MULBERRY COLLABORATES WITH FRED

FRED at MULBERRY, NEW BOND STREET, Sept 01- OCT 31

Mulberry has a long history of collaboration and in 2008, the brand is taking it one step further and is inviting talented luminaries to collaborate with the brand, by using the Bond Street Store as a gallery space.

The last few months has seen the brand working with Cutler & Gross, Gethin Moller and McQueen’s Floral School. Next up is FRED, one of East London’s most dynamic contemporary art galleries, they will collaborate with Mulberry on a series of artist designed, limited edition Tote bags. The bags will be available to purchase from the New Bond Street Store - and the lucky customer who buys one of tote bags containing a ‘Golden Ticket’ will win that artist’s original design.

For the duration of the project, from September 1st to October 31st, the original designs and tote bags, designed by the five collaborating artists; Philip Jones, Peter Jones, Kate Davis, Simon English and Paul Hosking, will be on display in the Bond Street store alongside a changing window installation that will showcase unique works by each artist in turn.

Kate Davis makes beautiful, subtle and poetic work that gives out information quietly. For Mulberry she has taken a motif called ‘Roman Brain’ an image of a red rose; that, to the artist, represents a romantic moment in Rome. The image has been made by applying her signature deep-red coloured nail varnish to paper to form the image that is then printed on to the classic Mulberry Tote. Davis refers to this image as her romantic brain, which represents her escapist thoughts turning towards romance and love, away from the practicalities of everyday life.

Paul Hosking makes mirrored, laser cut images that resemble Rorschach inkblots, but on closer inspection, the edge of each blot reveals the artist’s profile. For Mulberry, Hosking has taken his vibrant mirror colours, and made a tessellated design that shows a range of coloured ‘blots’ set off on a jet-black background that cover the panels of the Tote bag.

Peter Jones paints portraits of historical toy monkeys that he collects from auctions around the globe. From his collection, he paints painstaking, emotional oil on canvas portraits of the monkeys using brightly coloured ‘Andy Warhol’ inspired backgrounds. For Mulberry, Jones has made a brilliant series of monkeys in three poses: hear no evil, speak no evil and see no evil, they are posed to perfection against a blue backdrop.

Simon English is a well-known British artist who first came to prominence in 1994 as part of "Young British Artists 3" at the Saatchi Gallery. His large and small scale works on paper play host to a multiplicity of drawing and painting voices. His most recent solo show entitled "Lullaby for Marie-Strange, Let-go and Rabbit" was for Agnes b at the Galerie du jour agnes b in Paris at the end of 2007. For his Mulberry Tote, English has made a series of unique panel drawings under the title "Mandalay Mulberry bag" that revisits Daphne Du Maurier's novel "Rebecca". The first and second Mrs De Winter battle it out for supremacy over the two sided bag in pursuit of the head and heart of Maxim and the desire to both serve and subvert the classic Mulberry design.

Philip Jones makes large-scale oil paintings in which brightly coloured characters appear in dramatic scenes developing over a series of works. His recent paintings are loosely and expressively painted and show dynamic figures with vibrant palettes. For Mulberry, Jones has produced a monochrome design based on playing card symbols. Expressively painted, they echo the theme of fate and chance often found in his larger works.

Further works by all five artists will be displayed from September 1st through to the 31st of October at the Mulberry Flagship store in New Bond Street W1. On rotation for periods of 10 days, each artist will present a striking solo show in the store window as part of a specially constructed FRED space developed with Mulberry especially for these exhibitions. Alongside the window display, throughout the project each artist will have a dedicated space within the store to present a small solo exhibition.

For this collaboration FRED selected five British artists to reflect Mulberry’s identity as a British based fashion house with a commitment to making extremely well made bags and clothes. This project is a true collaboration with the Mulberry designers working closely with the artists to enable their artistic vision to be transformed and incorporated onto a Tote bag.

For further information:

Violet von Westenholz: 0207 491 4323

Violetw@mulberry.com



Note to editors: The collaboration will be celebrated on October 14 from 6.30 – 8.30pm for a ‘Private View’ in the Bond Street store