ADVERTISING/Sponsorship Nick Shewring nick@threaded.co.nz SPONSORSHIP Unitec New Zealand Spicers Paper Limited PAPER SUPPLIER Spicers Paper Limited SUBMISSIONS We welcome contributions for Ed.10 and submissions are now open for Exhibition Alley if you are an emerging creative Special thanks Dad's Pies for editorial and contents page location PRODUCTION Threaded Media Limited PO Box 79 382 Royal Heights Waitakere City 0656 Auckland, New Zealand No part of this publication can be copied or reproduced in any way/form or by electronic means without written permission from Threaded Media Limited
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" BRINGING
BACK RESPECT
Based in Wellington, this small crew is helping music fans get the respect they deserve. Tired of being called ‘pirates’, they built a website to show off the ways they support bands by creating a MusicHy.pe account that hooks into Last.fm, YouTube, SoundCloud, Twitter and Facebook. These clever folks use your web patterns to build up a music fan profile called a ‘Track Record’. This public profile shows off your music ecosystem habits: the gigs you go to, the merchandise you buy, the music you love, the videos you favour and the bands you tweet about.
They work with inventive bands, like The Mint Chicks, and labels who want to be creative and interactive. Together they develop competitions and online collaborations that get everyone involved online and at local gigs – after all, live music is what it's all about! While most music ‘experts’ talk about the death of the music industry, MusicHy.pe reveals how this space is evolving. So check out what these guys are up to and get a peek at the new music industry. www.musichype.com
They're also breaking down the virtual glass wall infront of bands to run genuine online events. ABOVE TOP: The Mint Chicks launching their EP on MusicHy.pe
BARCAMP AK 2010 Ludwig Wendzich has been following Barcamps around the world since their inception and in 2007, tired of waiting for one to emerge in New Zealand, he set out to make it happen by launching Barcamp Auckland which attracted over 70 delegates.
ABOVE RIGHT: Ludwig Wendzich, Barcamp Auckland’s organiser ABOVE: Official Barcamp Auckland T-shirt 2009. Designed by Matthew Allen from mata.co.nz
Everyone is an expert at something. Barcamps allow the cross-pollination of ideas and thinking across various disciplines. It is the chance to gather together, share new ideas and generate innovation in the creative industry. It’s about passion, creating community and exploring new social media.
Thanks to Cory Bendall from Superfresh we have just launched our brand spanking new website. Be sure to share some Threaded love by browsing through our digital archives in a theme of your choice. View previous practitioner profiles, student showcases, photo galleries, services, latest news and more. See www.threaded.co.nz today xo.
In July this year, Barcamp Auckland celebrated its fourth annual event and attracted over 190 delegates from all over the country. Even in its first year, Barcamp Auckland was the largest Barcamp in New Zealand (and one of the largest in the world). Now, having more than doubled in size, it still manages to maintain the close-knit community feel that is so often lost at larger conferences, where each delegate is just a number in a sea of people. Here everyone has something to contribute and something to learn. Visit bca.geek.nz to find out more.
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Nell the Narcoleptic Melbourne Art Fair is the leading art fair and public exposition in the Asia Pacific region and Australia’s most significant exhibition of contemporary visual art. Established in 1988, the Melbourne Art Fair is held biennially at the historic Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne. Melbourne Art Fair 2010 will be held from 4 to 8 August, featuring over 80 national and international galleries from all states and territories of Australia, and from Auckland, Beijing, Hong Kong and Osaka. The programme features the celebrated opening night Vernissage, National and International Collector Programmes, Curator Programmes, Public Lectures, Forums Programme, Arts Publications, Private Lounge and Guided Tours. To find out more about the suite of galleries involved, visit www.artfair.com.au/fair BELOW: Peter Madden, Ram Mount (2004), Image: Courtesy of Ryan Renshaw Gallery
Here is the story of how two people managed to create a soul-satisfying 3D short in their spare time. Nell, an ordinary girl who falls asleep at extraordinary times, will make her début in the 2010 International Film Festival (8–25 July) in the homegrown section ‘Quirky Stories’. Her proud parents, auteurs and graphics fancypants Belle Barber and Linden Kirkby, share their five key ingredients for making your own short animation: 1: Passion Having passion in the beginning of a project will help you foolishly overcommit yourself and set high standards of both quality and quantity. In our case, it was our unique character, Nell, whose optimism, positivity and just plain good luck contradict anything expected of a person with narcolepsy. We still get excited about our character and all the possibilities for her. 2: Sacrifice Listen to the views of other collaborators; if you demand complete creative control of your project you’ll soon be working alone. Another great sacrifice is time. Ours: about 2,000 hours of late nights, after work, weekends, public holidays and cancelled social engagements. 3: Drive An animated project has a remarkable similarity to a relationship. In the beginning, you can’t stop thinking about them, make excuses to see them and present yourself to them in the best light. Having drive helps after the glow has gone; you need to be prepared to work even though all you see are their faults and everything they do annoys you. Towards the end of Nell’s production cycle, we were punching the clock; our inspiration and excitement were waning. Dealing with frustrating errors and feature
creep made it feel that the project would never end. At these times, try to remember your passion or at least try to vindicate your sacrifice; the agony will persist only if you don’t get it done. 4: Acceptance Try not to confuse a healthy desire to do better with dissatisfaction for what you’ve achieved. The finished product will be somewhere between what you scorn and what you dreamed of. In our case, we identified what was realistically possible for two people with no budget and full-time jobs, and went about making that as good as we could. Any excess material that we couldn’t work into Nell will simply be saved for our next project. 5: Planning Apart from your production schedule, you will want to plan your project around funding opportunities and festival submission dates. Plan a year in advance; we’re not kidding. Entities like Creative NZ have yearly application deadlines with stringent conditions on when production can start. The number and calibre of film festivals at which your piece is shown attracts funding and talent for your next project, so don’t miss deadlines just because you weren’t organi – zzzzzz...
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BUCK ON STAGE AT SEMI-PERMANENT
Semi-Permanent is sparking up winter again this August with a stunning line-up of international and New Zealand creative talent. New York-based Kiwi Gareth O’Brien, art director and animation director of Buck, is just one of the 15 stars on stage this year. He’ll be joined by founder and creative director Orion Tait. From offices in New York and Los Angeles, Buck is a motion graphics and creative studio creating stunning work for a diverse range of clients from NBA 2009, AMEX and Coke Zero through to Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth slide show.
Comprising illustrators, animators, filmmakers, artists and designers, Buck produces live-action, stop-motion, 3D character animation, branding, websites and art gallery exhibitions.
www.semipermanent.co.nz
Buck describe themselves as visual storytellers and conceptual thinkers – we can’t wait for the visual feast from Gareth and Orion. Tickets to Semi-Permanent are $290, with a student rate of $150, and are available through The Edge Ticketing Service www.buytickets.co.nz (09 357 3355) or 0800 BUY TICKETS (0800 289 842). See www.semipermanent.co.nz
above: Still shots from Buck projects
CREATIVE CONNECTIONS The yMedia Challenge, which connects students, industry and not-for-profit organisations to develop and implement new media initiatives for collective growth, is currently under way.
ABOVE TOP: The 130+ participants await to hear who is in each team ABOVE BOTTOM: Co-directors Jade Tang and Eddy Helm announce the start of the 2010 challenge.
With student teams from AUT University, Media Design School, The University of Auckland and Massey University, and industry mentors from DDB Group, Colenso, Shift, Alt Group, Sparks Interactive and even Threaded Magazine (to name a few), we’re looking forward to a high quality of creative, innovative and wellthought-through entries this year. Participants have been given eight weeks (14 June – 09 August) to take a project from brief to implementation.
Awards will be given for best use of design, innovation and sustainability, and an overall prize will be given to the standout project. Follow the progress of the yMedia Challenge and see what the talented students produce for their community organisations at www.ymedia.co.nz The yMedia Challenge is proudly supported by nzherald.co.nz, Terabyte, Running with Scissors, Mr Vintage, Microsoft, Orcon and Ministry of Youth Development, and supporting workshops are kindly held at Media Design School and AUT. Photographer: James Hancox from www.photoforcharity.org.nz
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THINK /MAKE
SUPPLY.NET.NZ
THINK/MAKE. IT DEFINES AND GUIDES WHAT WE DO, WHY WE DO IT AND HOW WE DO IT. IT MIGHT NOT BE VERY SEXY OR ROCKSTAR, BUT WORKING METHODICALLY FROM CONCEPTION (THINK) TO COMPLETION (MAKE) LETS US MOVE PAST THE RASH AND IMPULSIVE, INTO A MORE CONSIDERED APPROACH TOWARDS WHAT WE WANT TO ACHIEVE. IT’S A PHILOSOPHY SHARED BY EVERYONE INVOLVED IN THE CREATIVE PROCESS, AND IN OUR STUDIO IT GIVES US A FRAMEWORK FOR OUR EVERYDAY PRACTICES, CLIENT RELATIONSHIPS AND PROCESSES, SO WE CAN GET ON AND CREATE GOOD WORK ACROSS A BUNCH OF MEDIA. SEE MORE AT blog.supply.net.nz/search/threaded
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THINK /MAKE
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I used to have a little Transformer airplane and truck that I took everywhere with me, though I never had any mash-ups with my friend’s massive Barbie collection; lucky her.
Fire alarm tests are designed to lull us into a false sense of insecurity. What if someone swapped the fire alarm for a fire lullaby?
My cousins and I used to try and get our cousin Lisa to cry by getting our Transformers and GI Joes to kill her Barbie dolls; Transformers are rad.
I would want to wake up if it was a Robert Smith lullaby, to get away from the spider before it ate me up for dinner.
My brain is not working, my week starts now and I’m going home.
And now it’s Monday. The storms (and the drip) have kept me up all night and I’m tired yet optimistic, confident that this week will be better than the last now the deadline has passed.
4 methods for making deadline: music, coffee, no sleep, semi-lucid black humour.
Did Peter Saville ever do a Cure album cover? Not too sure. When I was at design school I almost shat myself when I saw his design for Suede’s Coming Up.
LEGO Smash-ups – The idea is for each player to make a tough car out of LEGO, then you race the cars into a head-on collision – the car that survives is the winner.
I often liken coding a website to building something out of LEGO. Each line of code is like a LEGO brick; eventually you complete one working part. You then start on the next part, one line at a time. Eventually you have many interconnected working parts that rely on each other to function. When you’ve finished you stand back and admire your creation, hoping it doesn’t fall apart when you turn it on.
Album covers. Love the gatefold, the rawness of the art and the dirty smell of old vinyl. Bring back the old skool.
Now are we supposed to be rambling on about rubbish or dropping some design knowledge?… Ummm here we go… Remember to make sure you work with clients that inspire you and in a studio environment that is aligned with your outlook on design.
I don’t really get this whole thing so I’m just going to say that fire alarm test is really killing any design motivation I had... hmmm I think I need a coffee...
Old skool; I wish I could go back and play with my Barbies all day – dress them, brush their hair and make them fight with each other.
Just think of how much time, energy and money (not to mention paper) could be saved!
Hmmmmm… I don’t think this is working too well. Suggestions?
I would get so much more work done without email, but getting client sign-off without it would be a mission - we’d have to fax! Piri Tukere
Regards
I will have some access to my email and will reply as soon as possible to your enquiry.
For anything urgent please contact either Therese (therese@supply.net.nz) or Mark (mark@supply.net.nz) or alternatively call the office on 309 3579.
I will be out of the office from Tuesday 8th June returning Tuesday 15th of June.
Hi,
Hey, don’t drop the ball. Let’s keep this hacky sac in the air. Toe-knee-shoulder-eyebrowtoe-shin- Are we all in the circle? Then let’s continue.
Every little bit of the process is important. Just like every part of a design should have a role to play. Take Roly the dog – it’s no coincidence that Purex chose a brown Shar Pei to sell their toilet paper.
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My mind’s blank right now, please skip my turn. THINK /MAKE
Imagine a world without email now...
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I’m so happy that faxes are now obsolete! There’s no love in fax machines.
If only all official bureaus and departments would start treating a signed email with the same amount of trustworthiness that faxes get.
I would love to live a minimal life, but I (think I) need everything I own and more.
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WONDERLAND: THE MYSTERY OF THE ORCHID. In July 2009, Auckland Museum launched an exhibition exploring the mystery of one of the world’s most alluring flowers. Our brief was to create four video pieces that described the historical, emotional and cultural significance of the orchid. The videos had to capture the audience’s imagination through colour, imagery and artistry. The video pieces would be interactively displayed on LCD touch screens. To reveal the deepest, darkest secrets of this mysterious flower, we chose Maori performance artist Mika X to script and perform four intimate vignettes – each a tale of obsession, revenge, eroticism and intrigue. Shot on green screen, the footage was then carefully edited and combined with footage shot specifically for the pieces, archive footage and the Museum’s own archive imagery of the orchid. Each ‘digital portrait’ tells a different story and required lovingly detailed costume, make-up and art direction - that complemented and enhanced the overall exhibition aesthetic. Visitors were enticed towards a ‘digital portrait’ of an elderly Maori man in the manner of a Goldie subject. After touching the screen, they moved enchanted through a sequence of tales: ‘Perei’, the potato orchid; ‘Black’ the vampire in his search for the mythical black orchid; ‘Erotic’ Florence in her floral cocktail frock; and ‘Hunter’ the lament of a tribesman from the tropical Ecuadorian rainforest.
BOP v1.indd 1
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BIRDS OF PARADISE. The brief for the project was to create album artwork for a compilation of New Zealand contemporary female singer-songwriters. Specifically, we were asked to design instantly identifiable artwork that would set the album apart from being a merely stock-standard compilation. It also had to evoke the contemporary and unique blend of artists featured on the album and stand the test of time. Playing with ideas around the phrase ‘birds of a feather’ we focused on a concept that included the incubation and birth of New Zealand female musical talent and the hatching of creative ideas. Through painstaking trial and error, we cracked, oil-painted, spray-painted, stencilled, glittered and dropped from heights more than 100 (yolkless) eggs, until we had enough photographic material. We referenced archival texts and specimen catalogues from early last century to develop a typographic style and approach to use throughout the design. The resulting artwork included 19 unique and lovingly designed pieces to celebrate New Zealand’s contemporary female singer-songwriters and position the CD as more than just another compilation album.
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ROCHDALE CIDER. The McCashin family asked us to revive its original 1940s cider. Rochdale was produced by a local Nelson orchard and brewery, and the family wanted the brand to represent history and tradition, but feel fresh and new within the growing cider market. The brand and collateral needed to communicate a ‘retro cheek’ that referenced its heritage but captured a modern audience. So we developed the iconic apple brand mark, with its stencilled lettering – a visual reference to the fruit stamps many of us created as kids. This felt nostalgic, while graphically communicating the essence of the product. Copy and typography complement each other and give Rochdale an aesthetic voice. The typographic layout and hierarchy of messaging reference old boxing posters and newspaper ads, matched by the authentic textures of antiqued paper effects and screen printing. Its strong shelf appeal has been a key element in Rochdale’s success. Feedback has been great as people experience the brand and relate to its fun, retro character.
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THE HOTEL SPACE. We were approached by an Auckland based interior design firm who saw a need for design focused hotel procurement online. The aim was to make sourcing and ordering product easy and accessible, while showcasing new products and design inspiration. The brand needed to portray a sense of design authority whilst still being approachable and clearly communicating its online presence. After a branding exercise we chose the name ‘The Hotel Space’. A clean typographic identity was carefully balanced with a contemporary colour palette. Flexibility in brand application was also imperative, to keep pace with seasonal interior design trends. This considered approach was implemented throughout The Hotel Space website and collateral, which have gained many compliments and large orders for our client. Visit the website www.thehotelspace.co.nz
CITE. This importer and distributor of high-end European furniture design had no real web presence and their previous identity was created out of necessity. A set of brand guidelines helped set the style and direction and from there a strong online presence was launched to showcase their beautiful furniture. Feedback from focus groups made sure key features and requirements were considered throughout the process. The result was a premium website with beautiful images, easy usability and wish-list functionality. Website usage has resulted in a dramatic reduction in the amount of print collateral Cite sends out to architects and interior designers who prefer a more eco-friendly option. Check out the website at www.cite.co.nz
EXHIBITION ALLEY
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KIRSTY BARLOW
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KIRSTY BARLOW far left TOP: The Juniper Tree FAR LEFT BOTTOM: Struwwelpeter MIDDLE TOP: The Girl Without Hands MIDDLE BOTTOM: The Story of Little Suck-a-Thumb ABOVE: Rapunzel Employing a combination of photography and illustration, Kirsty Barlow's recent series of work exposes the perverse content located from a selection of children's fairy tales and nursery rhymes. Barlow takes stories, which have been buried beneath bright and playful exteriors, and presents them with themes of abuse, violence, neglect, incest, murder and cannibalism. In reviving these stories, Barlow has produced a series of images that intend to allure as well as disturb, and emphasise the 'blood and tears' rather than the happy endings of classic children's literature. kirsty.barlow@windowslive.com
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hayley roberts
hayley roberts above top: Pick 'n’ Mix Experimental series, June 2009, Digital Xerox C-Type, 92 x 65cm x 3 above bottom: Lucky Dip Experimental series, November 2009, Digital C-Type, Inkjet photo satin, 111.8 x 70cm, 111.8 x 90.5cm, 111.8 x 72cm
EVA kozub
In the series of images Pick 'n’ Mix Experimental, Roberts consciously removes the role of photographer as director and focuses on the studio set-up, the experiential nature of the project and documentation. By allowing the participants to play characters, invent lives and choose their own costumes, paper cut-outs, make-up and props, Roberts has created
a scenario of anything goes and participants were limited only by their selection, imagination and creative potential. In the experimental photographic series, Lucky Dip, Roberts employs a similar collaborative scenario between the photographer and participant by inviting collaborators to dip into the selection that has been provided. Roberts has enhanced her
photographic ABOVE:practice Andrewby relinquishing a degree of control and enhancing the creative potential of the participant. hayleyrobertsphotography@gmail.com
Tirelle Peter
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Tirelle Peter FROM TOP LEFT TO RIGHT: 1. Lady B, 2. Woolbur, 3. Vergil, 4. Lamar, 5. On A Wire, 6. Toots, 7. Toots [detail], 8. Forest, 9. Peggie ThePeatreeCollective consists of Melbournebased artist Tirelle Peter. Since Peter left New Zealand, drawing and illustration have become the fundamental means by which she explores ideas and utilises a range of drawing media: posca pens, pastels, pencils, ink stamps and surfaces. Her most recent works consist of drawing, stamping and stitching decorative patterns and quirky creatures onto and into old skateboards. This attraction to found objects and transformation from everyday object to art object stems from a background in sculpture.
Idiosyncrasies and juxtaposition recorded in everyday interactions and observations of people are the two main elements central to Peter’s practice. By experimenting with the fusion of unrelated materials to alter meaning and challenge context, Peter creates surreal illustrative landscapes with quirky creatures layered with loose sketches of banal objects as well as refined drawings. ThePeatreeCollective seeks to challenge the perception of foreign and familiar. thepeatreecollective@gmail.com thepeatreecollective.wordpress.com
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