Nice Shirt Blog: 2012

Virgil Finlay

Stumbled-upon during various Internet surfing this week, the awesome illustrations of Virgil Finlay really caught my eye. His creepy illustration of a vampire looking at himself in the mirror (below) you may recognise from the Oneohtrix Point Never album artwork - the rest of Virgil Finlay's work is just as striking.

(Mondays, amirite??)

Flickr Find: Faces

Catharine Ross by Parker Fitzgerald

Christmas Tree

Nice Shirt has a Christmas tree...

...that's not your average Christmas "tree". And yes, that is old used storage boxes.

A tidy-up of Nice Shirt left us with a lot of old boxes we needed to get rid of- particularly these rather nice pine-coloured boxes. The festive time was upon us and we wanted to get a tree, so we thought we'd get a bit creative (and environmentally friendly, naturally).

Everything is handmade & recycled (except the lights- we're not that ingenious), from the paper chains to the rather fetching black shiny "tinsel", which is in fact tape from old Digis that we were also getting rid of:

Eco-mental! We still have a sh*t-tonne of these tapes we're trying to get rid of if you're interested.

Adam made the star a-top the wondrous tree.

Paper chains! So retro. It's just so poetic that that which was once a tree is now a tree again. Or something.

And behold, our festive tree. The more we look at it, the more it starts to resemble some kind of Christmas robot, but hey.

Flickr Finds : h ope

13_9A by h ope [link to photostream]

Ettinger x Saira
by Tareq

Following on from Tareq's last look at close-up leather handiwork, comes another film again featuring the talents of tattooist Saira Hunjan. Her intricate designs (inspired by "death, beauty and goddesses") now finds its way onto Ettinger's range of luxury leather wares. Tareq's delicately self-shot film looks at the precise work that goes into making their pieces. How great must it be to work in a leather factory?? The smell must be amazing.

Girls with guns

I stumbled across these great images during some picture research this week- they're part of a series of pictures by photographer Rachel Papo, who followed groups of Israeli teenage girls conscripted into the Israel Defence Force. Israel is the only country in the world that has mandatory military service for women, enlisting women into military service from the age of 18.

You can see more images here: http://www.serialno3817131.com

"Can you fill me in?"

Just found this CD buried deep in storage. It's probably worth quite a lot now. As like an ashtray or to be hung up in the garden to scare the birds away.

"Heatwave"

We were really feeling this song in the office today. So good!

Grand Trunk Road

Nice Shirt friend and all-around cool guy James Graley is currently touring India & Pakistan filming a documentary based on food found along the Grand Trunk Road- one of the oldest routes through the Indian subcontinent. We've been keeping track of his journey on a Tumblr James has set up for the project and he is encountering some amazing-looking people and scenes- check it out!

Some select pics we've enjoyed:

Keep track of James here: http://gtrd2012.tumblr.com

Production Diaries: Number 1

Presenting the first (and maybe the last?) in a regular feature where the Nice Shirt Blog delves deep into the murky and interesting world of commercial production, through the lens of Executive Producer Richard Martin. Think of him as the nicer yet just as charming version of Roger Sterling of Nice Shirt, if Nice Shirt were Mad Men in what is quite a dubious comparison.

"One of many rabbits I've pulled out of my hat. I can also pull hairs out of my nose."

"River Ebro, Spain - our production designer, Pirra, sitting in for a line-up. Gruelling work."

carréducker by Tareq Kubaisi

On Tareq's reel now is this short film he directed for bespoke shoemaker carréducker. As if watching a a pair of fine leather bespoke boots being crafted wasn't fascinating enough, Tareq's film looks at the collaboration between the shoemaker and tattooist Saira Hunjan.

Saira is known as the girl with the golden needle, tattooing for ten years with a two year waiting list to go under her needle (if that's what you call it?) Her work with carréducker sees her tattoo directly onto the leather, creating intricate designs influenced by her main inspirations: "death, beauty and goddesses". The range is exclusively by commission. If you want to ask the price, etc etc etc.

JJ wins Gold

JJ Keith's spot for Ice Dew, "Sixty Percent", has taken home a Gold at the 4As Chinese Advertising Awards, winning what appears to be a bejewelled, gold-plated version of the "nerve-wracking game of skill" Ker-Plunk, as shown above.

IF Insurance by Jesper Ericstam

Here are the latest two spots that Creativity Online hyped up here. First up is "Room Service":

And second up is "Copy Cat", which we think is our favourite so far of the campaign, purely for the guy in the turtleneck who owns a Dodge Viper- which is always a great combination.

Don't you worry 'bout a thing

Jesper's work for IF Insurance has been marked out by the fine folks over at Creativity Online:

http://creativity-online.com/work/if-room-service/29489

"Fantastiskt lysande!", which is Swedish for "fantastically brilliant!".

10 Grams: Tareq

International Man of Mystery (and Directing) Tareq is a busy man. Luckily we managed to collar him for a quick few moments to get him to share some Instagrams detailing what he's been up to lately. Peep them here:

Jesper's Party

Nice Shirt's Jesper is also Social Club's Jesper, Social Club being his production company in his native Sweden. They're throwing a party to celebrate their 10 years of existence (congratulations!) and sent out invites that featured this great pic of Jesper working hard, hardly working.

The party invite requires you to"bring your thirst", so we'll see you there! (provided someone gives us flights, accommodation and breakfast the morning after- preferably something greasy)

Bank of Ireland "Dancers"
by Stuart Douglas

New work from Stuart, shot for Bank of Ireland featuring some great dancers.

IF Insurance "Judgement Day"

More from the IF Insurance band as they go around playing their immensely catchy song and sorting out people's worries. Shots liked it (making it a Shots Contender) and we're pretty sure you'll like it too.

Shell/Ferrari/Lego "Curtain"
by Jon Hollis

Jon's latest is lots of fun- F1 cars made of Lego being raced by Ferrari drivers Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa. More exciting then real actual Formula One.

Sainsbury's by Stuart Douglas

Stuart has been very busy over the summer- as we post, he is shooting over in the "tropical" climbs of Ireland. Amongst what he's been shooting is the latest campaign for Sainsbury's, including this Back to School spot which is currently on-air.

His other spots in the campaign have a lovely summertime vibe- let them serve as a reminder to us all savour it while we can (...and to shop at Sainsbury's).