Intoart goes into fashion

Sometimes fashion can have a bit of an originality problem. In an industry that’s increasingly trend-led, ideas and aesthetics get disseminated from haute couture down to the high street, then from street fashion back up the chain again. Yes, there are innovators, but a lot of the time it can feel like following the herd.

But a new collaboration between Intoart, the south London art collective formed of artists with learning disabilities, and 234-year-old luxury knitwear brand John Smedley is totally unlike anything we’ve ever seen before. It’s fresh, fun and we love it so much we’ve (almost) been wishing summer away so we can get some knitwear on our bodies

The newness of the collection, which includes unisex jumpers, woollen dresses, a scarf and a shawl, is no doubt down the three talented artists behind the designs, Ntiense Eno Amooquaye, Yoshiko Phillips and Andre Williams. The trio, who are based at Intoart’s Peckham studio along with 18 other artists, worked with creative directors Holly Fulton and James Lambert over two months to realise their visions. The artists were given free reign to explore their interest and ideas, and in early 2018 visited the John Smedley mill in Matlock, Derbyshire, to learn about the journey from design to finished garment. With this new expertise in John Smedley’s knitting heritage and techniques, the artists could then fine-tune their ideas to the possibilities and limitations of knitwear production.

Although this is Intoart’s first foray into the fashion world, artist Ntiense Eno Amooquaye is far from a novice in the field. Working across visual arts, spoken work and live performance, Ntiense’s has previously exhibited her fashion work in the V&A, with her bespoke placement-print silk dress on show in the fashion galleries last year as part of London Design Festival. Her trio of designs make use of her skill in depicting the human form, focusing on the iconography of fashion and the fashion model.

Inspired by Japanese embroidery, textiles and block-printed Ukiyo-e art, Yoshiko Phillips has a bold, graphic style that she applies to fashion accessories, stationery and prints. For the John Smedley collection, she’s created two animal-inspired jumpers and a dress that each play on the notion of predator and prey.

Opting instead for a typographic approach, the three pieces by Intoart’s Andre Williams combine wry and witty statements with high-impact colours. Andre’s penchant for type and graphics has been a mainstay of the studio since he joined Intoart in 2010, where he has become and expert in screen printing and laser-cutting, developing wood relief masks, robots and mystical creatures.

The collection of nine pieces are set to launch in November, and Intoart will also be working on the Christmas windows at the John Smedley flagship Jermyn Street Store to fully celebrate this groundbreaking collaboration.

Find out more about Intoart's new space at Peckham Levels in this behind-the-scenes feature.