Interview with a designer

Art: the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty, meaning or emotional power.

Simon Lowther – Industrial designer.

Portrait - Simon

What is art to you? It is an outlet for our absurdity and hopeless questioning as to who we are, why we are here and what for. It also fulfils a primal need to create and construct and control. Despite this, art is ultimately useless (As Oscar Wilde put it). That’s not to say it does not hold value, enrich our lives, carry meaning, and tell stories.

Define and describe your art: I would define it with its title: industrial designer. So I’m not an artist, but I employ creative practices in my work nonetheless. I sketch, make models and employ 3D CAD programs.

Why this medium? I wanted to do something utilitarian and creative rather than just creative.

Does meaning have a place in your work? I don’t go out of my way to embed meaning into my design deliberately. That would be too contrived. Meaning will be inherent in a design if it has been designed well. A design also carries meaning purely by virtue of the time and place (culture) it originates from

Tattoo - Simon

Tattooed by himself

Tell me about the tattoo you’ve designed for yourself: It’s a very simple and small stick’n’poke tattoo of a Penny Farthing. It is the 3rd stick and poke tattoo I’ve done on myself so it’s a bit rough but I like it.

Does the tattoo have any significance/meaning? They are an object I find amusing and in a strange way beautiful. I like how utterly absurd and impractical the design is while still being a very pleasing form in its simple geometry and iconic profile. It also reminds me that people do ridiculous things.

Do you have an opinion on unoriginal and ubiquitous tattoos? When I’m on the way to work and feeling particularly misanthropic or severely hung-over or just in a bad mood I’ll arbitrarily choose things to hate. Sometimes it’s tattoos. Originality is a tenuous subject in art and especially in tattoos. For most people (excluding people from cultures with traditional tattooing) tattoos are just a way to feel better about themselves. It’s image based, and it’s about identifying with a particular milieu. It’s difficult to argue that getting a tattoo is appreciating art although I think the tattoo artists themselves can sometimes be considered artists. I can look at art or listen to music without having it painfully and permanently adhered to me.

What are your thoughts on tattoo artists and their profession vis-à-vis originality and art? Would you ever become one? I wouldn’t become one because I’m not passionate enough about tattoos and I think the noise of the guns would drive me insane. I’m sure plenty of tattoo artists are original in their work but ultimately they are not creating art for art’s sake. They are producing a product for a client, and that product needs to sell.  That requires they tattoo what a customer wants and quite often their own design.  A tattoo artist probably produces art some of the time while simply copy and pasting images onto people at other times.

This interview was conducted by Fareed Kaviani, as part of  Artists, Tattoos, and Meaning: Pissing Ink in Duchamp’s Urinal? a feature in The Art Issue. It features an interview with Rik Lee Purchase a copy from: thingsandink.com

Things&Ink The Art Issue cover – Tracy D as Ophelia

The Art Issue front and back cover
Tracy D as Ophelia on Things&Ink The Art Issue

 

Issue 4 marks the one year anniversary of Things&Ink magazine, so we wanted to do something truly special with the cover. We decided to create our very own (tattooed) version of Millais’ iconic artwork, Ophelia, with tattoo artist Tracy D.

This was the most ambitious (and terrifying) shoot we have ever attempted, but I am sure you will agree that it was worth it, Tracy D looks hauntingly beautiful.

Check out The Art Issue, which goes on sale on Thursday, for more iconic painting recreations with our very own tattoo twist, along with art historical commentary from Doctor Matt Lodder.

Things&Ink magazine Tracy D Ophelia

 

Photographer: Heather Shuker, assisted by James Sheen-Stevens
Make-up: Keely Reichardt
Styling: Olivia Snape
Headress: Gypsy East
Hair: Eleanor Robyn
Cover design: James Gilyead

We’re so happy we can finally share this with you, as we keep getting so excited when we spot Ophelia on billboards, as part of Art Everywhere.

Ophelia Tate art everywhere

Visit thingsandink.com for more information.

Issue 2 – The Face Issue with Cassandra Frances. Things&Ink magazine

So it’s time to reveal all. Our issue 2 cover star is Cassandra Frances who works at End Times in Leeds. She is one of my faves, my sister and I got tattooed by her last year – blog post here.

Issue 2 things and ink COVER
Issue 2 Things and Ink COVER starring Cassandra Frances

 

I first met Cassandra in 2012 and I instantly fell in love with her warm nature and dedicated work ethic. She put me at ease while she tattooed me, chatting about life, music and magazines. We were like old friends, talking away, of course the conversation always returning to ink.

When the decision was made to make issue 2 ‘The Face Issue’ I knew I wanted Cassie on the cover. With her fiery red hair and delicate porcelain skin, you almost don’t notice that she has facial tattoos. Her tattoos are so pretty and feminine and will certainly make people think twice about their preconceptions about women with facial tattoos. The image on the cover is powerful, beautiful and innocent. I really hope you like it. You can read a full interview with Cassandra in the magazine, find out about her tattoos and how she felt about being on the cover.

Order your copy now from Newsstand.

Photo: Samuel Butt
Make-up: Keely Reichardt
Retouching: Lydia Rayner

Things and Ink – the launch issue cover

Claudia de Sabe as Artoria Gibbons

Things and Ink Claudia De Sabe cover
Launch Issue – Claudia De Sabe as Artoria Gibbons

 

Making the cover.
The cover for the launch issue of Things and Ink encapsulates everything that the magazine stands for. Things and Ink is a magazine that celebrates female tattoo culture, both current and historical. And female tattoo artist of the moment, Claudia De Sabe, is posing as Artoria Gibbons, one of the original tattooed ladies.

Artoria Gibbons

Artoria the tattooed girl worked in circus side shows in the 1920s.

Let the Things and Ink family know what you think of the cover by tweeting @thingsandink or commenting on Facebook.

Photographer: Kristy Nobel
Makeup: Miss Honey Bare
Hair: Lucie Luella
Dress: Night Feather Headdress: B Millinery
Design: Oliver Campbell and Antonella Bordone
Behind the scenes footage coming soon from Papercut Pictures