When I planned a Barcelona trip a couple of weeks ago with my friend and fellow freelancer Virginie, our intentions were simple: work a bit, have a couple of Mojitos and spend some quality time with my uncle who moved there from Paris 6 months ago.

As it turned out, the Volcom crew was shooting their upcoming collection at the same time and in the same city so we decided to kill two birds with one stone and organize my Spring13 Volcommunity shoot at the same time.

Virginie was going to shoot the collection anyway and so we shipped my lovely Ivan to Barcelona to do the “making off” video.

Working amongst friends is my favorite thing.

The week before the shoot was absolutely hectic, as we didn’t have a camera, location, model and I hadn’t seen any of the samples in the flesh just yet so overall pretty intense. When landing in Barcelona, we knew we had one day to pick up the camera and explore the city for a location while the guys from Volcom were seeing a few models.

The first things that we saw when walking around the city was the incredibly graphic shadows everywhere.

The light was pretty stunning as expected but we needed a location that had enough range to shoot the mini collection without it looking a bit boring and limited. And so we found it: The Forum. Thank god for Ivan and his Primavera weekend last year! So we headed there hoping they would let us shoot there and that the place wasn’t going to be too crowded.

It was perfect. The wind was strong and so were the shadows.

Our first instinct was to shoot on those amazing staircases next to the solar panel but as we kept exploring the place, we found some textured coloured walls next to the docks and knew that was going to be the place.
We spent a couple of hours trying to plan the shooting for the different looks. I pretended to be the model, jumping on benches and hugging walls while Virginie was testing the light and planning her compositions.

Once we had each shot nailed, we treated ourselves with some Mojitos and finally got to relax a bit before the big day. It was going to be intense but we were ready. Good night sleep and off to the forum the next morning.

The shoot went super smoothly apart from the fact that the clouds decided to sneak into our tight timeframe and disappear just as we finished shooting. Oh well, we had 2 reflectors, a lot of help from the Volcom guys, a cool model and overall everyone had a lot of fun.

I can’t really show you the collection but here is a sneak peek of the day ; )

We were done for the day and ready to enjoy the city in a more relaxed mode. The next week was spent enjoying Barcelona, meeting tons of new people, eating in yummy restaurants and doing a bit of work from times to times.

I had been to Barcelona a couple of times before but it is always better when you know someone who lives there. My uncle Pierre and his partner Nestor were great and seeing them in such a jolly mood made me remember that life IS really sweeter in the sun.
They moved here and decided to open a small boutique Hairdressing salon called “La belle Poule” in El Borne – A very French title for a very cosmopolitan place.

And of course, they treated us to a free haircut ; )

If any of you are planning a Barcelona trip, make sure to pop in and say hi. They are both lovely and the place has this rare cozy atmosphere that only both of them know how to create: refurbished vintage furniture, quirky products and great conversation.

http://labellepoule.carbonmade.com/about

Malika x

Some of you might think by now that I spend most of my time traveling and not doing any work. That is partly true.
The idea that I could go and work from anywhere was an exquisite one and definitely pushed me to become an independent illustrator and I told myself back then that I would try and actually DO IT as much as possible. The reality is that those work-holiday trips are much tougher than I though. Working and enjoying a new city at the same time is a hard balance to get but so far so good.

NY wasn’t actually one of those trips: it was pure leisure for once and the first real week of holiday in a while so you can imagine my excitement. A couple of friends from Martinique were flying there and the idea was to meet up in NY for a girl’s week in the big apple.

I had been to NY once before a couple of years ago – and of course, loved every bit of it – but the idea this time was to skip all the touristy stuff and try and live like a New Yorker for a week. And so I did.

We rented a cute tiny apartment on the lower east side and even though we had to squizz in quite a bit for the 4 of us to fit in, it was the perfect place for a week of NY fun. The flat belonged to a writer and had the one feature I was expecting from a typical NY flat: a fire escape. I was happy.
When I woke up on the first morning, it felt like I had always lived there in that flat. NY was mine in no time.

We spent the first couple of days walking around, trying to take in everything in. The skyscrapers felt like they are made out of paper and I spent most days looking up, trying to take in the scale of the city. Impossible task for a Londonner: everytime I looked up, I felt dizzy.
A weird and wonderful feeling like being a kid in a giant fun fair.

What struck me the most in NY was the light: the dark shadows casted by the buildings on the ground and the bright blue sky peeking from in between. Almost like part of a movie set.
After a few days of walking around Manhattan, it was time for me to go and rediscover Brooklyn and meet up with one of my favorite American artist and the man behind Vectorpark: Patrick Smith.

I discovered Patrick’s work when he released Windosill, a weird and wonderful interactive piece that I couldn’t stop playing.

Back then, I was so amazed by the beauty of the animation, sound design and the surreal nature of the worlds he created that I felt the need to email him and tell him how much I loved that game.
We kept in touch after that and promised each other we would meet up next time I came to the big apple.

So one sunny morning, I joined him and his girlfriend Sara in a yummy Canadian bagel shop in Red Hook for brunch and we ended up spending the entire day exploring the area and drinking margaritas. He showed me around the Docks and invited me to his studio where all the magic happens. I had the chance to have a peek at some amazing new projects he is working on but of course, nothing I can share right now ; ) Keep an eye open for some really cool stuff though.

We talked about all things design, Art and life as an artist and I just had the best Brooklyn afternoon I could dream off. I came back to the flat really late and slightly tipsy but most of all: inspired.

NY always felt like home but Brooklyn definitely won me over.

One of the other places I needed to check out on my trip was the Guggenheim museum. Last time around, the museum was under renovation and I was gutted not to be able to go inside. The building itself is stunning but I was fairly disappointed by the exhibition space. Everything seemed a bit crammed and there is nothing that annoys me more than a crowded museum.

Thank god for the Francesca Woodman exhibition though: I had never seen her work before and her photographs really touched me. There is real sadness and nostalgia in those. Beautiful.

The last few days went really fast but we managed to pack a lot in: Gospel service in Harlem in a tiny church, compulsive shopping at American apparel for my colour blocking wardrobe, a walk on the Brooklyn bridge, a pizza under the bridge, a broadway musical extravaganza and a lot dancing. Overall, a great trip.

A week was a bit short but I will back back sooner rather than later. And who knows, I might be a New Yorker myself one day ; )

Malika x

The guys from EMI got in touch last month asking me to take part in an exciting project called Secret 7’’.

The idea was simple: Ask a lot of designers to design a one of 7’’ vinyl for one of 7 tracks, donated by one of 7 artists. A lot of 7 going on.
Amongst them, Florence and the Machine, The Cure, Bombay bicycle club, Dj Shadow and a couple more.
The project has an added air of mystery as no-one knew who designed each sleeve, or which of the seven tracks is housed inside. Of course, some are easy to guess ; )

On the 21st of April, aka Record Store Day, Each of the one-of-a-kind 7” designs will be on auction and every penny profited from the sale of these exclusive vinyl records is going to the Teenage cancer trust charity.

The exhibition just opened yesterday in Shoreditch at the Idea Generation gallery and I of course poped in to see the result: Some very nice sleeves, nice beers and nice company so a good night all together.

I can’t reveal which one of the following sleeves is mine before the sale or which track I picked but it won’t be hard to guess so here is a selection from my favorite sleeves of the night:

My Handsome Frank duo of agents was part of the crowd, looking very colourful – Much to my liking!

Malika x