On My Radar: Mr Gammon

What’s the most creative advertising idea you’ve seen recently?

The Client by teamwork.com, has something . It’s kind of cute. All for the sake of the client. But I’m super-proud of this recent Carlsberg campaign [below] that I costume designed. Cast of hundreds, multiple time periods, Sam Pilling directing. Beautiful production standards. The project was huge. What more can you ask for?

What website(s) do you use most regularly? 

Public.work by Cosmos; a free flowing public domain content database. It's a pleasure to use, terrific to search for thousands of copyright-free images from The MET and New York Public Library. If you love images from a bygone age, with an aesthetically pleasing database, it's quite dreamy and unlike any other search engine. Whether you hit up Victorian Tarot card designs, astronomical drawings from the 1700s or Bronze Inca Jewellery. Dive in.

What’s the most recent piece of tech that you’ve bought? 

The Saramonic Blink 500 dual microphones. My Instagram and social media has now become a platform for me to impart the sartorial wisdom I have accumulated over the years. From sewing hacks to dressing well, how to re-wax your Barbour jacket using household candles, how to tie your bandanas, how to repair your beloved jeans using the ancient art of Sashiko Japanese visible mending, and more to come. Next up, for the forthcoming award season… How to Tie a Bow Tie. It's a micro-influencer side-hustle, costume designer-style, but to do it, I need decent audio, hence the Saramonic Microphone.

What product could you not live without? 

Sketchbook. I am an avid sketcher. I’m mounting my first solo exhibition - Mr Gammon Draws - and I have been figuring out how best to display near on 50 sketchbooks for my first show. I am never without my book and pens. I like a Mont Blanc retractable pencil, but thick old felt tips from the nearest B&M store are my weapons of choice. It’s not just for design, but also to record the style of interesting commuters on the London Underground, those waiting at check in lounges in airports, restaurants, members of crew on set... the mundane and the ordinary in extraordinary colours.

Please check out the exhibition's website. It's on from February 6th to March 14th. Come on down. Any support will be greatly appreciated.

What’s the best film you’ve seen over the last year?

The Moonwalkers. A truly immersive screening of this magnificent telling of the Apollo space programme at the Lightroom, in Kings Cross. The Greatest 20th Century Achievement.

What film do you think everyone should have seen?

Recently, the British Film Institute put on a season of Powell and Pressburger movies called Cinema Unbound. Once forgotten, now lovingly restored, with the assistance of Martin Scorsese’s editor, Thelma Schoonmaker. Within the programme were personal favourites I Know Where I’m Going and A Matter of Life and Death. Please check out the latter; inspiring visuals, production design like none other, and romance. A constant source of inspiration. And I love Jacques Tati’s Playtime’.

What’s your preferred social media platform?

Instagram. I have a couple of accounts, one for my sartorial hacks, recent work and my process in costume design. It is an efficient marketing tool. And, more recently, another for my drawings of the day and sketchbook flick throughs.

What’s your favourite TV show?

In celebration of David Lynch’s life, I’m revisiting the third season of Twin Peaks; Twin Peaks The Return, from 2017. It’s unlike the the original series; its bolder and better. Go to episode eight and the combustion sequence of a nuclear bomb; the dreamlike study of the atomic age, years before Oppenheimer, finds a staggering beauty that is remarkable. Television needs to be more daring rather than the wallpaper we are surrounded by. 

What’s your favourite podcast? 

The Blindboy podcast. His observations and method of presentation is whispery and feels unprepared, but is so meticulously researched that its an absolute pleasure. My entry into the Blindboy podcast was The History of Bog Bodies and Botox; eye-opening, educational, semi-biographical and charming as fuck. 

Also, the BBC’s Last Word, Radio Four’s obituary show, [marketing and business podcast] Call to Action, and finally The Film Gods podcast.

What have you been most inspired by recently?

There is Light Somewhere exhibition, by Tavares Strachan at the Hayward Gallery. The artist's story is woven through colonial exploitation, African culture, and hidden histories. The show is insightful, inclusive and educational. I was moved but things like the poignant piece about the life of Robert Henry Lawrence Jnr, the first African American astronaut... moving, dark, and in neon.

If you could only listen to one music artist from now on, who would it be?

Oh man, one? Well, one specific collection of music, surely. A Month in the Country, performed by Philip Gammon and the Royal Ballet Orchestra. Variations on La Cli Daren la Mano, in B flat major. Fantasy on Polish Airs in A major, composed by Frederic Chopin.

If there was one thing you could change about the advertising industry, what would it be?

Inclusivity and diversity. Mean it, and do it properly. Often people like to be seen doing the right thing, but do they really care about doing the right thing?

Who or what has most influenced your career?

The stepping stones of creative people who have helped, commissioned and collaborated with me over the years.

What scares you the most?

Running out of ink.