Things are on the move, so the Suffoca studio is packed up but orders are still going through fine, but you may have a day delay rather then next day delivery for a week or two. New products are still coming along and this move will only push the brand on and allow me to put more time in, some exciting things coming.

Last week in the U.S was spent hanging out at Martha’s Vineyard with Johnny and the gang, and o man what a way to finsh off the already awesome trip. After stocking up on goodies from the supermarket and jumping on a boat, we headed over to catch everyone at the house, driving across the island  i kept my eyes open for the most famous shark  in the sea “Jaws”, as this was were he stared in his film.

After a catch up with the man himself and a hello to some new face’s we loaded up the cupcake van and hopped over to the pop up store for a night full of wonder and confused people staring in to what they thought were food menu’s to find t shirts, (Genius)

We would hang out by the shop chatting to customers, telling story’s, drawing and messing around. One night a customer brought down two massive penny farthings and while my eyes blew up like a puppie in amazement we wiggled over to check them out, and in a soft voice we hinted we would love to have a go riding and by dumbledore’s beard he let us jump straight on with a supervised hand of course.

The island was kind of strange but after meeting a few locals and hearing tales about it, i warmed to were i was staying and the whole week was just full of laughing with amazing friends and just having a good time. We checked out the beach a few times, once getting squashed in to floor by some giant waves which would fly over your head and suck in your feet while we pretended to cast a news feed, too other times cooking up breakfast and burying people in the sand to grab hold of seagulls to put miniature shirts on

At night we would tell ghost story’s, go on bike rides, grill dough on the barbecue and Johnny Cupcakes would post us on ustream as a cooking channel, i cant tell you how at home i felt hanging out with all these guys, goonies, i already miss them.

I’ve known Johnny as a friend for a little while now and every time we meet up whether its in London, Boston or just on skype dressed as pick pockets and chefs, ill always have a huge smile and we can’t help but joke around while we chat. It feels great to have such a great set of friends in another country that can be so supportive and inspiration all at once.

This whole trip allowed me to meet up with handfuls of people who may of never herd of my brand or just spoken to someone from London before and i love it, ill defiantly be back for more and hope to meet aload more new faces to just share storys with and have a laugh.

Thanks again for amazing time America.

Before heading over to Martha’s Vineyard we hung out in boston with a great friend Lucas and got to sail the sea, meet his family & friends and gandolf around some old vintage markets. The whole time we were there it was smiles and laughs all round, we first met when i was over Boston last year for my birthday hanging out with Johnny Cupcakes.

After a great sail we set off to go catch some dinner with family & friends, listening to stories from awesome uncles to fish taco’s with wheat free treats specially for me, i couldn’t thank them all enough for a great night and can’t wait to visit again. My stomach had a great time.

A good deed a day keeps the doctor away.

From the spread out city of LA to New York’s sky high squashed streets, but i was happy to be here, the whole feel of this city is like london but american. We spent the first day wondering around getting to grips with things like the underground, parks, blocks and just taking all the wonder of the city.

We checked out the main tourist spots then took some streets off to check out the real treats and hidden local shops. Are time in town was cut a bit short and i ended up missing out on meeting a good few people i would of loved to, but it’s somewhere i definitely want to come back to so, hold your hats and ill see what i can do, or if you come over London drop me an email.

Second Stop, driving down the West coast to Santa Barbra.

The drive down was real nice, seeing tons of farms and great views over hills, rock faces while singing along to the radio. Arriving in Santa Barbra, it was beautiful especially with it being a spanish fiesta weekend the whole street was decorated and all the people around were happier than hippies, from people dressed in bull outfits to small packs of spanish men playing guitars and dogs with moustaches.

The whole place seemed like it had a real great community and it had some great food and coffee to go with it, we spent most the stop strolling around the main of the town party and jumping around the beach singing oliver twist songs. Next morning back in the car and off to Hollywood.

As soon as we got downtown i think the LA scene got to are sat nav and it took us through some streets which looked like if are car was driving slow enough the wheels would of been taken off, but we made it and couldn’t wait to catch some of this amazing city everyone speaks about.

we checked out Melrose, Rosewood and Sunset Boulevard which holds some sweet shops from vintage american mousach combs to The Hundreds, Supreme, Huf, Bape and the well worked Johnny Cupcakes LA store with huge ovens and icing covered fridges. There’s for sure some inspiring brands and business’s around and just the sheer size of things in Los Angeles makes you think what you want to do, be  or have.

We also spent the day over at Universal Studio’s which really blew my mind, i love seeing in to how companies work think and just learning, this park is such a great idea and it makes you feel so happy and inspired with being aload to see were all these amazing movie’s, idea’s and characters are thought up and made. If i could i would live in there studios for sure, my attempt failed.

Im real glad i got to spend some time in Los angels taking in all i could, eating some truly amazing food and having a great time with maisie mouse.

First stop in the U.S, San Francisco. After getting over the lag of flying and feeling like a marshmallow it was time to explore the hill city, so with walking shoes on and a body full of eggs & bacon we wandered.

On the first morning, i woke up and opened the window to look out over the city scape and dancing on the roof opposite was an Eagle, i’m not sure if thats a normal bird to see in San Fran but i was amazed an stood staring for far to long till it flew after a pigeon.

The whole structure of the city is real strange but in a fun way, with roads popping out of the bottom of other roads to hills tipping over into cartoon looking steep drops. The buildings look real traditional with tons of them having awesome fold up stairwells on the outside, it’s just like i’ve seen in movies. A really nice touch was the fact the city kept all its famous tram’s which you can hang off while they crack up the hills and speed down like a roller coster.

I stumbled across a load of shop fronts, logo’s and type signs which looked real vintage and really caught the heart of San Francisco, the above are a few favourites of mine, inside the fudge house there was even an old man cutting a bus long strip of fudge, but his moustache was slightly smaller.

After reading and viewing Benny Golds brand through a computer screen i made sure his new shop/studio was put on my agenda, his blog and interviews make him sound like a real nice guy and by george he was. We hung out chatting in his shop about his brand, Suffoca, London and all sorts, some locals come by to chat while i wondered through his great selection of products so far in his store. The one thing i love about Benny’s brand is his eye to detail which i also have a great passion for, from his crispy clean embodied logo’s to little quotes and hang tag’s, if you haven’t already herd of his brand you can check it out at bennygold.com.

I really enjoyed meeting Benny and his side kick levi, its great to see another independent company doing so well, also hearing some stories and views of his business.

Just before i left London to the U.S i met up with Greg Co Owner of Mishka to show around the city and just to chat about brands, to the best place to put a giant pop rock. Griz from The Daily Street was also hanging out with us and put together a little interview from the days hangout.

What is the main drive behind Mishka?

When we started we where fans of different brands, we liked when they pulled the more obscure references at least when the graphics where concerned. And so when we started it, we where really graphic driven, like it wasn’t really about a brand parse it was more about just designing cool t-shirts, and it was stuff we where into at the time and flips on things maybe we thought would be cool.

I guess over the years as we developed into more of a actual fashion brand, maybe fashion brand within a lifestyle brand we sort of kind of stuck with that same sort idea of doing things that we wanted to wear and that we liked, and taking classic Americana, military pieces that have been used in menswear and sports wear and flip it our kind of way.

As a brand how do view the UK as a market place compared to the U.S and Europe?

I always look at the UK as a whole other country, it’s not really like Europe it is but it isn’t, I feel like it is its own thing. It’s always been an important market to me in a sense of like the direction Mishka is going. I  think people in the UK ‘get it’ more, they get the style and get what we are trying to do. Street wear for me here has always been more classier, more of the classic stuff like Stussy,Carhartt and Maharishi. It feels like street wear here is a little more refined.

It was real nice hanging out and finding out more about his brand while just have a laugh wondering London. His trip was a short visit but hopefully ill catch him again soon, his a real nice guy and Mishka has grown in to a great brand.

Your’l be able to find the full write up of Griz’s interview at The Daily Street

I’ve had a few emails wondering if orders are still being filled with goodies and sent out as normal while i’m away. So for all you who have asked, wondered or guessed the answer is Yes. There’s the first Suffoca Bean-tern Jules who is filling your orders and sending all your treats out to make sure you don’t miss out on anything.

The days are jumping forward as I’m trying to prepare everything for a trip over to the US. Really looking forward to meeting some new faces, & old ones, and just having a laugh in some amazing cities. The last time I stepped foot in the US was on my Previous Trip to Boston, on which I had an amazing time hanging out with friends, exploring, riding bikes at night and watching old movies with burning marshmallows. I’m excited.

We’re going to be making a few stops and driving about on the West coast for the first week or so, and then heading over to the East coast. So if you live in, or near by the spots I’m visiting, come say hi and we’ll hang out and wander the city, starting in San Francisco, then LA, and then on to New York. You might  just even get lucky and ill show you some sneak peeks of new stuff to come.

I also caught some time to head over to stare at the big screen while inception played, i had herd a lot about the movie from the very building of the set to the overall idea and all of it was positive. And all i have to say is positive, it was great start to finish, the tension at the end was amazing and the whole idea is really unique, so if you haven’t seen it yet make some time to.

Tonight i headed over to watch Oliver Twist in Theatre. Ever since watching the 1968 musical version with Ron Moody, i’ve been obsessed with the story, the time it was set in, the clothes and scenery all the things that build this story up are so interesting. First being published in 1837 the man who illustrated the story George Cruikshank, could not draw pretty woman or children well. If you take a peek at the illustrations below, the children look like small men and the women look like they hit the ugly branch a few times, but never the less these drawings are amazing and he did a great job capturing the story in image.
I’ve had the Oliver! Original soundtrack for a while and often listen to it while drawing and sing along, when i have a Suffoca store your all welcome to come join me to sing or dance.

I cant say i’ve ever looked back in to the non musical versions as i took a glimpse in to the latest remake which doesn’t include any songs and it really kills the whole magical feeling i get when watching the 1968 addition. Anyhow, with my icecream in hand to help prepare my vocal chords for some singing along and my eyes wide open i sat down to watch Oliver Twist in theatre and wow it was impressive. The performers were amazing from the Artful Dodger to Fagin and Nancy they all really blew me away, the new parts added and jokes fitted  in so well. So if you haven’t ever seen the musical Oliver Twist go already and watch it, and if you have defiantly go see it at Theatre.
What a great birthday present.