THE SELFRIDGES CHRISTMAS TREE

Connecting to the local Rottingdean community seems to be integral to your work and creative process. What do you find inspiring about Rottingdean?

James:  I’m from Rottingdean. My grandma had a gift shop here called Tallboys. It has always felt like a magical, strange place to me – particularly its smuggling history and close proximity to the sea and [The South] Downs. Under her shop were tunnels that led down to the sea for smugglers to use. That sort of secrecy and mystery of things happening under the surface of the village always made me feel inspired.   

What does your work say about fashion and art, and what do you hope the Rottingdean Bazaar legacy will be?

Luke:  I think partly because we are two individual people working together, what we make is the amalgam of constant conversations, experiments and responses to situations and new contexts we find ourselves in, rather than a consensus on intention or meaning. We make work in a range of different fields and don’t have a long-term plan. We would like to continue trying new things.
 

We know how you met, but which qualities keep you working together? How does your relationship infiltrate your practice?

Luke:  I think James has a longer view on things and is more at ease with the chaos of life. I am more pernickety and perfectionist. In our work I think it’s helpful to have both approaches in constant debate with one another. 

What does Christmas mean for you both creatively and personally? Do you find it an inspiring time?

Luke:  I find Christmas with family relaxing because, like being trapped in an airport or on a plane, it is one of the few times I feel comforted by the fact I couldn’t be doing much more than I currently am. 

James:  When I was a child, I made grottos in my grandma’s house, covering the furniture with fairy lights and fuzzy white material. I had a remote-control robot called Scooter 2000 who wore a red-and-white hat and moved around the space like an elf. Friends would come and be given presents out of a rubbish-bag stocking. I can see a connection between those moments and the work Luke and I make together now.

Do you enjoy the ritualised nature of festive celebrations, or do you carve out your own way of celebrating?

Luke:  I like the paradox of trying to recreate rituals and traditions that inevitably sprout new and sometimes absurd variations in our efforts to replicate them. The mental icon of something like an idealised Christmas tree also gives charm and character to all the Christmas trees which attempt to match it. 

James:  The best thing we did at Christmas in recent years was attend a performance of A Christmas Carol in the pub near our flat. It was brilliantly moody and intimate, performed in a very small space with very little embellishment. 
 

What is your favourite element of a Christmas dinner?

James:  Bread sauce.  
Luke:  Christmas pudding.

Is the way you're dressed in the portrait photos you made (James a tree and Luke a pudding) representative of your respective personalities and preferences? 

James: I particularly like wearing green and have a tendency towards ‘costumey’ things, so I would definitely say yes.  

Luke: Annie [Collinge, photographer] always jokes that my taste in household objects is “brown and round”, and I have to agree. I do like brown a lot. The proof is in the pudding.