A Fun Project by Lazy Oaf
Collaborating with six illustrators for a stimulating clothing collection launching today at London’s Pick Me Up Festival
Our pizza-loving friends over at Lazy Oaf continue to churn out fun apparel covered with dogs, eggs, ninja weapons and a good punch of humor every month. Their latest collaboration doesn’t pair them with Garfield or Looney Tunes, but real human beings with plenty of talent. They asked six of their favorite illustrators from around their world to participate in A Fun Project: short for “Apathetic, Funny, Ugly but Nice.” With this “brief” in mind, the artists have created original prints that still play to the Lazy Oaf tune of cartoon culture, ’90s nostalgia, food and rebellion. A Fun Project debuts today, 23 April 2015, online, with a live installation at the sixth annual Pick Me Up Festival—a 12-day affair in London celebrating what’s new and awesome in graphic design and illustration.
The brand’s origins are fundamentally rooted in graphic design, as founder Gemma Shiel illustrates the majority of the different playful Lazy Oaf prints. They use their blog as a platform for interviewing emerging artists and musicians, as well as covering unusual events like live drawing classes (where the models are half wolves, half dogs). A collection bringing the designs of their favorite artists to functional apparel seemed like the next natural step.
“Our team spent a long time looking through all of our favorite artists and picked the final six based on who we thought best embodied the Lazy Oaf aesthetic, but also who had their own unique eye that would bring something different to the table,” Jerry O’Sullivan, press and marketing manager at Lazy Oaf, tells CH. “We liked the variety of the artists we selected; for example Yoko Honda creates ’80s-inspired landscapes whereas Jack Sachs specializes in 3D animation, so there’s a good diversity of styles but they all compliment each other really well.” The remaining artists are Dominic Kesterton, Jiro Bevis, Kyle Platts (whose work we saw at Pick Me Up last year) and Alexander Medel Calderon from Chile. They aren’t afraid to get bold with their colors, lines, words and shapes—so a note to all, these pieces are loud and not meant to be hidden under jackets.
For their live installation at this year’s Pick Me Up, Lazy Oaf teamed up with set designer (and regular collaborator) Rosy Nicholas to create a trippy 3D shopping experience that makes the lookbook come to life. There’s a gigantic cuboid cat table, rotating eyes and more paired with the clothing.
A Fun Project is available online (prices range from £25 to £68) starting today at Lazy Oaf; Londoners can head over to Pick Me Up Festival at Somerset House through 4 May 2015 to shop in person.
Images courtesy of Lazy Oaf
