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MACEYESHADOW/HANDWRITTEN

REVOLTFashion shoot inspired by wilderness, capturing the raw

and the surreal in Leeds.

PHOTOGRAPHER/ LEFT/ LARISSA DROZDRIGHT/ ADAM HORVATH

STYLING/EDITING/ LARISSA DROZD

COME ALIV

SUNGLASSES/ CHANELJACKET/ BELSTAFFBOOTS/ HUNTER

COME ALIVE/

LOST SOLE/Isolated and daydreaming of recollections. A short film about shoes, paths

they walk us through and recollecting memories we let afloat.

VISITVIMEO.COM/ LARISSADROZD/LOSTSOLE

If you don’t already know, then you really should.

L O R D WHITNEY

A collaboration between Amy Lord and Rebekah Whitney, creating work which takes us in to their nonsocial, magical, and surreal world. From birds nesting on the studio windows as inspiration, to entering magical cardboard worlds as children, and telling us their exciting latest plan in Leeds. In this interview, Lord Whitney couldn’t reflect their wittiness, fun and down

to earth approach more.

TELL US ABOUT THE ADVENTURE OF BECOMING LW/

We met at University studying Graphic Art and Design in Leeds where the first project we ever worked on together was creating a giant 3D theatre set, combining our skills in Photography and Illustration. As well as a distinctive style we shared a sense of humour, a vision of what we wanted to do. It was the first time that either of us had worked in this way and we never

looked back.In 2009, Lord Whitney was formed with the enjoyment of creating, working for ourselves and constant curiosity in mind as key elements. We consider the last 4 years to be the biggest adventure of our lives, it has taken us to some weird and wonderful places and we have had some great

experiences.

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR WORK/

This is always tricky as our work covers many disciplines but in essence we work with our clients to come up with and develop visual ideas and concepts for projects; we then design and make them. This can be set design, costume design, props styling, window dressing or anything in between, as long as the results are original and exciting. We mix all of these ways of working with buckets of imagination to create something out of

the ordinary.

HOW IMPORTANT IS HUMOUR/ADVENTURE IN YOUR WORK/

Since we were children we have both loved to play and make things. From a young age we were encouraged to be as imaginative as possible and often entered a magical imaginary cardboard

world.Our work involves elements of our childhoods – whether conscious or subconscious. We enjoy the escapism, child-like-ness, playful and enjoyable elements, which is part of us not taking life too seriously! Other themes do seem to creep into our work regularly – fairytales, nonsense, magic, the surreal. We’re always keen to take people outside of their normal

world.Sometimes we laugh at how little things have changed when we are building giant houses out of cardboard or dressing up as circus characters. We love that

we still get to play everyday!

IF YOU HAD A TIME MACHINE & COULD BE A STUDENT AGAIN/WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU

GIVE TO YOURSELF/

To do more work! It is only once we left university that we really valued the time and resources that we had there. If we could have another 3 years to focus entirely on our own practice without any financial pressures it

would be incredible!Working with and around others is the best advice we could offer students leaving Uni. Working in the freelance industry after Uni can be a bit of a lonely world and surrounding yourself with like-minded people with similar goals can keep you going even in the toughest of times. There are plenty of opportunities out there

at the moment.

WHO/WHAT ARE YOU MAIN INSPIRATIONS/

We look around us everyday for inspiration such as exploring new shops, watching the birds who nest on our studio windows and finding strange and unusual items in skips. We are inspired by a wide array of artists from photographers and filmmakers to musicians and painters. We love the fantastical art direction of Tim Walker, the low tech videos of Michel Gondry and the weird and wonderful world of Peter Blake to

name a few.

WHERE ARE YOU BASED/

We are based in our studio in Leeds, surrounded by collections of weird and wonderful objects, paint palettes, old junk, props we’ve made, and always with a

cup of tea at hand.

WHAT INSPIRES YOU THE MOST/

Leeds has got a great creative scene that is growing all the time. Duke Studios in the City Centre is a multi disciplinary creative space full of creative companies a really

inspiring place to be around.

TELL US MORE ABOUT YOUR STUDIO/

In 2011 we were lucky to find and take over the top floor of an old leather mill just out of Leeds city centre. Partly due to financial and practical reasons, but mainly from our own curiosity, we searched empty buildings high and low before falling in love with the place we now call home. This year we are hoping to open the studio to more events, exhibitions and getting other artists into the space, which is something we’re really excited about. We also intend to complete our vision of turning part of our studio into a

real life tree-house!

EVER HAD AN IDEA THAT WAS IMPOSSIBLE TO BRING TO LIFE/

We have lots of ideas all the time and keep notes and scribbles about them all. We have got some big ideas that we have not made happen yet, but nothing is impossible and I’m sure there will be a time

for them.

WHAT CAN WE LOOK OUT FOR/ WHATS NEXT IN THE BIG ADVENTUR OF LW/

At the moment we are working as part of a collective to open a new bar in Leeds. It’s in the early stages at the moment but is something we’re really excited about. The uniqueness of the bar will be down to it being a cooperative run by creatives. The concept focuses on bringing together a group of people with very different backgrounds and talents to work together on a new venture for us all. We love working collaboratively so this is a dream project

for us.We are also planning to take our recent exhibition with Jack Hudson ‘Mock ‘n’ Roll’ down to London in the next few months so we are going to have a very busy summer.

For more on Lord Whitney, visit

LORDWHITNEY.CO.UK

PHOTOGRAPHER/ LIAM HENRYWORDS/LORDWHITNEY/

LARISSA DROZD