AT YOUR SERVICE

Apr 12, 2025

VIVIANA | PHOTOGRAPHER, FILMMAKER

Viviana is a visual artist primarily working with photography, moving images, and printmaking. Her work explores themes of memory and place. She has exhibited at the Culture of Communication Center (Lithuania), JB Blunk Estate (San Francisco), and Anthology Film Archives (New York).

Nothing stands in the way of this ambitious photographer, film and print maker, her sweet nature and elfin features are a cover for an energy and determination to go places – and she no doubt will.

“I like the size of the Frances and the different compartments it has. It’s lightweight so I can easily carry important things instead of having a huge bag. As a photographer, it’s replacement for a heavy camera bag.”

SHOP FRANCES

1. Where did you study and what did you gain from it?

I studied BA Photography at Falmouth University. I learned to experiment, to mix photography with sculpture, moving image, and printmaking. It wasn’t just about taking pictures but about seeing what happens when you break an image apart, layer it, distort it. The staff pushed us to always ask, what else? — something I carry with me in everything I make.

2. When and how did you come to know you wanted to be a photographer?

It’s hard to say exactly. I was about seven. I ran a small "cinema" in my grandmother’s living room, playing films for her, rewinding them, watching them again. Then I started making my own—tiny films, portraits of my friends. At the time, I didn’t think of it as photography, but looking back, I was already drawn to the way images build stories, the way they hold time still.

2. What inspires you?

It all comes from movement—traveling, watching films, reading, listening to music. The way different things layer over each other, shaping how I see. I keep coming back to artists like Bruce Nauman, Francis Alÿs, Bas Jan Ader—people who reinvented how we create imagery, who found meaning in quiet moments, in process, in failure.

GUS SHARPE | STYLIST AND PRODUCER

@gussharpe

“The squat bag has always been a favourite of mine since I started at AC because even though a goth at heart, I do love a hit of subtle colour for an accessory, and this one feels very rich in style!”

Gus is a stylist, producer and propmaker. He has worked with some impressive names: Gucci, on their Northface collaboration, Libertines latest album, Viagra Boys, PJ Harvey, The Horrors and most recently the Moonlandingz. He circulates through society on many levels. Spend 10 minutes with him and you realise he knows almost everyone.

From the hotbed of creation that is Margate, Gus has emerged fully fledged and early on he decided to justify his borderline kleptomania through dressing friends and contacts in the music business. Gus’s magpie nature is always on the alert for that item that will transform an idea or look for his clients.

“I think self-expression should be set into your everyday pursuits with pure ease, and without over-thinking what comes across to others if you enjoy what you’re wearing with confidence"

SHOP SQUAT

1. Who are your heroes?

John Cooper Clarke for his effortlessly cool demeanour and dry delivery, Spike Milligan and Eddie Izzard really influenced my funny side growing up! Stephen Appleby is also someone that has really left a mark on how I think about the creative practice and how to think.

2. What is fashion?

My opinion on fashion has changed quite dramatically in the last year or so, as I used to be very set on pulling larger than life looks and seeing every day as your theoretical last to make sure you’re always impressing yourself. But it’s only ever really been for my own enjoyment, never to necessarily impress, more to just make sure I feel my true full self. These days it’s less about ‘the most’ but more about subtle interests and influences translating into interesting silhouettes and textures’

KONG QIANYANG | ARTIST

“I like the marbled texture of the bag as it’s kind of a trace of human existence. Whenever I touch the surface, it becomes a bag that speaks more in line with my identity. With so many compartments and pockets it makes my life so much easier.”

Kong Qianyang (b. 1998, Ningbo) is a London-based Chinese artist whose works span across sculpture, photography, poem and textile.

Ruin is the centre of her practice and follows on from her studies in textiles and fashion at Winchester School of Art and then at the RCA for an MA.

The little questionnaire below explains everything and yet is quite a serious contrast to Kong’s cheerful personality in the shop.

SHOP FRIK

1. What inspires you?

I'm inspired by culture erosion, architectural memory, craftsmanship and societal hierarchies rooted in Chinese heritage, which testify to geographical shifts, changing social ideologies, and the evolving residential environment.

This series Last Words of The Dust lean toward replication—yet that’s precisely what I wanted to explore: City’s ruins. A city’s scars are its extensions of the past. The ancestral residences are re-erected to new complexes or restored to adapt with commerce centres are eventually “healing” to be a scar manifesting the past that has never been passed. The remnants that survive—broken facade, crumbling structures—are those deemed historically significant, while most of the residential environment is erased without a trace.

2. What is your dream exhibition?

My dream exhibition-I'd like to have my works exhibited and preserved in a natural landscape, erecting like an architecture and fade away with nature, lingering like a monument even after I pass away.

3. What do you enjoy most about your medium or media?

In my practice, The most enjoyable medium/methodology is always accumulation through deconstruction either utilizing slaked lime or textile material, which metaphorizes the endurance of human existence and mirrors the evolution of cultural heritage.

4.Who are your heroes?

Anselm Kiefer, Francis Alÿs, Ai Wei Wei and Dorothy Cross who are my heroes, I'd like to particularly emphasize Francis Alÿs as his endeavours are not mostly product-based. His perspective and outputs are subtle yet expressing the critical and revolutionized standpoint to challenge the societal hierarchy.

RICARDO | DJ, MENSWEAR DESIGNER

@marcus__burt

Renaissance man, DJ, Jazz lover, designer of menswear, exponent of visible shoes and socks, and journalist, some of the things that Ricardo is involved in. He’s analytical about what customers like and need and enjoys finding the right thing for them. Don’t look for him in May as he has a residency at the Venice Biennale.

“My favourite bag of all time is the Franco, it’s been everywhere with me, festivals, Japan, my mums house in Devon, on the back of a lime bike and many clubs! It’s a trusty ride or die, fits my headphones, sometimes a water bottle, always sunglasses! Charger cable and my trusty notebook and pen!“

SHOP FRANCO

1. Who are your Heroes?

James Baldwin, Miles Davis, Mac Miller, Grace Wales Bonner, Noah Davis and Lubana Himid.

2. Are you a Renaissance Man?

I’d say so, I think ethically I believe in people being able to individually follow their interests and paths. And I’d say for art and fashion the renaissance period really kicked into motion a new era of change, and fundamentally change is good! You never know what is round the corner.

3. What’s the point of fashion?

Funny enough it’s a question I’ve been asking myself a lot these past couple of weeks and to be truly honest I’m struggling to work out the point in its entirety. On surface level clothes and fashion make people happy, and I believe someone’s true sense of style is not only a reflection of themselves but a true confidence booster! Garments however I’m torn , I’m finding it hard to see the purpose in designing, creating and wearing new garments. I think the clothes and fashion I’m being drawn to is the clothes I’ve had for 5+ years that carry all the sentimental value, stains and marks attached, they bring a narrative that I guess I’m always searching for in clothes and I try and put into the clothes I make.

4.What have you learnt at AC?

To be honest a lot more than I could have ever imagined. I’ve learnt patience and the value of learning about products when being able to speak and engage with our customers, it’s nice when you're able to share a detail about a product and you can see they’ve learnt something new. Through working with Ally and hearing stories, life long lessons she’s picked up as a business woman and overall just being in her world, I’ve learnt that life is much more of a journey with multiple paths, people and turns rather than one direct route and that’s the joy of it all! You follow your passion and stay curious!