KCTV PLUS

index

October 15, 2013
THE 3 OF US. JON JOHN, JOEY ARIAS, JUANO DIAZ

October 18, 2013
TWAT BOUTIQUE AT NETIL HOUSE

March 26, 2013
A TRIP TO LONDON OR INFLUENCE

October 26, 2011
THE TURNER PRIZE

October 24, 2011
TSUMORI AND LEONARD

March 10, 2011
DIOR

December 3, 2010
PETER PIXZEL INTERVIEW

January 18, 2010
HALO-IS INTERVIEW

January 05, 2010
MARCO SHUTTLE INTERVIEW

May 11, 2009
VISIONS OF EXCESS

March 01, 2009
NASIR MAZHAR

Febuary 14, 2009
YOKO ONO

December 30, 2008
DIGITAL ANGEL

December 26, 2008
PETER IBRUEGGER INTERVIEW

September 29, 2008
NASIR MAZHAR - SPRING SUMMER 2009

June 25, 2008
CHRISTIANIA

March 01, 2008
NOKI INTERVIEW

january 05, 2008
ANTONIO MOLTONI INTERVIEW

JULY 11, 2007
CAM ARCHER Interview

JULY 11, 2007
GARETH PUGH Interview

June 18, 2007
MILLYDEMORI Interview

June 18, 2007
Mr A Interview

Febuary 16, 2007
K A B I R's BACKSTAGE AT MAN REPORT

Febuary 08, 2007
Brian Eno Interview

December 08, 2006
Material Boy Interview

October 18, 2006
Lawrence Interview

June 28, 2006
Seymour Butz Interview

June 27, 2006
Dou Dou Malicious Interview

November 27, 2005
Lump Interview

MARCH 01, 2008
NOKI INTERVIEW

By Gemma Winter

I first became aware of Noki and JJ Hudson at the tail end of the 90s, this enigma who seemed to have comeout of nowhere decontructing clothes into art, just as customisation was at its peak; with everyone and their mum cutting stitching and embellishing clothes. After the closure of Sleazenation and The Face magazines (two of his most feverent suppourters) Noki seemed to fade into the background, only to burst back onto the scene again in late 2007; this time JJ was offering a cooler version of eco-fashion far removed from knit your own tofu jumper, a sustainable newclear fusion with a startling punk ethos.

THE SCENE: LULU KENNEDY'S OFFICE, THE WEEK BEFORE FASHION EAST, LITTERED WITH LOUISE GRAY'S SAMPLES AND HALF DRUNK CUPS OF COFFEE.

GW- You two have know each other for quite a long time.

LK - Ten years...

JJ - I think its twelve or thirteen now.

LK - Yeah from back in the day.

JJ - A very unproffessional meeting through Marcus Constable, drunken mayhem in Shoreditch.

LK - Back when Pablo was running 333, a long time

JJ - A lifetime, Shoreditch High Street was only one way.

LK - No one was around, it was deserted around here, people were living in amazing great big lofts because they were really cheap. There were always parties every weekend. Everyone was working on creative projects together and drinking in the same pub, just like a little village really.

JJ - I always remember the 'Little and Large' parties because that's when the West End used to come. Hosted by Fe and Laura, in huge warehouses, it would really kick off then, usually any other time it was just twenty people having a laugh. Those parties would bring all the crazies together. Were all still doing the same thing but it's nice to see your peers come up through the system. Whatever you said you were back then is what you are now. It's a nice liberation that dreams could come true. Living in Brighton now its nice to know that Shoreditch is the new Soho, and to have history with the place before it kicked off. I remember when Johnny Woo used to work in the Bricklayers and he wore beige! Then he went to New York and became Johnny Woo.

GW - What led you to start up the N.H.S.?

JJ - I can keep my Noki art and play games with my N.H.S. that's why I am working with Lulu. One can feed the other without pressurising. Fashion is fun, but the rag world is really dark, a lot of the rag merchants are really hardcore geezers.

GW - Cos, one of the biggest rag traders, it's in Liverpool.

JJ - Yeah, theres a lot in Yorkshire too. I used to work for a recycling company back in Brighton, Magpie which was a CO-OP, they gave me a studio space, so I did all the ragging. Turning it from a sweaty dirty boxes of wet rag into cleaned up bins. Ripping through minging old grannies slippers and nappies to find amazing t-shirts and dresses. It was an amazing time of just experimenting, I pulled off the V&A show when I was working at Magpie.

GW - The V&A show was one of the first sustainable shows that a big institution comissioned.

JJ - Yeah I was really chuffed it came and went cos nobody was really bothered about sustainability four years ago. Now the worlds falling apart, listen to Radio 4 and every other word is sustainable. To build a fashion house for that reason, its aspirational for governments and students, because I teach a lot.

GW - Where do you teach?

JJ - I've done St Martins, Ravensbourne, Kingston, Northbrook,and Glasgow. So I travel up and down, doing lectures, did one in the Charles Rennie Mackintosh theatre in glasgow, that was quite major. Did a Noki film up there, and I played them a CD I got off Katherine Hamnett called 'White Gold' all about Uzbekistan, and how cotton production has destroyed the country. They produce 40% of the world's cotton, its nice to know I am not part of that system. The material would have probably came from there, but now its all reclaimed, even the leather and the fur.

GW - The boots you made Lulu are from recycled leather.

JJ - Yeah from old cowboy boots, a lot of cutting and the penwork.

LK - and the hole punching is very Noki too.

JJ - Yeah, I used to add more holes to t-shirts to create patternation, which became a big trend. The customised look is quite destructive if your bleaching and burning, it's become very generic to the high street and is quite heavy on mother earth. The N.H.S. helps me focus, it helps the industry focus. The whole newclear rave kids embrace the DIY, creating one off looks.

GW - That makes you chief surgeon of the N.H.S.

JJ - Yeah, I'd like to create a diploma from the N.H.S, you go in as a nurse, a trainee and leave as a surgeon. Students could come and cut their collection from suistainable sources, before putting it down the catwalk, perhaps at Fashion East, who knows.

GW - Lulu, is that why you have given JJ a platform for two seasons to showcase?

LK - It feels like the time is now, because I always thought JJ was ahead of us in his mentality and sensibility. People are ready for it and they are aware to what he is all about. Maybe at first glance they wouldn't have got it, but now people will.

JJ - I don't want Noki to be boring, I want to do extravaganzas, which no one in the sustainable world really does. I'm embracing the designer in me, away from the slower art process.

GW - Which is very much one offs and custom creatives.

JJ - Theres some pioneers within the industry, but it's all very workwear utility yummy mummy, catalogue stuff. I don't want people to be precious about my clothes because it came from rag, I want them to have a mental night out and if they rip it, they can bring it to N.H.S. and we can repair it. So it's a different kind of consuption. England and Britain has been ripped off to death by Europe, cos they have the money and government backing. They make fortunes whereas in Britain all the great people just get lost in the system.

LK - They throw loads of money at it but they always get it wrong. I think throw the money at me, and I can show you what we really can do. I'm only doing 5% of what I'd like.

JJ - Exactly, theres a lot of energy we need to expel. If I don't do it then somebody else will and I'm pissed off.

LK - And they'll do it badly.

JJ- Or do it a different way which doesn't have the same passion.

LK - Then the high street knocks it out, like the Hoxton look.

JJ - It's nice to know why you did it, cos you'll be pissed off seeing that. So when you do the revivial you know exactly why you are doing it. The revivals full of pent up aggression and anger, the mullets even bigger and the t-shirts even radgier. Know what I mean, I think its coming back again, I'd love to see mullets return, Katie Englan used to have a fucking amazing one; as did Allistar Mackie. They were all Hoxton heads who defined the look. Giles (Deacon) did the fin first.

GW - You did lots of comissions for Luella.

JJ - Yeah, I know her from abck in the day too. I did the boots and bags for Spring Summer 2007 and did the artwork for the Brooke Street shop. I was just chuffed Luella gave me the chance, as it's a different kind of clientele exposed to my style. I didn't make any money for ten years, I've always been feeding stylists, giving interviews about globalisation, homogenisation, and fashion.

GW - And on the impact of advertising.

JJ - Yeah magazines, and now the internet, so everyones starting to think the same things without even realising it. You've got digital coming up from terristrial which is even more scary, sliding all sorts of layers of information through digital. Doing noki and doing one offs, providing a service to look unique matches the digital thing, so subtle people wouldn't even mention it. Where now customisation has been given a look by the industry. So its nice to whip something up out of nothing and someone wears it and fits in, and its not screaming radge like in the days of punk.

GW - Why still the mask in photo's after all these years?

JJ- I've got a t-shirt over my face, and you want to see who I am, you want to move the mask, remove Eminem to see whos the real person, so you are rejecting it as a product you have bought - does that make sense?

GW - Yeah.

JJ ­ To create a frustration because you can't see me, Lulu could be sat there in the mask and people would go - 'Oh it's Noki' so it's nice to be liberated and not be a Tom Ford for Gucci. Not to become famous, it's not part of my adgenda, I like jumping around and having a laugh. I don't we think enough as a generation anymore, we relay to much on computer programmes we slot it in and go I'm a designer; and all the fucking guidnace, you're just a muppet in his game.

*Laughter from Lulu and I*

JJ - Harsh words, but kinda true, there's enough t-shirt graphics to prove that. The banana becomes the apple and then 'oh! Lets wear the apple' it's like a banana and an apple!

LK - You've lost me now.

JJ - You know people just create brands they stick it on a t-shirt. Everyone wants the 'in' thing, so the banana becomes the apple, and the apple becomes the orange. It's not fashion, it's not design, it's not worthy of being a brand. I used to work at MTV, so I know about corporate situations and you become homogenised by it. Britney or Christina? It's like why an I even caring , although I did care me for Christina, glad that's come to fruition. She was dirtier, more honest and it's panned out one is more worthy than the other.

NOKI N.H.S. IS AVAILABLE FROM LMB,
123 BETHNAL GREEN ROAD,
BRICK LANE, E2 7D9

Links

SEE SHOW PICTURES

GEMMA WINTER

FASHION EAST

  NOKI