Man Knitting

I don't know what it's like in other places, but in London, you can't really buy anything when you actually need it. So by the time summer arrives, you can't buy swimming trunks. And in winter, all the warm coats have sold out. So I should have known better when I tried to buy a hammock in August. And when I asked in a shop, the assistant did that half-laugh/half-snort-of-disgust thing and proceeded to wearily tell the airspace just above my head that I'd NEVER find a hammock now - but perhaps I could try an outlet store on the edge of town?

To cut a long and slightly bitter story short, I wanted one because my friend Manu was having his 30th in his family's holiday home outside of Madrid. The place is completely idyllic - apart from the fact that it didn't have hammocks. And the small village nearby came up with nothing. So I took matters into my own hands and wiled away a couple of the afternoons knotting one myself. I love hammocks anyway, but this was my favourite one ever. Everything was I used was super-local. The string came from the village shop. The wood for the supports was from the forest nearby. And I used some old washers I found behind the log pile for the ring things. (The instructions I used are here - I spent ages staring at them in disbelief, but if you persevere they do actually make sense)


Sadly, there's no really quick way to do this. Other than going into a shop in winter and buying one.

Then we had to get a bit MacGyver to get a few things ready for the party. First we fixed a leaky inflatable pool using only things we found at the supermarket. Then I got rivet happy and made some sun shades. Throw it all together in a forest your grandfather planted and instant fiesta.

Audrey Roger at Way East

I live in Hackney Wick in London. Which, if I'm honest, is a bit of a dump. But the rent is super-cheap. And as a result, it has more artists per square meter than anywhere else in Europe. Which completely makes up for it. Anyway, I'm in a slightly rambling mood today so I'll cut to the chase and say that once a year, Hackney Wick is sort of transformed into a weekend-long art opening/street party for Hackney Wicked. And this year, I curated a show for it at Way East, which is a space my boyf ran regularly from our house last year, and revived for the festival. The show was a collection of large-scale screen prints and origami by the awesome Audrey Roger - you can see the details and the full art-wank I wrote on the Way East website. Anyway, it was a great weekend, the opening was rammed and I got to meet some incredible people. My pictures don't really do the work justice - it really is amazing. But if you like what you see, there are still some hand-printed geometrics available. They're 100cm x 100cm, £200 each, and are both editions of 8 with two artist proofs. The origami is a one-off, and is £250.