Major success for Helensburgh business, AnElephantCant, whose partners are multitalented business and creative duo – writer, Brian Cairnduff and artist, Phil Burns.
GoMA – or the long way, Glasgow’s world renowned Gallery of Modern Art, is taking 90 pieces of their edgy waje art for its gift shop. The selection for GoMA is being launched on 31st October.
Between them the cool pair span the Clyde in origin, with Brian in Helensburgh and Phil in Inverkip. AnElephantCant swim so they didn’t meet until they were adult, both already with business careers and both with high level creative abilities in serious need of an outlet.
As our regular readers will know, we’ve been stalking the Elephant, intrigued by its unusual marriage of talent, skill, innovation and business nous.
Now the company’s inventive entrepreneurial character has been recognisned by one of Scotland’s principal players in the Scottish arts world. Having made a success of their children’s stories – the birth of AnElephantCant – Cairnduff and Burns went on to invent waje – wall jewellery (of which more in a minute) – which was a serious hit at this years Homes and Interiors exhibition at Glasgow’s SECC.
Burns describes waje as fine art at consumable prices. It comes in an innovative playful form capable, like any jewellery, of being shuffled into a range of combinations to delight and amuse. There’s also a childrens waje, bringing young people into creative contact with art, giving them the chance to change their own space – and keep changing it, without needing to trade up for parents in a higher income bracket.
Technically innovative, the secret behind waje is in the delivery – a silk-strength paper that feels like canvas and is backed with a magic adhesive that allows it to be fixed to a wall, door or window, then removed and repositioned up to 200 times. This is the reality behind the company’s slogan: Shuffle your waje.
So no glass, no nails, no mess. And the prices reflect the GoMA belief that art is for everyone.
GoMA’s order is for 90 pieces of waje, mixed images in 4 sizes – A1, A2, A3 and A5, which Brian and Phil call a mini waje or wajette. These sizes and shapes allow all sorts of combinations of waje which can create geometric patterns or asymmetric ones according to the eye of the shuffler.
The mix of waje images is to be decided by AnElephantCant, with the proviso that 2 specific pieces are included:
- The first of these is Phil Burns’ iconic Tartan Army illustration (pictured left) from the third book in AnElephentCant’s ‘Jack’ trilogy of children;s books. This image has sold as a framed giclee print, a postcard and on t-shirts.
- The second is a new work by Burns, pictured above top, entitled ‘Spirit of GoMA’ and inspired in part by the famous neo-classical Queen Street building which houses the gallery. The original is a major – and quite stunning, piece of art, about 6′ x 4′ in size.
Annette Potts, Retail Buyer for Glasgow Sport & Culture, visited the waje stand at the Homes & Interiors Show. Phil explained the philosophy of waje. Annette got the concept immediately – and liked it.
Michael Wright is Retail Manager for Culture and Sport, Glasgow. He too saw waje at the Homes & Interiors Show and says: ‘Part of our Mission Statement is to enrich the lives of the people in Glasgow. This concept brings fine art within reach of everyone. The waje approach means it is easy to buy, easy to carry and easy to hang’.
The GoMA shop is off the gallery’s main entrance hall. It’s compact but with ample wall and door space to display sample pieces of waje and enough room for a unit to hold waje in tubes and a small display.
The plan is for waje to be on sale by the end of October, in perfect time for the Christmas market. The waje shuffle just might be the party season dance of 2009.
