Meet the exec team!

We thought a small presentation of the exec team was long over-due! And to make it more fun, I nagged everyone into answering a set of silly questions to portray the diversity of our team. So without further ado, here they are, the people working to enrich your life with vintage-y goodness and constantly explaining just what the heck upcycling is!

I asked the following questions:
1. If you got to be someone else for one day, who would it be?
2. If you could have a superpower, what would it be and why?
3. If you had one last meal on Earth, what would it be?
4. Describe your sense of style at 13.

President: Pija Ona Indriunaite, 19 years old, Lithuania 

1. MARLA SINGERS!

2. Time-travel. Because I would get to meet all the coolest people in the world!

3. Coffee and ice-cream.

4. "What is style?"

Vice-President: Diana Chen, 19 years old, Portugal

1. Is it weird but I would like to be a man? Just to experience what it would be like to have a different gender and the different interactions I would have.

2. I would be able to teleport so I would get to lectures faster in the morning so I can sleep more!

3.Sushi. Because I'm obsessed.

4. Probably some random girly style that I thought was super cool at the time but would never wear nowadays.

Treasurer: Toms Svens Skopins, 20 years old, Latvia

1. LebronJames.

2. Reality Warping, cause it sounds cool haha.

3. Kotletes, would have something Latvian!

4. Baller all the way (looked like a basketball player).

Publicity Officer: Frederick Bratley, 19 years old, England

1. Me. Just old and retired.

2. Teleportation, because I am so sick of taking the U1 everyday.

3. Steak, cause I love steak, but it has to be proper.

4. Anything purple.

Secretary: Angela Gui, 20 years old, Chinese parents but born and raised in Sweden

1. If time-travelling is allowed I’d be Audrey Hepburn in the 60s or Myrna Loy in the 30s! As for contemporary people I’d really like to know what it’s like to be a ballerina, so any random ballet performer would be cool, haha.

2. Teleportation definitely; it’d save so much time and money!

3. Pasta carbonara, because it’s the one dish I never tire of. I make it all the time and could probably cook it asleep at this point.

4. Describe your style as a 13 year old. Haha. I went through a bit of an emo phase at 13 and wore loads of eyeliner, black skinny jeans and band T-shirts.

Social Secretary (1/2): Hiba Ahmad, 20 years old (going on 21), Iraqi-born, Iraq-Syria-Sweden-raised.

1. I would like to be Barack Obama so I can be powerful and also have a go at being a man. That would be cool.

2. I am going to have to be boring but definitely teleportation – I love travelling and I fly home quite often and it makes me feel incredibly guilty; my treehugger heart shrinks every time I step on an airplane. I also hate airports and everything about them so it would be a plus to have to not do the overpriced food, lack of comfort, the lack of outdoor spaces/ fresh air and the “random” checks they always put me through haha ;)

3.  A PERFECT Italian Spaghetti Pomodoro with lots and lots of cheese on top, garlic bread and tomato/ mozzarella/basil salad on the side and a nice red wine with it. A good way to go if you ask me.

4. I had a Lily-Allen-in-2006 -period at 13 where I wore various puffy princess dresses with ear hoops, thick chains on my neck and green and white Puma-sneakers. Could be worse if you ask me.

Social Secretary (2/2): Constanze Fetting, 20, Germany

1. Tough one. Maybe a guy, just to see what it's like.

2. Omnilinguism. I love languages and I love to travel, so being able to speak with everyone in the world in their own language would be awesome!

3. Spinach Lasagna. Because I'm weird.

4. Awkward. Trying to be cool, but never really getting it right, and not brave enough to try anything adventurous. I also remember cargo trousers.

That's all, folks! (Yes, that was a cheeky plug for our next Vintage Movie Night - and now that you know who we are then surely you must come and get a cookie and a good laugh ;) ).

Much love,

Hiba and the exec team xx

Vintage Cartoon Night Line-up

Here to offer you a little background information to the fantastic cartoons that will be screened next Wednesday! 7 films from 7 different studios. The running time will be approximately an hour, plus a short intermission for refreshments.

Puss Gets the Boot (1940) [MGM]

The Oscar-nominated first instalment in MGM’s original series of 161 Tom and Jerry shorts, then named Jasper and Jinx. This cartoon is presented unedited in its original historical context; famously, the series depicts racial stereotypes that are unacceptable today. You may notice the short has a more painterly quality and the character designs are more detailed than the rest of the series.

The Band Concert (1935) [Disney]

Always among film historians’ top picks for greatest ever cartoons, The Band Concert was the first Mickey Mouse film produced in colour. It notably features an early appearance of Donald Duck who didn’t get his own series until years later.

Bimbo’s Initiation (1931) [Fleischer Studios]

The earliest film on our list and the only one in monochrome, this anarchic short seems characteristic of the era. Surprisingly experimental, it marks the invention of cartoon tropes that return time and time again throughout animation history (such as the door behind door behind door trope). Look out for another early appearance of a popular cartoon character.

Gerald McBoing-Boing (1950) [UPA]

This Academy Award winning short based on a story by Dr Seuss was a deliberate breakaway from Disney-style cartoon realism. It has a very 50s look: gorgeously stylized and minimalistic. It changed the critical opinion of “limited animation” that would become the basis of the TV shows we grew up watching, proving the genre’s artistic merit.

Winny-Puh (1969) [Soyuzmultifilm, SOV]

This adorable soviet adaptation of A.A. Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh stories is as much-loved as the Disney adaptation is to western audiences. Based almost word-for-word on the Russian translation of the books, many critics have argued the characterization more faithfully resembles Milne’s original creations. A glimpse at the popular soviet drawing style that begs the question how such a heavy-handed regime can produce such loving-crafted animation.

Creature Comforts (1989) [Aardman, UK]

Nick Park’s seminal stop-motion short ingeniously creates lovable characters from real-life interviews. Bagging the Academy Award for best animated short, Aardman’s (thoroughly British) nuanced style would find further success with Wallace and Gromit, making Bristol the world-capital of stop-motion animation.

What’s Opera, Doc? (1957) [Warner Bros.]

This is the big one. We’re reserving judgment, but it is almost universally agreed by animation historians that this is the greatest cartoon ever produced. A Bugs Bunny parody of Wagner’s operas, it is definitely the epic magnum opus of Chuck Jones’ Looney Tunes career. You will almost certainly leave the screening shouting, “Kill the wabbit!”

/ Frederick

I Wear My Grandma's Clothes... Part I

It is not always easy to find authentic good quality clothes from the 50s, 60s or even 70s.. Not to mention that prices for real vintage clothes are not always the lowest… How do you find cool vintage clothes without spending money? - Go and raid your grandmother's wardrobe! Even though you may think that today your grandmother/grandfather/mum/dad does not have a fashion-magazine style, some things from their past that are hidden somewhere in the corner of a wardrobe (that they have probably forgotten about) are the most beautiful vintage pieces you wouldn't find in any boutique or thrift shop. Create your outfit without spending money and combine it with wearing something precious to you.

Here are my real-life examples (photos by Angela Gui):

 This black dress used to belong to my great-grandmother; and the white scarf from my grandmother

Originally the dress was too big for me - everything can be fixed with a belt around the waist!

My grandmother found this scarf while cleaning out her closet and immediately gave it to me  

Red dress made by my grandmother in the 70s

Belt I found in my mum's closet; apparently used to belong to my uncle when he was 8 years old

My grandmother wearing the red dress she made to go to my uncle's graduation 

Yellow dress made by my mum and embroidered by my grandmother (Photo by no photography)

My mum wearing the same dress in the 90s

Part II will be published soon; do you wear clothes handed down to you from your mum, grandmother, grandfather, dad or uncle? Comment below or email us to tell your story and we'll do a little photo shoot!

/ Pija x