Special Feature: The Common Creative Network !!!
This week we have a big feature on a very interesting Network from Hamburg, Germany: The Common Creative Network. Have you heard of them already? I would not be suprised. Just in case you haven`t, let this feature introduce them to you.
They have done great stuff in the past and even more is about to come in the future. Find out what the Common Creative Network does, what they stand for and feel the immense potential and combined creative power in this network. An Interview with Lars Hartmann & Ulf Meyer, the main people organizing the Network and featured pictures will open your eyes, and make you realize what creative talents bundled can create. Check it out now.
The Common Creative Network is a network of freelance designers out of all design- and creative disciplines. This enables them to put together different teams, according to the clients needs.
Next to this they organize club events that combine clubbing and art. For instance they have Live Paintings and Exhibitions that happen during their club events. In 2004 they called out a “Shame on you Mr. Bush” Poster competition, which was so successful that they decided to exhibit all the sent in work. This resultet in a 3 day exhibition with a big opening-vernissage. They also try to focus on political things that they care about and use their work to make people take notice of certain topics. Below some pictures of the poster event.
This fall, they are organizing an exhibition of the great street art crew “Level Art” from France, in Hamburg. The Level Art crew does fantastic stuff on canvas, they customized a series of 12 Vans Sk8 Hi’s and accompanying skate decks, toys and other stuff…They just recently did a collaboration with the great Flying Fortress…check all of this out at www.level-art.com .
The comn – brand is an extension of their creative network. All of the contributors are emerging out of different, but somehow connecting cultures of Skateboarding, DJing, Music, Gaffiti, Graphic- Design and Photography. This is where they get their influences from…
The first shirt-edition will accompany the upcoming exhibition of the “Level Art" Crew. Each design will be only produced in a quantity of 15 Shirts. This will ensure that people get something unique and fresh for their hard earned cash.
Check out the following pics to give you an idea, of how these limited edition tee`s will look like:
The comn brand will be available in a couple of selected retail stores in Germany, via their website and in Japan, which they are currently sorting out with their good friends from connect4 in Tokyo. Tip: Hurry to their website now, the tee`s are available for purchase, but very limited. Also do not miss the great Interview with the Level Art crew in the Misc section of the website.
As you can see, a lot is happening around these guys. A lot to look out for. Now read the Interview with Lars Hartmann & Ulf Meyer, which will give you an even more detailed look at this creative network and who stands behind it.
Above you can already see on the left a tee designed by Wasp, a really talentet artist from Hamburg , Germany. He will be a major contributor to the second edition of tee`s. Here already a teaser. And now read on the Interview.
HighSnobiety: Hi guys, how is it going today?
Comn: We are just fine, always busy doing stuff…having a shitty summer here in Hamburg…
HS: Tell me, who is behind Common HH? Who is in it? And what is Common?
Comn: The Common Creative Network is a network of freelance designers from all kinds of design disciplines. With a focus on graphic- and communication-design, we cover all parts from multimedia-, fashion-, video-, sound- and motion-design.
Two aspects are elementary for the network: one is the fact of working together, which enables each one of us to offer his/ her client a full spectrum of competences since every member can offer the skills of the other members, too. This allows each one of us to almost offer the same services of a full-service-agency.
Next to this professional aspect we are a network that also works and does stuff together, besides the professional stuff for clients, such as exhibitions and other projects.
The fun of just doing things that are not restricted by clients’ briefings and to actualize oneself as a designer is the most important ascpect. Next to this we want to provide a platform were all members can help themselves professionaly and in their private life, which takes this network to another level….
HS: What mainly inspires the the creations of Common HH? Whats the background?
Comn: We are inspired by all the things that surround us. We all are coming out of the cultures of skateboarding, DJ’ing, Music, GraphicDesign, Photography and other designs categories, so that’s where our influences come from. We use our network as a platform for all the stuff we do, be it a clubnight with exhibitions and livepainting, or political and social stuff that we want to make people aware of, or our clothing line…. Another thing we want to do, is to enable our desingers to just work free
and not be limited to some bullshit clients restrictions. They should
be able to work in creative freedom and produce what they want, show
what they feel inside....
HS: Tell me something about past exhibitions and stuff that you guys have done. Who have you worked with?
Comn: Past exhibitions have featured people from our network, such as the great “WASP ”. He will also contribute some nice desings for the upcoming t-shirt edition.We did Live Painting sessions during our clubnight “Excursions” that we hold bimonthly at a little club in Hamburg. Also we initated a nationwide “Shame on you Mr. Bush” poster contest, prior to the 2004 US-elections, which resultet in a 3-day exhibition in the infamous red light district “Reeperbahn”, here in Hamburg. Furthermore we a voluminous 24 hours programm of documentations from the US, like for example “Votergate” about the faulty voting machines used in the US and “Outfoxed” about the newschannel FOX, used as a media control and propaganda medium for the Bush administration.
And lots more, just visit our website to check out what we’re up to. We’re always looking for new and interesting things to do and try to not limit ourselves to one thing or one theme.
HS: One of the most exciting things I find the upcoming exhibition that you guys are doing on the „Level Art Crew“ from France. This event will also be the launch of your first shirt-edition. Tell me all about it. How did you hook up with the Level Art Crew? How were the designs created? What else exciting is happening at that exhibit?
Comn: The connection happened by accident. I’ve read an article on an exhibition of their work in France on freshnessmag.com. I really liked what they do, so I dropped them an email, asking if they would like to exhibit in Hamburg. They were excited about my idea, and here we are….
The exhibition will feature lots of canvases, prints, toys, puppets and also the customized Vans Sk8-Hi series that they did, with the matching skate-decks.
The opening of the exhibition will feature a DJ set of Assoto Sounds, a famous DJ-collective out of Hamburg and visuals by Niels Lightstroem, who is also from our network..
The exhibiton will also be the launch of our clothing label comn-for strong minds. The first edition will feature desings of the Level Art Crew that were exclusively made for this event. … More stuff is coming later this year…
HS: Where will your gear be available and when?
Comn: Our stuff will be available through our website and a really nice sneaker store in Berlin: kickback-berlin.de and some spots in Japan, thanks to our friends at connect4. if you like the stuff, be quick, since we are only doing 15 pieces of each design….
HS: What are the future plans for Common? Any people you guys would love to collaborate with or to exhibit?
Comn: No particular people in mind, just more exhibitions of stuff that we like or people we like to feature, extending and developing our label “comn”, continuing our clubnight “Excursions” , then there is a pdf-magazine called “commonism” in the making. Basically just having fun doing stuff that we like…
HS: Now some random questions to get to know you better. What are your 5 favorite brands?
Comn:
- silas
- PAM
- Visvim
- stussy
- cleptomanicx
HS: Your 5 favorite musicians?
Comn:
- john coltrane
- tribe called quest
- ricardo villalobos
- metallica
- sizzla
- they change everyday, depending on the mood I’m in…
HS: Your 5 favorite websites that you check on a regular basis ? Except HighSnobiety!!!
Comn:
- Slamxhype
- Beinghunted
- Spiegel.de
- Rthq
- Betalounge.com
HS: Thats all guys. Thanks a lot for having taken the time to talk to me. You are doing great things and HighSnobiety hopes to hear a lot more from you.
Comn: Big shout outs to the whole CommonCreativeNetwork, especially Ulf and Gordian for their contribution on the upcoming exhibition and the comn-label. The LevelArt Crew – the exhibition is going to be NICE!!! DJ Needlejuice for delivering the fat beats, Praxis, Hamburg City for not giving us a summer this year, all people that come to our events and like our stuff…
As you can see, these guys are really hot. Big collaborations, exhibitions, music - all arts are involved. There is a lot to come from the Common Creative Network in the future. I am already looking forward.
And now I have to thank the CommonCreativeNetwork crew for the beautiful banner they made for this feature. Notice the Hamburg skyline in the background. Fantastic work. Thanks a lot from HighSnobiety.
Enjoy,
David
They have done great stuff in the past and even more is about to come in the future. Find out what the Common Creative Network does, what they stand for and feel the immense potential and combined creative power in this network. An Interview with Lars Hartmann & Ulf Meyer, the main people organizing the Network and featured pictures will open your eyes, and make you realize what creative talents bundled can create. Check it out now.
The Common Creative Network is a network of freelance designers out of all design- and creative disciplines. This enables them to put together different teams, according to the clients needs.
Next to this they organize club events that combine clubbing and art. For instance they have Live Paintings and Exhibitions that happen during their club events. In 2004 they called out a “Shame on you Mr. Bush” Poster competition, which was so successful that they decided to exhibit all the sent in work. This resultet in a 3 day exhibition with a big opening-vernissage. They also try to focus on political things that they care about and use their work to make people take notice of certain topics. Below some pictures of the poster event.
This fall, they are organizing an exhibition of the great street art crew “Level Art” from France, in Hamburg. The Level Art crew does fantastic stuff on canvas, they customized a series of 12 Vans Sk8 Hi’s and accompanying skate decks, toys and other stuff…They just recently did a collaboration with the great Flying Fortress…check all of this out at www.level-art.com .
The comn – brand is an extension of their creative network. All of the contributors are emerging out of different, but somehow connecting cultures of Skateboarding, DJing, Music, Gaffiti, Graphic- Design and Photography. This is where they get their influences from…
The first shirt-edition will accompany the upcoming exhibition of the “Level Art" Crew. Each design will be only produced in a quantity of 15 Shirts. This will ensure that people get something unique and fresh for their hard earned cash.
Check out the following pics to give you an idea, of how these limited edition tee`s will look like:
The comn brand will be available in a couple of selected retail stores in Germany, via their website and in Japan, which they are currently sorting out with their good friends from connect4 in Tokyo. Tip: Hurry to their website now, the tee`s are available for purchase, but very limited. Also do not miss the great Interview with the Level Art crew in the Misc section of the website.
As you can see, a lot is happening around these guys. A lot to look out for. Now read the Interview with Lars Hartmann & Ulf Meyer, which will give you an even more detailed look at this creative network and who stands behind it.
Above you can already see on the left a tee designed by Wasp, a really talentet artist from Hamburg , Germany. He will be a major contributor to the second edition of tee`s. Here already a teaser. And now read on the Interview.
HighSnobiety: Hi guys, how is it going today?
Comn: We are just fine, always busy doing stuff…having a shitty summer here in Hamburg…
HS: Tell me, who is behind Common HH? Who is in it? And what is Common?
Comn: The Common Creative Network is a network of freelance designers from all kinds of design disciplines. With a focus on graphic- and communication-design, we cover all parts from multimedia-, fashion-, video-, sound- and motion-design.
Two aspects are elementary for the network: one is the fact of working together, which enables each one of us to offer his/ her client a full spectrum of competences since every member can offer the skills of the other members, too. This allows each one of us to almost offer the same services of a full-service-agency.
Next to this professional aspect we are a network that also works and does stuff together, besides the professional stuff for clients, such as exhibitions and other projects.
The fun of just doing things that are not restricted by clients’ briefings and to actualize oneself as a designer is the most important ascpect. Next to this we want to provide a platform were all members can help themselves professionaly and in their private life, which takes this network to another level….
HS: What mainly inspires the the creations of Common HH? Whats the background?
Comn: We are inspired by all the things that surround us. We all are coming out of the cultures of skateboarding, DJ’ing, Music, GraphicDesign, Photography and other designs categories, so that’s where our influences come from. We use our network as a platform for all the stuff we do, be it a clubnight with exhibitions and livepainting, or political and social stuff that we want to make people aware of, or our clothing line…. Another thing we want to do, is to enable our desingers to just work free
and not be limited to some bullshit clients restrictions. They should
be able to work in creative freedom and produce what they want, show
what they feel inside....
HS: Tell me something about past exhibitions and stuff that you guys have done. Who have you worked with?
Comn: Past exhibitions have featured people from our network, such as the great “WASP ”. He will also contribute some nice desings for the upcoming t-shirt edition.We did Live Painting sessions during our clubnight “Excursions” that we hold bimonthly at a little club in Hamburg. Also we initated a nationwide “Shame on you Mr. Bush” poster contest, prior to the 2004 US-elections, which resultet in a 3-day exhibition in the infamous red light district “Reeperbahn”, here in Hamburg. Furthermore we a voluminous 24 hours programm of documentations from the US, like for example “Votergate” about the faulty voting machines used in the US and “Outfoxed” about the newschannel FOX, used as a media control and propaganda medium for the Bush administration.
And lots more, just visit our website to check out what we’re up to. We’re always looking for new and interesting things to do and try to not limit ourselves to one thing or one theme.
HS: One of the most exciting things I find the upcoming exhibition that you guys are doing on the „Level Art Crew“ from France. This event will also be the launch of your first shirt-edition. Tell me all about it. How did you hook up with the Level Art Crew? How were the designs created? What else exciting is happening at that exhibit?
Comn: The connection happened by accident. I’ve read an article on an exhibition of their work in France on freshnessmag.com. I really liked what they do, so I dropped them an email, asking if they would like to exhibit in Hamburg. They were excited about my idea, and here we are….
The exhibition will feature lots of canvases, prints, toys, puppets and also the customized Vans Sk8-Hi series that they did, with the matching skate-decks.
The opening of the exhibition will feature a DJ set of Assoto Sounds, a famous DJ-collective out of Hamburg and visuals by Niels Lightstroem, who is also from our network..
The exhibiton will also be the launch of our clothing label comn-for strong minds. The first edition will feature desings of the Level Art Crew that were exclusively made for this event. … More stuff is coming later this year…
HS: Where will your gear be available and when?
Comn: Our stuff will be available through our website and a really nice sneaker store in Berlin: kickback-berlin.de and some spots in Japan, thanks to our friends at connect4. if you like the stuff, be quick, since we are only doing 15 pieces of each design….
HS: What are the future plans for Common? Any people you guys would love to collaborate with or to exhibit?
Comn: No particular people in mind, just more exhibitions of stuff that we like or people we like to feature, extending and developing our label “comn”, continuing our clubnight “Excursions” , then there is a pdf-magazine called “commonism” in the making. Basically just having fun doing stuff that we like…
HS: Now some random questions to get to know you better. What are your 5 favorite brands?
Comn:
- silas
- PAM
- Visvim
- stussy
- cleptomanicx
HS: Your 5 favorite musicians?
Comn:
- john coltrane
- tribe called quest
- ricardo villalobos
- metallica
- sizzla
- they change everyday, depending on the mood I’m in…
HS: Your 5 favorite websites that you check on a regular basis ? Except HighSnobiety!!!
Comn:
- Slamxhype
- Beinghunted
- Spiegel.de
- Rthq
- Betalounge.com
HS: Thats all guys. Thanks a lot for having taken the time to talk to me. You are doing great things and HighSnobiety hopes to hear a lot more from you.
Comn: Big shout outs to the whole CommonCreativeNetwork, especially Ulf and Gordian for their contribution on the upcoming exhibition and the comn-label. The LevelArt Crew – the exhibition is going to be NICE!!! DJ Needlejuice for delivering the fat beats, Praxis, Hamburg City for not giving us a summer this year, all people that come to our events and like our stuff…
As you can see, these guys are really hot. Big collaborations, exhibitions, music - all arts are involved. There is a lot to come from the Common Creative Network in the future. I am already looking forward.
And now I have to thank the CommonCreativeNetwork crew for the beautiful banner they made for this feature. Notice the Hamburg skyline in the background. Fantastic work. Thanks a lot from HighSnobiety.
Enjoy,
David
posted by InStyle at 3:40 pm
1 Comments:
Hi, I hope you dont mind me posting on your blog. I thought if you like skateboarding clothing, you might be interested in taking a look at the site http://www.munkii.com. There is some pretty cool stuff there and they are adding a lot of stuff everyday. Anyway, hope you dont mind.
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