THIS WILL BE THAMES MMXX.
A world to live in and delight in!
I’ve kept an ear to the ground for years for exactly the right shop. I wouldn’t waste anyone’s energy pursuing anything less, nor, being ultimately more stubborn than impatient, could I wholeheartedly bring myself to revisit the definition. In the meantime, we’ve created or gratefully accepted opportunities to build glimpses of our world in shops which already exist, and installed The Front Room, a booking-recommended space, in our second-floor, Monday-Friday studio. That’s been more than a stopgap, but this was fundamentally its intention, and after learning late last year that 53 Brewer Street might unexpectedly become possible, I could think of little else.
53 Brewer Street was familiar to me, and not just because it’s 36 seconds away: there are only so many potential shops in potential Soho, there are even fewer on corners and junctions, which was essential, and there is just one with properly bowed windows for a front, which would be a very THAMES bonus, and this was my thinking, ringing the number on it in 2019, when such retail spaces still needed to advertise or come to market at all. I was told then very concisely that it had been taken, which was not such a blow, as the ask had only been out of curiosity anyway: I didn’t have anything to put in it.
Seven years on, however, THAMES not only has stuff, but it has 𝘵𝘩𝘦 stuff; we have inadvertently vetted the will-be staff for years; they, in turn, have inadvertently prepared; and we are, I feel, simply ready to take this next step, and contribute more tangibly than ever to this city which will always be our home.
I very much hope that you will join us in that.
“THERE’S NO SCHOOL LIKE THE OLD SCHOOL,
and I’m the P.E. and Religious Studies teacher!”
Every Monday morning, I sit at my desk and make my to-do list. Every week, in each of the five colour-coded categories, there is much more than could be done, and every week I add yet more in pen, next to that. But every now and then, seemingly just for the novelty, I triumphantly cross something out, too, and I’m glad to share that just such an instance occurred earlier this week, about one of the more vague ideas that’s carried over from one list to the next for months: ‘trick tip’!
The trick is backside bluntslides, and the video is now up in full on the YouTube channel, MMXX VISION.
Shall I tell you what I don’t like? When you go to some ghastly dinner, which you don’t feel up to in the first place, and there are place cards, and they’ve put you and your partner at opposite ends of the room. Do people do this because they don’t want to sit with their own wives or husbands?
Just be with someone you want to be with.
It’s evident from my photos of this past week that it’s people, for the most part, that really captivate my interest. Having said that, the sun-trapping medieval city of Bolzano, a gateway to the Dolomites in the majestic Italian Alps, was very charming indeed.
Two mirrored crosses I made in 2017, when I used to make art for walls. Uncovered yesterday, whilst observing the tradition of Spring cleaning in our warehouse. I thought they’d make for appropriate pictures to accompany my very best wishes for another crucial April happening, the Easter weekend.
God bless.
“There are three reasons we look to quintessential, traditional Britain, and these are them. One, because it’s conventional, and therefore an unlikely source of inspiration for a contemporary brand rooted in skateboarding. It’s a whole world, ripe for subverting, and as anyone who knows me at all will tell you, fun is what I must have. Two, because, in fact, it isn’t all necessarily subversive. This Britain may be a fairy tale, but it’s one we’ve been told and one with which our real lives have been interwoven from the off. So along with all the pisstaking, there is deep-rooted pride and reverence too. Three, and this is really all that matters to most, because it looks good. It did in the past and it will in the future, and who, who isn’t themselves wearing a cross-body bum bag and joggers with a thick plasticol print over their crotch, could really argue with that?“
— Blondey
