Everything
After the graduation at the Manchester School of Art back in 2013, Adam Jones made the move to London to start forging his vision into the industry. His pieces celebrate the elements that surround us everyday, from the streets to nature to animals, he embraces and enhances the “ugly” and projects it into his garments through clean silhouettes and unique patterns. The result? Beauty within the chaos of life.
ICON: Adam you have a unique way to interpret beauty, you see balance through chaos, you accept irregularities and embrace them in order to create something messy, rough, yet so cool. What was the evolution behind this?
AJ: “I think it began during my graduate collection in 2013, I found it overwhelming going into fabric shops and selecting something, so I began looking elsewhere and denouncing fabric shops. The university was having building work done, so I began collecting blankets and scraps of sheeting that they would leave behind, I found this much more thrilling to turn something unwanted into something people enjoyed seeing, limiting my fabric selection allowed designs to present themselves much easier, I thrive creatively with limited means and materials. This approach to fabric sourcing has remained but it has developed, the aesthetic is a little cleaner, sharper, bolder and more graphic, working with vintage found tea towels and blankets.”
ICON: Your witty posts on Instagram capture interesting elements and scenarios from the streets. How does this relate to your clothes and your vision of the brand?
AJ: “As a boy from the countryside I really embrace London as a city, I spend a lot of time walking around exploring my surroundings, and take these pictures of the decay and disorder on the street, I am drawn to the textures and colours I see all around me. This primary research provides a source of inspiration for my work, and I feel the still life scenarios I see encapsulate the mood of my brand. I also imagine they would work as ad campaigns.”
ICON: What’s your take on sustainability, within fashion specifically?
AJ: “I find it comes naturally to me to produce sustainable pieces, I don’t try very hard, I simply enjoy the challenge of working with graphics from the past that already exist, whether it be an old beer towel, vintage tapestry or a tea towel. I love the challenge of producing pieces in quantity by trawling boot sales, charity shops and eBay etc, I never know how many tea towels with that specific design I am going to find, which makes the pieces limited edition, I don’t want to reproduce the graphic from the tea towel for example, that just goes against what I do.”
ICON: How does your vision and creativity translate into your garments and does this vision represent an everyday lifestyle throughout your pieces?
AJ: I would say my vision represents the everyday percent. I take things that are all around us but people seem to miss, and shine a light on these prints or fabrications, it could be a removal blanket I’ve seen in the back of a van or the nos canisters and crushed cans I pick up on the street which I turn into something someone wants to wear.”
