MEET SMALLDITCH - OUR LATEST ARTIST COLLABORATOR WHO'S IMAGINING OUR NEW SEASON COLLECTION THROUGH A PLAYFUL, SURREALIST LENS
A naughty pair of legs, the Queen playing bingo – enter the playful world of Martha Haversham AKA @Smallditch, our latest artist collaborator who explores everyday surrealism and ‘found fashion’ (“trashion”) through her work. Lulu approached her to look at our Autumn 21 collection and transport the bags to a new dimension. We took some time to chat to Martha about this collaboration and what inspires her work and life.
CAN YOU TELL US A BIT ABOUT YOUR BACKGROUND AND WORK AS AN ARTIST?
I'm a Londoner who grew up in a creative household - my father was a photographer and mother a ballet dancer. My work mixes both worlds. I have a dance degree that I find incredibly useful. I would also be taken around skips as a child, in search of props for my father's studio shoots. He taught me about lighting, my mother about movement in space. Our home was a liveable set; natural items beautifully arranged and lit, full of picture books that I devoured. I now live in North Essex, near a salt marsh, wood and close to sandy beaches. I find objects around the house or just popping to the shops so every day I am busy and full of gratitude. Smallditch is a wonderful place to be - a visually engaged state of mind, but a rather messy one!
"It's wonderful to bring a playfullness into everyday life... and a great bag needs celebrating."
Martha Haversham
WHAT IS IT THAT REALLY INSPIRES YOU WITH THIS PARTICULAR STRAND OF YOUR WORK?
Possibilities. I am taking the low status fabrics of our society and transforming them into objects of desire. That is very liberating. It is not about material wealth and excessive consumption, rather, an imaginative lens and infinite exploration.
WE LOVE THE SURREALIST ELEMENT TO IT, AND THE PLAYFULNESS. THESE ARE THEMES THAT REALLY CHIME WITH THE LULU POINT OF VIEW, TOO, WOULD YOU AGREE?
Yes, Lulu's aesthetic is one I can relate to - there is a wit that I love to include in my visual language and Lulu has let me run riot. I get to dress-up in my favourite stripy tights and dance about. Playfulness lends itself to surrealist imagery - I can subvert scale, deconstruct objects, juxtapose and manipulate reality, and use some favourite props too, mannequin hands for example.
WHAT WAS IT LIKE APPLYING THESE THEMES TO THIS COLLABORATION WITH LULU?
Creatively, this was a joy. I have a platform to construct artworks that use very few elements to maximum effect. Here the main object is actually the bag, so everything has to be a conversation around that - an interaction.
DID YOU LIKE WORKING WITH BAGS? HOW DID YOU WANT TO BRING OUT THEIR DIFFERENT PERSONALITIES?
I have worked with bags before, for magazine features, which I enjoyed. What you see is a combination of real-life and paper cut-out bags - I switched between the two and did not get too hung up on scale. These are not intended to be realistic images, they are fantasy, absurdist and slightly mischievous. Chain straps become gold bracelets, bingo balls spill out in all directions, gloved hands are enormous. Each element is toying with the bag and loving every minute. A great bag needs celebrating.
CAN YOU TALK US THROUGH THE MAIN SET-UPS YOU CREATED – WHAT WERE YOU TRYING TO SHOW?
The shell bags were some of the first, I had black and pink. I took them to the beach at Clacton-on-Sea to get inspired along with the Bibi Bingo bag. I made a lot of images after this, an inherited pearly shell skirt hints at the pearl hidden in the bag, stripy legs stand astride a cardboard box wearing the bag as a skirt. I liked to use the packaging that comes with the bag, nothing was wasted. The white glove is quite regal, I loved the idea of the Queen playing bingo and the mannequin hand gave me scope to indulge in my love of surrealist styling and composition.
Discover Martha’s evolving ‘Trashion’ exhibition on Instagram @smallditch or visit marthahaversham.com
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