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Tag: Ian Berry

  • Ian Berry’s ‘Material World’ Exhibits At Textil Museet Sweden

    Ian Berry’s ‘Material World’ Exhibits At Textil Museet Sweden

    He’s done it again! Ian Berry has just opened a show in Sweden, the country he lived in for 5 years to open the solo exhibition Material World at Textil Museet in BorÃ¥s Sweden – the National Museum of Textiles and the Nordic region’s leading museum on the subject and it looks even better than the last.

    The Textil Museet shows some of Berry’s most well-known pieces never seen in Sweden before but often on this site – large (denim) ‘canvases’, made with layers of recycled jeans, creating photorealistic yet often melancholy scenes out of the indigo fabric he is known throughout our industry and the world for.

    To celebrate showing a large collection of his works at Textil Museet Ian Berry has collaborated with Dutch fashion designer Jonathan Christopher to create garments inspired by his most notable bodies of work; Behind Closed Doors, Hotel California, and the Secret Garden installation, amongst others, that debuted at the museum and looks stunning. 

    The Secret Garden installation touches on subjects such as sustainability and the environment, and once more Berry collaborated with our friends Tonello in Italy for the washing and lasering and with Cone Denim. It showcases this material made from plants turning back into plants, with hanging wisteria, flowers and vines falling from the institution’s ceiling and making this even more special is the beautiful black room making the install even more magical. Within the Garden now, Jonathan Christopher has made a beautiful dress named Cunae- Cradle which looks elegant and fragile.

    ‘Everything we have and take starts from nature, we alter, we add, and we consume. Once we have used it, it will return to nature with all the harmful chemicals and additives we used.’ Jonathan adds.

    ‘The dress is representing mother nature with her vines connecting the circle of life. Where the butterflies symbolize the butterfly effect we have on mother nature. We create our own toxic environment where our harmful practices aren’t able to be undone by nature and things like microplastics are found in the animals, soils, and plants.’

    Sustainability is also at the core of Ian Berry’s friend Lill O.Sjöberg’s innovation. Making denim wood, TWOOD, is the Swedish designer’s latest innovation and the pair have come together to exhibit two pieces that compliment Ian Berry’s work that looks back at the history of denim – specifically that of Rock and Roll. TWOOD shows both a guitar and a drum kit made of wood created only with denim scraps and displayed with the album covers from Ian Berry’s much loved 2012 Record Store.

    Of course, Ian Berry’s specific medium is denim, and the famed industrial city also has a textile and denim heritage and is home to the national museum. Within the same complex is the Swedish school of Textiles, a part of Boras University. It’s one of the world’s leading courses, if not the leading course on textile innovation and sustainability. A number of the students came to help Ian Berry in the install. His show Material World also helps the city celebrate its 400 year anniversary.

    Ian Berry Needs You! 

    Ian Berry is asking, who is your favourite Denim Legend? You may have seen online already the question being asked and it has continued into the museum.


    It could be from the cowboy actors, 50’s rebels, the punks of the 70’s to the influencers of today. Who inspired your denim looks or who do you feel had the biggest impact on denim? Over the last year, he has been asking this question and using his wealth of knowledge from working with the material over the last 15 years has already created dozens of portraits from Brooke Shields to Bardot, Marley to Moss, McQueen to the material girl living in her own material world -Madonna. As he creates one of his largest works, he asks the audience to help shape it – it may even end up with a Swede in now! It may mean some of the portraits already made will get rejected so the piece will form the greatest influences from Pop Culture, making the Denim Legends.

    The temporary install in Sweden will grow and evolve over the period of the show, which is six months to May 1, adding in new Denim Legends as people and experts add their own opinion. The install at the moment also includes mannequins dressed in the distinctive style of some of the most famous, like Marilyn’s Lee Rider, Brando’s jeans and leather and Hendrix’s frays.

    The portraits are exhibited in an area where visitors can submit their choices and also watch short videos of the making of and some of the icons in action in the films, music, and ads they helped make denim so popular in.

    Malena Karlsson, Curator at the Textile Museum of Sweden, says

    “Ian Berry’s work is interesting and important on so many levels. There’s the ‘wow’ factor of the craft, the thematics, and the way in which his art shows how the textile material forms yet another dimension in art”,

    Ian Berry appeared on the ‘30 Under 30’ list of the most influential artists in the world, has exhibited his work in both the USA and Europe, and was on the 2019 Rivet 50 list of the most influential in denim. The Textile Museum of Sweden was very happy to announce the arrival of Ian Berry, a ‘dream’ for curator Malena Karlsson.

    It’s not a photograph, it’s jeans!
    At first sight, it is easy to mistake Berry’s work for blue- or indigo-tinted photographs, but a closer look reveals that they are made up of layer upon layer of denim in different shades. The contrasts between the different shades of blue visible in a pile of old jeans were the genesis of Berry’s unique art form. Soon, he began to explore the possibilities offered by the material and create photorealistic artworks. Berry only uses upcycled denim in his works. No colouring agents or bleach are used – only scissors, glue, and second-hand jeans.


    Berry was born and raised in Huddersfield, England, which like Borås has a long-standing textile tradition. Over a decade ago, Ian Berry moved to Sweden and exhibited his art at galleries in Skåne and Motala. Since then, his art has been exhibited all over the world, most recently at Museum Rijswijk in the Netherlands and in Genoa, the Italian city that leant its name to this favourite garment, jeans with his portrait of Garibaldi. The Textile Museum of Sweden is the first Swedish museum to exhibit a large, in-depth exhibition of Ian Berry’s works.

    About Twood

    Ian Berry and Lil O.Sjöberg have been friends for several years. Ian says ‘she’s a humble genius’. She is based not far the from the Textil Museet in Gothenburg and has worked with the Smart Textiles there. Ian Berry and Lil were together before the pandemic but since could only talk online, but together they came up with the idea to use the wood to make a drum kit, a nod to Ian’s show about the music connection to denim. There is also a denim guitar all exhibited with Ian Berry’s albums from the 2012 Record Store installation.

    This material research project by Swede Lil O.Sjöberg and her collaborators explores the possibilities to extend the lifecycle of denim fibre with a new innovative recycling technique, creating a new material TWOOD [textile-wood], and is made just had wood is created beautiful contours.

    The aim of this ongoing part of the project is to identify and develop the industrial processes. The goal is to produce material prototypes and evaluate the material specifications to target usability for the next step. With the material, she has been able to make items that range from tables to a beautiful denim Twood guitar and drum kit, the latter with the help of ICE percussion/Kjetil Granli.

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    About Jonathan Christopher 

    Ian Berry and Jonathan Christopher collaborated to base wearable garments on many of his pieces. Having turned down many brands and designers over the years it is great to see this idea coming to life with the tiled floor of Behind Closed Doors, incorporated into a bomber jacket, the ripples of the pool making a full suit and the showstopper, the garden morphing into a dress based on the vines and flowers of the secret garden. Walking into the museum the first thing you see in the darkened room is the dress framed in the beautiful garden and long with Ian Berry’s Denim art, the black walls make them look stunning.

    Jonathan Christopher (Hofwegen) Celestial Risher is a menswear designer who graduated from the Willem de Kooning Academy in 2009. After which he did his MA at Artez in Arnhem. Next to his own brand, Jonathan Christopher, he has worked for brands such as Karl Lagerfeld and was chosen by Marc Jacobs to be one of the five finalists for Designer for Tomorrow by Peek en Cloppenburg.

    In 2014 he won the very first Global Denim Awards and in 2015 he won the Woolmark European Finals. He now works on a new brand St.Ape, basing the idea around using deadstock fabrics from high-end designers, to make his collections of limited editions, as he has throughout his career. Reusing old materials makes him a perfect and authentic collaborator for Ian Berry. 

    For these garments, he also worked with his own long-term collaborators with Paolo Gnutti of PG denim with their many innovations and fabrics.

    Ian Berry adds

    ‘Jonathan Christopher is a special creative that understands both designs as well as making himself, understanding the whole production line. As an artist who for most of my career has only had for the main part, solo shows, it has been nice to work with others on creating something and if I’m honest because we brought together some of my best pieces from different bodies of work, it is Jonathan’s creations that I find bind the show together. I remember when he won the first Global Denim Award and was there that night and his show blew my mind.

    Giant Rock’n Roll Jacket

    Welcoming visitors into the museum as you mount the stairs is a giant Jacket that Ian Berry collaborated with Henry Wong of AGI denim to produce. It creates an imposing figure over the entry in the museum and combined with the giant badges, made in the denim of some of the music histories denim legends it complements the show together with the Denim Legends Portraits and the Twood musical instruments. With giant sewn patches it is perhaps an indication of how denim became mass and too big via popular culture.

    TEXTIL MUSEET til 1 May 2022

  • Ian Berry Displays His History of Denim Art @ Museum Rijswijk, Holland

    Ian Berry Displays His History of Denim Art @ Museum Rijswijk, Holland

    It’s been a very busy year for Ian Berry with many shows and projects. We reported how he showed at the Levis Strauss Museum in Germany that at the time seemed surreal given how many other things were canceled (it was cut short due to Covid by a few days) and then in a small window of a few weeks he managed to get what seemed like the whole Amsterdam Denim Community together for not a virtual, but a real, opening of his largest collection of works to date; Splendid Isolation. 

    And the good news is, while it may be closed, for now, once reopened the show at the Museum Rijswijk by the Hague will be on until April 5th, 2021 giving many more the opportunity to see the leading artist’s work in real life. We only wish we could go. 

    Watching on from our many denim friends in Holland online it was fantastic to get a taste of the show. And of course, from Ian Berry’s own Instagram account.

    https://www.instagram.com/p/CI8xx7bjc2B/

    The show built on the successful 2016 exhibition Behind Closed Doors  as with the pandemic Ian Berry’s work took on a new life. For years Ian Berry had portrayed isolation whether in scenes of solitude in a bar or lonely scenes in a launderette but it was Behind Closed Doors, showing scenes of melancholy within the home, that took a new context this year. Of course, the term Behind Closed Doors became a part of everyday language. 

    Ian Berry works from his own photos and ideas and had a week booked of photoshoots in well-known people’s homes . However these were all cancelled due to lockdown. He quickly started Stay Behind Closed Doors where he asked his photographer friends to take some pictures in their isolation. They ended up coming in from famous photographers and amateurs alike, including my own! Many of these were shown – lasered in denim as a backdrop with then 16 shown printed. Many more then revolving on a screen – making a fine introduction to Splendid Isolation. 

    With famous installations like the Record Store, Launderette and Secret Garden, it was fitting that the highlight of this show was Ian Berry remaking his living room from lockdown all in denim, including denim chesterfield, records, books and plants. It even went into his bedroom including a beautiful bedspread by Bridge and Tunnel and two pieces of a sleeping lady. Mirrored opposite in the Main Hall it was created in 2D also, but of course most of the work isn’t two dimensional – if you have ever seen his work you will know it is layers and layers of denim used to create amazingly textured pieces. 

    In the room , famed Behind Closed Doors was next to a new piece, Con’s Hall, made during lock down and really conveying many of our lives this year. When leaving the main hall you see First Sun, first made in 2012 but like many of the textile artist‘s work it has taken on a new life this year –  with lockdown in the UK many of the parks ended up being full. The scene portraying the rush to get to the first of London’s spring sun and struggling to find a blade of grass amongst the families, friends and backpackers all taking their picnics and BBQ’s. 

    A favourite piece of many of Ian Berry’s work is the Secret Garden – we first reported on it in the first Secret Garden in New York. There has been several since, but this seems to be spectacular hanging down from the roof of the Museum Rijswijk. Instagram was filled with people posing for pictures within it. 

    The show was sponsored by those who have supported Ian for many years. Pepe Jeans London was the headline sponsor; they have been buying at least a piece per exhibition of Ian Berry’s solo exhibitions since 2013 and have also been supplying him with jeans to work with. Ian Berry made an installation of a CCTV control room for Pepe Jeans London‘s flagship Regent Street store in 2017. 

    Fellow denim names like long-term collaborators Cone Denim, Tonello, and Tencel also joined which helped bring out a special catalogue of the show with Dutch Publisher Jap Sam Books. And of course, while it is a lot about denim, Ian Berry’s other main item he uses is scissors and specialist Famore backed the show too. Tonello and Cone Denim once again joined forces with him to produce a new Secret Garden and it is great to see the British Artist getting so much support from the industry. We had reported on how Tonello and Cone had helped him with his permanent Secret Garden in San Francisco. 

    Tonello X Ian Berry Collaboration Lands In San Franciso

    For those saddened by not being able to see the show in the Netherlands, there’s talk of another show opening in the Spring in another European City, ‘let’s see what Covid decides’ Ian Berry says! After that the next major show will be in the Fall at Textil Museet – the National Textile Museum of Sweden. The success of Ian Berry in the art world makes many of us happy that he takes our material and turns it to art. 

    Ian Berry has been working with jeans for over 15 years and is the industry’s highest regarded artist who pushed it as an art form. Those who managed to see the exhibition at the Museum Rijswijk saw the details and level of craftmanship that can be missed when viewing online. They were not only wowed by his technique but also the feeling the work conveyed, that draws you in. The work, the majority already sold, spanned the last ten years of his career and explored much of his journey with denim as a medium. 

    But it’s not all about denim. It’s just his paint, his way of showing the world ‘and what better medium to use than the material of our time; Jeans’ And of course this year he pushed out of using just denim, with projections managing to spread his work around the world with I Clap For with his son Elliott. The iclapfor campaign grew and grew with projections covering almost every Town and city in the UK and Ireland, as well as going around the globe, giving thanks and appreciation to many out there supporting us. 

    The Museum Rijswijk show covers this period of Ian Berry’s year and includes a projection within his living room scene, one of the first Ian Berry did in Poplar, London, where he lives with Canary Wharf in the background. The British born artist also collaborated with fellow Brit, Jenny Beavan OBE, the famed Costume Designer with two Academy Awards to her name. Working with Blackhorse Lane they made a denim jacket pinned with all the different care workers’ names in #icalpfor along with the pin badges of Pin Your Thanks – the project that Ian joined along with Ringo Starr, Kiera Knightley, and Emilie Sande. The jacket could be seen with an installation of the #Iclapfor Lenticular print. These all can be bought in the Museum Shop, along with at www.ianberry.art

    The show is due to reopen on the 19th of January and we advise all those who can, to see this show before it closes on the 5th Aril 2021 at the Museum Rijswijk. You can find tickets here. And, if you want to hear his perspective on our denim industry, check out his talk with Sandeep Agarwal at our Spotify below :

    https://open.spotify.com/episode/0IKKWzPKjxwIMrDCPq5teN
  • Tonello X Ian Berry Collaboration Lands In San Franciso

    Tonello X Ian Berry Collaboration Lands In San Franciso

    The Secret Garden was the subject of the first project between Ian Berry and Tonello in 2017 exhibited in New York at the Children’s Museum of the Art’s and now the installation also arrives at the Flower Mart in San Francisco, another fantastic location that will host the work in denim permanently.

    A hanging trellis with flowers, leaves, vines, wisteria and chrysanthemums welcomes visitors, but it is no ordinary flora but a dense structure that blooms in blue, indigo blue. Each piece cut from jeans and denim. 

    PHOTOS BY LAWRENCE ANDERSON

    Cascading high across the wide-paned windows as a floral curtain, this piece is a solemn and bold reminder of the industrial history of the United States. The denim from this piece was sourced from the last denim mill in the United States, Cone Denim’s, White Oak in Greensboro, North Carolina. 

    “Denim has been a medium for me over 15 years and one thing I love the most about it, is the history though time and its symbolism but also its origins. Representing the Flower Mart in the material famed in the city dating back to the 1870s and the official fabric of California will show that the great new building respects and embraces the city’s heritage.” Said Ian Berry

    Ian Berry is currently exhibiting in the birth home of Levi in Bavaria starting a tour of his work that takes in many cities across the world.

    • PHOTOS BY LAWRENCE ANDERSON
    • PHOTOS BY LAWRENCE ANDERSON
    • PHOTOS BY LAWRENCE ANDERSON

    “The democratic nature of this famed material is also a mark of this project’s preservation of blue-collared jobs and a bridge between the old and the new in this innovation. And of course, denim transcends all boundaries all over the world and ever since the 1800’s the Flower Mart has been ethnically diverse, and this history should be celebrated.” Conclude Ian Berry.

    A trademark for Ian Berry as well as an exciting result of a sincere collaboration for Tonello, who has been working side by side with the artist for several years.

    Today Tonello is the international benchmark for the garment-processing industry developing innovative equipment for the apparel industry. Not only, also known as the inspiring company, it boasts numerous projects and collaborations with international artists including Ian Berry, an artist that shows around the world in galleries, museums, and art. 

    Tonello has created the Secret Denim Garden using only innovative and totally responsible technologies.

    We are talking about Laser Blaze and The All-In-One System, pillars of Tonello Laundry (R)Evolution, the sophisticated fruit of a radically new conception in garment finishing processes. 

    Tonello mentions :

    ” 100% sustainable effect on leaves and flowers has been created , thanks also to the ECOfree2 technology – part of The All-In-One System – that through the use of ozone in water and ozone in air, reproduces an extremely natural bleach effect on denim, all in a completely responsible way.”

    With the installation for the new San Francisco Flower Mart, Tonello helped was (with ozone) dozens upon dozens of yards of the Cone denim and laser cut the vines to make the Trellis. Ian travelled to Italy to work with the specialist team in the region also famed for its denim industry 

    Alice Tonello, head of Tonello marketing and R&D said:

    “Having the opportunity to work with Ian Berry is always amazing. We are using denim in a different and inspiring way, and it’s something that in the industry usually doesn’t happen.

    When he asked us about this new project, we were so happy and so proud to be part of it. The installation in the San Francisco Flower Mart is an example of how collaborations and friendships can lead to unexpected and surprising results as well as portraying a message in a beautiful way.”

    IAN BERRY PERMANENT INSTALLATION IN SAN FRANCISCO

    Where:
    San Francisco Flower Mart, Kilroy Innovation Center (temporary location),660 3rd St, San Francisco, CA 94107, United States

  • The Levi Strauss Museum X Ian Berry

    The Levi Strauss Museum X Ian Berry

    Levi Strauss was born in the German town of Buttenheim and the museum there to celebrate their famous son turns 20 and they will host a special exhibition by Ian Berry with all his works out of denim – no dye, no bleach, no paint – just layers of jeans. 

    Ian Berry , in turn , celebrates 15 years of working with the material and garments made so popular by the man who emigrated the German town in 1847.

    From Sunday (September 13th) until November 8th the exhibition examines the years of artist Ian Berry’s work crafted out of only blue jeans and will show amongst the memories of Levi Strauss who is immortalised in the dedicated museum in the house he was born in. 

    For any denim lover, it is worth a visit to the home of Levi Strauss to see his fascinating life and materials but to see it with the famed artists’ work is an extra treat.

    Levi Strauss was born in 1829 in Buttenheim, the town in the district of Bamberg. In 1847 , he would emigrate to the USA – finally settling in San Francisco and hitting gold with his patented pants with the development alongwith Jacob Davis.  

    The museum opened in September 2000. With the biography of Levi Strauss, visitors can gain an insight into the lives of the rural Franconian Jewish Community, the world of the immigrants, the beginnings of the textile industry, and of course, all about our favorite material – jeans. 

    Levi Strauss house is one of only a few preserved objects from his life and one of the oldest houses in Buttenheim . The district council bought it in 1987 and today is classified as a historical monument. A wide scale renovation of the dilapidated half-timbered house was done to bring it to as true to the original as possible. Imagine Levi walking around! 

    When the Museum first opened back in 2000, hardly anyone anticipated its rapid success. Nevertheless, both Museum guests and professionals have seen the Levi Strauss Museum become a popular success. Every year, thousands of people visit Buttenheim from all over the world in order to experience the Museum and see where it all began. 

    This will kick off two years of museum shows for the Yorkshire born artist. Many works will be on display including from the Behind Closed Doors and Hotel California collections that will move on to Holland, to the Museum Rijswijk in November and the National Textile Museum of Sweden (Textil Museet) 

    During the Covid period his work took on a new life, having spent years portraying isolation. His Behind Closed Doors body of work became life for many of us . He had painstakingly crafted beautiful homes out of only denim but with a haunting scene of loneliness. 

    It will be Berry’s first showing of his work in Germany and he will be there to meet the guests at the opening that will , of course , be under social distancing rules. There will be a projection of his famed #iclapfor project.

    ‘When Dr Tanja Roppelt , the curator , got in touch with me a couple of years ago it made sense – the old romantic in me loved the idea of the work showing in the birthplace (of Levi Strauss) . I love the history of denim, especially that of Jacob Davis and Levi and the Rivet.’ – Ian Berry

    All of Ian’s plans for the year were shattered with COVID. As he works from photography all the shoots were cancelled in the first week of lockdown so he has had to change his direction for the year. Many people sent him photos of their home isolation and this saw the birth of the Stay Behind Closed Doors project, I myself contributed and you can see in the latest Sportswear International. 

    Then, along with his son Elliott, 6, he made the two applauding hands. Clapping for the health heroes had been a big part of British life for the first ten weeks of the Covid period. 

    Ian Berry 2020

    Ian’s son was particularly captivated and it enabled Ian to explain more what was going on while he was engaged. What started as a personal project between father and son, ended up being beamed all over the world via projections. It covers the whole of the UK and Ireland and was seen as far as Australia, Colombia, Mexico City and Brazil amongst many others. He was raising money for the NHS and Doctors Without Borders and got fine donations from Cone Denim , Tricia Carey at Lenzing. It became the #iclapfor campaign and a short documentary film will be shown at the museum.

    Ian, originally from Huddersfield , lives and works in East London amongst thousands of pairs of jeans that he recycles to create almost photorealistic pieces and installations. He has been named a top 30 artist under 30 in the world and now he will show at a historical home of one of the materials of our time. 

    • Ian Berry 2020
    • Ian Berry 2020

    We wish the Museum every success into the future. 

    Details 

    13 Sept – 8 November 2020

    Levi Strauss Museum Marktstr. 31-33 96155 Buttenheim 

    Advt:
    Denimsandjeans is happy to announce the 2nd edition of its virtual show to be held on Oct 14-15 bringing to together global denim supply chain companies at one platform again .
    To visit, please register at: https://virtual.denimsandjeans.com/vi…

  • Sound Of Ian Berry’s Clapping Hands Keeps On Getting Stronger

    Sound Of Ian Berry’s Clapping Hands Keeps On Getting Stronger

    What an incredible Journey Ian Berry’s Denim Clapping Hand’s have been on and still going. I wrote about it a few weeks ago as it travelled through Britain as well as the world and he managed to get them from Land’s End to John O’Groats, thus travelling the length of Britain with almost everywhere in between!  

    It’s also cemented Ian’s place as an artist, not a denim artist. Yes he may use our favourite material, but its more than that. With a celebrity following and Art buyers around the world year on year, he keeps growing. And don’t take my word for it, David Hockney is a fan! 

    https://www.instagram.com/p/CAGUgLsJb5E/

    The  Baltic, Newcastle

    #iclapfor was growing and growing but then the world changed. Ian postponed projections in New York but in the UK it looks like it may have a new lease of life – and Ian is part of a very impressive line up. 

    You can now get his famed Clapping Hands as a badge with Pin Your Thanks – along with stars Keira Knightley, Ringo Starr, Joe Lycett, David James MBE, Dame Sarah Storey and Anoushka Shanka.

    link

    Ian getting the projections north to south is remarkable, add in Ipswich and Swansea, he went East to West too. Quite an incredible feat! It also went as far as Colombia, Mexico City and Australia and many more! 

    A permanent longer lasting tribute on doctor’s surgery wall in London, just around the corner from Blackhorse Lane Ateliers now has it as a stunning mural, in collaboration with Wood Street Walls and Atma.

    Film

    The hands are still being projected in a Batman-like beam onto buildings worldwide to say thank you to all those on the front line. And now we you can show your personal thanks to those that have supported us through this badge, with the ‘People’s Medal’. I hope many in the denim community support Ian, and the project. Of course, pins go well with denim. 

    The idea came from Ian’s six-year-old son Elliott who cutely loved the clapping for the NHS and when Ian, made the distinctive blue hands from denim for a photo Elliott took of his hands, Elliott then even had the idea to project it onto buildings.

    Since we last wrote the projections have been on such buildings as the BT Tower in Birmingham, in Greenwich and the Angel of the North in the North East – it has now gone global with projections in Brazil, Sweden, Italy and the USA and beyond. To launch Pin Your Thanks  Ian’s projection was put on London’s South Bank at the Royal Festival Hall with the Clapping Hands morphing into his badge, then those of the star designers.

    © 2020 Andrew Baker LONDON UK 1st June 2020. Pin Your Thanks Projection on The Festival Hall. Photograph © Andrew Baker PR HANDOUT
    © 2020 Andrew Baker LONDON UK 1st June 2020. Pin Your Thanks Projection on The Festival Hall. Photograph © Andrew Baker PR HANDOUT

    Ian’s question ‘who do you clap for?’ using the hashtag #iclapfor were put on projections, the one on the Angel of the North went through all the different Front Line workers that had been suggested through this.. 

    Pin Your Thanks is an along the same idea and a perfect fit, another way to show who you clap for, who you wish to show your heartfelt thanks to and a way for others to give their personal thanks. 

    Jenny Beavan OBE, double Academy Award-winning costume designer, of #PinYourThanks adds: “We were looking for exciting and innovative ways for people to express personal gratitude to their local heroes and Ian was invited on board before we even knew he was about to put out his Clapping Hands – and what a perfect fit it turned out to be. What a creative man he is.’

    Ian ‘sat on his hands’ for a few weeks as he didn’t want to seem like he was jumping on the band wagon.

    ‘by trying not to get on the bandwagon, I actually missed the band wagon and when it was going really well it seemed it had to slow down, I’d started the period saying it wasn’t my time, and trying to lay low, letting others have the platform – I think it should be Doctors and nurses and so many more that should be celebrated. Of course that was the plan with this, but still I feel strange that it is my name there. For me it’s the doctors and nurses that should have the blue ticks on Instagram but we live in a different world, don’t we – I truly hope this period has shown us what is important’’ Said Ian.

    ‘we live in the world where the court jester is king’. 

    Ian has raised lots of money for the NHS Charities Together and Doctors Without Borders and will continue to do so with Pin Your Thanks along with other initiatives coming and we are looking forward to seeing those. 

  • Ian Berry does it again – pushes his work to yet another level

    Ian Berry does it again – pushes his work to yet another level

    Ian Berry has had another sell out and successful show in London, with all the work selling by the opening day. His exhibition Hotel California also gained critical success with London magazine Londonist naming it the must see show of the month, and FAD putting it in the top seven shows to see in July. The BBC covered it and soon it will be beaming around the world and various channels, but, it is in person you need to see the work – and many did in London. Ian Berry turned denim back to water with his incredible technique which when you stand back totally don’t realise is denim.

    ‘When I started I always wanted to point out it was denim, now I hide that it is denim and see that as a challenge.’ Ian said.  In fact after years of covering his work, you see it is a challenge in each show, how light hits a metallic shiny launderette washing machine, a polished bar top, or the inside of a subway.

    IanBerry-any-time-of-year-you-can-find-it-here

    Ian Berry June 2019

    Ian Berry June 2019

    Ian Berry June 2019

    IanBerry-Jun2019-0413-DB

    IanBerry-Jun2019-0420-DB

    IanBerry-Jun2019-0313-DB

    We wrote about his Behind Closed Door work (https://www.denimsandjeans.com/recovery/events/behind-closed-doors-by-ian-berry/23754) and again, it was light in interiors that created his moods, impressing with the tiles on the floor and how the light effected it, just out of denim. That show was quite dark and Ian has transformed this new work to reflect bright Californian light with the hotels and pools of the state which made denim the state’s official fabric! The show was such a success that they put on another event to mark it and Ian’s long relationship with the gallery. It was also in aid of British charity Jeans for Genes – that supports families with Genetic Disorders. The charity is famed for an event in September – Jeans for Genes day, where schools and workplace allow people to wear our favorite material, jeans in return for a donation. The event raised money for the charity.

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    The charity also sells shirts, this year working with Batman for a special shirt. Ian is one of their ambassadors and modelled the shirt for the charity. The Batman version with Warner Brothers is proving popular with children. Ian will do further work with the charity. Not only that, but Ian collaborated with Kongsgaard Raw Gin to make a special denim edition. The Danish Gin makers are famed for their use of apples and also their sustainability – the only Gin brand to plant a whole forest and will be soon carbon neutral! The Gin is hand crafted so Ian made an edition of ten hand crafted labels – all the letters cut by hand, another ten with Raw denim – the ‘Raw Limited Edition’ that Tonello helped to laser. And then a further five that were one off originals and made to reflect different pieces of work in Ian’s exhibition – like his Hotel California record store, the secret Garden (that hung in the gallery window, again with the support of Tonello) and one to reflect a pool.

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    The week before the show opened Ian was in Barcelona with Tonello where he collaborated with his friends there who had been showing with ITMA, their most important event. To celebrate they had a ‘Inspiring’ night where Ian, Tonello and his friend Juan Manual, along with Oficina +39 joined forces to make a new version of the hanging trellis that hung in New York – lit with a mood and a beautiful film of the making of that set a beautiful ambience for the evening.

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    Ian Berry who has worked with Selfridges this year and it is proving to be a great year for him and we look forward to what is to come, All the best Ian!

  • Ian Berry Speaks To Denimsandjeans

    Ian Berry Speaks To Denimsandjeans

    Ian Berry, a British born denim artist who creates artwork solely from denim; re-using jeans, jackets, and other denim clothing to create portraits, urbanscapes and other unique works spoke to Denimsandjeans.com exclusively about his new book and his journey so far. In 2013, Ian Berry was named as one of Art Business News “30 under 30” influential artists in the world.

    We have featured you a few times on Denimsandjeans.com but still our readers want to know more about your wonderful art. Please give us some background of how you got into this unique art.

    It all began at the end of university I had done a collage out of newspaper and I went home to my childhood home where my mum knew I would never come back permanently. She had already started to clear some things out of my bedroom. There were many piles of things, but one was all my old jeans. I was looking and pondering – do I want to send them out and then it came to me, I didn’t want to get rid of them, I thought of all the memories wearing them (and being slimmer) and saw the link in shades of indigo to the shades in what I did out of newspaper so started cutting.

    Ian Berry Speaks To Denimsandjeans.com| Denimsandjeans.com

    It was then I thought about my own connection to denim. I wasn’t as a denim expert, just someone who felt comfortable wearing denim – and when a few people saw the first pieces and I realised other people’s connection with denim. Not as experts but people who felt comfortable about this everyday material that you didn’t need to be a connoisseur to enjoy, wear and understand. I had no ‘how to’ book, I had no one to look up to, I had no one ask me to work in denim to fill a gap in a trade fair. I had to work out techniques and trial and error at the beginning and I had to make my own technique which I have worked on throughout the 13 years since I started. To the outside it may look very successful and to live and work as an artist for many years, yes, that’s success but it is hard work and commitment.

    Thankfully this led me to very good things with the art and it’s been an honor that through that hard work I get to meet and be even friends with the people that I was so wowed about as a child and student. The greatest honor has been seeing people’s reactions in art galleries around the world and having a connection with people.

    Ian Berry Speaks To Denimsandjeans.com| Denimsandjeans.com

    We have got a copy of your book, Ian Berry, Denim on Denim. We really enjoyed it and it shows your long history with the material and the depth of work you have. What you do with denim is very special. How was the feedback and where can our readers get the same ?

    It went really well thank you and has been a great way to get the work out there. My work doesn’t come across that well on small images like on the iphone and has to be seen in real life really. But the book bridges that gap a bit and has been a good way for people to see a bigger collection of my work. The BBC helped me launch it – which – I guess never harms. Actually, a nice side effect of that was I got a lot more people ask to come and work with me and I got a couple of new assistants out of it!

    Click here to buy the book

    The book actually sold out and got a great response – we have just had some more printed. The hardbacks went faster than the paperbacks even I’m told. A good thing and a bad thing is that I cross over into many worlds, some just on the fringes, like denim, but it leads to a wider audience and interest. For me it was a great thing to do after all this time, and to decide what should be in, and out but to stand back and make sense of it all, and I guess be happy with where it came from and what it all became. What’s now more important – is to drive forward into the next body of work and focus on the future.

    By putting the book together, it was easier to help to curate the flow of the book and show the overlying theme to me work – Community. Or the lack of it and the changing world we live. The fading fabric of our urban environment. The work is a lot more than it being about denim, it is simply my medium.The book can be found at www.ianberry.art under ‘book’ and if your readers put in the promo code D&J at the check out they can get free postage.

    What was your first piece and how much time you spent to create it 

    I started with denim first by doing portraits. I have since noticed that many artists who started using new and unusual materials often begin with portraits, and of famous people. I did the same, but had my reasons other than it being just iconic faces. I never expected it to end the way it has to be honest, I was to be an art director at that stage!

    That said, as I was going in to advertising I was fascinating in things that changed people’s minds. And I knew how Marilyn Monroe, Brando, Dean had worn denim on screen and then everyone wanted to wear it. Those, along with Debbie Harry were my first ones I made. Debbie Harry was one of the first to really make double denim cool and it was nice several years later to actually get to do her portrait and to meet her. With that I became friends with some of the guys from Blondie, and I did Tommy Kessler’s denim jacket for him – he’s still wearing it on stage – five years on. . . he’s been unable to wash it!

    Ian Berry Speaks To Denimsandjeans.com| Denimsandjeans.com

    I also did a piece for the James Dean Museum in Fairmount, Indiana, in 2010. It was his hometown. Both were such an honor and took me back to that time when I was making pieces on my bedroom floor. What’s interesting is you would think I would get faster making them, but because I have got a lot more detailed they do take a long time – and as the portraits now are official, there is a lot of work around it too. That first weekend I made 6 – in a much simpler style than today. It would take me that long to do only an eye now.

    Ian has gone on to do portraits for Giorgio Armani, Lapo Elkann, Jenifer Saunders, Eunice Olumbide OBE and the family of Ayrton Senna to name a few.

    How difficult is it to find pieces of differently shaded denim washes to help you create the correct shadings in your paintings.

    It is a very labour intensive process. You know you can bang things in Photoshop and let a computer dictate where you place things. This isn’t really art and loses an edge to the work. I have to find each piece to really match where it should be and I can spend hours just looking for that one. Having 2000 pairs of jeans also leads to issues as well as solutions – as you think you will have always have something better and keep looking. On the other side, I may find something perfect, but it is so good that you want to use it on another piece – in a bolder way. So, you carry on looking for something else.

    I’m lucky that I have had many supporters over the world send me the jeans, from friends and neighbours as well as denim brands and denim mills to packages sent from people who want to see their jeans turned into art.

    Secret Garden at NY is one of your masterpieces. It must have been a tremendous effort  How did you feel to be there and showcasing a complete garden of denim ? Must be really tough maintaining this garden !

    It was probably one of the most challenging things I have done with denim to be honest as it was working rather differently to how I had before – especially with lots of help for one and sometimes it was like project managing. The feeling there was pretty special, I got a moment just before the people arrived at the opening (I was actually using every moment before to get it ready) and just to look up at it all was just an incredible feeling and then seeing other people’s reactions. I was so lucky to have Lucinda Grange come and take photos of it as she really captured it, but nothing really is like being there in real life.

    I actually left the day after the opening back to London so I had little time in there and it was up for several months. Christine Rucci had helped me install it in New York and she went in often and would just make sure everything was ok as well as staff at the museum. The impact it had was great and was worth all the hard work – and since it has shown in different forms in Kentucky, then France, and now – at a soon to be announced location in San Francisco – All 20 meters of it.

    Ian Berry Speaks To Denimsandjeans.com| Denimsandjeans.comIan Berry Speaks To Denimsandjeans.com| Denimsandjeans.comIan Berry Speaks To Denimsandjeans.com| Denimsandjeans.com

    Was there a sustainable message in the garden?

    I talked in the museum a lot about sustainability and with it using sustainable technology, like with Tonello with washing and lasering. What better way to portray sustainability than show it as living breathing plants and freshness, although that wasn’t made for this message, denim is just my medium as the material of our time. It was more of a message on community, and community gardens in New York – and how many children are not in the garden, but on their ipads.

    That said, in the items for children we educated them on how it was from plants, to pants to plants again (sorry) and also showed a cotton plant. It was amazing how few knew this was the way denim was made – including some of the parents. It was a big success in New York and in the end, another installation for me. I like to do them as they are a new challenge and it also means that they can travel more. When I do my other works, if I show them, they sell, meaning not so many people get to see them. A strange problem for an artist.

    Ian Berry Speaks To Denimsandjeans.com| Denimsandjeans.comIan Berry Speaks To Denimsandjeans.com| Denimsandjeans.com

    It’s been great to show it again since in the states, In Kentucky and then in France, in a former denim heartland. All had variations on it. What’s been amazing is I did it in New York, and there I was in the garment district a lot making things. I’d also been going to Italy to work with Tonello who have been so good with me. This last month I was in Genoa (jeans) and in the denim valleys so the historic denim and then the heartlands of the 90’s denim. I was then in Nimes, (denim) as well as Mazamet in France so it was fitting that I went to these areas then on to San Francisco – to make the installation there – I will be excited to show you that soon!

    It was like a big part of the denim history timeline, what is told. Although the fast part. I do think the denim story often misses of my home area in the north of England as without the industrial revolution we would never have had Levi’s and the ability to make more mass-produced jeans – besides, it was us who didn’t want ‘a French sounding cloth’ so changed serge de Nimes to Denim!

    What was it like to be in Nimes ?

    It’s a beautiful city, but it celebrates its Roman history, not really its denim. There is a small part of a museum that does show a bit though. The cloth that was made then was a bit different to what we know to be denim today however. I think they will soon start to celebrate the denim history though, and perhaps thanks to ones guys efforts.

    It was so special to spend a day with Guillaume Sagot who has brought denim back to Nimes and set up Ateliers de Nimes. I got a pair and love to wear them and tell the story. It’s not only a good brand and great story to bring denim production pack to this historic denim hub for the first time in hundreds of years, but Guillaume, is a great guy. It was great to see his studio, his work, his plans and the city. He is certainly a great denim friend of mine.

    Ian Berry Speaks To Denimsandjeans.com| Denimsandjeans.comIan Berry Speaks To Denimsandjeans.com| Denimsandjeans.com

    Do you think your art can show some way where the industry can be stronger on the path of sustainability.

    I don’t know really, I pick up a lot about the industry but really I am on the outside and don’t pretend to know everything. I have listened to those who say it’s often just ‘marketing’ but I also notice that everyone is now in on the game and perhaps that competition will push through some good results and answers – and I keep seeing a few interesting developments.

    My art isn’t about sustainability however, well, not at its core. But I guess that is also true also about many in the industry. I don’t use denim for a sustainable message but more so that I am portraying contemporary life and see denim as the material of our time, both the good and the bad. I don’t market it as sustainable, however others write about me that way and about recycled and upcycled and so on. Of course, it is nice that some can take that message away and think of the impact on the world denim has, or, their own impact. It’s also good if they think what materials they can use and reuse and not just throw away.

    If you think of reusing worn denim or sampled denim, like I do, you do look toward people like Maurizio Donadi, at Atiliers and Repairs, E.L.V here in East London and Denimcratic to name just a few are making great things reusing denim. I was at the Levis Archives a few weeks ago in San Fran and seeing the jeans that showed evidence of four different owners was quite a statement on sustainability. The industry can strive for the most sustainable denim, but if the consumer doesn’t demand it, then it is going to be hard to do as there will always be others who will make it as cheap as possible and there will always be the people that will often just go for the cheapest. I guess there is also something in how many pairs of jeans, as one of the issues will always be the mass of it. I love something that Blackhorse Lane do where they discourage people from buying more than two pairs of denim from them and they also offer the repair service, they look after their staff well too.

    Ian Berry Speaks To Denimsandjeans.com| Denimsandjeans.com

    As someone who just wore jeans and knew little about them when starting my journey with the art, I have grown to appreciate and embrace the craft of denim. I’ll now buy or dare I say, get given a lot of jeans and I’m always proud to wear them and see the evolution of them and see that denim should be seen more this way – and have them for a long time.

    Let’s face it, denim is global, worldwide, mass. I love the whole denim head community but if that is 1 per cent of the global denim I think that number is overestimated. If more and more people can appreciate a good pair of jeans, and appreciate the costs a bit more (sustainable for more than just the environment) then I think the consumer could start to appreciate a sustainable message – and I think people are now wanting things more individual and with a story – not the mass high street. In a time when sometimes you fear for the young, many are more aware and demand things, so the future could be a brighter blue. When I worked in advertising a criticism used to be that many in adland would think of other people in advertising when making the ads, they had a certain language. Of course there is many different sectors in denim, the brands behind the brands, the mills and then the more sexy consumer facings brands and I guess many have to decide who their target audience is to be able to speak to and communicate.

    As for my own art I know it speaks to many and communicates a lot to many – it is also much, much more than it being ‘look it’s made in denim’. I get great reactions in gallery shows and art fairs around the world, I dare say not normal reactions even, to see people cry when looking at your work is quite surreal. But in denim, in the very few times I have shown within denim I don’t know, it’s never as strong. Perhaps they see the fabric more or something or perhaps the places it’s been shown is not the right context for art. It’s just an observation.

    Would you like to share with us any upcoming projects which you feel excited about?

    There’s lots coming up actually over the next month’s even, but I rarely tell anyone what is going on til it’s happening, or even happened. I’m lucky to have a very heavy workload with lots of commissions, art fairs and a big solo exhibition to work toward for London next year. Trying to juggle it all is not easy as the work is very labor intensive.

    I may or may not be in your side of the world soon too!

    Ian Berry Speaks To Denimsandjeans.com| Denimsandjeans.comIan Berry Speaks To Denimsandjeans.com| Denimsandjeans.com

    My next showing will be here in London however at the Smallest Gallery in Soho, a great little space curated by my friend Phil Levine and will give an opportunity for a new audience to see my work. It’s an interesting thing the trade fairs, I have my own industry trade fair – the Art Fair, like in Miami and many other cities. I have recently seen it as that and not really dissimilar, but it’s there that my work is seen by the collectors. I have said no to a lot of mills and brands to do things at fairs, not through lack of gratitude, just that my work takes a long time and I am turning down gallery shows and art fairs and there is only so much I can do in a year. I have also thought if I work with them, X Y Z wouldn’t work with me in future if I’m so linked with someone. I have a long term plan.

    In one line, what do you think is the future of denim ?

    The future I’d like to see with denim will be in the sustainability of people as well as the environment, clean ethics and morals as well as methods of production.

    Ian Berry Speaks To Denimsandjeans.com| Denimsandjeans.com

    Thank you Ian !

  • The Secret Garden Installation at the Children’s Museum of the Arts By Ian Berry In New York

    The Secret Garden Installation at the Children’s Museum of the Arts By Ian Berry In New York

    Ace Denim Artist- Ian Berry has recently open his Secret Garden Installation at the Children’s Museum of the Arts in Manhattan.Over many days Ian and a team of helpers installed this incredible Secret Garden installation at the Chelsea based Museum. The museum that has served hundreds of thousands of Children and has the mission ‘to introduce children and their families to the transformative power of the arts by providing opportunities to make art side-by-side with working artists.’Ian has has worked with schools to do projects, and teachers write to him when they do lessons on him. He enjoys getting mails from kids who have made work inspired by him.

    The Secret Garden Installation at the Children's Museum of the Arts By Ian Berry In New York | Denimsandjeans.com

    Ian says he wishes he could be young again to go to somewhere like the CMA. It is a truly amazing place for young minds, and their parents. There are teaching artists there with many different work rooms, for all ages up to 16. They can learn to work in many different ways, often inspired by the artwork on display – Ellan Harvey also shows alongside Ians work. We think it is important for children to interact with Arts, especially with school budgets tightening and the arts being one of the biggest to suffer.

    ‘Crazy when you think both our countries excel in creative fields and really lead the world. Yet, we are constantly told at school that arts are a hobby with visions of the starving artist.’ Ian Says.

    The installation that you can walk through, on top of a denim path is filled with various flowers and plants, from roses to cacti, wisteria to chrysanthemum all made out of jeans. You’ll find denim tools and also a hare, peering through, unafraid of the children about to run through.But the most impressive part is the trellis coming down from the ceiling. Hundreds of vines and leaves dangling, as if taking over the museum. Part looking like a magical urban secret garden, part looking like the place has been abandoned and left for the nature to take over.  The flowers hanging and the butterflies lead to an almost Alice in Wonderland fantasy world that the kids and parents alike have been amazed by.

    The Secret Garden Installation at the Children's Museum of the Arts By Ian Berry In New York | Denimsandjeans.comThe Secret Garden Installation at the Children's Museum of the Arts By Ian Berry In New York | Denimsandjeans.comThe Secret Garden Installation at the Children's Museum of the Arts By Ian Berry In New York | Denimsandjeans.com

    The installation for the Bridge Project was inspired by thinking of childhood. Immediately Ian thought of playing outside at his Yorkshire hometown. He feels now children play less outside and interact and look less at the nature around. Kids are obsessed with tech with ipads and instant gratification and the games played are not with balls and dirty knees but with thumbs the only strength needed with video consoles.

    ‘Sadly too I also feel that with the stresses of life parents even spend less time with their kids, even if they are with them, they may be distracted by their phones and the constant fear of missing something.’

    ‘I only wonder what this may do to tiny minds seeing people always glued to their phones and screens’

    He had noticed in the past that when recreating familiar scenes people took for granted, out of a material so common, people saw it differently and revalued it. He would love for the parent and child to walk through together so that when they do go through parks and gardens they will look at them more closely.

    ‘I also thought that while in many other way New York would be one of the most inspiring cities for a child to live in, many kids wouldn’t have gardens. Yes, there are places to go and famous parks with amazing open space and the High Line too, but perhaps it may inspire parents to find a little secret garden near to them’

    In a interesting opening to the garden, Ian shows a cotton plant and explains that this is where the jeans we wear first comes from. Not bad going from plants to pants, to plants again.Ian will return in April 2018 to help to take some classes based on his work.

    Tonello, Cone denim, NYC factory and Christine Rucci had supported Ian berry in the making of the Secret Garden along with dozens of other assistants.

    The Secret Garden Installation at the Children's Museum of the Arts By Ian Berry In New York | Denimsandjeans.com

    The installation is up until April 2018 at Children’s Museum of the Arts, 103 Charlton St. NYC