New collection ready to drop early summer 2012.

We’ve been busy recently.

Aside for churning out some new designs for t-shirts (which will be going off to the printers for a prototype run in the next couple of weeks), we’ve been working on a short film, the purpose of which will become clear in the next couple of weeks.

In the mean time, check out a few work in progress shots from the shoot below, enjoy.

Paper/Rock/Scissors

…plans

We attended a discussion on this interesting book held by the fine folks at http://servicedesigning.org/. Whilst we are a little sceptical of some of the claims and methodolgies outlined in the book we have found the canvas a useful tool for briefly sketching out out our business plan. Whilst it’s no substitute for proper research and getting the spreadsheets out, it’s a helpful way to understand quickly and simply how things are working out.

We’ve found this to be particularly useful recently. As we’re a small company we’re having to be really flexible, adapting our plans to fit with suppliers minimum order quantities, the availability of designers and the capacity of manufacturers. The canvas has helped us keep perspective whilst the business plan evolves.

It’s well worth checking out both the book and the canvas – I’ve even found it to be pretty helpful in my day job.

10 jackets
1 Bike
Leith Hill

Testing

R&F Jacket project.
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After visiting t-shirt suppliers and printers a couple of weeks ago, we went locked ourselves away in deepest darkest Surrey hills and went into overdrive on designing the first collection of t-shirts. It was a 12 hour combination of bacon, stamping, Photoshop, tearing paper, sketching and trying stuff out (check out this post for images and thoughts from the design process).

It was a productive session and we ended the day with about 20 strong designs for shirts which we narrowed down to about 8 or so that, with a little tweaking and art-working, are going to be an awesome first batch of shirts.

We’d love to know what you guys think of them.

(Click the images for a closer view)

‘Tovers’

Based on one of our favourite Tom Overs photographs.

‘Classico’

A pretty simple design that we reckon could become a classic for the brand. Based on a rubber stamp we had made, we’re considering printing this in a range of four seasonal colours.

Tool

The pattern is based on a sketch of the tools used to build trails. As much as we like this one we feel that the illustratio still needs work – any illustrators fancy helping out, give us a shout!

Folds

Paper folded to try and recreate the classic diamond shape of a bike frame. Another favourite.

Bridget

T-shirt inspired by the logo, Nic’s love of patterns and Bridget Riley.

Crumpled

A happy accident that just seems to fit with the brand.

A selection of these shirts are going to move forward to form the first collection; the foundation for the brand. Revenue generated from the sale of these shirts will be directed into the R&D of the jacket, driving the company forward and allowing us to create  a larger range of products.

We’ve been making good progress recently. We’ve found some great, fitted, organic t-shirts from a pretty cool supplier that we’re happy will be able to provide the quality and consistency that we’re going to need. In an ideal world we would like to produce our own range of cut and sewn shirts, created to our own designs. However, the reality of our situation is such that this is unfortunately something that is going to have to wait for a while. As with the jacket, we’ll only be able to do this with enough support though sales and help from friends.

These printers have the coolest offices

We also got our stamp back from the shop recently, cue stamping literally anything within reach for a while. Once we’d settled down we busted out some business cards which made us feel much more official and serious. After practicing handing them out to impress girls and an executive working lunch we started to experiment with using the stamp as a branding tool and as a starting point for the design of the t-shirts.

Stamp, stamp, stamp

Business cards

More cards

With this one concrete tool we found we found it was easy to start to work out ideas and explore the brand and designs. Cutting out about 50 little paper t-shirts, we were able to experiment and play around with the designs, trying out ideas quickly and easily, investigating likely areas and dismissing ideas that weren’t going anywhere.

Clutter and working things through

I think it’s IDEO that coined the term ‘fail fast, fail quick’ – in design is pays to work out ideas quickly and roughly. Prototyping as much as possible; thinking with your hands and eyes as well as your head. We took this approach to this task and it seems to have paid off. Check back soon for a post that will allow you to make up your own mind.

Paper sketches

Confession: this is repeated in the Product section of the site, which is where all the product updates will be hosted.

We’re currently working on three garments, a cycling jacket, a standard t-shirt and a bespoke cycling t-shirt. We’ve decided to go down this route due to a lack of three essential things: money, time and experience. So, rather than take on the job of producing a whole collection and risk spreading ourselves too thinly and becoming just another brand that falls by the wayside, we’re concentrating on these three products and making sure that we are getting them right.

Nic sellotaping himself to a calico action-man jacket.

So far we’ve been sketching and working with fashion designers (thanks Steph http://www.stephaniejayneprice.com/ and Helen) to work out the basics of technical fashion design. Whilst we’re both quite used to working designs our through sketching, pattern cutting and the construction of clothing has taken a bit of learning. It’s been a fascinating process that has made it abundantly clear that we’re embarking on a very big project even just designing a T-Shirt from the bottom up. However, we firmly believe that we should understand the basics of how clothes are put together at a bare minimum.

Drawing

Tomorrow we’re heading off meet a potential supplier and manufacturer of t-shirts. Just a quick search on Google makes it pretty clear that there are tonnes of t-shirt suppliers out there, and just a brief search on the ethics of the clothing industry makes it clear that some suppliers are to be avoided. Taking this ethical concern into account on top of the concern for fit and pricing has made this just as challenging a task as learning the basics of pattern cutting. Pictures and a write up soon.

The man himself – (photo by Joe Rhead)

Photography is pretty popular these days, decent cameras are becoming cheaper and almost anyone with a bit of time on their hands and a dodgy copy of Photoshop on their laptop can produce perfectly serviceable images. I’m going to point out here that I’m in no way having a go – I am a fully paid up member of the amateur photographer club (anybody who remembers the early days of R&F will remember that my shots were more about luck than skill…). But, every once and a while someone comes around and their natural skill shines through. Tom is one of these people; he’s got an instinctive style, analogue, funny and intimate.

We’ve been pretty lucky in that since setting up R&F Tom has kind of assumed the role of staff photographer and he has been a big influence on the direction of the brand. Here’s a bit more about the man in question, and once you’re done with that, check out his Tumblr http://tomovers.tumblr.com/

R&F: Tell us a bit about your badself: name, age, location, occupation, favourite Michael Jackson song, least favourite Michael Jackson song?

TO: T0m Overs,

23,

Liverpool,

Editorial Review Agent (Microsoft),

Favourite MJ tune: Hmmm, there are a lot. Possibly ‘Workin’ day and night’. ‘Man in the Mirror’ might tip it though.

Least favourite: They’re all great. I don’t have a least favourite.

R&F: What attracted you to photography in the first place?

TO: Old photo albums I think, or to begin with anyway. Pictures of my parents when they were young. Pictures of me when I was young. Just the idea of freezing a moment in time – I love it. A paint brush can’t really do that.

Untitled – Tom Overs 2011

R&F: A lot of your subject matter seems to be familiar to you, friends, family, your home town, the surrounding countryside. Is this a conscious decision?

TO: I think the environment around me definitely has an influence. For the most part just because I’ve seen it more than any other so I’ve actually had time to sit, contemplate, and think about how it all fits together. With that said, it’s often easier taking pictures of people you don’t know. Pictures of friends can be difficult just because you’re so aware of their personalities. If you take a picture of a stranger you can make them out to be whoever you want them to be.

“I love moments that feel mundane when they’re happening, but that fill you with a sense of longing almost immediately after they’ve passed.”

R&F: What would you consider your key influences, photographers or otherwise?

TO: With this one it’s a split. On a professional level I like street photography and journalistic photography above just about everything else. Guys like Joel Meyerowitz, Robert Frank, W Eugene Smith, Don McCullin. Ian Berry has a fantastic exhibition showing in Liverpool at the moment.

Putting the pros to a side though, and linking into that earlier reference to parents’ photo albums, I really love vernacular photography (amateur photography). I think with this one its just about my own personal obsession with the everyday. I love moments that feel mundane when they’re happening, but that fill you with a sense of longing almost immediately after they’ve passed. They trigger something in your mind. It’s like a constant ‘grass is always greener’ thing. It’s not that easy to summarise but I really love that feeling of scanning through pictures and thinking: Christ, I forgot all about that. And it’s frozen! The people aren’t there anymore, but it happened, and there’s a snapshot there to prove it.

Light Bulb – Tom Overs 2011

R&F: It looks like you’ve used analogue cameras almost exclusively, why is this?

TO: Digital is great, but my liking of film is just a knee-jerk thing. I think it just looks a lot nicer to be honest. Film makes everything seem major and cinematic, yet remains true to life. Digital has a very different feel. It can be far too clinical, almost like CGI.

R&F: Do you find that using an analogue camera changes the way you work – less instant results, more expensive to get the pictures processed etc.?

“…if you couldn’t look at the picture until a few days or even weeks later, you might find that this same image provokes an emotional response; a feeling of fondness maybe, or perhaps something else entirely.”

TO: It’s more expensive, which is definitely annoying. Well, that’s providing that you already own a digital. But I prefer the waiting process with film – not being able to see the image straight away. It links in with that sense of nostalgia I mentioned: if you took a picture of something seemingly everyday or banal, chances are you might delete it immediately if you shot it with a digital. Whereas, if you couldn’t look at the picture until a few days or even weeks later, you might find that this same image provokes an emotional response; a feeling of fondness maybe, or perhaps something else entirely. It might not of course, but there’s still a chance. It’s like when you buy a CD: often you’ll listen to it over and over often because you don’t want to admit defeat. You don’t want to have wasted your money. You’ll listen to it until you find something you like! So often you’ll illegally download an album and throw it out after 30 seconds just because it wasn’t what you expected. I don’t like that disposable mentality. It’s dangerous territory.

R&F: Dangerous territory….Throwing things away or downloading illegally?

TO: (Laughs) Both.

9-5 Office Job – Tom Overs 2011

R&F: Some of your work seems quite composed (I’m thinking about those shots of people on the beach) whilst some of the others seem more impromptu and less staged. Which style do you prefer?

TO: In general I’m anti-staging. It’s not what photography’s about; not the kind I like the most anyway. I find reality far more interesting. There are instances when it can work well though – usually when you want to resonate a certain concept or scene but lack sufficient natural details. DiCorcia’s work is a great example of this. His pictures are brilliant.

Convex/Concave – A Piece of Fruit. – Tom Overs 2011

R&F: The peak district features quite heavily in your work, what’s your connection with the area?

TO: I grew up there. I lived by the Roaches for the first 18 years of my life. I’d recommend it to anyone… anyone that likes the outdoors anyway. However, If you’re idea of heaven is dry air, concrete blocks and window curtains you should probably give it a miss.

Untitled - Tom Overs 2011

R&F: You’re currently working on a music project at the moment – can you tell us a bit more about it?

TO: I have two things running side by side at the moment. I have a batch of songs that I play acoustically; a few of which I’ve recently made into an EP. And then we have the electric stuff that we play as a band. I’m loving pretty much every aspect of both at the moment.

R&F: Do you see any similarities between your music and photography?

“Protools and Photoshop are often as much a curse as they are a blessing.”

TO: I have a preference for live-recording, which I suppose is a similarity. Click-tracks and glossy effects can make things sound way too robotic. You have to start asking questions if you’re spending more time sat at the PC than you are actually writing/shooting the stuff. Protools and Photoshop are often as much of a curse as they are a blessing. Obviously there are different production styles that will suit different genres of music, but for me I much prefer a warts-and-all approach. Imperfections are human.

R&F: What about that Michael Jackson statue that Mohammed Al Fayed erected at the Cottage in Fulham? Eh?

TO: (Laughs) I think I’ll reserve judgment on that one till I’ve seen it in the flesh.

I suppose it’s a pretty idealistic proposition, making a living from the things we love doing and I suppose we’re not the first to give it a go. But, as a goal goes, we think it’s pretty sound.

We love this stuff – Mountain Biking, Surfing, Fashion, Design. If there wasn’t a penny in it – we’d still do it – we’d still be there making stuff and getting out there.

Doing what you love and getting paid for it too. Thats the plan.