25-year-old illustrator and designer Simon Cook didn’t just want to graduate from university with a First – nope, the enterprising lad decided he wanted to set up a label from his student digs. Cue the creation of Stone and Spear, which has since been nominated for Best Creative Brand at the British Young Business Awards and caught the eye of brands like Givenchy and Sang Bleu, with whom he’s worked with on creative projects.

Tell us a little bit about your creative CV.

I come mainly from a Fine Art background. I decided to study Graphic Design, purely as I never wanted to be pigeon holed and labeled as one thing. This allowed me to merge a whole bunch of different techniques and skills to properly create my aesthetic. Soon after I graduated, I moved to London and just started to do my own thing. After working freelance on bits for i-D, having my first solo show in London and doing editorial illustration for Design Week and Wired, I was asked to move to Paris – which saw my first step into fashion at Givenchy. That was an amazing experience.

What was the original idea behind Stone & Spear it and what did you want to achieve?

The idea behind it was simple. I didn’t want to be just another graphic designer leaving uni, trying to get a job in a studio, you know. I really wanted to set up a something of my own – that actually meant something – hence creating Stone and Spear – the derived Greek meanings of my middle names, Peter and Frank.

What are the first stages of creating a piece of work? How does it go from an idea in your head to a finalised piece?

It normally starts with a loose concept inspired by memory or experience, then a thought about colour, which creates the mood, and then straight into experimentation. The worst part is putting too much pressure on yourself at the beginning. Things that are personal have flaws, they have vulnerabilities. That’s the best bit.

Your work seems almost fantasy-like. What do you think inspires you to use such bold shapes and bright colours?

I’m influenced by a lot of things but perhaps the sticking point is that my style references elements of both past and present popular culture – drawing on architecture, science and space, geometry and fantasy. Relating strongly to the Surrealism idea – exploring dreams, fears, the imagination, and the opposite of reality – fusing everything together is the key to creating this new world. The photographic elements within my work are what bring it to life, bridging the gap between our world and the world of Stone and Spear.

You’re not shy in collaborating with other creatives. Who have you been working with recently and if you could team up with anyone, who would be the dream team?

Collaboration really is the best. Seriously. I’ve worked with some great clients and collaborators like Novembre Magazine, Michael Mayren and Sang Bleu. It’s a great way to help evolve your work – both technically and aesthetically. I’d rather not mention a dream client because I don’t want to jinx it.

You’ve been nominated for Best Creative Brand at the British Young Business Awards. How did you celebrate when you heard of the nod?

It really came out of the blue. Very unexpected. It feels amazing to be have even been recognised but for Best Creative Brand, something I set up in my bedroom back at uni, genuinely feels pretty surreal.

You’ve relocated from London to work at a fashion house in Paris. How do the two cities compare and what do you miss most about London?

To be honest, they are so different. Daily life wise – I enjoy Paris. It’s easy, less stressful. UK is home though and I miss the people close to me. Things change though and the nicest part of working in this industry is having that freedom to move around.

What has been a career highlight thus far and what is there still left to achieve?

I’d have to say my move to Paris in 2011. That really put a new spin of everything and saw my style cross over into Fashion, something that was completely new to me. I’m in Paris full-time now and proper excited about what the future holds.

Words: Shane Hawkins (Follow Shane on Twitter @piccadilly_boy)

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Oblivion‘s one of the more interesting sci-fi movies to emerge in the past few years – far from the dark underworld of films like Prometheus and Alien, Oblivion takes its cues from the lofty, airy architecture of Mies van der Rohe and the expansive vistas of Kubrick and Lawrence of Arabia. Tom Cruise plays Jack Harper one of the last men stationed on a post-apocalyptic Earth, eking out a humdrum existence fixing drones – that is, until he rescues a beautiful stranger (Olga Kurylenko) from a wrecked spacecraft.

Its director, Joseph Kosinski, studied architecture before making the leap across to filmmaking – so if there was ever a sci-fi epic tailormade for the discerning design crowd, it’s Oblivion. Now in the process of making the third Tron film and promoting Oblivion, he tells us more about the ideas that drove the film to the screen.

No word on whether the Grimes song features in the movie, though.

1. 2001: A Space Odyssey

“I grew up in the late 70s and 80s, so Blade Runner, Star Wars, Back to the Future are all huge movies of my childhood. But Kubrick’s 2001 was one of the most influential movies of all, because it’s science fiction based on big ideas, which is kind of what I wanted Oblivion to be. Some of the biggest questions you can ask are: what makes us who we are? What will remain when we’re gone?”

2. Alfred Hitchcock

“Oblivion roots itself a bit more in true love than most sci-fi. The main character, Jack (Tom Cruise) is dreaming of a woman he’s never met and one day she arrives in his life. Hitchcock was always able to intertwine these incredibly romantic stories within his mysteries and thrillers, in everything from Vertigo – a favourite of mine – to Rear Window.”

3. Mies van der Rohe

“I went to architecture school in the late 90s, where I studied his work – his approach was very much form follows function, which is the way I approached this film. Whether it’s a vehicle or a piece of architecture, I don’t believe in excessive decoration or ornamentation. I worked for a few summers as an architect, but I saw a long, hard career spanning years before I’d ever get a commission. At school, they gave us all the powerful digital tools Hollywood uses to make visual sets, so I came out fluent in digital design and the tools of filmmaking. So I started making short films in New York.”

4. Michaelangelo Antonioni

“Antonioni’s whole trilogy – La Notte, L’Avventura, L’Eclipse – are some of my favourite films. He was trained as an architect as well, and Red Desert, which I think is his first colour film, is very interesting from an architectural point of view. I’ve always loved the way he framed actors within spaces.”

5. Lawrence of Arabia

“Oblivion isn’t in the darkness of space – it’s filmed in the exterior landscapes of Iceland and in a kind of hole perched up in the clouds. It’s a bright, airy post-apocalyptic future where Earth has been destroyed and humankind has left. But there’s a beauty to it that was kind of inspired by Lawrence of Arabia, with those giant vistas of the desert and a lone man travelling in it. In Oblivion, you’ll see Jack on his motorcycle riding across a black desert. This move was my version of Lawrence of Arabia, set in the future.”

Oblivion is out on 10th April. www.oblivionmovie.com

Words: Zing Tsjeng

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Courtney Love is full of surprises as of late – not so surprising, given it’s Courtney Love, but more to the point… Have you noticed her Twitter support for NJOY? (For those who didn’t witness every Fashion Week hipster puffing on one in New York, it’s a brand of electronic cigarette.)

Love’s credited it helping her go from three to one pack-a-day, and now she’s the unlikely face of its latest campaign. Less surprising is yesterday’s big reveal: Love, joined by Marilyn Manson, Kim Gordon, and Ariel Pink, is fronting the newest Saint Laurent campaign.

Read on for her thoughts on Hedi Slimane‘s grunge collection, the important advice she took from David LaChapelle and Drew Barrymore, and the thing that still pisses her off the most – namely, where are her fucking keys to the city of Malibu?

How long have you been a smoker? And… why NJOY?

I’ve been smoking since I was 11; I think I started with Kools or Virginia Slim Menthols or something ridiculous. I liked NJOY because they have the throat kick that’s like smoking a real cigarette. I was able to go to opera at the Met and do my face in the bathroom and have an NJOY. And every time these ladies would start bitching at me, I’m like, “It’s a fake cigarette!” Then I went to a screening and everyone was smoking my NJOY – one of the Kennedy kids, André Balazs, everyone. I can’t tell you how much it’s changed my life. If I go out tonight, I can go to Cipriani’s, I can go to the Met Ball and I can fucking SMOKE, if you will.

Some people still get a lot of side-eye because they look so much like the real thing.

It looks like a cigarette so people get offended, which just shows you the moral condition of what being a smoker is. There’s a whole generation of smokers in this country and we’re looked upon like we’re crackheads.

But you’re really into these things, right? You’re not like, the new face of Pepsi but chugging Diet Cokes backstage.

This isn’t Jenny Craig – I don’t have to quit. But I’ve cut back smoking on my own without trying. I almost smoked three packs a day and now I’m down to a pack, which is insane for me. I still enjoy smoking, but it gives me a choice and that’s the important thing.  Sometimes [real cigarettes] are really enjoyable – there’s nothing like an after sex cigarette.

Let’s talk about some of your other projects, like your upcoming clothing line. What made you venture into fashion?

Back in 2008, some stylist told me that Versace didn’t wanna dress me. I called David LaChapelle crying and he said, “Those guys paid you two hundred thousand dollars for you to wear a grey fucking mini skirt? Since when did you fucking give a shit? Make your own fucking clothes.” I never depended on [designers] before; I don’t depend on them now. If Hedi makes me his muse, that’s great. And I really, really, really love the pre-fall and the first Saint Laurent seasons – that’s my uniform for onstage. They could’ve been a little more generous with the blouses, I have to say!

@hedislimanetwithaving gasms at the idea of rich ladies buying what we used to wear, finally someone got the actual look exact, no beanies

— Courtney Love Cobain (@Courtney) March 5, 2013

Speaking of Hedi, your tweets about his grunge collection made fashion bloggers lose their minds. What’d you really mean?

I just find it hilarious that in three months time or however long it takes, women are gonna pay six thousand dollars for a fucking trench coat that cost us $4.99 back in the day. He got that look absolutely right. It’s not my look – I’ve never worn a Doctor Marten in my life, thank you very much! My feet are already big enough and I’m already too butch.

You seem like you stick to your guns when it comes to projects and collabs.

That’s true. With the movie stuff, I wasn’t that smart on some of the projects I passed on. I got offered serious money for [biopic] Joplin and Drew Barrymore gave me advice, like, “You’re doing that movie for the quote.” And I’m like, “I’m gonna go around for the rest of my life and people are gonna go, ‘You’re Janis Joplin!’ I’m not gonna have a fucking identity!” I don’t regret the decision at all. Whatever million I got would be gone by now… or not, depending on how I invested it.

While we’re on the subject of acting, will you be doing your thing on the big screen anytime soon?

I just joined an amazing talent agency called Resolution – they’re the shark that’s eating up Hollywood. Jeff Berg, who started it, is the only agent in Hollywood who said to me, “When you feel like doing films again, knock on my door.” When I quit Adderall and all of the prescription medications and was ready to act again, I went. He’s really tough; he doesn’t hold hands. But he kept his fucking word.

So spill – what’s happening with your music?

I have two A-sides coming out in mid April and I tour through June and July, playing about 70 shows. I had six songs, but I decided to pick the two excellent songs instead of four really good songs and two excellent songs. I’m doing an iTunes exclusive.

And you named one of these excellent songs ‘California’. Discuss!

I keep writing about California so I just finally called a song straight up fucking California. Not even Malibu, which I still don’t have the keys to the city and I’m really pissed – 13,000 people and they don’t give me the fucking keys to the city! It’s like when Billy Corgan told me he was calling a song ‘Tonight, Tonight’. I was like, “If that song isn’t the best fucking song I’ve ever heard, you will be carted out of town on a cross.” You don’t call a song ‘Tonight, Tonight’ or ‘California’ unless you know it’s major.

You’re on a goddamn roll. Anything else the world can look forward to from you?

I don’t know if it’s gonna happen or not, but they’re looking at me to judge one of these talent shows. Some people go on them and they have butterflies come out of their ass. I’m not saying I’m gonna go on and be a cunt, but I would just be myself. I’m not afraid to be honest. I always said I would never, ever, ever do one, but I’m not talking about the one judging dogs – it’s the other one, I don’t wanna say the name of it. If Ellen DeGeneres can be a judge, I mean, hello?

We can only imagine the amount of reality show offers you’ve received over the years…

I’ve said no to the funniest shit. There was one where they wanted me to do the Iron Chef of taxidermy. I don’t want the controversy around me – it’s boring and I’m done with it. But at some point last year, Charlie Sheen had a Comedy Central roast and they actually asked me to do that. I was like, “I just went to the opera… in a Marchesa tulle dress with my NJOY!”

Words: Alex Catarinella

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Oozing baggy Britpop swagger, rebellious mischief and echoes of greats like Blur and The Stone Roses, SULK‘s debut record Graceless is applauded by industry insiders. Wonderland caught up Jon Sutcliffe, the frontman of the northern quintet to grab a free exclusive download of their new single ‘Flowers’.

How did the group come about?

A few of us were friends from back in Harrogate, we moved together to London with an old band. We met Tomas at a psychedelic night watching one of our favourites The Tamborines. Tomas told us he was forming a new band around some great demos he had recorded in his bedroom. Once we heard them we wanted in!

Where do you think you’ll fit into the market within the current industry?

In a way I don’t think we do fit. We have kind of existed one our own hence that’s probably why we are not bigger. I don’t personally hear the bands the industry chooses to champion having the same assets as us. It’s like melody and well crafted songwriting is no longer the flavor of the day, it all seems to be about who’s got the most connected friends. I feel the industry tries to choose what we should be listening to instead of what we actually like. The bigger picture for me is that SULK and our fans help kill off this trend and can open the door for more like-minded bands to have a chance

Your sound is very 90s Britpop inspired. Who were your favourite bands as you were all growing up?

I think from listening to our music the clues are quite obvious and that is intentional. We carry our influences on our sleeves. I was and still am into bands like Curve, Love, the Roses to name a few.

So… Oasis or Blur?

For me it was both. I think most people were the same, they are and were both great bands with their own thing going on and you can see with them both being as successful as they were there was plenty of room for both of them.

Can you tell us a bit more about your new single ‘Flowers’?

It’s one of the first songs that Tomas ever played to us and we have been playing it for quite some time now, but it never seems to get stale. The song is fresh and full of optimimism and that can never be seen as a bad thing, plus the playing on it is outstanding!

And the album Graceless? It’s got crazy hype around it in the industry…

A proper album with no fillers. The record was well thought out and works as one solid piece with tons of potential singles. I feel lucky we had such a catalogue of songs to pick from and feel we got it 100 percent right. Graceless is the perfect start to SULK’s LP catalogue

What would you consider to be the best gig you’ve played to date?

My personal favourite was supporting The Dandy Warhols. Our van broke down and we only just made doors. There were no soundchecks due to us being late but it didn’t seem to matter. We as a band just played a great set with no time to think what had happened in the day. We totally smashed it to a great receptive audience, there was an amazing vibe to the whole evening.

What else is happening for you guys this summer? Any festivals?

This summer is all gonna be about SULK live and our agents are currently putting together a tour. There are a few festivals on the cards and hopefully more will be added. The album will be out and we know we are going to have to put more effort to get it out there. It’s gonna be hard work in a good way.

SULK’s debut album Graceless is out 15th April on Perfect Sound Forever. Pre-order it here. sulktheband.com

Words: Shane Hawkins

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Based in Paris (albeit with a factory operating out of her hometown) LaurenceAirline is a menswear label that avoids the predictable cliches associated with African-inspired fashion. No embarrassing ‘tribal’ references or mistaking one ‘ethnic’ print for another – LaurenceAirline is authentic and modern in a way that many European labels can only hope to be. It’s little wonder she’s been hailed as one of the most promising African designers and been spotlighted as part of Diesel x Edun’s Studio Africa campaign.

What’s the story behind your name, LaurenceAirline?

I named my label LaurenceAirline as an hint to my own itinerant, almost nomadic, lifestyle. Indeed, I was born in Cote d’Ivoire with a double culture: European and African. And now with my brand, I am always travelling back and forth between my headquarters in Abidjan and Paris. I spend half the year in Côte d’Ivoire designing and producing the collections and half year in Paris to promote and sell the collection.

You’ll sometimes see European designers cite ‘African’ influences in their collections. As an African designer, how do you feel about that?

I find interesting when companies who take Africa as an inspiration have a true respect for its culture with all that implies. Especially on conscious and sustainable matters. More than a trend, I see it like a great opportunity to put the spotlight on African cultures scope, which subsequently can arouse the public interest to African potentialities.

Your use of fabric and print is exceptional. Where do you source these prints?

I source the printed fabrics that I use in my collections directly in Africa.

Why is it important to you to make all your clothes in an Abidjan atelier?

To me, the main goal of LaurenceAirline is to produce high quality garments produced In Ivory Coast so that local people can be trained and can learn from work exchanges in a positive and conscious process. We’re  building Africa’s modern reality for the international fashion scene in terms of high quality production and bold contemporary design made in Africa. I want to make Ivorians proud of their achievements in the fashion industry and personal self-esteem.

Describe the LaurenceAirline man.

An expressive authentic man keen on equally going in search of himself and others. A modern dandy and explorer who chooses anywhere he feels like embarking himself. A traveller, literally or figuratively.

Is there a difference between the way African and Western designers create garments?

I think creativity is universal and that there are as many ways to design garments as there are designers. In my case, with LaurenceAirline as an international label, I want to tell a story of West Africa meeting other continents through the fashion medium.

Can you describe the first garment you ever made?

It was a flared skirt, with wide lapels in a beige canvas fabric silkscreened with white tribal designs.

What’s your signature piece?

The total look in colorful print and how I mix different origin fabrics on geometric yokes.

You initially started out in womenswear, so why did you switch to menswear?

While showcasing my women’s line, men constantly expressed to me their desire to design them clothes so they could express their own creative taste. With menswear, I love to explore the minimal structure of the masculine wardrobe as a base to introduce unexpected colors and patterns as well as material associations. Some of the men’s clothes I design can actually be worn by both sexes.

How has your design aesthetic changed over the years?

Through the years, I have come to think that I like the idea of a functional creative ageless fashion. Like a simple and beautiful particular piece that one has pleasure wearing through time.

Who are some other African designers that you rate?

Craig Native, Loza Maleombho, Sawa Shoes , Taibo Bacar.

Words: Zing Tsjeng

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My mom made paintings with me as a kid and it was something I was always inspired by since then. Then I went to school and started showing at galleries and people kept showing me support, so it showed me I was doing something good.

So what’s your art about?

I explore shape, space, art history, color, and context.

How important is the emotional aspect of art?

My artwork changes everyday because I’m always keeping track of and reproducing processes throughout different bodies of work. Sometimes the actual process of painting can be emotional due to the building and deconstructing of layers in the work. It takes time to produce my work and once I change it, it can affect me because I feel that sometimes those changes are drastic.

What are you currently working on?

A minimal series in which I use just a few colors and shapes throughout the body of work.

Have you been to any exhibit or seen a work of art that transformed your life or change your way of thinking?

Several times I’ve been to great art shows. For example, the Francis Bacon retrospective at Met. The Jules Olitsky retrospective at Goldman Warehouse. I’m influenced by a variety of other shows and artists.

You are part of the upcoming group show Futurespective. Can you tell us more about the exhibit?

I believe in the group of artists that were chosen to be a part of this show. I believe they are all great artists.

Do you listen to music when you paint? What is your perfect soundtrack?

I love Spotify—it allows me to listen to all kinds of different and related artists. Sometimes, I enjoy listening to the Miami Heat or Miami Hurricanes on the radio.

What else do you have planned for 2013?

Marrying my beautiful lady, Kristen Soller.

Congratulations!

Words: Heike Dempster

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Georgie Wileman, 24, a London based photographer, likes to shoot her subjects in their own spaces, bringing a direct closeness to her portraiture. Known for her intimate photographs of male model wonder boys Ash Stymest and Miles Langford, and for editing the annual magazine Boys by Girls (exactly what it says on the tin: a magazine full of beautiful boys shot by female photographers), her latest project Girls at Home was definitely a branch off in the feminine direction.

Working with female models, she shot them in their actual homes, getting on with their everyday lives rummaging around in

kitchen cupboards and chasing mice out of their flats. Slotting in with the current zeitgeist represented by women like Lena Dunham who champions the joys of girly bedroom existence, Wileman’s shots have a refreshingly gritty honesty and naturalness about them.

What prompted you to start the project?

I’d been shooting a lot of guys at home, like Ash Stymest for Vanity Teen Magazine and Jack Marcy in his grandma’s house and I’d kind of just been shooting guys for Boys by Girls for such a long time that I thought it would be a nice way to transfer over to shooting women. I wanted to see the models stripped back and shot as real people.

What was it like working with girls, rather than male models?

I always thought that I would find shooting girls more difficult because female models have always seemed more guarded to me – in the past I have found it a lot harder to get a natural shot from girls. As soon as I arrived at one of the girl’s flats I got my camera out started shooting while they were getting settled. This seemed to help them forget about the camera pretty quickly. I also kept chatting to them and shooting them while they moved from room to room so that they didn’t try to be perfect in every shot.

It’s refreshing to see models doing ordinary things around the home, why is this the basis of your project?

I actually started shooting people in their own spaces for a school project, which focused on elderly men in their homes. A lot of my work has been an extension of this. I like that shooting people in places that they are comfortable in helps to tell their story, and even if people are done up I always prefer it if they give something real away in a picture. For this project it’s been really nice to pare back the models and shoot them as real people on their beds and in pyjamas. It’s been great to take away the glamour associated with fashion photography.

If you could shoot anyone tomorrow who would it be and why?

I never know the answer to this question. It might sound weird but if I fall in love with someone I have to keep shooting him or her. Miles Langford at Elite for example – I’ve shot him so many times and I would shoot him tomorrow and the next day and the next. I tend to have to meet people and shoot them first to really crave to shoot them again.

Who are your main photographic influences?

I have always loved Hedi Slimane, specifically his shots out of the studio. His stuff is always so beautiful and he just seems to document life and people really well. It’s the heart of his images that I really love, so even though the finish of his work is very different to mine he manages to always capture something remarkably special about his subject.

Words: Esme Anderson
Images: Georgie Wileman

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Despite graduating from the prestigious Instituto Marangoni a few

scant years ago, the duo’s glamorously feminine designs have already impressed buyers at Harvey Nichols, which exclusively stocks the line. We find out about their new collection, their Milanese roots and their mutual distaste for lace.

What was your main source of inspiration for your winter collection?

We broadened our research regarding designers’ raw materials, namely fabrics! We mixed innovative textures and revised our geometrics, making them softer, suitable for a new CO|TE woman.

Who is the CO|TE woman?

In our minds, she is a woman who loves to live in the present and capable of using her clothes to express herself, discovering her hidden playful side.

Does it have a theme, like your SS12 collection which was CYBER PUNK?And if so how did you come to it?

This collection represents the introspective journey that we have both taken. Afterwards, we confronted each other to bring out the best of what we have to give. This is why we feel this collection is the one that best represents us so far. It’s designed for a more adult woman who doesn’t entirely forget her inner child who sometimes comes forward though peculiar prints and precious fabrics.

What is your favourite piece in the A/W13 collection? And which piece are you most proud of?

Tomaso : I love the new knitwear and I’m proud of the woollen coat with knitted sleeves.

Francesco: I adore the new “Pineapple” print and I’m proud of embroidery, a complete novelty in our collection.

Which celebrity would you love to see in your designs?

T : Dakota Fanning.

F : Amanda Seyfried.

What has been your favourite trend of the season so far? And is there any trend which you wish would be over?

Obviously trends based on geometrics and colour block. We don’t really like the overuse of lace.

You met at Istituto Marangoni in Milan, has the city had a big influence on your style?

Milano raised us, we were born here and we love this city and its Made in Italy style which greatly influenced our creative path.

What was it that brought you together? When did you decide to work together?

It was our friendship that brought us together: one day we simply decided to try to create our own collection. We stopped working out the fashion house where we first met, and established our own line. The rest is history.

Interview: Siobhan Frew

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What defines the art of Abby Double?

Abby Double’s proposal is a questioning about identity, unicity in duplexity and duplexity in unicity, including scientific, metaphysics aspects and self experiment. It deals with the harmonization of dualism.

You work off the idea of duality, starting with your own experience as twins. Can you elaborate on how you approach duality in your art?

Duality deals with polarity. It’s the easiest way to take it but there are other angles. For the physics point in our art we have a work which show a geometrical representation of shadows intermingled with light. A shadow can’t exist without light but this figure can also express two sides of a personality. This is also why, on a psychic aspect, the personality trouble is also fascinating. For example, our “Sequential Scanning of a Replicant” installation deals with the potential confusion of identity of the twins and the opposite reading direction between occidental and Western civilization.

Can you share some highlights of your journey as artists with us please?

Our first public performance in 2011 during Scope Miami was really intense because we could feel the crowd of people around us , the murmurs of people through the gas masks between admiration, aversion, amusement or perversion. But when we started the most relevant fact

after the obvious lack of oxygen was the loss of all notion of time. The suffocation had something very heartwarming…

Which media do you prefer to work with?

We’re interested by all objects which can record the real. So, we are the point of departure of our studies and then we use our body as a blank paper for our performance.

You are inspired by philosophy. Which philosopher’s work have you explored via your art?

We titled our first exhibition ‘Prolegomena’ in reference to ‘Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics That Will Be Able to Present Itself as a Science’ by the philosopher Immanuel Kant. It has to be taken as preliminary notions as non0destructive testing in industry.  Clement Rosset’s work about the physical aspect of the double, Edgar Morin for his reflection about manhood and death and also Michel Guiomar.

Is it ever challenging to be so close and to work together?

Obviously it’s a challenge because the debates are pretty intense. In a collaboration between two colleagues you only have objectivity and logic but in family it’s always a mix between emotion and logic and we have to deal with it.

What do you most admire about each other?

May be the answer is in a quote of Wittgenstein: “What we cannot speak about we must pass over in silence.”

What are some of your favorite hot spots in Paris?

The art institutions Palais de Tokyo for Art, Museum of Romantism, Palais de la découverte and the Bibliothèque Forney Art and Architecture. For cafés and restaurants we like the café La Perle, the guinguette Rosa Bonheur and the restaurant Le Dauphin. Our favorite clubs are  Cirque Paradis and Le Montana.

What are you currently working on?

We are working on projects with French art institutions in Paris and Marseille and also on a new installation about classic movies about free violence. The Rebecca syndrome series and Duels is also still work in progress.

Double trouble or double blessing?

Double trouble, no doubt.

spinelloprojects.com/abby-double/

Words: Heike Dempster

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