10 March 2014

the creatives - jo waterhouse

It's been a while since the last post in 'the creatives' - a series of interviews you'll find here from time to time, introducing some of my favourite artists and designers to you all. This time I'd like to introduce Jo WaterhouseI can't remember when I first stumbled across Jo's wonderful blog, but I've been following it intently ever since. Jo shares my love of rummaging at the car boot sale and has an incredible eye for spotting the beauty in objects that others might pass by, she's also a very talented printmaker, producing some fun and stylish products which I think you'll love.




So Jo, please tell us a little about yourself and what you do? 
Oh jeez Polly, dive straight in with the tricky ones why don't you . . .
I live in South London and work from my bedroom and from East London Printmakers (which is in East London). I make prints that are simple - I like working in monochrome. I work on textiles and paper, I draw a lot, and write and I drive around buying old things for my stall and shop.

What's the first thing you remember creating and how old were you? 
I was very little and wearing my swimming costume that had got to that stretched out/kind of see-through stage of wear - which meant it was really soft and loose. I had an old, crusty box of watercolours and I felt like - yeah, this is it, I have watercolours, I'm the real deal. There were lots of kids playing in the river so I squatted down on a little outcrop in full site of them all and got all self-consciously engrossed in my act of genius creation, dipping my brush in the river. Maybe it's sad that this memory isn't of the joy of creating but of the joy of being seen to be creating. Oh well.

What are you working on at the moment? 

I'm working with a few designers to make patterns across all sorts of different products, that's nice, and scary. I'm also dead into my writing at the moment so I'm trying to combine words and textiles and pictures in new ways . . .  that aren't naff (that last bit's tricky).

Where do you look for inspiration? 

Car boot sales are brilliant, for shapes and for colours - it's a bit like being a curator, choosing the good stuff from the piles of stinking crud. And exhibitions, obviously, I love a retrospective - I like to tap in to work through the arc of someones life, it's when it makes most sense to me. Tate Modern and Raven Row are my best places if I'm stuck; I know they'll always have the goods.

What are your favourite magazines, and blogs? 
I like Stylist, and Jack got me a subscription to World of Interiors for Christmas which I like a lot. I also like Apartamento, obviously. 
I like a lot of blogs . . . Tea at the Vicarage, Junkaholique, Fine Little Day, At Swim Two Birds, Im Revolting, Freund von FreundenBastis Rike . . . and Nice Kind of Blue.

If you could collaborate with anyone (living or dead who would that be)?
In recent years I've got much more politicised, I'm a devout feminist. I'd like to put some of my creativity into protest and awareness. I think I'd like to work with the Everyday Sexism project on something. I don't know what the outcome would be and it might be a real departure but maybe that's the fun of collaboration.

Do you sell your work? If so where? 
I sell my work through my shop which you can find at www.jowaterhouse.com/shop and my stall at Spitalfields on a Thursday.

Where can we find you? (blog, website, Twitter, Instagram, etc.)
www.jowaterhouse.com. Come over and say hello any time.

Thank you Jo, for taking part in 'the creatives' series, giving us an insight into your work and what inspires you. 


If you've enjoyed this post, I'm sure you'll enjoy meeting some more creatives here.