Before Pen & Pixel became one of the most iconic design studios in hip-hop history, it began with a Xerox machine, a storyboard, and a willingness to experiment.
In the early 90s, Southern rap was rapidly expanding beyond regional recognition, but visually, the culture still lacked an identity that matched its ambition. Pen & Pixel would change that forever.
Ahead of Wax Poetics’ new Pen & Pixel collection, Shawn Brauch traces the studio’s origins, influence, and rise to legendary status.
Read the full feature now on the Patta blog.
Amsterdam-based nail artist Daniel Smedeman has established himself as one of the go-to creatives in nail art culture. As the co-founder and Creative Director of Glazed Salon, Daniel has created a signature style. His work has been featured across leading publications including Vogue, Acne Papers, Carnale, Perfect Magazine, Harper’s Bazaar and Vanity Fair.
His creative direction sets the tone on the runway, as he leads nail design for houses such as Casablanca and Willy Chavarria. Being such a talented individual, it was a no-brainer for Patta to collaborate with him in the past. His salon, based in Amsterdam’s Red Light District, is a place we turn to whether we’re after a perfectly clean nail or a piece of art.
Get familiar with Daniel Smedeman on our blog or in Patta Magazine Volume 6.
Get Familiar with Het Sikklecellfonds now on our blog.
As part of our collaboration with the Dutch Sickle Cell Foundation, we spoke to Professor Marjon Cnossen — pediatric haematologist, researcher, and one of the driving forces behind the foundation — to better understand the realities of sickle cell disease, why awareness remains so low, and why community-led support matters more than ever. From the outside, sickle cell disease is still widely misunderstood. For many families living with it, that lack of recognition
can feel almost as difficult as the illness itself.
Through research, advocacy, fundraising, and events like the Bijlmer Run, the Sickle Cell Foundation is helping to change that — building not just visibility, but real support for patients and their families.
Get Familiar with ARTNOIR now on our blog.
ARTNOIR is a community first and an institution second: seven co-founders building the kind of art world they wanted to exist in, then inviting everyone else into it. Since 2013, they have used the platform to amplify Black and Brown creatives across disciplines, not just through exhibitions and walkthroughs, but through real infrastructure like Jar of Love: a micro-grant that has redistributed resources to artists and cultural workers when the bigger systems proved fragile.
ARTNOIR made its Dutch debut through a collaboration with OSCAM in Amsterdam Zuidoost, a meeting of two Black women-led institutions that understand the power of place, and the urgency of showing up for community in real time. Their joint exhibition, Watering a Black Garden, brings together eight women and non-binary artists from across the diaspora, reframing joy as something intentional: tending, care, rest, and becoming.
Catch the exhibition today on its last day.
Get Familiar with Window Kid now on our blog.
After more than a decade of grinding through bars, radio sets, side quests, and underground hustle, Window Kid’s rise may look sudden from the outside, but it’s been years in the making.
Now, with a DJ Mag Best MC/Vocalist win, a major collaboration with Sir Spyro, and a new chapter shaped by sobriety, self-reflection, and more focused songwriting, he stands at a point that feels both earned and full of possibility. In the interview he reflects on a decade in the underground and how getting sober expanded rather than limited his creativity.
Get familiar with Finn Askew now on our blog.
With his new release BLUEBOY, Finn Askew sounds like an artist stepping into sharper focus. The Somerset-born songwriter has always known how to bottle emotion, but this latest mixtape feels broader in scope and more deliberate in its storytelling, pulling as much from cinema, made-up worlds, and other people’s lives as he does from his own. Still rooted in intimacy, but no longer confined by autobiography, the project marks a clear shift in both confidence and craft.
Join us at Patta London on Thursday 23rd April between 18:00 and 20:00, for a special evening with Finn Askew as he celebrates the release of his new Mixtape.
Get familiar with Raheem Esteban now on our blog or in Patta Magazine Volume Six.
Esteban Raheem Abdul Raheem Samayoa has just wrapped up his first solo institutional exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Art San José, titled Blood Be Water. Capping off a formative year that is not quite over yet, the moment even came with a profile in The New York Times. Born in Sacramento and now living in Oakland, the Mexican-Guatemalan artist took the opportunity to incorporate new mediums like pastels and ceramics rather than the airbrush and charcoal drawings that he has previously been known for.
It is immediately evident that Samayoa’s art is a personal reflection of his life, experiences, and perspective. Based around themes of community and identity, “what I want people to grasp from the work is a feeling of being comfortable, a feeling of being seen and heard,” he explains. Samayoa speaks to Patta Magazine about the themes that define his work, his love of dogs, and what’s next.
Patta Magazine Volume 6 is available now at Patta chapter stores in Amsterdam, London, Milan, and Lagos.
Get familiar with Conrad Soundsystem now on our blog.
Spread across cities, schedules, and parallel lives, the Conrad Soundsystem only occasionally occupy the same room, but when they do, something immediate and unfiltered happens. Formed during the stillness of lockdown in The Hague, the project grew out of living room sessions on Conradkade, a literal sound system between friends that quickly evolved into something more defined.
Their latest release West End is Conrad Soundsystem’s most defined statement to date: a tense, soundsystem-centric record designed to be felt as much as heard. Out now via United Identities.
To mark the release, Conrad Soundsystem bring their world to life on Friday, April 17th at LAAK in The Hague, joining forces with Dooorp, Pip Radio and United Identities for a night that reflects the community around them. Expect a full-spectrum experience: heavyweight sound, close collaborators on the lineup, and a raw, unfiltered energy that mirrors the way their music is made.
Get Familiar with Charity Charly now on our blog.
In her directorial debut, Tra Fasi (2026), filmmaker Charity Charly steps into Suriname’s underground punk scene through the story of Shavero Ferrier. Shavero, a young cultural organiser, creates space for punk parties and self-expression in a society that often leans toward conformity. Charly, with a multidisciplinary background in film from camerawork and styling to set design, brings a personal and multifocal lens to her work.
Driven by a desire to reveal overlooked experiences and challenge dominant narratives. We spoke with her about her first steps into filmmaking, the making of Tra Fasi, and her vision for the visual stories still to be told.
Tra Fasi (2026) is screening at Melkweg, Paard Den Haag, Down The Rabbit Hole and more.
Get Familiar with TYSON now on our blog.
TYSON has always existed in a musical space of her own, one where alternative textures meet an R&B sensibility, and where collaboration feels as instinctive as solitude. We connect with her to discuss her featuring on Sam Akpro’s new single “Wayside”,
The release follows a steady run of celebrated work, from her 2024 CHOAS EP to collaborations with artists such as Leon Vynehall, Dean Blunt and Coby Sey, as well as her recent appearance on Yazmin Lacey’s “Water.” Alongside her music, TYSON continues to build community through Ladies Music Pub, the London-based collective she co-founded to support women and gender-nonconforming people in the industry.
In this conversation, TYSON reflects on the making of “Wayside”, the evolving nature of collaboration, and how her creative process is shifting, shaped by new environments, new experiences, and the realities of motherhood.
Get Familiar with Order Tattoo Jam now on our blog.
Order Tattoo Jam is back, and this year it’s levelling up in every direction. What started as a tight-knit gathering rooted in Amsterdam’s creative underground has grown into a global meeting point for tattoo culture, art, and music.
For its latest edition, Order moves into its biggest venue yet, the iconic Kromhouthal in Amsterdam North, while reconnecting with its origins at Skatecafe for the after-hours program. With 200 artists flying in from across the world, a fully realised art market, large-scale installations, and a day-to-night format that stretches across the neighbourhood, the 2026 edition feels less like an event and more like a living ecosystem.
We sat down with Order’s Etienne Memon to break down what’s new, what’s evolved, and why this year might be the most ambitious jam yet.
