Featured
3 BRUNO HALF BAKED
G.R.I.N.D CLOTHING
ASTERION CLOTHING
GOLDSMITHS END OF YEAR EXHIBITION REVIEW
Fresh Faces
Rowan Papier Dan Neville
Thamyres VM
Martina Gillulainelli Tom Lane
ISSN 2050-7585
Dexter Kay
ISSUE #3 WatchMePivot is a London based collective committed to showcasing innovative work in a variety of creative disciplines. Our focus is set firmly on the exploration of emerging styles and ideas –ideas envisaged so often in the bedrooms, classrooms and basements of the artistic underbelly. In doing this we hope to not only alter the boundaries of creative endeavour but provide a platform for further advancement. Through our blog and quarterly magazine we dedicate ourselves to the exhibition of an unlimited variety of creative fields, featuring the best of graphic design, illustration, fashion, conceptual fine art, sculpture, painting, photography, film, sound, and music. At WatchMePivot’s core is the belief that innovation of any sort should not only be viewed on paper or online but also experienced. WMP events are a place for artists and art lovers alike to gather and share in original imagery and music. Such afternoons and evenings are, like the published product, dedicated to ground breaking London talent. Besides primarily working as an in-house publishing platform to showcase emerging talents, WatchMePivot works in parallel as a creative studio, the nuts and blots behind everything we do. As a studio our main output is the magazine, though we also cater to small and established clients. Lastly to connect all the things we do, we create and host on our own event nights. We believe that experiencing and showing new talents in art, design and music shouldn’t only be confined to the boundaries of a page or a website. We put on events to connect people together, to bring artists together, to bring something new to the table. Our aim and want is to create a space for people to come down, network, feel and share the experiences of discovering new and exciting music and imagery.
The Team Founder/Head Designer/Editor: David Hinga Multi- media Editor: Alejandro Faro Fashion Editor/Writer: Scarlet Mae Illustrator/Graphic Designer: Jamie Kendrick Graphic Designer/Videographer: Freddie Nockolds Graphic Designer: Joshua Dean Writer: Francesco Buonasera
Editor’s Note I would like to say a big thank you to everyone who helped put this issue together, to all the contributors, thank you for providing us with great work to showcase and to all our friends and readers, thank you for the continued support. David
david@watchmepivot.com alejandro@watchmepivot.com scarlet@watchmepivot.com jamie@watchmepivot.com freddie@watchmepivot.com joshua@watchmepivot.com francesco@watchmepivot.com
Contact Info / Studio /General enquiries info@watchmepivot.com Submitting work submit@watchmepivot.com Follow us
Contributors Rowan Papier
Tom Lane
Dan Neville
Dexter Kay
Thamyres VM Martina Gillulainelli
2012 © All Rights Reserved WatchMePivot Magazine
www.watchmepivot.com Twitter: @WatchMePivot Instagram: WatchMePivot Facebook: www.facebook.com/watchmepivot Mixcloud: www.mixcloud.com/watchmepivot
CON-
-TENTS
FRESH FACES 4 - 17
EXHIBITION REVIEW 19 - 27
STYLE SHOOT X ASTERION 28 - 33
FEATURED: G.R.I.N.D CLOTHING 34 - 39
AT HOME WITH BRUNO 40 - 46
PA3 WatchMePivot
-GE
f r e s h f a c e s
featuring rowan papier dan neville thamyres vm martina gillulainelli tom lane dexter kay
rowan papier
Hi my name is Rowan, i am currently working on several projects coming out next year. Art pieces combining still life, drag queens and fast food amongst other things. I get my inspiration from... Everywhere, and everyone. More specifically love, or situations with great emotional charge.
I’m not looking to collaborate with anyone in the near future - though I may feel differently then. So long as I’m working on something I care about, I’ll be happy. It’s likely to involve my muse, NYC and a dozen rolls of Portra.
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dan
neville Hi my name is Dan, I’m currently working as a designer at Fearlessly Frank (www.fearlesslyfrank. com). I also illustrate, drawing a lot of inspiration from my immediate surroundings and travels here and there.
many hours as I’ll work”. And I think that’s a great goal to have. I scroll, I watch, I listen, I’m constantly trying to interpret what’s going on around me, often with whatever’s to hand.
I’ve always got off on simple, pure typography and illustration and have combined the two to produce several new pieces in an on going series. At the moment I can’t see any end in sight which is cool, because it keeps my work rate up and I find that comforting – like John Contino said “as many hours as I can stay awake is as
I feel lucky to have already worked with a couple of people that I admire, so for me I get more excited about potential new projects and collaborating with anyone who’s up for it. http://www.danneville.tumblr.com/
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thamyres
vm
Hi my name is Thamyres, I’m a Brazilian photographer and I live in London. I’m a recent photography graduate and I hope to keep photographing for a very long time. I’m currently working on the material I have accumulated since the beginning of 2012. It includes a couple of aerial sessions taken in the coast of Brazil and my experiences as a traveller in Southeast Asia.
It was my project for the second phase of the Student Focus at the Sony World Photography Awards 2012, of which the theme was My World in Colours. The series was displayed at the Somerset House in London during the three weeks the World Photo exhibition was on. I might say I get my inspiration from the geometrical aspect of things, my eyes persist in chasing lines and balance.
The work I have submitted is called ‘Blissful Wintry Prose’ it shows a series of aerial I would love to be a full time travel photographs taken in the Somerset region of photographer. England.
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martina
gillulainelli My name is Martina and I’ve just graduated from London College of Communication. After studying Design for Advertising as my course pathway, I am now interning at different agencies. I am interested to learn more about the design disciplines and I am curious to see what is out there. Working in the industry is totally different from university and there is so much to learn and see. I am also working on a social entrepreneurial project, Food for Good, which I started with two friends, Chiara and Anna, 2 years ago. We are now in the process of further developing our initial idea and we are excited to make something good for the community and for us as designers.
during my third year. I think it expresses my way of thinking and approach to different briefs. At university we had the great opportunity to try different workshops - from letterpress to screen printing - and that has made me so interested in the experimental phase of the creative process. I get inspiration from what surrounds me. I am really interested in people’s opinion and point of view. I would love to have my own practice along with Chiara and Anna, to be able to do what we really like and perhaps deal with the numerous sides of the graphic design industry.
I would also love to see Food for Good expanded and The work I have submitted is a selection of work I made see it as a good impact on our society.
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tom
lane My interests in primates began at an early age, I have always found their similarities to the human race fascinating. The very fact that we descend from them through evolution attracts/inspires me. The fact that primates can represent humans in many ways is one of the main reasons why they have become my main point of focus. I have combined my interests in primates with my understanding of the underground street culture and their opinions and attitudes. This means my subject matter may sometimes be controversial, but it is always in a tongue and cheek manner. I am a passionate London based illustrator originating from a fine art background where my love for painting developed in to illustration. My working process is
balanced between original and digital mediums. I use patterns to structure images giving them gradient. My working style obtains a balance between beautiful and sinister where I use a blend of free flowing and jagged line work to build up compositions I am currently working on my company Silverback Designs, which sells high quality digital satin and canvas prints. Sizes ranging from a4 - a0 and T-shirts. I work from my imagination giving my illustrations more creative freedom, which makes them more unique. tommy-lowe@hotmail.co.uk www.cargocollective.com/silverbackdesigns
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dexter
kay
Hi my names Dexter Kay and at the moment i am interested in tattoo flash & bad scremo. I’m currently working on trying to create my own style of neo-traditional illustrations incorporating my love of portraiture/realism.
There is no way I could pin point what inspires me, it can come from anywhere. I like to read into social situations to pull ideas for imagery. Im loving the work of Sebastian Domaschke, Tom Gilmour, Duncan X & Max Ernst at the moment.
The work I’ve put in is the cover illustrations for my research book into tattoo styles, sub culture & practitioners. I wanted to juxtapose the old style imagery and the child to show to new life and passion that is being brought into the industry at the moment & I also just enjoy the subtly bizarre element of the result.
In a year id like to be doing a tattoo apprenticeship, under the likes of Henry Hate or similar, someone who knows the old values of the industry as well as a want to push it forward.
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Submit Want to submit work to WatchMePivot Magazine? Then send us an email with a small selection of your work, in jpeg format with a short description of yourself and the work, and a link to your site or blog
We would be more than happy to receive any of the following:
Illustration Graphic Design Product Design Photography Film Fine Art Zines/Publications Sound Fashion Music
Or anything you think we might find interesting.
Emails us at: submit@watchmepivot.com
GOLD SMITHS EXhiBITION REVIEW
featuring Dagmara Catkowska Yolanda Hanson Ang Seiw Ching Christopher Rouselle In Jun Kim Adam Lilley
thursday 14th june WatchMePivot went down to Goldsmiths University Campus in New Cross where final year students exhibited their work for the last time before trying to make it in the real world. Here is a selection the best seen there
ADAm lilley
This experimental piece is a composition of 5 different, black & white closeup pictures of Lilley’s friends and family. The perception, yours, his, mine and them is altered as every of the 5 subjects was on a different kind of drug when the shots were taken . When questioned on which drug each one of the 5 was Adam answered: “ The guess is yours.” Lilley tells us: “I know these people so well, I know their facial features and expressions, I know everything about them. I believe that the closest people in your life have some sort of trace of what and who
you are. I wanted to make it very personal so I took the pictures in my house. I edited and photoshopped the best shots to bring out the imperfections.” Lilley’s life is then been uncovered with these pictures that with their brutal shots tell us something about 5 different aspects of it. The whole piece implies his persona, hidden behind the camera but revealed in toto from his friend’s eyes and expressions. Adam Lilley’s Altered Perception is an attempt to create his ultimate self-portrait.
contact adam on: adamjakelilley@gmail.com www.sexbeatlondon.com www.kolkhoz.tumblr.com
yolanda Hanson
The series of photographs is titled ‘Empty Stairways’ The staircases of tube stations of Euston, Old Street, King’s Cross and Oval are represented empty and dark.
“I waited in the staircase of this station and waited until nobody was there.” Says Yolanda; “People leave a trace, I wanted to show how the spaces looked like when nonebody is there. Many people just pass through them many times without even looking at them. “It’s a sad piece of work. I do travel there everyday and it’s not nice. You are pushed around and you kind of get the feeling that you are moving without even realising. You
travel, but you are still, the potential of your journey has not been fulfilled. There’s something romantic about it, to wait in the darkness and see what comes out. “During the Olympics is going to be even crazier, this dark spaces are not going to be seen anymore hence they are not going to exist any more but you will get a feeling of the crowd in its emptiness.”
contact yolanda on: yolanda_hanson@hotmail.com www.yolandahanson.foliohd.com
IN
JUN
The space between consciousness and unconsciousnessÂ
KIM
ANG
SEIW
CHING
Siew Ching Ang is an artist from Singapore graduated with a BA Fine Art and History of Art, her aim is to compress the 3 dimensional surface in a 2D one. She believes there is a great deal of a difference between what we think and what we see. Her pictures show what she defines as “non-spaces”.
CHRISTOPHER ROUSELL
dagmara cetkowska
Review written by Francesco Buonasera
Photography by Jamie Kendrick
Style Shoot x Asterion
Joseph wears 5-panel cap and A* tee by Asterion jacket by Lyle & Scott
Lauren and Toria wear A* tee and Minotaur tees by Asterion beanie by Carhartt accessories models own
Jasper wears Asterion Logo crewneck by Asterion shirt by Supreme sunglasses by Ray Ban
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Joseph wears Minotaur tee by Asterion 5-panel cap by Quiet Life shorts models own
Jasper wears Ruler Of The Stars tee and snapback by Asterion
Lauren wears A* crewneck by Asterion
Lauren and Jasper wear 5-panel and snapback caps by Asterion
asterionlondon.com
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Photography by Jamie Kendrick and David Hinga Styling by Jamie Kendrick Models Jasper Nketiah, Lauren Bush, Joseph Kendrick and Toria Chys jamiekendrick.com davidhinga.com
Getting Rich Is No Dream G.R.I.N.D LONDON
interview with Metwali
Youssef fOUNDER
|
DIRECTOR
OF
GRIND
lONDON
CLOTHING
S
o can you tell us about yourself and what you do? I’m a part time creative, full time life analyst – but don’t ask me to asses yours or anyone else’s life, as my skill set only allows me to critique myself. It (self-life analysis) doesn’t pay the bills, but does help me put a negative spin on anything I achieve - to remind me I’m still an English-Egyptian mongrel piece of shit who needs to pull his finger out ASAP to make any kind of noticeable contribution to life. Self-negative reinforcement aside, I design for and co-run a clothing brand called Grind London – which luckily does cover my bills. So what is Grind London? How did it all begin and what inspired you to create the brand? I could list some clichés about what the brand represents, but really, Grind London is a creative outlet for me and Barney (the other half of the brand). Fashion has become our chosen discipline, and we create collections that represent something of interest to us at that moment in time. It began in 2008 with screen printed tees/ sweats, and as our skill sets have developed over time, so has the brands product range. Did you have a background in textiles or fashion design before starting the brand? No not really. I’ve always been into fashion and styles from a very young age - pattern Moschino was the hype of my school days, but my background was more in Music. I started DJing at the age of 14, and that was my life up until 21. I then started to get into music production and graphic design, but soon realised I didn’t enjoy working on other people’s projects, as I didn’t (and still probably don’t) like anyone to critique my work and expect me to amend it. I like to have full control over what is put out, and if people don’t like it that’s fine, I just don’t want to be expected to change it. So with that in mind I started thinking of ways in which I could pull together all my passions, and develop something to focus on, within which I would maintain creative control. That’s probably a better answer to the question above.
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| Featured
Interview by David Hinga Photography by Joe Murphy
What influences the clothing you’re producing at the moment? Influences vary from collection to collection. Our recent ‘Hot Like Toast’ collection was inspired by the traditionally erratic weather during the British summer. We generally work around a chosen theme for each collection, which helps keep all items within the collection relevant. But influences style wise come from a plethora of sources. Far too many to list, and perhaps some too strange to admit. In the last few years streetwear brands have been popping up from every corner of the Uk. What do you think makes Grind London stand out from other Uk labels? I don’t know really. I think we’ve got good direction, and a clear style we’re comfortable with. We try not to jump onto fads, and just keep our designs as honest as possible. What streetwear brands are you rockin’? Grind London all day every day – GET ME! What’s on the horizon for Grind London’s future? Short term – we’ll have our next collection dropping in September, and perhaps another capsule collection later in the year. We’ll be putting together some interesting collaborations, and will continue to develop product range for our 2013 releases.
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| Featured
INTERVIEW
AT HOME WITH BRUNO WatchMePivot Ciramicoli
interviews
Cabral,
Krush
and
Bruno
co-founder
Half
of
Baked.
Starting in London’s East-End hosting bordering-illegal parties as well as freshly founding their own record label, Half Baked is an organization exporting their groovy deep house vibe on a global scale. Having Already hosted events in the UK, USA, South Africa, Spain, Germany, France, Portugal and more, Bruno and his friend and co-founder Remi Landaz and their crew, the Half Baked Family started at the bottom in London in 2008. This exclusive interview reveals their origins and development until present day as well as their next moves and ambitions. This is the story of Half-Baked as told by Bruno himself.
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Hello Bruno, what first brought you to London and what were you looking for in this city?
Brockmann, Robin Ordell, Rainer and many others. Everyone met behind the bar, working together. One day me and Remi started I lived in Brazil until 16 when speaking about this idea of I left for London. A friend of pulling a party together. mine from back home was studying there and I planned It was a good idea, we were to come visit him just for ready to pull of something by the summer but I ended up ourselves. Our residents Greg staying in London 11 years. Brockmann and Robin Ordell had just started playing on In my first years in the city the decks by that time so I I passed from job to job, asked them to play for the from being a gardener to night. I put them on stage delivering sandwiches until back to back for an event in I found a job at the Egg East Village. Greg and Robin Club. I started working there asked me why I did it, they cleaning toilets, which was had just started djing after not an easy job. But I kept all. Well, they were working on working there for 2 years behind the bar with me and being barman, supervisor we were having so much fun and then bar manager. anyway. Working in the bar I got to know many people and Man it was the best family I started working as a PR I’ve ever, ever had. That and barman for many other same night the dj that was promoters and clubs such as supposed to close the night Warehouse, Embassy, Fabric, did not show up so I put Greg and many more. and Robin on the decks. I could see in their eyes that At that point I was working they were shitting themselves, full time already: the because them both and even weekends I was behind the myself had just started doing bar while during the week nights and there were so I was promoting the nights, many people, but the party managing the distribution of was a success. fliers around and mailing out When me and Remi decided in London. to put up another party it was exactly by the time of It was 2008 and we were all my birthday, the 29th of working behind the bar. It November 2008. Me and was me, Remi Landaz, Greg Remi started going around
looking for a venue, we found this car park in old street. It was like a tunnel, with massive arches. We spoke to the owner asking him if we could do a party there and he said that it was all good as long as we paid the rent for the night and put some toilets up. We had our party, some 250 people showed up but we didn’t even have a name by that time. We came back with a name in February. Our name came up with a conversation, I remember it perfectly, we were partying together, me and Remi were pretty fucked and at a certain point I said -“Whoa man! I’m baked!” Remi answered - “You don’t really say baked in English, you say fucked”- And I told him -“Well it’s funny because in Portuguese, Spanish and Italian you don’t say fucked but baked instead-” At that point Remi said -“well I am not baked, I’m half baked!-“ and we started to laugh about it, you know it was like “Half-Baked”, perfect. We had been looking for a name for ages. So that’s how the name came out. We were like, why not? Let’s go Half Baked! We started to do an event once a month on Sunday. We chose to do a Sunday party for different reasons: first of all on Friday and Saturday
there were way too many promoters doing parties. On Sunday at that time there was only Low Kee organizing, which is still a good party and I still go and love what they do, the concept they have is really nice as well. Another reason we decided for a Sunday party was because Friday and Saturday for us meant full work behind the bar until 7, 8 o’clock in the morning, so we couldn’t do anything on those days.
| Interview
HB started as a party for people that were working during the weekend as me and my friends. I had many friends that were working in clubs, restaurants, bars, pubs etc. So I started calling these people up putting them together, telling them:
never thought that Half Baked would have got that big you know? We had full house and everyone was on fire. I was one of the best things of that year, it was beautiful, the whole thing.
On Saturday usually you don’t have it. In many places in London you have more banging shit. On which I don’t say anything, it’s cool, I go sometimes to listen to some techno DJs.
The concept of Half Half-Baked event boast Baked’s music being a an attractive selection sunny day, is something of music, hosting more deep though, we world-wide recognized play deep house, house “Why don’t you guys DJs and producers. Tell and some tech-house come over and enjoy us why you decided to for the closing which a sunny day with us? branch into a record is always good. You Let’s remember that it’s label? know we have some still a weekend!” 2- 4 happy music, this is years on in 2012, what Well, the idea behind Half what is about really: are your highlights and Baked is very simple, we try getting happy music best memories of the to get as many upcoming out, we don’t like dark past few years? DJs as possible. Half Baked music at all yeah? is a Sunday day party, so Well one of my best memories you know you don’t want to Regarding the Half Baked from these past years was go to a day party and listen Label, we came up with this during one of our Sunday to techno you know, you label because we have all our parties. It was a sunny day need to get something more DJs as Rainer / Seuil / Greg during summertime. It was chilled. A Sunday day party Brockmann / Mike Shannon our first summer-time as Half on our concept would be for / Le Loup / Yakine / Robin Baked. The event was in this people to interact with others, Ordell / Julietta and few car-park in Old Street and they wanna come and talk, others. the guest list was huge, more relax with their friends, have than 800 people showed a drink and you know, just They are all our residents at up! I just couldn’t believe the chill, not getting completely the moment and most of them amount of people we had in wasted, but you know just produce music, some of them the place. I will never forget have fun and listen to good do collaborations with other that, at the end of the event music. DJs and other producers so I was crying like a baby, I we thought of just putting
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them all together, all our residents and come up with a label. But we don’t want no pressure in the label, the idea really is to show what we are about. As with our events our music streams around house and deep house and we are looking at some tech-house with a few tracks. So you know basically the label is about exporting our friends abroad and also bring the up light of Half Baked to other countries and DJs, because they know that if they feel us, they would play some of our tunes and people are gonna know more and more about what is Half Baked, after sometime they will know straight away when something comes from us.
“there’s cool people here, there’s cool people there, there’s cool people everywhere. So is just about finding them and giving them the occasion to party together” Your events are held in notably unique locations. On what grounds do you choose a location for an event on, and now that you have expanded to other cities are you looking for the same atmosphere in these spaces? Why do you choose to make the parties such an ambient experience? The spaces are not easy to find to be honest. We always change spaces because first of all, we always have a different concept for the decoration, also we always put things for anyone to interact with, it’s one of the concepts of Half Baked, to have games people can play with, our party is not just about music, music is still very important but also we want people to interact with others.
in Old Street or anywhere near there now-a-days, but that’s what we managed to do to. We did a one off though because the council there just went crazy. Now we moved to a warehouse in hackney wick, behind hackney road, where we hosted most of our events along this summer. So basically we always try to find good venues that go well with our features and match with our ideas on deco. We try to keep the venues rough and unique, it’s always good to have unique venues, venues none really expects you to throw a party in.
The first one we did in Berlin for instance we organized it by ourselves. It was the funniest thing. I went by myself first and I fell in love with the place over there. Down there they have more or less the same concept as For instance, once we had a we do, doing similar parties bike’s exhibition going on in to ours, so when I went there one of our events, we offered I was like “ Whoa let’s do a everyone free door as long party here! as their bike was coming There is so much potential with them. And we had an there, so then Remi came exhibition of the coolest bikes along in Berlin with me and in east London. we took some bikes and started running around Another night we had a trying to find a venue but fashion show in the middle having no idea of what we of the party that people were were doing really, but we not really expecting to see. eventually found the place, it was a random place, there So basically what we try was a wedding going on to do is having different there at the moment. So we locations, but then we try to stopped our bikes found the be unique with the party and owner and told him that we is not easy bro! wanted to do an event there, he said -“ Well if you wanna The amount of promoters do something here you can you have in London doing do, it’s 700 euros you need warehouse parties you are to pay the fee and you would lucky to have a place none need to get security and has ever had a party in. stuff and yeah, go ahead” So man, straight away we Last year in the summertime paid for the venue, and we we got this venue in Old planned the event in just Street which was a car park 3 weeks! 3 weeks! Crazy! and was really unique but But we did a good promo then the council did not campaign and the party allowed us to do more events came out very good! in there so we had to move The next party we did in out and during the summer Berlin we did it in Katerosky), last year we went to that it is a new club from the place by Old street, the one owners of bar 25, really cool which was bomb, it was place. under the train line. I would never think of doing a party So you know, when we go
abroad we always try to avoid clubs as we do in London, but it’s hard you know, it’s different, a club from abroad is usually very happy of hosting our events while we still lack enough contacts to organize events by ourselves.
Well, HB is a Sunday day party, we try to base ourselves on our guest list only because from that we can select the people, in this way we only have our friends in there, people that we know, people that we trust we know that they come in good intentions. Krush is different What I keep on saying to because is on Saturday everyone is that there’s cool night. Krush is different DJs, people here, there’s cool different line-ups, I would people there, there’s cool never book some of the artists people everywhere. So is that I book in Krush for HB for just about finding them and many reasons. First of all their giving them the occasion to music doesn’t match with HB party together, in this way and also their fee is huge and you spread your world and I can’t afford for them to be in your ideas and stuff. Man, Half Baked. So yeah, Krush is the idea really is to make a completely different. I would family in every country, you say it’s a completely different know, so that comes to what concept, it’s meant more for we do, we do parties, great the public, you can buy tickets parties! It’s amazing you in RA for Krush but you can’t know. So that’s the main point do it with Half Baked. Now, we want to make families in after one year is been going different countries, so that on people understood, Krush they follow us, they come to is Krush, HB is HB, different London and enjoy a party concepts and different music. with us and whenever we go there they enjoy the set with The music in Krush is us and also we introduce our more techy, because it’s a family from London to them Saturday night. We wanna over there. surprise people more, so it’s something more clubby, Because we have so many but on a different way. We DJs and people that we want do not really like to go to a to introduce to the world, it is place where you find all this about connecting the world crazy light that you can’t even more and have the good see each other. So we came people connected together up with the shade light. The and good people connected concept for Krush is about together, they exchange having a warehouse party things and exchange vibes, but feeling yourself in a I’m really into vibes. I believe house. We thought instead of that humans they are all doing a show with decoration connected through vibes we are going to do a show and if you pass good vibes with lights. When you go in to people you are going to a house yourself, you may receive good vibes back. If find these shade lights, the you pass negative energy proper old school ones so we to people you are gonna thought of filling up the whole receive bad energy back. warehouse with them. Then As my mum told me when we found a Stuart that does I was little, life is all about some really nice showlights happiness and if you are a work. sad person what’s the reason So yeah, now Krush is going for living it? really well, all the time we do a party, we always have full After the success of HB, house, the last one was Ami you founded Krush. and Clockwork, and he was As you run both, what packed and it was one of the differentiates them? most beautiful vibes we ever Krush’s logo, the lamp had with Krush. shade, what’s the meaning behind this symbol and why have you chosen to use it?
The lamp shade being Krush’s logo has a meaning, in most of the households you always find lamp shades around. Our Idea is to have a living room in a warehouse party. The lamp shades all around give you the impression of being in a house. There is a system of different sections where the light goes from the right to the left of the place. Sometimes you will see that the light is going to start from the middle and then expand in the rest of the venue. It’s a proper light show and the light keeps on changing during the night. Our Stuart coordinates the lights from his desk, which is beautiful, first of all he creates a vibe when the people are arriving they get this impression of a really warm place because all the shade lamps are dim, it’s not very bright, so you kind of get into this daggering mode while people are arriving. Then more people start coming in the lightshow starts going faster and then off the peak of the night, when is busy, the light goes very fast and in different directions. A few months ago you crossed the Atlantic to do your first overseas event. How did Miami react to Half Baked’s unique atmosphere? Man to be honest with you I was so scared (laughs), I was really scared because you know it’s the US, you never know what to expect and many people were telling me not to do a party in Miami. They told me -”Miami is very cheesy and people down there just wanna show off, it would be like the west end, don’t do a party there”-. And yeah you know I agree that there are few places where people are really posh and just want to show off like whatever they have, but… when you go downtown or in the other side of Miami is completely different. Of course if you stay in Miami Beach you are gonna have all these people, you are going to have loads of tourists, girls in bikini shouting at you from the car: “Spring-Break!” You know, it’s pretty fucked up but yeah downtown is completely different, there’s such a nice vibe and we went to some nights and it was completely
Our night was in the Electric Pickle. Which worked really well, we had two rooms and we had like dj Three which is smash and Tiefschwarz and
me with Raif from another party, we went to the beach doing one by one promo. We were choosing the people, inviting them to the party with a wristband. We didn’t want to have random people in the place, so we used the wristbands which worked well, we had many turn ups, everyone enjoyed themselves and Electric Pickle invited us to do another night with them
many others we had a really nice set, a dj from New York, Bassan, Bloody Mary as well. I arrived to Miami on Friday and our party was the Monday coming. I took 3000 wristbands with me it was
we broke even at the end of the day.. It went good, it was scary to do it but at the same time you have to take the step. When I left brazil, I really left it, I wanted to explore as much as I could.
rough in the exact same way we do it down here. Man I remember it was like a proper warehouse, you always meet funny and good people there.
When I settled in London I said to myself again, I’m not just gonna stay in London, I wanna explore, I wanna get out of here. I don’t want my parties in here, I wanna do them everywhere.
Man, life is all about risk, if you don’t take the risk you will never succeed. When we did the party there it was really dead, there was none in the place, but then by midnight people started arriving and arriving, at two o’clock in the morning I went upstairs and I started seeing the vibe of it. It was just so good because you know, you come from miles away, and you don’t know anybody! Man I started chasing people up on facebook adding them on my account, people that I never met in my life, they came to me like you added me on facebook? And I was like, well, I’m sorry but I had to do Pr somehow. First of all I don’t like to rely on people, never ever rely on someone else if you can do the work. It was amazing and I wished that my people were there
to see it. For Berlin and for Barcelona I have so much people coming over and thank god because man these people know what you are about. And people there had no clue of whatsoever we do here and how we do it, but they were enjoying it and getting it.
and stuff because it didn’t really work there as we wanted to, we are probably gonna move Half Baked in different locations, is gonna be half indoor and half outdoor, we have some surprises regarding the decoration and the gadgets that we are gonna give to people, as well as the usual Well the job is done now, but presents as flowers for the if I came back next year I am girls and a few beating gonna come back 3 times boxes for people to interact stronger and 3 times bigger, with and we have really nice haha, well not bigger but surprises along the summer more organized and solid. which I cannot tell. But you Yeah Miami was a lot of work guys will see. I can say. What can we expect Finally, what is your from Half-Baked and vision for the future, Krush next summer in your next move? terms of dates, DJs and loactions? I want everything like now, my dream is happening Well for HB we are probably already, but we want to going to change the location expand abroad, do bigger
things outside. I wanna explore the world with Half Baked, make bigger events. I don’t need to go over in London. It’s a big dream already now, What ever happens in your life, I’m doing what I love. Beautiful people, beautiful smiles, beautiful energy. You give back what you receive, it’s a family that you build up over time, Happy days!
“Beautiful people, beautiful smiles, beautiful energy. You give back what you receive, it’s a family that you build up over time”
Interview by Francesco Buonasera
45 WatchMePivot
Photography by Alejandro Faro
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