LAST MINUTE GIFT IDEAS

For those of you living a little on the edge this Christmas, we will be offering a few gift ideas throughout the day.

The first installment are these fantastic Playshapes by Millergoodman- the people behind Shapemakers. A shapemaker would be a great way to keep the kids quiet this Christmas but, with 74 wooden geometric shapes which you can arrange or stack to make hundreds of 3D creations, Play shapes is going to win hands down.

Young children will enjoy balancing the head and body shapes to make all sorts of funny creatures. Older children may prefer recreating the inventive 3D structures from the enclosed illustrations, giving them inspiration and confidence to build their own creations. The shapes are also an intriguing and imaginative plaything for adults.
Beautifully crafted from environmentally - friendly, durable rubberwood, the shapes feel soft in your hand and the flashes of colour add a modern accent.

Because of some small parts PlayShapes has a 3+ recommendation these can be taken out and added in later.
Tested in accordance with European (EN) and U.S. (ASTM) standards
Box size L 21cm x W 19cm x H 15cm Weight 3.2kgs

£75 available in Ludlow only

THIS COULD JUST BE THE STOCKING FILLER YOU HAVE BEEN LOOKING FOR...

Beautiful notebooks by Tamasyn Gambell available in paperback (pack of three) made using 100% post consumer recycled paper. They are printed by a socially responsible co-operative with Green Mark accreditation and are FSC certified. They use vegetable oil based inks and printing processes, which reduce waste and improve environmental performance.

Their pages are made from reject sheets sourced by the cooperative.

They measure 10.5cm by 15 cm.
£9 per pack




The hard back range are bound in vintage scarves which have been overprinted in her unique designs. The spines are in contrasting colours. These were bound by a family bookbinders in Essex, and use recycled paper stock from a 100 year old British paper mill. No two notebooks are the same.

They measure 10.5 x 15.5 cm.
£17 each

Available in Ludlow only

for more information about the artist, visit her website

NEW PRINTS BY CHASE & WONDER ARRIVE IN LUDLOW

Chase & Wonder arrive in the Ludlow store just in time for all you christmas shoppers, with 4 different delightful prints to suit everyone's taste. Chase & Wonder are locally based in Worcestershire. This multi disciplined design studio is small but flexible and believe in excellence, comprised of Faye Pearce and David Aspinall they also have a wide range of talented colleagues.

A LADY'S A-Z






Limited edition of 200,
3 colour Screenprint,
Signed by artist (us)
Paper size- 300mm(w) x 420mm(h)

£60 unframed

A GENTLEMEN'S A-Z





Limited edition of 200,
3 colour Screenprint,
Signed by artist (us)
Paper size- 300mm(w) x 420mm(h)

£60 unframed

MANNERS MAKETH MAN



Limited edition of 200,
3 colour Screenprint,
Signed by artist (us)
Paper size- 210mm(w) x 300mm(h)

£40 unframed

RIDE ABOVE IT



Limited edition of 200,
4 colour Screenprint,
Signed by artist (us)
Paper size- 300mm(w) x 420mm(h)

£60 unframed

THE GIRL OF MY DREAMS HAS FINALLY ARRIVED

A little bit of a delay in this one as it did arrive last week but here it is anyway. The long awaited new issue of Lula has arrived and this one is guest edited by the fabulous Kate and Laura Mulleavy of Rodarte who interview the cover star Charlotte Gainsbourg.

The perfect stocking filler for the girl of your dreams, at £7.99 it's not one to be missed and it's selling thick and fast and, for those of you who won't be able to make it in store, we have popped a few on our online shop

PERFECT FOR PRESENT WRAPPING...

Be it with festive printed paper or just plain old parcel paper, these rolls of masking tape are a sure fire way to wrap your gifts in style. We have many colours and designs in stock but they are selling thick and fast so pop into either of our stores to see what's available.

Washi Masking Tape: rice paper tape
10m roll
£2.50

LE GUN FOR BEGINNERS BOOK LAUNCH

This Friday night saw the launch of Le Gun's first book Le Gun för nybörjare (Le Gun for beginners) at Material London.

The book is a glimpse into the minds of the people who make LE GUN magazine & the close associates that form the LE GUN collective - a group of artists whose interests are both diverse and overlapping.

It's a kind of joint sketchbook in which we see snapshots of the artists' inner workings and their deranged psyches, gracing us with darkness and depravity, the absurd and the downright silly.

LE GUN för nybörjare is published by Orosdi Back
£15
For distribution enquiries contact lucy@materialmaterial.com

Images of the show to follow so keep your eyes peeled...

MOUSTACHE MUGS COME TO LUDLOW

and to celebrate Movember (raising awareness for prostate cancer), we will donate £1 to the cause with every purchase of the mugs up until the 30th November




Peter Ibruegger's fabulous moustache mugs have finally arrived in Ludlow and are available exclusively from MATERIAL. Having presented these mugs at London Design Week in 2009, these mugs have really taken off.

Produced in Stoke on Trent, these fine bone china mugs are available in six different iconic tache styles.

Enjoy effortlessly masquerading behind a character moustache while drinking your favourite tea or coffee. Every mug has a different design on each side to explore your favourite masculine expression! Choose between feisty Fu-Magnum, the ambiguous Mustafa-Chaplin and cheeky Maurice-Poirot!

£12.99 each / £35 set of 3

Available in the Ludlow store or via mail order only.

CALENDERS FOR 2011 AVAILABLE AT MATERIAL

We have some fantastic calenders available this year at Material.

The first is the 2011 follow on from last years sell out by Marcus Walters it contains an eclectic mix of his hand crafted artwork, illustrating a 'make', 'do' or 'see' for each month. The 2011 calendar is an A4, spiral bound full colour print on cyclus offset paper and is available for £15 So if you were dreading getting to the end of the 2010 calender you can now look forward to starting the 2011.




The second of our wonderful calenders is a wall calender by Royal College of Art Graduate Page Tsou.

After having drawn 3,000 people’s faces, Page started to wonder why people always focus on the facial features rather than the back of the head. From that idea he developed this series of works: “Back of head”, which he has adapted into a calendar.

With this calendar he is also trying to change people’s view of Mondays and the weekends.Most people look forward to the coming of weekends, but are struck by depression when Monday comes. Even the Carpenters wrote a song about it: “Rainy days and Mondays always get me down”. However, if we change our view slightly, Mondays can be like any other day.

In this calendar, not only is he presenting this idea but more broadly, he is also reminding people to look at things from a different point of view.

Lithography Print
Edition of 365
Size: 70cm x 100 cm
Paper: 220 gm water color paper
£40

THE CIRCUS COMES TO (MATERIAL) TOWN

Fully illustrated throughout this substantial publication is not only a detailed insight into the history of the Circus but also compendium of inspiration for artists and designers alike.

During its heyday, the American circus was the largest show-biz industry the world had ever seen. From the mid-1800s to mid-1900s, traveling American circuses performed for audiences of up to 14,000 per show and crisscrossed the country on 20,000 miles of railroad in one season alone. The spectacle of death-defying daredevils and strapping super-heroes gripped the American imagination, outshining theater, comedy, and minstrel shows of the day, and ultimately paving the way for film and television. The circus offered young Americans the dream of adventure and reinvention. This book brings to life the grit and glamour of the circus phenomenon. Images include photographic gems by early circus photographers Frederick Whitman Glasier and Edward Kelty, many of the earliest color photographs ever taken of the circus from the 1940s and 1950s, iconic circus photographs by Mathew Brady or Cornell Capa, and little-known circus images by Stanley Kubrick and Charles and Ray Eames. For the first time, contemporary readers can experience the legend of the American circus in all its glory.

£44.99
544 pages
40.2 x 27 x 6 cm (big book!)

Available in store or via mail order.

NEW ARRIVAL: SEASONAL GUIDES

THE PERFECT GIFT FOR ANY ASPIRING CHEF OR RUN OF THE MILL FOODIE WHO ALREADY HAS ALL THE RECIPE BOOKS UNDER THE SUN... these hand printed tea towels by Stuart Gardiner provide month by month Seasonal Guides to British Fruit & Vegetables, Wild Foods, and Garden Flowers.

Alternatively, if they are a bit of a messy cook/ liability on the kitchen but you just can't drag them out, then you could opt for the seasonal guide apron instead.

100% unbleached organic cotton tea towels made in the UK £10
Handprinted six colour unbleached cotton apron £20

They are available in our Ludlow store only but we could always pop one in the post to you if you aren't near by.

THE LUDLOW STORE HAS MOVED TO...

For those of you unsure of where that is, the premises used to be Precious Earth and, before that, it was Country Mercantile and a long long time before that, it was Tortoise Shell Press. If you still aren't sure... it's opposite Myriad Organics and... well... to put it simply, next to Tesco.

This weekend we will be celebrating the move by offering every customer who spends over £50 a free Pantone mug whilst stocks last. Offer applies Saturday and Sunday and only in our Ludlow store. Hope to see you there...

SHADOW PLAY: Alchemy, Redolence & Enchantment

A three day Illustration Symposium organised by Cardiff School of Art and Design and- more specifically- our very own Amelia Johnstone, begins today.

If you are in that neck of the woods, I strongly reccommend that you hot foot it down to Cardiff for some Peculiar Pleasures, Storytelling and a Puppet Theatre among other fantastical features.

For more information visit thewebsite

Alternatively, find out more by reading the article about Amelia in the current issue of Varoom! on sale at Material.

TERRIFICALLY TERRIFYING & TRAUMATISING TEXTS TO GET YOUR TEETH INTO THIS HALLOWEEN

Le Gun Special Brew

Le Gun issue 1 was a sell out and, to our dismay, we all thought that was it but - NO! Available (once again) while stocks last is Le Gun no 1 Special Brew featuring an array of additional pages.

Le Gun Special Brew
Japanese edition
£24



Recipe for Murder

Allow yourself to be lured into the kitchen by the great gourmet- villains of popular literature, from Lady Macbeth, to the Marquis de Sade and Hannibal Lecter. Don't be afraid- if truth be told, their signature dishes are as scrumptious as they are easy to make so roll up your sleeves and light up the oven, it would be a crime to pass up such a diabolically delicious invitation!

Hardback, 144 pages
Illustrated throughout
£14.95


Drawings From the Gulag



A truly gruesome book, Drawings from the Gulag features over 130 drawings and texts by Danzig Baldaev – author of the acclaimed Russian Criminal Tattoo Encyclopaedias – and describes the history, horror and peculiarities of the Gulag system from its inception in 1918.

Baldaev's work as a prison guard allowed him to travel across the former USSR where he witnessed scenes of everyday life in the Gulag first-hand, chronicling this previously closed world from both sides of the wire. The drawings, made during the Communist period, form a devastating document, a haunting echo of the works of Varlam Shalamov and Alexandr Solzhenitsyn.

205x165 mm hardback
240 pages
£15.00

psst... also check out the Russian Criminal Tattoos Exhibition 30 October to 28 November 2010
4 Wilkes Street, London E1 6QF
Thursday to Sunday, 11am-6pm

ASHES 57 SHOW AT MATERIAL

After a manic phew days followed by a moment of recovery which usually entails my working at 50% rather than a hefty 200% (no rest for the wicked as they say), I have finally got round to putting up a few pics from the private view of our Ashes 57 exhibition which opened last week.

The exhibition is created in association with PUMA 365, curated by Gabrielle Stojolon and Fatsarazzi and designed to support and publicise emerging artist of various backgrounds and disciplines.

In this instance, the chosen artist was Ashes 57 takes her roots in the buzz and lights of cities, urban landscapes and the music that accompanies them. Inspired by New York’s early 80s cultural scene and Downtown81, the exhibition presents a series of black and white drawings that tell a fantastic journey through the 57 boroughs from Brooklyn to Manhattan, from Queens back to London.


Having previously worked with Shepard Fairey in his Los Angeles design studio, collaborating on a number of Obey projects, Ashes 57 is now art director of COOL’Eh Magazine, LAVA Collective and SWAMP. Ashes also produced posters and flyers for the legendary Dub War parties and she was invited by The Wu-Tang Clan to illustrate the cover of their 2009 album Enter the Dubstep.

The exhibition will run until 12th November so, for those of you who didn't make it in joining us with a bevvy at the private view, there is still time to hot foot it down to Kingly Court to check out the work and pick up an Ashes unlimited screen print- an absolute snip at £15, while stocks last.

Photographs courtesy of Fatsarazzi

Check out Ashes 57 website here

THE ART OF THE GRID

A wonderful new selection of notepads has arrived at Material this week. Designed and created by Astrid Stavro, Grid It notepads are about making the invisible visible. Whether we admit it or not, grids are an essential part of our life. Without grids, our lives would be messier, uglier, and more confusing places to live in. The Art of the Grid products will keep your life in order! Write your shopping lists, practice your layouts, and keep your books and magazines on the shelves of grids that changed the history of design.

Let me introduce you to the family...


LE MODULOR
LE CORBUSIER,1948

180 x 180 mm / 60 gridded sheets
Measuring system based on mathematics and
the human body


RASTER SYSTEME
JOSEF MÜLLER-BROCKMANN, 1981

210 x 297 mm / 60 gridded sheets
32 unit modular grid


DIE NEUE TYPOGRAPHIE
JAN TSCHICHOLD,1928

148 x 210 mm / 60 gridded sheets
Right hand page


WAYS OF SEEING
RICHARD HOLLIS, 1972

128 X 198 mm / 60 gridded sheets

For more information on the grid styles and to find out more about Astrid, visit the Art of the Grid website.

Prices range from £8.95- £12

PIG TAILS & POTATO SKINS, CEP OIL & WOOD CHIP

The long awaited exclusive look at one of the most interesting restaurants in the world, Noma, and its influential head chef René Redzepi is finally here.

An insight into the food philosophy and creativity of Noma restaurant, this book- brought to us by Phaidon- reveals the philosophy and processes behind the two-Michelin-starred Copenhagen restaurant and includes over 90 recipes, each created by Redzepi and served at Noma.

René Redzepi has been widely credited with re-inventing Nordic cuisine. His Copenhagen restaurant, Noma, was recognized as the best in the world by the San Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurant awards in 2010 and received the unique ‘Chef’s Choice’ award at the same ceremony in 2009.

After previously working at El Bullie and The French Laundry, Redzepi created Noma from a derelict eighteenth-century warehouse in 2003 where diners are served exquisite concoctions, such as ‘Newly-Ploughed Potato Field’ or ‘The snowman from Jukkasjärvi’, all painstakingly constructed to express their amazing array of Nordic ingredients.

This book details Redzepi’s reinvention of Nordic cuisine, his obsession with fresh and local produce from across Scandinavia, his continuous search for new ingredients and his never-ending experimentation.

Hardback
290 x 250 mm, 11 3/8 x 9 7/8 in
320 pp
200 colour illustrations
£35

Available in London from now and Ludlow from Saturday. To pre order email us at info@materialmaterial.com

DOWNTOWN/ ASHES 57

Ashes 57’s work takes its roots in the buzz and lights of cities, urban landscapes and the music that accompanies them. Inspired by New York’s early 80s cultural scene and Downtown81, the exhibition presents a series of black and white drawings that tell a fantastic journey through the 57 boroughs from Brooklyn to Manhattan, from Queens back to London.

Having previously worked with Shepard Fairey in his Los Angeles design studio, collaborating on a number of Obey projects, Ashes 57 is art director of COOL’Eh Magazine, LAVA Collective and SWAMP. Ashes also produced posters and flyers for the legendary Dub War parties and she was invited by The Wu-Tang Clan to illustrate the cover of their 2009 album Enter the Dubstep.

Recent work includes a collaboration with the Future Me TV series for MTV and board graphics for Palmer Snowboards. Also co-founder of LAVA Collective, she curated the collective’s first highly successful group show at the Truman Brewery in London’s East End.


Location Material / First Floor 1.10 Kingly Court, Carnaby Street W1B 5PW

For more information, email us or to discover more about Ashes57, visit her website