Inspired by 'a love of good illustration and good printing' Nobrow are a collective of film directors, artists amd illustrators formed in December of 2008. They have published prints by the likes of Bjorn Rune Lie and Paul Blow, a book from the mind of TLL endorsed Ben Newman and an oversized bi-annual collection of bespoke sumptuous illustrations from artists such as Stuart Kolakovic, Alex Spiro, Sarah King, Blex Bolex A Richard Allen, Alex Bland and McBess.
-No Brow No1 has been selling pretty well so far - you must be pretty chuffed with it's success. (Out of an initial run of 3000 - less than 500 remain)
We have to say, though we were hoping for this type of response, we certainly didn't count on it and we are really happy that people dig what we're trying to do. It's good to know the hard work and sacrifices have not been in vain....
Ltd Edition Prints from Bjorn Rune Lie (top) and Paul Blow (below)
-Why choose the theme of Gods and Monsters for your first issue, was it just something that you felt the artist's could run with?
Funny you should say that, because we were thinking about the artists when we came up with it- the convo went something like this:
a: what do you think they'll want to draw?
s: I dunno what do you want to draw?
a: monsters...
s: me too...
a: actually, most people I know, at the most fundamental level, want to draw monsters, but it is rare that anyone lets you.
s: cool
a: it does sound a bit vacuous on its own...
s: how about 'Gods and Monsters'....
...and there you go
Work in Progress
-You've just published The Bento Bestiary by Ben Newman - How did the project start? What is the publication about?
It's really awesome, printed by hand by us, bound by us, illustrated by the ever prolific genius of Ben Newman; buy one, its only 40 quid!
The publication is about Yokai monsters from Japanese legend; I think it grew from Ben's submission for the mag...
Detail from The Bento Bestiary
-Can you tell us anything about Nobrow No2 - when will it be out, who will it feature?
Nobrow 2 is coming out on the 14th of November and it is going to be a beaut! All we can tell you at this point is that it will be a fresh bag of tricks (colour wise and otherwise) and contain another set of new illustrators from around the world that will blow your socks off.
A Nobrow Exhibition at Jaguar Shoes, London
-Apart from publishing, do you plan to move into any other fields?
Well we'd love to make toys, but its a very tricky business, so we'll have to see, in the mean time we'll continue with the small press, producing lovely prints and cool limited edition book projects and also pushing the publishing into other fields - comix, collections, etc. keep your eyes peeled.
Nobrow can be found online at nobrow.net.
