a MOment with MO Clothes

Hey there 


So sorry about the terrible heading of this post but I just couldn't resist.


Today I am truly excited to share with you a gem of a company named Mo Clothes. 

Beulls shirt in Black, ChiMo in Sand & Stompers in Brown

Jardigan in Mustard, Beulls shirt in Purple

This rising brand is awesome to say the least, creating superb products with a fresh twist just for us men. No longer do we have to share the same boring labeled shirt with our peers.
And its not only shirts. They have a stellar lineup of pants, jackets and shoes all made to the highest quality (We here at the Captains Post can vouch for this) so you know they can handle whatever turn may be thrown at you.

Beulls shirt in Black

Beulls shirt in Purple

Wanting to know a little more about how this boutique Australian brand ticks we got in touch.
They are a super friendly bunch with their heads in all the right places I reckon.


So here goes

Hey there whats the Age? Location? How Many People? you know the basics? of the brand Mo.

MO is pretty much a baby brand, we've been online now for almost a year and hitting up markets in Melbourne for about four months. We're based in Abbotsford and the Mo fam consists of a three person design team - one of whom doubles up as our too-cool online media guy and one communications, branding and market wench.

How did the brand come into fruition?

Mo was born in Canberra out of sheer frustration that there was no access to good quality, unique mens clothing or anything even leaning on a reasonable price. It grew up a little (as all creative types do) and headed to Melbourne where it has been sleazing its way round the market scene and trying new things.

I see you have an online boutique where did you first start to spin your wares?

Mo actually started online and at the amazing Fash'n'Treasure Market in Canberra.

Jardigan in Leaf, Sads in Blue

I know you lot are probably sick to death of hearing this but does everybody who works for you have a Mo? like if I grew up and wanted ever so desperately to work for you but for some reason unbeknown to me, my upper lip didn't want to come to the party would I be that guy? But really where did he name come from?

awww, can't you grow a mo? (Its not my fault! one day Ill have one.MCMC)

When we say Mo family, we mean Mo family, we are seriously inbred here! Original designers are cousins Harry Morrissey and Robin Hall (whose Mum is a Morrissey) aforementioned comms wench is Harry's sister Alice Morrissey and designer No3/online guy is her fiance who would love a moustache but can hardly grow a proper beard and ends up looking like a sick Craig David if he tries. In short Mo is short for Morrissey, nobody has a moustache but Robin's brother who we sometimes force to work has seriously the hairiest chest you've ever seen. 

Neato, and now too the product.

All your product is original designs hand made in Vietnam yes?

Yep, we design everything here, draw pictures, ask everyone we know what they think (ignore what they think, how dare they try to corrupt our design process) and then do our very best to communicate all that to the lovely Sa in Hoi An who translates it back into Vietnamese and then we receive a sample or two, we change it some more and the whole process plays out around one million times before we all agree that we're happy with it and apologise to the helpful people we 

yelled at earlier.

Dads in Red & Stompers in Black

So your product is not made in some sweatshop somewhere? the people who craft/stitch actually care about the quality of the product?

Oh hell no! the people who make our clothes are our extended family, we visit them in Vietnam, we know their names and they care about the product (if only because Alice is pretty scary). No seriously, we can hold our heads pretty high on this one, an important part of being able to offer the quality that we do at youth friendly prices is our relationship with our team in Vietnam.

Cigs in Khaki & Loafs in Brown

Oh and how do the designs come about? where do you find influence and inspiration?

We take inspiration from anything and everything. At the moment we're really influended by John Waters and 1950s Baltimore. We're digging tailored Bermuda shorts, rolled sleeve shirts, Kung Fu shoes and butch leather jackets.

Cigs in Rust & Stompers in Black

Are there any exciting new products in the works that you'd like to mention/ tease us with?

Mo’s upcoming S/S 12 collection Playground takes inspiration from John Waters and 1950s Baltimore. It includes tailored Bermuda shorts, rolled sleeve shirts, leather Kung Fu shoes and of course our famous Mo jeans in some rad new colours and fits.

Sads in Grey & Stompers in Black

If the Mo team some how found themselves stuck on a deserted island and the iPod only had room for 5 songs that where going to be the only songs you'd hear for ever and ever more. What would they be? 

This game is FUN.

• Aint no sunshine - Bill Withers. He says 'I know' 27 times and I swear each of them sounds different. Such an amazing song that can bring me to tears in two minutes flat.

• I'm going to cheat here and say The Twelfth Hour - The Twelves. It's a one hour mixtape, so technically its one track. I could listen to this everyday of my life, which I'm well on my way to doing already. We've been waiting for these guys to blow up for a few years now. If you haven't come across these guys, please do yourself a favour and jump on one of their mixtapes.

• When the sun goes down - Arctic Monkeys. I love this album so much, it was released soon after I returned from a year in England and it instantly reminded me of nights out on the town in Salisbury. This song in particular makes me smile just thinking about how scummy nights out could get.

• Pa Pa Power – Dead Man's Bones. Is there anything Ryan Gosling can't do?

• Heads Will Roll – Yeah Yeah Yeahs. KAREN O – that woman is perfection.

Stompers in Brown

Big Day Out or LaneWay?

We are very much LaneWay people but we try really hard as a group not to say no to any opportunity to drink, dance and show off our new jeans.

Stompers in Brown

Got any final words to the world?

2012 looks pretty exciting so far! We've been approached by a couple of super-cool Melbourne boutiques, and we'll be having our very own pop-up shop in the SO:ME Space in early May. We're also heading to Vietnam in a couple of weeks to design and create our Winter pieces.

Stompers in Black

Check Their Website HERE!

Its well worth a look. These lot are just too cool.

Many thanks go out to them.

Cheers MO family.

Anyways 

Have Fun Out There 

Till Next Time 

MCMC 

Blue Loafs

Ralphi Likes to Draw

Hey Again 
Whats this Two in one night!

The Lady Of The Moment, Lauren Marriot AKA. Ralphi 

Soo we recently got to get in touch with the Auckland based Illustrator Ralphi.


This extremely talented animal lover has a website featuring a portfolio of her effortlessly cool work Here check it out.


Anyway. here is what Ralphi had to share with us.

Firstly the basics. Name. Location. Age.? 

Lauren Marriott or 'Ralphi'

Auckland, NZ

26

So Ralphi how long have you been doing illustrations?

Every since I was a gromit. I was always going to be an illustrator.

Whats your preferred mediums and methods?

I'm currently using dip pens and ink. They're quite unpredictable and tend to bleed and flick and generally make a mess.

Any colouring I do is usually digital, as I like the contrast between hand drawn line work and flat colour planes.

Where does your influence come from?

Talented pals.

Overactive noggin.

Upsettingly good/famous comic artists and doodlers.

What made you start creating your pieces?

I'm always doodling. But after a 3 month break exploring the world I came back to find that some of my more established clients had found new favys in my absence. So I was driven to scribble lots and I think it really helped me solidify my style and find my rhythm.

Why Bunnies?

I've always drawn animals and I tend to go through phases where I have one prominent character that features in my work. Previously it was a melancholy polar bear and various cats. I think bunny will always be around though.

Do you have any favorite Pieces? Why are they?

BUNNY is my favourite. He's the ideal man/bunny. I'd marry him if I could.

Who do you look up to?

My parents.

My little sister.

Passing starlings.

Do you have any tertiary Schooling?

I have a Bachelor of Design majoring in Illustration, with First Class Honors. 

I studied at Massey University in Wellington, New Zealand.

What do you hate?

Animal cruelty.

What do you love?

Steak.

Dan.

How can people buy your works?

I have an online store... although it's currently pretty empty. I'm always happy to take commissions or if anyone is after a particular image they can fang me an email.

Yup these images are her work.

Please please please don't snake them!

If you want to use them just get in touch with her. Here.

Cheers 

Have Fun Out There

MCMC

The Official New Zealand Dictionary of Colloquialisms.

Hey Team

Have you seen this neat locally produced book.


Heres the official blurb:

"This product is a humourous 90 page, A5 size dictionary of colloquial Kiwi lingo. The content varies from serious to comical yet all are honest words that exist in our everyday dialect. It is strongly recommended for a mature audience due to the content and descriptions but most importantly, a sense of humour is critical. This dictionary makes a perfect gift for friends and family who appreciate a little looseness around the concept of being politically correct. It was inspired by a project based on defining Kiwi’s, which lead to the creation of a dictionary that provides definitions of terms unique to New Zealand. No offence is to be intentionally caused, please understand that everything written in this dictionary exists.

 Soft cover with silk matte pages printed by Geon Group in November 2011. "

So in brief its a rather comical dictionary taking the piss of New Zealanders in a sense.
Its been lovingly made and printed in high quality products just for us and available over the counter all over the North Island, Christchurch and Queenstown (the plan is to have them every where soon). Also you can pick it up online at Endemic World for $29 and keep an eye on Mr Vintage who are also going to be picking it up and selling it online soon.

Who created this you ask?
well its the brain child of Lucy Kirkwood. 
Having just graduated Uni where she studied Graphic Design and no job lined up for summer she took her final major project and the encouragement of a friend to tweak it into a well crafted book she could hopefully sell.
With 100 printed she approached family friends and stores pre-christmas to see if people were interested in it.


It was successful and that leads us up until now.
You can check more of Lucy's Work HERE

Anyway 


Have Fun Out There


MCMC

The Jauques & Lise Show.

Hey 

Jacques & Lise Website

We have been lucky enough to talk to Belguims creative duo Jacques and Lise!


These two are some of the most respectable and modest design talents out there in our opinion!

Jacques and Lise / Dont snake!

So we set out to know a little more about them. From old school printing techniques to skate boarding these two are super sweet and deserve all the praise they get.


Heres what they had to say:

Ok Jacques & Lise what are the basics people should know about you? 

Probably that we're two creative lovebirds with a strong nostalgic sense towards childhood memories, adventures and forgotten times. And that we're on constantly on the search trying to somehow reflect that feeling in our work.

and what do you think people shouldn't know about you?

Like most creatives, we're everlasting self doubters… but not about each other and each other's work. Luckily, or we'd sometimes be lost :)

So being a couple and living and working together would you mind sharing how your studio is run/ setup?

Ooooh :) We wish we could say we got our own studio setup, but since we're both just starting out as a team of freelancers, that studio is currently still just a cozy desk and some traveling laptops. 

do you find that you now share styles and influences? 

Yes definitely, we always learn from each other and each other's inspiration. If we learned a new trick, the other one is also the first to know about it!

You must have some clashes of ideas?

Hah yes, it usually just takes one look at each other faces to know the other one is not so convinced about a certain idea, style or approach. It makes it a bit harder, because it's not just you that needs to be satisfied with a result, but also your other half (and of course also most importantly the client ). It never leads to conflicts though, instead it pushes us to try and create something everyone's pleased with.

Jacques and Lise / Dont snake!

Do you have personal preferences on the methods and mediums used?

For illustration we love old-school techniques like linocut and silk-screen printing. Even when designing digital, we still often try to design and color in a way that resembles those techniques, a minimal use of color always gives a nice kinda vintage feel. Besides illustration we also like designing for the web, it's a fun medium that still had endless fun and experimental possibilities yet to be done, tasty!

Over the course of your career's so far what has been some of your stand out moments?

Probably having bundled our forces and finally having launched our 'Jacques & Lise' website, we've been planning it for so long but always were busy. It was a bit scary because we wanted to give it a bit of a human touch and tell more about us as who we really are, but in the end we let it loose and it was all good and the people around us seemed to like it.

Do you remember your fist jobs in the industry and how they went?

Our earliest experiences were mostly from internships during our education, and most of the time also in big contrast with what we really wanted to do and create, and with the magic from everything we learned at school. We wanted to create fun all-round things with a personal and human touch, instead of just being graphic design robots doing things we didn't really believe in.

How did you each come about taking up designing and creating art as a job?

The urge of being creative is something we both always had, even since we were kids. Even though it wasn't always as clear, it followed us and led us to something we truly love doing: creating and designing.

Jacques and Lise / Dont snake!

Imagine you two are stuck on a 
deserted island and you only have room on your iPod for 5 songs, what would they be?

This is too hard, so here some random (or not so random…) ones: 

Neil Young - Thrasher

Pink Floyd - Echoes

dEUS - Nothing Really Ends

Led Zeppelin - No Quarter

Bob Dylan - You Belong to Me

How is it best for people to go about getting pieces of your work?

Visit our website www.jacquesandlise.com or just contact us by e-mail! We're always in the mood for new exciting challenges!

Oh and is that you Jacques skating in that video on you site? thats rad. Whats the Belgium skate scene like?

Yes! That was in the old days, I've grown out of it a bit, but who knows after the winter… The Belgium skate scene is pretty awesome, I mostly follow it on the internet nowadays, but it's crazy to see how high the level of skating currently is. For example Youness Amrani, who rides for Almost and Nike SB. I remember him when he was just a kid, and now he's up there skating around the globe with all the famous legends: That's insane and we're all mad proud about it!

Any last remarks?

Thanks for asking and featuring us! 

Do what you love, love what you do!


Mad Respect

Jacques and Lise / Dont snake!

Jacques and Lise / Dont snake!

Check them out here


Anyways Have fun out there


MCMC

Jacques and Lise / Dont snake!