We’re super excited at Inky HQ to announce the forthcoming exhibition ‘High Rides & Low Tides’ showcasing new collective The Brothers of The Stripe! Having worked with many of the talented individuals that make up the group, we’re looking forward to checking out their show this June at the Custard Factory.

Inspired by imaginative rides via land and sea, the show aims to bring together a mix of individual illustration styles & a unique visual presentation of ideas. The Brothers of The Stripe are Stephen Chan, Joel Millerchip, Kristian Jones, FiST, The Cloud Commission, Iain Sellar, Will Scobie, and Mr The Beef; the exhibition will present originals, limited edition prints & much more!

Come down on 2nd June for the launch night which will include live drawing, live screen printing by GET A GRIP and live music (TBA).

More info:

brothersofthestripe.co.uk
getagripstudio.com
custardfactory.co.uk
kuretake.co.uk

Felt Mistress presents her new exhibition ‘Hey! Whose this Guy?” at Nobrow Shop & Gallery this week! Opening on Friday 18th May, the first show dedicated entirely to the work of Felt Mistress features all new work including framed pieces (new specimens from the FM Beetle Boutique) and a selection of new characters all sporting eyewear from Kirk Originals‘ collections.

Having collaborated with such big names as Jon Burgerman, Pete Fowler, Ben Newman, and Jon Knox, it’s a pleasant surprise that her first solo show at No Brow, entitled “Hey! Who’s This Guy?”, is dedicated entirely to her ideas. The character pieces will be displayed in the gallery more like visitors than exhibits. Visitors to the gallery can peruse the exhibits while the characters can peruse the visitors.

Make sure you don’t miss this exhibition launch: Private View on Thursday 17th May from 6.30pm – 9.30pm (all welcome!). Exhibition runs from 18th May – 23rd June at Nobrow Shop & Gallery, 62 Great Eastern Street, London EC2A 3QR. As well as the entire library of Nobrow products their shop stocks a range of homeware, pillows, zines, t-shirts and much more!

We first met Mike & Katie at Pictoplasma back in 2009, appearing on the Character Walk exhibition run. We first spotted them walking around East Midlands airport and again later that day on the train into Berlin central, carrying a mysteriously shaped back bag. A sort of large, oval shape and looking quite cumbersome to carry, we were curious about its contents! Chatting with the pair lead to an invitation to the opening of their exhibition titled: Private Panda Club.

Eager to find out what was inside in the mystery black bag we hot footed it to the opening and discovered much to our delight that it was protecting a massive furry (wait for it) panda head! The head had been custom made for the exhibition; visitors were invited to try it on and pose for photos to become their panda alter ego. TADO also erected a dancing pole in the bar, made up a recipe for special panda cocktails (The Panda Banger!), and put panda floor vinyls around the place.

“We came up with the idea of a panda gentlemen’s club, given that we’d been offered this space that was a basement bar, underground. It had red velour wallpaper with goldleaf on it and…” starts Mike, “…it had big gentleman’s leather seats!” Katie chips in. Mike concludes: “Yeah! Big porno couches everywhere. We thought, ‘This is perfect.’ And the whole idea came from Japan.”

We’ve been huge fans of TADO ever since, so when we first heard about their new project – a collaboration with  MATHMOS, we were super excited to see the product; a combination of nightlight and art toy called Chuppi! Having followed TADO for many years, were were eager with anticipation – and once it landed on our doorstep we tore open the packaging to discover what was inside; – a cute crouching character with the trademark TADO oversized head; offering lots of potential for you to create your own unique TADO-esque chatacter!

Once you start playing and adding the adhesive facial features to the light, the character comes to life and you can enjoy hours of fun with the TADO designed character stickers! Plug him in and off you go – the lighting effects changes the mood and ambience of the room as well as adding another dimension to the characters own mood.

Our favourite colour – obviously the pink. Make mad faces, dog faces, smiley faces or just plain stupid faces either face you make it’s a pretty fun affair. The stickers are re useable so there’s no way you can make a mistake – which is always good. A perfect size, it makes a colorful, fun & playful edition to any office desk, book shelf or kids bedroom.

Mike and Katie said about the project:

“The main challenge was coming up with a fun little guy that offered something a little bit different to the customizable toy market. As such we wanted to try and make something that could be used either as it comes, or as a platform to be customized, with the added dimension of it being illuminated. The stickers we created also allow people to have some fun and get creative without having to break out the pens and paints! We worked really closely with MATHMOS to come up with the characters shape and pose, a true collaborative project in every sense of the world and we are delighted with the results.”

Inkygoodness HQ Chuppi fun

Well done to @cherryfizzwhizz (Sarah H)  for winning her very own customised Chuppi  by TADO in our competition last Friday – we hope you give him a good home!

Other stuff

• Tado have worked with Nike, MTV, Puma, Adidias, Vodafone, Elle magazine, Star wars, Selfridges, McDonalds, Microsofts Zune and Kidrobot.
• Read more about them on the Tado website.
• The Chuppi toy can be set on a single colour or the option of cycling through the spectrum.
• The Chuppi toy is available to buy from the 30th April from www.mathmos.com and is priced at £30 (40EU)
• Have fun with your Chuppi! Follow the conversation on twitter with #chuppi

Inkygoodness have been invited to ‘take-over’ the Middleboop magazine blog next week, following in the footsteps of illustrator Simon Wild who added his daily spin to the site a few weeks ago. Michelle and I will be posting daily from Monday on themes such as tactile illustration, yarn-bombing, animation, character design & more! Visit www.middleboopmag.com from Monday to see what we get up to!

About Middleboop Magazine

“Middle Boop Mag formed in the wake of the Middle Boop Blog which gained a reputation as one of the most loved and widely read music and design blogs going. We have a loyal fanbase and some very talented writers dedicated to promoting the best new music and design.” Editor Gordon Reid

This year’s theme is The Past: Memory and Nostalgia

“(The event) will examine intrinsic experiences and social relationships, inspired by how humanity accumulates a catalogue of our personal fabric and how these collected manifestations shape the patterns of our lives. How do you define your relationship with The Past? How do the people you have met, all of your experiences and your memories affect you in the present? Might they subconsciously or even explicitly influence your future? We as individuals each carry forward our own past as ‘vessels’. If everything about the present moment is determined by the past, then when collectively imagining our future we ignore the lessons of the past at our peril.” Nicky Peacock, Curator

Judges will be looking for entries which pay attention to the following themes / subcategories:

•            Character Study and Personal History

•            Music

•            Literature

•            The Cult of Fashion

•            Natural & Botanical

•            Magic & the Metaphysical

Grand prize winners will be invited to attend an awards ceremony in Santorini later this year, where three winners will be awarded cash prizes of up to 1500 Euros. A further 10 finalists will also be shortlisted for smaller awards; each finalist will have their work showcased in the official 2012 SBOA Illustration Awards book, distributed to book stores worldwide.

To get involved, visit the SBOA website for full details. Deadline for entries is 19th May 2012.