Less Common More Sense 7

Less Common / More Sense

14.03.2007-15.04.2007

10 YEARS IN THE MAKING. BE PART OF IT.www.suarts.org

Less Common / More Sense

16Christoffer Skjott

17David Fulford

18 –19 Ethical Fashion: The Fairest of Them All

20 – 21 Portrait

22Colophon

04 – 05Against The Tide

06 – 07The Inexplicable Disappearance

And Triumphant Resurgence of Music

Events At Central Saint Martins

08 – 09Dodeckahedron

10The Weather Club

11(F) art Degrees

12 –15 Club Class

Contents

WWW.LESSCOMMON.ORG WWW.SUARTS.ORG MORE SENSE / 03

04 / LESS COMMON

José González told me three years ago that

he has problems finding words for his

thoughts. This hasn’t become easier, he just

hasn’t confronted his problem. He compares

giving interviews with washing up after dinner.

Something you just have to do – or don’t?

José is an experienced musician whose

influences range from classical guitar to bossa

nova and from flamenco to the Beatles. All of

these influences shine through and make his

music extraordinary. It feels very intimate in

that Elliott Smith way, that kind of closness so

few musicians manage to pull off. They share

a linear way of singing – but unlike Smith,

José’s music relies solely on his voice and

spiralling Latin guitar play. There are no drums,

no bass and no backing vocals. It feels intense

and even a bit hectic, although it’s totally not.

José has said he never improvises when he

performs and compares it to driving in traffic;

“you have to be concentrated”.

At the time of this interview José was

undertaking a three - month tour of the States.

He was sitting in a car from New Orleans

when I called. He told me about how you

could see black lines on the top of the houses

from where the water had been during the

tornado. Apart from that, he thought everthing

was normal. But then he’d only been playing

and eating in restaurants during his stay.

The European release of his debut album

Veneer was in 2003. After that a busy year

followed with talk shows, UK hits, a sucessful

Sony advert and endless touring. But despite

all of that he’s yet to become a ubiquitous or

typically mainstream figure. He hasn’t been

using any cheesy marketing strategies and his

music videos and album covers remain plain

and beautiful.

Please tell me about your music videos:My band member Elias Araya, from my other

band Junip, directed the Stay in the shade

video. He has also designed all of my album

covers. We are childhood friends and he was

the drummer in my old hardcore band.

He started to draw and went to Art College,

so I asked him to do the video. I basically gave

him free hands. ( The video is very contempo-

rary and atmospheric. It’s hand drawn and very

abstract ). My other video Hand on your heart

is made by Andreas Nilsson. He’s a member

of the Swedish band Silverbullit and has made

videos for The Knife. I had the idea that

I wanted the video to be fable - like with lots

of animals. It generated from my screensaver

of a Japanese bird that I’ve always been very

fond of. So I gathered twenty to thirty pictures

from the Internet and sent them to him.

The result is a collage made movie of José

in a Japanese wonderland.

Will you continue making music with Junip?I’ve been so busy touring lately that I haven’t

had time to do much. But when I get back

home, probably in November, I will start

making music again. It feels like Junip is an

everlasting project. Because of all the atten-

tion I’ve got from my solo project, it seems

more natural to continue with my own music

instead.

Do you still dislike writing lyrics?I’m more of a musician than a storyteller.

I get the same sensation when I’m on stage.

It never really feels right. My song texts are

very abstract and short. But that’s mostly

because I like repetition in music and that

I want to leave something for the imagination

of the listener.

Would you call your music melancholic?Yes, I would call it quite dark. My lyrics are

dark and about the hard times of relationships

and life. But it’s totally up to the listener how

to understand it; nothing is really right

or wrong.

Do you have any secrets you’d like to share?I used to nick money from the others pockets

while we where on tour. We get pocket

money every day, but mine usually finishes so

quickly because I eat so many sweets.

So when they are not watching I have a look

for some coins.

José González’s album got the name

“Veneer” because he likes the symbolism of

something that shows itself differently on the

outside than it appears on the inside. I think

this reflects him very well. I don’t believe he’s

that quiet sad guy that he looks like on stage.

He seems to be a life - loving person that takes

most things pretty easy. He even had prob-

lems thinking of something he disliked. Even-

tually I found out it was gristly toothbrushes.

Another thing that goes against the lonely

and melancholic singer songwriter’s image

was his choice of his favourite film. Although

he hadn’t seen it yet, he thought Ali G’s

[Sacha Baron Cohen] new movie Borat would

definitely be his new favourite.

Text: Rosanna Tuvhag

Central Saint Martins

BA Graphic Design

Against The Tide

MORE SENSE / 05WWW.JOSE - GONZALEZ.COM WWW.IMPERIALRECORDINGS.SE

Photography: Jonathan Leijonhufvud

London College of Communication

Professional Photography Practice

(images used with kind permission from

Imperial Recordings)

The Inexplicable Disappearance And Triumphant Resurgence of Music Events At Central Saint Martins

Live, the band are an engagingly bizarre

spectacle, performing in surgical gowns and

masks. The concept behind this is to refute

“the outdated idea of ego”. The members

of the band perform anonymously, often

switching instruments during a performance

and playing around with their material. Related

to this is the peculiar nature of the shows

themselves – Ade commented upon the con-

nection with the audience; that, instead of the

treadmill of releasing a record and an

accompanying Big tour, they like to concen-

trate on making each one more of an event

in and of itself – “Not something which is just

a commercial exercise[…] Something which

is new to an audience”. Essentially, it’s all

about that rare, precious, primitive connection,

playing on the divisions between band and

audience – “a lot of people just dancing to the

music, getting into the music, even just for

an hour[…] Seems like you’re not just being

there as a spectacle, but are actually involved

in the whole thing”

The key juxtaposition in Clinic’s work is

one of Pleasure against Promotion. It’s an

important and genuine ethos, and one which

is well suited to CSM. The 14th promises to

be a notable evening.

— Clinic (Domino Records) play CSM

Charing Cross Road on the 14th December

Tickets £12.50 (www.seetickets.com)

Back in the 70’s, so I’ve been told, the institu-

tions that now make up CSM hosted bands

playing every week – a colourful part of our

institutional history that today is barely even

a memory – all that remains of it being that

dubious plaque in the lobby at Charing Cross.

Music events have been rare, and, when

they have been going on, have been generally

off limits to the rump student body politick.

However, these exclusive events have been a

necessary evil, apparently. Everything is now

set to change with the concert by the band

Clinic on the 14th of December, hosted by the

up and coming Domino Records label.

For the last 18 months, Peter Cleak, the

driven, multitasking young Events Manager

for CSM, has been leading a concerted effort

to reintroduce live music events into the

collective student experience. The last two

major events have been private things —

The Clinic gig; however, will be the first in

which tickets have been reserved expressly

for the students. This concert, therefore,

marks a pivotal moment – having demon-

strated the feasibility of the campaign to the

college authorities with the previous two

events, this one will indubitably mark out the

next stage in the process. All of this is very

exciting. If it is a success, then the path is

open for many more future events, and riding

along with them, plenty of opportunities for

students from all the various disciplines to be-

come involved in one way or another, either in

the gig’s themselves, or in the nefarious task

of ‘networking’ with the wider world. In brief,

this is something that requires our interest

specifically, our short - term financial interest.

And the ticket is well worth the investment.

I first heard about Clinic two days before

interviewing front man Ade Blackburn via

telephone on the 1st of November, and

listened to their new album that morning. I’m

not sure what I was expecting – in their re-

views and clippings, Clinic get compared with

pretty much everything under the Sun from

the Velvets to David Lynch. I found, instead

of or in spite of this, a group with their own

distinct, focussed sound and style, which is

also in evidence in the videos on their website

(they make all their own videos ) and artwork

for the sleeves of their albums ( bassist

Hartley produces all the album covers ). Pretty

much everything is made for themselves.

Their work is eccentric and independent, in a

world of over – stylised and postured Indie, and

exemplifies a DIY ethos ( a term which Ade

was happy to self- apply ), which has a lot in

common with our own luminary Billy Childish.

Ade, in person ( or disembodied voice ), is soft

spoken and unpretentious. His conversation

ranged over an hour from the latest book he’d

read (“The Tokyo Montana Express by Richard

Brautigan[…] Surrealist style and humour[…]

mish mash of ideas[…] one of my favourite

writers, yeah.”), to thoughts on the contempo-

rary importance of community (“now it seems

like everyone is pushed more towards being

just more isolated[…]

I read recently of a band who when they

travel to and from gigs, [they’re] listening to

their own MP3 players. I think that idea of

people gradually withdrawing from communal

social situations[…] I just don’t see the benefit

from that at all. That more people can share

seems completely logical to me”). It seems

that every major decision the band makes, in-

cluding what festivals they play (Clinic recently

headlined at Audioscope Festival, Oxford

an event in aid of the charity group SHELTER),

are taken against commercial considerations.

On this, as on all things with Ade, the basic

thing is to be as independent as possible;

“Whenever we make things, it’s kind of got

the freedom within it, its not about the

mainstream or to get played, it’s just some-

thing very English”. When I asked him about

how the group consider their music in the

context of today’s big issues and the sensitive

global climate in which we live, his response

was similarly geared towards the importance

of providing an alternative to the mainstream

trends. “The way it functions, if you are

doing something then its an alternative to that

negative vibe[…] I don’t mean to say that lyri-

cally it deals with it directly[…] more

with philosophy and outlook on life[…] looking

at possibilities rather than things narrowing”

he said, adding that “It’s far too grand to

think of doing anything directly[…] I don’t feel

at home with sloganeering, like Live 8 for

example[…]I’m sure that type of things got its

place but I think that music and politics has

generally been done badly”.

WWW.CLINICONLINE.ORG WWW.DOMINORECORDCO.COM 06 / LESS COMMON

Text: Charles Fulford


BA Criticism, Communication and Curation

MORE SENSE / 07 WWW.SEETICKETS.COM

Photography by B

art McD

onagh

Photography: Miranda Iossifidis


BA Interactive Design

Dodeckahedron

08 / LESS COMMON WWW.FLICKR.COM / PHOTOS / DODECKAHEDRON

WWW.DODECKAHEDRON.BLOGSPOT.COM MORE SENSE / 09

Bow - legged, ‘fro-haired white boys mill

around to soundtracks of motown and soul,

while a girl in an oversized sweater and

shin - scraping skirt serves beer in plastic

cups from behind the bar. The sixth night of

Fresher’s (Pathfinding) Week sees the return

of Southampton Row’s Weather Club, a

student - penned night of obscure 60s records,

cheap booze and eccentric musicians. City

lights bathe the cleared cafeteria, pooling in

from the floor - to-ceiling window panels run-

ning along one side of the room. The audience

chatter happily around the tables at the side

of the room furthest from the stage, and, for

a second, it feels like a 40s nightclub - come -

school disco.

The Weather Club relaunch is entertained

by bluesy, country punks Battle of Balaclava;

St Martin’s drop-out and Vincent Vincent and

the Villains drummer Alex Cox, and the

geek chic of Tim Ten Yen’s Sinatra - esq elec-

tro. It’s refreshing to notice how obviously

selective the organisers have been, opting for

kitschy, innovative acts instead of the generic

indie bands currently saturating London’s club

circuit. Glassy disco lights run along the ceiling

above the stage, pooling down onto the acts

below and contrasting with the red stage light,

while a single multicolour spotlight shines

out over the crowd, bathing them in a hazy,

intoxicating glow. It’s St Martins as it’s most

relaxed: conceptual, fun - loving and inebriated.

UAL has often been described as anti - social

and pretentious, yet the intoxicated art school

crowd mingle effortlessly, as students all over

the world are supposed to.

The only aspect which separates this from

any other Students’ Union night is the level

of effort and creativity put into appearances:

Dancing is premeditated and varied- a girl

in the corner is toe - stepping in a rah - rah skirt;

a couple to the left are holding hands and

swinging around each other as your grandpar-

ents might have done. Generally, movements

are melodramatic and pronounced; outfits are

thought - out and appreciated.

— Arrive late for a slice of artschool student

life at its best: sociable meet-and-greets,

cheap alcohol and tastefully innovative acts

and fashions.

The Weather Club

10 / LESS COMMON WWW.MYSPACE.COM / WEATHERCLUB WWW.VINCENTVINCENTANDTHEVILLAINS.COM

Text: Abigail Outhwaite


BA Journalism

of a degree can be measured in money alone

is sad, boring and very contemporary – pointing

to a society where knowledge and study has

lost its true meaning. Education made

accessible to the wider public has turned into

a product rather than a broadening of one’s

personal and intellectual horizons. It also

totally devalues the importance of artistic en-

deavours and aspirations: historically the life

of the Artist has been seen as something

often obscure, luxurious ( and not seldom

‘unnecessary’ ) but at the same time com-

mitted and essential to making the lives of all

other hard - working mortals, just that tad more

beautiful. These days, consumer society has

incorporated even the arts, and with that the

artist, in the quest for universal entertainment.

Consumerism relies heavily on the visual,

the graphical, the musical stimulations of the

mind. Artists can be employed within the

wider context of the manufacturing space and

do quite, if not very, well out if it. A fact that’s

continuously being promoted at any self - re-

specting arts university. The more students

that enrol, the more fat fees in the university’s

bank account, naturally.

And yes, it is still seen as romantic, some-

how, with a financially fraught artist - and part

You’re a student, right? An exam taker, library

visitor and essay writer, according to your own

statistics. A pizza eater, boozedrinker, night

clubber – and a general debt hoarder, according

to everyone else’s. Today’s students freely

mix the traditional university debauchery of

bygone days with the demands and needs

of contemporary consumer society. The list of

things to do and to own grows longer by

the minute and not many students want to

be seen without the necessary equipment

required of the young and cool. For an art stu-

dent this is especially so: the hip clothes and

essential sunglasses in winter can be most

costly indeed. And isn’t that what student

loans are for – to get some cash and some life-

style? It’s ‘play now, pay later’ - time, but later

is later; by then you will have a degree

( at least if you managed writing the odd essay

inbetween pub sessions ) and with that a job.

You will be all right – at least that is what the

newspapers and the government keep say-

ing. The student loan advertising says it too:

Students eat pizza and own i-Pods. Borrowed

money can be your own money. And in a way

it is – you just have to pay it back first. It might

well be that you are one of those students,

who actually spends their time at university

studying, reading books and ‘investing in their

future’ – as it is called these days. You might

be very focused and motivated, knowing that

the course you are doing is the right one for

you – with a bunch of researched job options

and opportunities awaiting after completed

efforts, the whole world is your oyster.

If you belong to this category it is very likely,

however, that you are

a ) ‘mature’ (i.e. over 21) or b ) foreign.

— The fact of the matter is instead that most

people have no clue why they are doing a de-

gree. Not really. Not deep down. Mommy and

Daddy thought it was a good idea, and you

just had to do ‘something’ after A-levels; these

are pathetic but not unlikely explanations.

And after all – doesn’t society expect it? While

doing my own degree in journalism most of

my fellow students were completely confused

as to why they had ended up on the course.

They could not spell to save themselves and

had no interest whatsoever in politics or media

issues. Just the type of journalists the world

needs. While students in other European

countries sometimes do not start university

until in their late twenties, Britain seems

plagued with a sort of ‘now or never’ mental-

ity. Money needs to be made and young

people need to start earning – now! This obvi-

ously works out fairly well if the degree in

question is of the money making sort, which

might explain the general abundance of

accountants to artists. The idea that the value

of the image too! And so it will remain —

with today’s art degrees charged at the same

standard annual £3,000 tuition fee as some of

its meatier cousins, the pressure is certainly

on once the art graduate has left the safe

havens of schooling behind. Regardless of

the perhaps increased opportunities for the

creatively minded in today’s world compared

with 100 years ago, the fact remains

that a £15,000 debt for a degree with

- still! - vague job prospects is nothing to take

lightly. After all we live in a society where a

return on investment is expected.

As we have seen, however, things are not

always that clear - cut; so why not use your

borrowed money while you have it. Someone

once offered me these words of advice:

‘For God’s sake, just spend it. You might not

get any more in a looong while!”

— No wonder so many students dance and

drink the nights away.

(F) art Degrees?

MORE SENSE / 11WWW.SARARITZEN.TYPEPAD.COM / THE _ JOURNALIST /

Text: Sara Ritzen


BA Journalism

Club ClassClub Class

Course Director for BA Pho-tographyBeverley Carruthers

or speak to Mathew Hawkins, or even Head of MA Photogra-phy AnneWilliams (the latter is not in the office I spoke about on the phone

Photography: Moira Lovell


MA Photography

14 / LESS COMMON

Course Director for BA Pho-tographyBeverley Carruthers

or speak to Mathew Hawkins, or even Head of MA Photogra-phy AnneWilliams (the latter is not in the office I spoke about on the phone

MORE SENSE / 15

The Adajle lightning concept came about

when researching into health - care products.

Cotton - wool ear buds resemble certain

bacteria and can quickly be assembled to

reconstruct bacteria forms. The clear plastic

tubes that the cotton is attached to practically

disappear when the light is turned on and

only leaves the cotton buds visible. Their form

is identical to that of bacteria, and the way

they react to light, could not come closer to

the bacteria samples found. The picture show

various stages of the development process.

— The “final proposals” are really just ideas

to envoke further development rather then

finished pieces, although they easily can be

used as such.

Christoffer Skjott

16 / LESS COMMON WWW.SKJOTT - DESIGN.COM

Text and Photography:

Christoffer Skjott


MA Industrial Design

The concept for the recliner is based on a

scandinavian interpretation of ethnic furniture.

My original aims were to develop designs

that are based on Ethnic African pieces,

which incorporate the aesthetic values of my

Scandinavian heritage with the use of modern

technology, materials and production meth-

ods. The idea was to design furniture that en-

compassed a different way of sitting than we

are used to here in Europe, while encouraging

the user to interact with the piece. The Semi-

recliner is a good example of this interaction,

as the user shifts his/her weight the recliner

responds by tilting up or down.

Dimensions: L 715 W 285 H 645 mm

MORE SENSE / 05WWW.JOSE-GONZALES.COM

David Fulford

MORE SENSE / 17 WWW.DAVIDFULFORD.COM

Paintings: David Fulford

Camberwell College of Arts

BA Illustration

Untitled [2006]: Oil on Canvas

Dimensions: W 850 H 1200 mm

Harry’s Laugh [2006]: Oil on Canvas, Dimensions: W 330 H 450 mm

18 / LESS COMMON

To say that fashion has a conscience is like

saying the devil can feel remorse or guilt.

Okay, maybe that was too harsh. But fashion

has not exactly been known to be one of the

most principled industries. After all, fashion

evokes visions of decadence, glamour, wast-

age, and conspicuous consumption. One does

not, out of habit, go into a boutique, armed

with a checklist, interrogating sales person-

nel if desired items may have possibly been

manufactured in a sweatshop in Southeast

Asia. The truth is, we buy because we’re

drawn to something, be it a Chloe bag or a pair

of Puma sneakers. Sad to say, shopping is not

really propelled by logical or rational thoughts.

Buying is motivated by emotional appeal

rather than by where or how the clothing item

in question was made. It’s human nature.

We are not the way we are as consumers

because we’re evil or because we have no

sense of social justice. We don’t really morph

into monsters every time we buy throwaway

fashion from a not - so - ethical high street

retailer. It’s simply that the concept of “eco-

fashion” has not been entirely ingrained into

our social consciousnesses.

For that to happen, iconic brands have to

take the first step. And recently, that’s exactly

what they’ve been doing. With mega brands

like Emporio Armani, Converse, and Gap jump-

ing onto the ethical fashion bandwagon, every-

one is taking notice. Never has ethical fashion

been so chic. Now, the question of whether

these brands are embracing the concept of

eco - fashion because it’s good business or

because they’re really concerned about the

state of the Third World and the environment

is another matter altogether. The important

thing is, they’re putting ethical fashion on the

mainstream map. And that is, in turn, making

consumers more aware of the ramifications

of rampant consumption on our environment

and the working conditions of the people who

make our clothes. This realisation helps form

people’s buying habits and patterns. It also

paves the way for smaller labels and designers

to sell their clothes and promote what they’re

most passionate about.

CSM graduate and designer Davina

Hawthorne explains, “Eco-fashion is fashion

which takes into consideration the people

behind the clothes we wear, as well as the

environment.” But just because it’s ethical,

doesn’t mean it can’t be design-conscious.

Designers like herself and other brands, such

as Ciel, Terra Plana, Enamore, Noir, Katharine

E Hamnett, etc. are pushing the boundaries

of ethical fashion in terms of style and design.

Rosie Budhani of Terra Plana says, “[We give

eco-fashion a fighting chance] when we don’t

make a massive deal about the brands being

ethical, and think of them instead as fashion-

able brands that just happen to be ethical as

well.

— It could be that being stylish and being con-

scientious are not mutually exclusive after all.

Ethical Fashion: The Fairest of Them All

MORE SENSE / 19

Text: Trisha Andres

London College of Fashion

MA Fashion Journalism

Photography: Davina Hawthorne


MA Design for Textile Futures

Portrait

20 / LESS COMMON

Photography: Kate Potter


MA Photography

MORE SENSE / 21

PublisherThe Students’ Union

University of the Arts London

EditorRonan Haughton

Art DirectorLars Laemmerzahl

Thanks ToNikias Chryssos

Peter Cleak

Matthew Graham

Todd Henshaw

Oliver Hogan

Conrad Kaden

Imperial Recordings

Jens Janson

Amanda Johansson

Tamara Moore

Adrian Mott

Jenny Nash

The Weather Club

Jade Tomlin

Guy de Villiers

ContributorsSamantha Allflatt

Trisha Andres

Charles Fulford

David Fulford

Davina Hawthorne

Miranda Iossifidis

Jonathan Leijonhufvud

Moira Lovell

Abigail Outhwaite

Kate Potter

Sara Ritzen

Christoffer Skjott

Rosanna Tuvhag

Get InvolvedVisit lesscommon.org or send

examples of your work to Ronan Haughton:

mediacomms @ su.arts.ac.uk

DisclaimerThe views expressed in this publication do

not in any way reflect those of the publishers,

the Students’ Union of the University of the

Arts London. The authors accept sole respon-

sibility for the content of their submissions

AddressLess Common / More Sense

The Students’ Union

University of the Arts London

65 Davies Street

London

W1K 5DA

PrintersStephens & George

Less Common / More Sense # 7

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MORE SENSE / 23WWW.ARTS.AC.UK

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Less Common More Sense 7