Atelier E.B. is the company name under which artist Lucy McKenzie and designer Beca Lipscombe sign their collabo-rative projects. Their work to date includes commissioned displays and interiors, textiles, furniture and publishing. In 2011, Atelier E.B. produced its first fashion collection, The Inventors of Tradition, which grew out of its research into the post-1930s Scottish tex-tiles industry. At The Artist’s Institute, the firm present and sell their second collection, Ost End Girls. The clothes and accessories employ the skills of artisans throughout Scot-land and Belgium and are sold directly to individuals, keeping costs down and encouraging a relationship with the customer. Sitting somewhere between an art practice and a design busi-ness, Atelier E.B. examine the orthodoxies of contemporary production, distribution and promotion that attend the fields of art and fashion today.

·DEC. 6–DEC. 22, 2013

LUCY MCK ENZIE ATELIER E.B.

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MICH AEL BR ACEW ELL

·Fournier StreetLondon E1December 3, 2013

Dear Lucy,

As you know, the houses along this street are very old—built by Huguenot weavers in 1726 and within two hundred years inhabited mostly by Rus-sian Jewish furriers and their descendants. Indeed, the former owner of this house answered to precisely that description. He had his workshop on the top floor, with its long low line of wooden framed windows let-ting in the London light that washed over the rooftops as though from high white skies beyond the city, out above the fields of Essex and East Anglia.

And so this is a district that was dedicated, histori-cally, to craft and to clothes—the back room, as it were, of tailoring and manufacture. Wherein I recall how you have made the understanding and

the culture of craft so much a part of how you work as an art-ist—that craft itself, as an ide-ology, a skill, a mode of living, a political activity, an aesthetic, a history, is for you both subject and process, artistic principle and, almost, the performance of an ideal.

When you joined forces with like-minded spirits to establish a clothing and fashion label, I was thrilled but not sur-prised by the agility with which you made this a multi-faceted endeavor—rooted, without doubt, in the various talents required to see a garment from idea to point-of-sale, yet also, both clearly and mysteriously, something more… In the first place, your research into the history of textile manufacture and clothing retail, specifi-cally in Scotland, opened up a world as though by time travel; and from their some exponen-tial unfolding—through design history, feminism, pop culture, nationhood, aesthetics.

Yet also something per-sonal, I think—for the literary seems never far away from your

concerns, and through the lan-guage of fashion, manufacture and retail, it seemed that you were also adding some chapters to an autobiography that might find its place within a greater self-portrait, that is also (as Wystan Auden would have it) the country of yourself.

Too much? I have questioned myself

at length about these claims on your behalf, and do not find them wanting. For the task of the artist (if we believe Bridget Riley quoting Samuel Beckett on Marcel Proust, and who’s to say we shouldn’t?) is to translate the inner text that they carry around within themselves, and give it new form of its own—rendering the personal universal. And I think about the inner text that you must carry around within yourself, which is entirely personal and private to you, and yet which as an artist is ultimately all that you have to work from—for your great act of translation. This text must also be autobiographical. A few splintered shards throw themselves onto the screen:

of wet Saturday afternoons spent searching for clothes and records, of wetter Saturday nights or dreary Sundays or ecstatic spring evenings; the conversion of the adolescent bedroom into part laboratory, part shrine, part private theatre, objective—self-recreation as something better, and access to the fourth dimension of romance.

We have discussed many times before the allure of an art-directed lifestyle—the kind of secular aesthetics that put all of the atelier skills of fine art into the service of the serious yet frivolous business of get-ting ready to go out. (In the early 1980s the soon-to-be Pet Shop Boys once lived in a flat on the Kings Road, in London. And from their windows they would see the New Romantic poseur musician impresario Steve Strange making his way—in full face-paint and Pierrot costume, hair a gondola-black Siouxsie Sioux shock—most probably (we can only hope) to the supermarket. From this he defined the complete psychody-

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namic of New Romanticism in all of its street-aesthete extrav-agance: it was all about getting ready. Once out, the evening had already peaked.)

Now let us run the tape in reverse, away from the high visibility style heroism of the King’s Road, Chelsea to the adolescent’s bedroom in the family home anywhere at all. So many, so many… And of those they all became Quentin Crisp: “I am an auto-fact—self-created.” Pop singles were the hymn tunes in this particular and well-established church, and icons made from pictures out magazines. But it doesn’t do to dwell and get sentimental—and besides, since around 1962 (as Andy, patron saint, observed) we have all grown up in a total Pop world and simply had to get on with it … Drive on any highway, baby…

But they leave their mark as surely as thumbprints on wet clay—the decisions made in the teenage bedroom, to look to creativity as a seeker-after-truth and inventor of tradition. To conceive of a new Aesthetic

Movement and new Arts & Crafts—an ideal for living in which connoisseurship of taste and style might be twinned with politics and pop to then double as a mode of concep-tual autobiography: and what to wear as you walk through the chapters of your life? What might be the transformative garments for translators?

Anyway, the afternoon light is thickening to the color of dust; and the marble of the fireplace looks ghostly in the dusk. And I find myself nostalgic for what I know of New York, the cinnamon and petrol-scented air; and I envy you your elegance and grace as an exile—that the getting ready was so worth your while. And with that, absurdly, I am unaccountably overcome.

Love as always, and ever,Michael

BECA LIPSCOMBE·

The Scotsman NewspaperBarclay House 108 Holyrood Road Edinburgh, ScotlandApril 2013

To Whom it May Concern:

I am compelled to write this letter knowing that it will not change the fate of the Caerlee Mills (formerly Ballantyne Cashmere), which very sadly went into administration last week, shutting down produc-tion 225 years after it f irst opened. However, I publically wish to voice my great con-cern and dismay at the way in which another valuable asset to Scotland’s historical and cul-tural fabric has been allowed to disappear without a trace—leaving a gaping hole in our ever-vanishing textile indus-try and impacting negatively on yet another Scottish com-munity. This is a community I have had the honor of knowing in my capacity as a director of a small-scale fashion label that

produced in Scotland and sells internationally.

This is happening at a time when Scots and the world in general are scrutinizing our ability to survice independently. In this debate, the Scottish tex-tiles industry can be seen as symbolic of the Scottish econ-omy as a whole. In the textile industry I see a deleterious lack of government support.

Scotland was and is a nation famed for its production of high-end knitted and woven textiles. We have produced, and continue to this day to produce, for all the major luxury fashion houses in the world, although this is often done anony-mously. These high-end compa-nies come to Scotland because our textiles embody a skill, an understanding and a qual-ity that they wish to see in the fibre from which their products are made. We are not a fashion nation—we leave that to Lon-don, Paris and Milan. However, Scotland does have a role in the continued production of quality textiles; this is what we under-stand and what we do best.

China is in the middle of an industrial revolution. Our industrial revolution happened so long ago that the Scottish textile industry f inds itself housed in buildings that are not appropriate for business today; they are costly to heat and run, and have no apprenticeship schemes to offer and so lack programs of modernization or long-term investment.

I appreciate that we as consumers are at fault for want-ing to buy clothing cheap. But if we saw the skilled process that a jumper goes through to be created we would not think its premium cost unjustified. The quality of our textiles tran-scends fashion. Fashion comes and goes, but a beautifully crafted jumper will always be needed and ours are renowned.

Caerlee Mills was the last mill in Europe predom-inately to employ the special-ist knitware process of hand intarsia.* Some of the staff had worked there for over 40 years; we cannot buy, replace or pass on their knowledge once it has gone. I understand that the clo-

sure of Caerlee Mills has come about because of many factors. It should be emphasized, how-ever, that they had substantial orders on their books. Tragi-cally, they were unable to pro-duce these orders as they could not afford to buy the yarn up front. That, coupled with an antiquated building that was too costly to run, equals redun-dancies and devastation in Scot-tish communities.

A very different—and much more positive—story is the case of Chanel buying Bar-rie knitwear. Chanel have been taking over their French atel-iers, famed for creating shoes, braiding and so on, because of their fear that once these busi-nesses have gone there will be no-one skilled and experienced enough to do the job. Chanel understands the importance of investment in a skilled artisan workforce.

As a Scot, I realize that we do not always appreciate and value our strength until they have gone, to be appre-ciated elsewhere, if at all. So I salute the last standing textile

companies—you know who you are! As world commerce and consumer patterns change one thing is for sure: unless govern-ment invests in and supports our struggling textile industries, very few will remain standing. China may have might, but we have history, skill and legacy.

This is a sad time! There is no one person to blame here but a succession of unfortu-nate events: Beeching taking out the rail networks that ser-vices Dumfries and Galloway, the rise in yarn prices, anti-quated buildings, a cash low cri-sis, pension schemes not paying out, consumer patterns, com-peting industries worldwide, aviation…the list goes on.

I don’t claim to have the answers, I only observe from the outside. My company, Atel-ier E.B., has done extensive research into the post-1930s Scottish textiles industry, and we have seen for ourselves the tragic scale of what has been lost—Singer, Pringle, Ballan-tyne to name only a few of the great companies that went to the wall—and in the short time

we have been collaborating with Scottish textiles companies we have witnessed much negative change. It all hangs on such a fine thread.

Yours faithfully,

Beca LipscombeAtelier E.B.

*Intarsia is the Italian word to describe inlaid patterns in wood. It was Ballantyne that developed this same idea but in knitting, at first using simple Argyll diamonds then growing more bold, depicting everything from the blossom of a cottage garden to the pattern on a Persian carpet. One inlaid panel of an intarisia sweater takes a highly skilled craftsman up to eight hours as each thread must be laid over the needles by hand to form the intricate pattern. The design is built up following the directions on a chart, constantly changing from color to color, laying the yarn into the needles with great care and precision.

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DEC. 6–DEC. 22, 2013·

ATELIER E.B.Atelier E.B.'s Ost End Girls collection contains winter essentials in the form of overcoats and cashmere tracksuits, a working wardrobe of painting coats, and for the first time, summer wear. Dreaming of warm coastlines they present t-shirts and beach throws in delirious colors. The Grecian aesthetic celebrated in classic couture and motifs from Antiquity have been reimagined for simple contemporar y sportswear. Cashmere scarves and jewelry, reminiscent of holiday souviners, round out the season. It is a wardrobe for work and play, for men and women alike.

All items are available for purchase at The Artist’s Institute in Atelier E.B.’s first U.S. boutique. While past showrooms have been pre-order only, here in New York customers may enjoy instant gratification. Please contact the Institute to inquire about after-hours appointments.

Lindsay. Detail-less merino wool coat. Available in black/navy, long/short. With Steven Purvis, Robert Noble, Scotland and Cleemput, Belgium.

Atelier E.B.’s tailor Steven Purvis has created an overcoat which combines masculine tailored construction with a modern feminine silhouette; the omission of pockets and

fastening details enables the fabric to drop dramatically from the shoulders to the ground in an uninterrupted column. Lindsay simplifies the wearers figure. It is the perfect coat to complete an outfit of restrained androgyny or as the sober counterpoint to a flamboyant accessory. Naturally waterproof, durable and stable, Lindsay’s wool cord fabric is woven by Robert Noble of Peebles. It is the coat fabric used for the uniforms of the coachmen to the British monarchy for exactly these qualities.

Babs. Cotton jersey t-shirt dress. Available short/long with Egypt and Running Dog print in black, blue, rust and yellow. Hand printed by Atelier E.B., Scotland. In collaboration with Cleemput, Belgium.

Like Lindsay, the long Babs t-shirt dress streamlines the body into an elegant graphic column. Its Running Dog motif evokes the neo-classicism of Edinburgh’s Carlton hill or the dilapidated Alexander Thomson buildings dotted around Glas-gow. Wear with Atelier E.B.s hand printed elastic belt to cre-ate an amphora rather than

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column silhouette. Machine washable cotton jersey, it is the party dress of choice on relaxed summer holidays. Roll up the sleeves and wear with sandals.

Garçon. Cotton jersey t-shirt. Available with Egypt, Gods with Running Dog and Perfume print in black, blue, rust and yellow. Hand printed by Atelier E.B., Scotland. In collaboration with Cleemput, Belgium.

A summer wardrobe basic, the Garçon t-shirt will age in the sun, its print fad-ing from black to grey, its soft cotton jersey becoming worn in all the right places. The Perfume print illustrated

here is inspired by the pack-aging of Cabochard, the 1959 scent by Madame Grès worn by designer Beca Lipscombe’s mother. For winter, combine with the matching Fade to Grès blanket and socks for prodi-gious cosiness in bed. In case you are wondering, Atelier E.B. do not intend to design a perfume in the near future.

Manet. PK cotton jersey polo shirt. Available with Horus embroidery and Solo Dog print in black, rust and white Solo Dog hand printed by Atelier E.B., Scotland. In collaboration with Cleemput, Belgium.

The polo shirt is the

designated attire of the genteel sports. It is also a key style component in mod, skinhead and casual subcultures. Its design and branding has been adopted by Italian, French and American sportswear labels, but it remains irrevocably linked to an idea of “Britishness”. Atelier E.B. finds the complexity of its cultural implications thrilling. Combining their fascination for both classical ornament and knock-off culture they make their own interpretation of this standard garment, eschewing a company logo for a clip-art Eye of Horus. It came out looking like the sports kit for a nice girl’s boarding school in Cairo.

Beca. Backless lambswool jumper. Available in cobble,

lupin, tartan scarlet and victoria. In collaboration with EMB knitwear, Scotland.

The Beca lambswool jumper is named after its creator Beca Lipscombe and is a model she has refined since 2005. The erotic glimpse of bare back that the cut away allows turns this seemingly modest school jumper into something more seductive; the neck band bisects the shoulder blades at the most flattering point. Inject some sensual panache into a modest winter wardrobe; it can also be worn back to front to show off a beloved shirt or necklace. The fine Scottish lambswool from which it is made retains traces of its natural oil and scent well after first wear.

Altmann & Kuehne, a living link to the Wiener Werkstatte, they feature Beca and Lucy’s favourite buildings. The Port O’Leith Bar and Saint Colum-ba’s Hospice Shop, Chateau Charles-Albert and the legend-ary Interferences bar just off the Grand Place. The muted tones of the cashmere silk flatter the complexion as summer tans start to fade. It is light, dura-ble and the ideal companion on a long trip in any season.

How D’You Know Me? Lambs-wool and cashmere blanket. Available with Emma…and Fade to Grès motifs. In collaboration

with Marc Camille Chaimowicz, Panel and Begg, Scotland

These blankets were conceived as merchandise for the Olympic and Common-wealth Games, with the lived experience rather than branding in mind. They are to provide warmth during outdoor events, to relax and picnic on, wrap a tired child in on the journey home. No-one likes to sit on Kingo, the cat depicted on How D’You Know Me? Instead they sit beside and absentmindedly stroke her, the mix of lambswool and cashmere being as pleasing to the touch as a sleeping companion furry or otherwise.

Hyro. Lambswool angora scarf. Navy/yellow reversible. In collaboration with Begg, Scotland.

This hardwearing unisex scarf features cartoon imagery of Egyptian hieroglyphics as bold in colour as a frame from a Tintin bande dessinee. Combine with the Atelier E.B. cashmere jogging suits in furnace,

lugano and papaya to create a deliriously colourful ensemble for chilly home or studio.

Edinburgh. Cashmere silk scarf. Available with Bruxelles motif in dark-blue/grey-blue and coral/grey-blue. In collaboration with Begg, Scotland.

Like a souvenir for a World Fair that never hap-pened, this scarf is a memento of the immaginative voyage one takes when transforming one’s hometown into a dream-land. Inspired by the boxes of the Viennese chocolate shop

on her Kindle. Use as a quick drying towel, wear as a sarong or headscarf or bundle one’s possessions into on the black sand. During winter display on the wall as a fabric poster.

Kareen. Leather shoulder bag. Available in navy. In collaboration with McRostie of Glasgow, Scotland.

Following the success of the black model for Atelier E.B.’s 2011 Inventors of Tradition collection, for the shop at The Artist’s Institute,

Kareen is reissued in a deep ballpoint-ink navy. Particularly practical while cycling, the ticket collector style provides easy access, yet is ingeniously pickpocket proof for when visiting tourist traps.

Tombraiders. Cotton tote bag with silkscreen print and unique fabric crayon hand colouring. Available with AEB badge. Hand-printed by Atelier E.B., Scotland

Individually coloured with fabric crayons, these unique bags advertise Tom-braiders, a f ictitious record shop where the merchandise is so obscure that you’d have

Ettore. Lambswool socks. Available with Grès motif in black and white. In collaboration with EMB knitwear, Scotland.

The work of the Flemish designer Peiter de Bruyne influenced the Ost End Girls intarsia knitwear. His Italian counterpart, Ettore Sottsass, is evoked in the lettering on these unisex lambswool socks. Many of Atelier E.B.'s products are prohibitively expensive because of their fine materials and small production numbers made by local producers. The Grès version of the socks use the same beautiful motif as the luxury blanket, but at an

affordable price. An inspired thank-you or Christmas gift.

Cleo. Indian cotton beach-throw with silkscreen print. Hand-printed by Atelier E.B., Scotland

Atelier E.B.s holiday in 2012 on the island of Stromboli was the inspiration for the summer garments in the Ost End Girls collection, for which Cleopatra has become the unofficial mascot. Here she lies, happy as a pig in the mud with her milk snake and with Death on the Nile

to master potter Josiah Wedg-wood, it mimics the decorative band around a Jasperware vase.

CHF. 20 Swiss cent coin detail with brass chain/surround. Available also in Lire model with silver chain/surround and as bracelet/necklace. In collaboration with Atelier Elf, Belgium.

This pendant is based on the one Lucile Desamory found at the bottom of her grandmother's jewelry box once all her relatives had chosen

the more costly items for their inheritance. Between exercises to increase precision the trainee metalworkers in the Belfast shipyard that Jonnie Wilkes worked in brief ly would cut out Elizabeth II’s head from coins. Atelier E.B. chose to use the portraits on the current 20 Swiss cent and old 200 Italian lire coins because of their antique universality. They simply take advantage of the detail and craftsmanship that pass over counters and into slot machines unnoticed every day.

AEB. Iron/gold-plate badge. Available with Cleo motif in enamel/iron. Manufactured by Badges +, England.

Perfecting ones overlap-ping “bubble” writing on the front of a notebook was a com-petitive sport in school. With a gentle nod to the postmodern-

to be as intrepid as Lara Croft or Indiana Jones to uncover its hidden treasure. Atelier E.B.’s visual identity and commercial ethos is inspired in part by the small independent record labels of the late 1970s and 1980s—Industrial, Factory, Sordide Sentimental and Twilight Records. The ambitiousness of their graphic design expressed an intelligence that activated the music it advertised. This tote book bag pays homage to those experiments.

Nefertiti. Moulded felt and knitted wool hat. Available in black. In collaboration with Muehlbauer, Austria.

The silhouette of Queen Nefertiti inspired this softly sculpted knitted hat fabricated

by Austrian milliners Mue-hlbauer, a family business who have been making head wear since 1903. Worn on the crown of the head this hat is fit for any 1960s Egyptian movie queen. Combine with sunglasses for chic anonymity.

Ost End Girls. Cotton baseball cap. Available with Cleo and Wave motifs in black, navy and white. In collaboration with Fourth Sector, Scotland.

Everyone likes that yah posh-girl look of baseball cap with a rugby top. Or Norma in the film Carrie - the mean girl with the red cap played by P.J. Soles. Atelier E.B. grew up dancing to The Pet Shop Boys and with the Ost End Girls caps they broadcast this fact una-bashed. The rust Wave motif on the black model pays homage

ist Memphis group this, along with vinyl-queen Cleo, are the detachable pin labels for Atel-ier E.B.s latest collection. Atel-ier E.B. asks the manufacturers they work with to give their gar-ments their standard factory labelling. It is up to the cus-tomer if they choose to keep and display the pin that comes with their purchase. Because of their reliance on and appre-ciation of their manufacturers, Atelier E.B. doesn’t take credit for their products alone.

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DEC. 9, 7:00 PM·

BECA LIPSCOMBE,PENNY M ARTIN,

AND LUCY MCK ENZIETHR EE SHORT

LECTUR ESLucy McKenzie and Beca Lip-scombe of Atelier E.B. join Penny Martin, editor and chief of the women’s fashion maga-zine The Gentlewoman, for an evening of discussion about their subjective relationship to clothing and the ways that they navigate the ever-intertwined worlds of fashion and art on their own terms.

LUCY MCKENZIE“Just Because They’re Wearing a White Coat Doesn’t Mean You Have To Do What They Say”

Fashion has been a part of McKenzie’s visual art since she first made Soviet leotards as a student in Dundee. Yet rather than merely reference fashion imagery in her work, or allow it to be incorporated as a marketing device by the fashion establishment, she uses fashion—its history, economy,

and aesthetics—to generate social events or f ictional narratives. She will speak about the associations of the iconic white work coat, which are present in each collection and are worn by skilled painters, make-up counter women and scientists alike.

BECA LIPSCOMBE“Looking at High Taste From a Low Place”

Lipscombe was a teenage Casual. Rejecting the con-ventional path offered to her as a respected emerging talent at Central St. Martin, London, she returned to Edinburgh after her training, a city with relatively no job opportunities for a young designer and founded her own independent label. She will speak about the life of specific Atelier E.B. garments, from their inspiration and manufacture to how they have been appropriated by others within the fashion industry.

PENNY MARTIN“Elegant Refusal”

Penny Martin is a respec-

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ted editor and writer, and noted within the fashion industry for her cerebral and considered point of view. Boasting a diverse career path traversing media, academia and photo curation. Martin worked alongside fashion luminaries Nick Knight and Peter Saville for seven years, editing his online fashion website SHOWstudio, and contributes to magazines such as W, The New York Times Style Magazine: T and Fantastic Man. She will speak about how creating something new and important in women’s publishing today requires a point of view that’s defined by what you don’t do. In discussing how The Gentlewoman has developed over its four years, she will focus on the importance of specificity and opinion versus random creativity.

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