Features
Crazy Sexy Cool
Burlesque Dancers
CrazySexyCool was founded in 2007 by students at Kings College. Since then it has expanded beyond the university, performing at a host of public events. CrazySexyCool now also teach burlesque on a weekly basis. They are accomplished in many different areas of burlesque, including strip tease, cabaret and lap dance.
Nu Magazine
Fashion Show Organizers
Nu is an ethical fashion magazine from young entrepreneurs, Amisha Miller and Lauren Maleh. Launched at London Fashion Week in 2007, Nu is dedicated to uncovering the best in ethical fashion, featuring clothes and accessories made from vintage, recycled, organic, fairly traded and sustainable materials. Check out Nu Magazine here.
RoundLondon
Fashion Show Designers
Founded in the late 2008, Round London is an innovative eco-friendly label that aims to create change in the wasteful fashion industry. Through carefully selecting sections of material donated by individuals, suppliers and retailers, Round London produce a unique collection of one-off pieces of clothing and accessories with a distinct style, allowing you to choose a piece that expresses your individual taste. Check out the Round London website here.
DJ Just1
DJ for BBoy Competition
Infamous beat digger and b-beat addict, DJ Just1 was a founding member of UK bboy crew "Funk and Disorderly" and internationally renowned break DJs "Horsepower Crew," alongside break heavyweights such as DJ Timber and Lil Lean. Just1 has dropped beats at bboy jams across the UK and Europe including IBE, Breakdance Session Poland, Battle Jam, Bannana Jam, Throwdown, Show Me Your Style, Throwdown and Breakin' Bread. After taking a bit of time out from service, it's a pleasure to welcome Just1 back to drop his rawest and rarest breaks for the dancers.
Bboy Mouse
Host of "7-to-Smoke" Bboy Battle
Mouse is the reigning World Bboy Champion having won the solo battle at the 2006 Bboy Championships World Finals held at Brixton Academy. Mouse has dedicated the last 10 years to perfecting his art. Decorated with numerous solo bboy titles, Mouse is the leader of the Soul Mavericks bboy crew and his name has gained international respect as the forerunner of the UK breaking scene. As a professional dancer, Mouse is an original member of the highly acclaimed Funkstylerz UK dance company. He has built up an impressive résumé of performances from major advertising campaigns to working with the likes of Madonna. Mouse is an Armory sponsored athlete. For more information check out Mouse on Pro Dance or watch Mouse on youtube here.
Bboy Spin
Competing Dancer in the 7-to-Smoke
Bboy Spin is 20 years young and has been dancing for 6 years. He currently represents La Familia Crew and Breakstation Crew. Spin has won numerous competitions and performs all over the UK and abroad. Spin has been invited to compete in Switzerland, Sweden, Finland, Holland, Germany, Hungary and others.
Other Bboys
Competing in the 7-to-Smoke Bboy Contest
Bios for Fido, Kiina, Zorro, Foggy, Ippy, Uti, Ryan, Banco and Justrock are coming soon.
Chris Spurr
Resident DJ and Fishtank Brand Designer
Technically not a band, Chris Spurr is a DJ, and a very good one at that. You are likely to find the organizers of Fish Tank holding Chris aloft and parading him around the Rag Factory, like some musical beacon of bona fide awesomeness. Chris is also an awesome graphic designer and is responsible for Fishtank's branding, including the logo and flyer. Check out Chris' design work here.
Comedy and Magic
Jay Foreman
Comedian
Jay Foreman is a guitarist/comedian whose unique repertoire falls almost exactly halfway between live music and sit-down comedy. Flitting violently between subtle humour, catchy singalongs and mindless bad taste, Jay is drawing considerable attention even from people who aren't students anymore. Achievements include BBC New Talent Pick of the Fringe 2007 and Best Newcomer at the Tuborg Musical Comedy Awards 2009. Jay can't decide whether he's happy about being known on youtube as the guy who wrote 'Moon Chavs'. Check out more at www.jayforeman.co.uk
Darius Ziatabari
Magician
Darius Ziatabari specializes in interactive close-up magic. Imagine hypnosis combined with mind reading and illusion! He has performed in the UK, Las Vegas, across Europe and throughout the Middle East. Darius is currently working with David Blaine and regularly attends the Magic Circle. For more information check out Darius' website.
Bands
Stickman Cartel
Band
A five-piece from London who put the "no" in innovation by opting to play really well. Above average in looks, smart yet with lower self esteem than most folks, Stickman Cartel are the band at the top of everyone's internet dating wishlist. In their own words: "Imagine a nice cup of tea and a chocolate biscuit, that's what Stickman Cartel music does, it fills you with warm goodness and a sense of belonging. It also takes you to the local Tesco's for a meal for two in a bag and a Lucky Dip leaving you with enough change for the bus fare home." Check out Stickman Cartel here.
The Crane Brothers
Band
Crane Brothers are a band of northern boys putting power and passion into every live performance. They cite Bob Marley, Toots Hibbert, Bruce Springsteen and The MG's as inspiration but they have created a style which is very much their own. The soulful sounding horn section suggest lilting reggae licks, but the band delivers pounding beats along with delicate harmonies, careworn vocals and crashing uplifting choruses. Live music which keeps you on your feet, singing and dancing with just as much energy as the boys themselves. Check out The Crane Brothers here.
T. Mandrake
Band
The amazing 9-piece T.Mandrake combines rock with ‘60s Stax soul and jazz. Fronted by half-Thai, half-American vocalist/guitarist Jay Zieseniss, T.Mandrake includes Tanya Jackson, Matt Hanson, Tad MacDonald, Al MacSween, Mark "Monty" Garfield, Leigh Coffin, Nicki Hutchins and Kate Plane. Legendary Cream lyricist/percussionist Pete Brown is a co-lyricist and backing vocalist and secured co-production credits for the band’s debut album "From East To West And All The Rest" alongside legendary Eddie Kramer famed for his work with Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin, amongst countless others. Check out T. Mandrake here.
Hella Cholla
Band
Hannah and Will write songs, she sings them, he plays guitar. People watch, sing and dance. Together they create pop magic! Both talented wordsmiths, they combine natural storytelling with brilliant musicianship and lyrical craftsmanship. Expect big things from this duo - they are currently courting the A&R world in London to great acclaim. Check out Hella Cholla here.
The Fanclub
Band
The Fanclub are a 3-piece originally from Bournemouth, now more often than not found at Dean St. Studios in London. Their sound can only be described as epic! They have just finished recording their debut EP with Greg Haver (Manic Street Preachers, Super Furry Animals, etc.) and are giving it away for free on the 1st of October along with a limited edition run of 100 cassette tapes. Check out The Fanclub here.
Acoustic Musicians
Tom Revere
Acoustic Musician
Folk but up-to-date. Songs about life and love that move and motivate. An excellent technician and a rare voice. Something that your parents would buy and that you would subsequently borrow (permanently). Check Tom out here.
Jo Moore
Acoustic Musician
Jo's music debut was in a glamorous old people's home in Gloucestershire, where she serenaded the grannies at tea time. At university she supplemented her student loan with regular slots at cocktail bars and restaurants. On moving to London Jo began to busk on the underground, but found that attempting to lug a piano about on the tube is not an enjoyable past time for a small girl. These days she is overground only and plays regular gigs around London including venues such as the Troubadour on Old Brompton Road. Check Jo out here.
Tale of Tales
Acoustic Musician
Tale of Tales is really Richard Godwin, who opted for this nom de scene to avoid confusion with the journalist of the same name. Born in 1981, Godwin is a singer/songwriter from north London. Backing himself with finger-picked acoustic guitar, he sings haunting, dramatic ballads in a louche baritone that many people tell him reminds them of Leonard Cohen or, on a good day, Tom Waits. Another key influence is Jacques Brel and the French chanson tradition; yet Godwin is known to channel woodsier, folksier, slightly more mystical bent, underpinned by astonishingly dexterous finger picking style. He is shortly to release his debut album "Beasts of the Field", on Modifythevan records. Check out Tale of Tales here.
Artists
Peter Kindersley
Photographer
Peter Kindersley studied Photography at The Southampton Institute. In 2004 Peter set up on his own building up a body of work that shows people within their architectural environment, particularly at night. Peter's clients include, Ryanair Magazine, Timeout, Jaguar Magazine, City of London Corporation, Honda and The British Army. Peter is a member of the Association of Photographers. Check Peter out here.
Emma Lomax
Artist
Emma Lomax, 23, in her final year at City and Guilds London Art School. Her work is influenced by what it is like to be a women growing up in today's society and culture, including the pressures this has, and the constant need to conform to certain aesthetic way of looking. Emma pays particular attention to domesticity: this divide between the domestic women and the working women.
Daniel Nesbitt
Artist
Daniel Nesbitt is a West London born and based artist, working in the traditional oil on canvas format. His subject matter is usually street corners devoid of cars and people. Over the last few years he has been making smaller work so he can cater for a poorer fan base; friends and markets. The work on display at Fish Tank is his most recent and exciting, using a little abstract influence & return to collage themes of his early college days.
Stephen Cheetham
Artist
Stephen Cheetham is an illustrator and designer based in London. He started by producing flyers for This Is Music nights three years ago, and now produces limited edition prints and commissioned work for various clients. Check Stephen out here.
Dan Sequeira
Artist
Dan combines his illustrative style with fine art techniques to create my images which often deal with faces. Dan draws upon inspirations from Hip-Hop and street art, and also uses his sketchbooks as a release to express any weird ideas he can think of. Dan's sketchbooks are a release that often evolve in to more thoughtful larger works. See more of Dan's work here.
Ben Nathan
Artist
Ben Nathan's paintings are partly a response to his explorations in and around London. Most of his work is inspired by out-of-bounds areas and industrial landscapes that he finds fascinating. He attempts to create an inhabited space, where the viewer is somewhat drawn into his world. Ben is studying at the Prince's Drawing School. He graduated from the Slade School of Fine Art in 2008. Check Ben out here.
Janice Brooklyn
Installation Artist
Janice's work is about making art in the form of the book. Janice studied book arts and crafts at University of the Arts London, graduating in 2008. Janice recycles and transform paper and maps into new books and alters existing books in a way that highlights the content in a new more sculptural form. Janice has an interest in environmental issues and much of her work relates to this.
Vahakn Matossian
Installation Artist
British-Armenian artist Vahakn Matossian has been working in the realms of interactive art and design for a number of years. Son of digital music pioneer and interactive artist Rolf Gehlhaar, he graduated from the University of Brighton's Three Dimensional Design, with a number of exciting projects. He has worked with TROIKA, on the now famous 'Cloud' and 'All the Time in the World' installations at Terminal 5, among other projects, and has recently graduated from the Design Products Masters at the Royal College of Art in London. Partners include, Hulger, Glastonbury Festival, British Film Institute, Yamaha Japan and Cybersonica. Vahakn's work contains a huge element of play throughout and is a mind bending look at the world. Check out more of Vahakn's work here.
Cassy Sachar
Bookbinder and Artist
Cassy Sachar got sidetracked by art while studying bookbinding. She uses traditional bookbinding techniques to explore texts and ideas. She creates unique bookworks and installations, by turns whimsical and profound, to tell stories and wonder about the world. Check out Cassy's art here.
Shesh
Artist
From music to fashion to visual arts, Shesh spreads his message fusing and flipping several mediums. Taking inspiration from a wide variety of sources (early advertising, musical imagery, iconography, celebrity and comic book culture), the work examines the links between fashion, advertising, and graffiti art. In questioning and subverting the idea of fashion and branding, the work itself becomes the very subject matter it references. For more information see shesh.typepad.com
Hannah Yason
Artist
Hannah graduated from the University of Reading in 2002 and has since worked as an artist and teacher of art in London. She recently gained an MA in art and design education with a particular interest in the healing quality of art. Hannah's work questions the boundary between external and internal bodily spaces. The 'red series' was created in Paris whilst living at 'En Cours' artist community in 2003. By restricting herself to a limited palette, materials and subject, Hannah was able to explore the space within these set boundaries. Hannah is based in North London and welcomes commissions. Check out more at www.hyason.com.
Andrew Walter
Artist
Andrew Walter is an illustration graduate moving sluggishly aloft on the noxious gusts of opportunity and city life, struggling with a succession of incredibly tedious (non-illustration related) jobs as "reality ballast" of a weight that forces him to consider cheap wine and extra strength lagers his aqueous bosom buddies. He loves black ink, noises, and pretentious literature, and considers existence a device created to render his attempts to jettison ideas out of his constipated brain a mockery. Check out more at http://www.andrewwalter.co.uk.
Tom Lewis
Artist
Tom's character work can be sweet, poignant, dark, and usually humourous. Working with a digitally influenced painterly style, he mixes traditional media with 'street' techniques to produce work that is a multi layered explosion of colour and texture. His landscape paintings use a similar number of techniques and processes and utilize his signature colour palette of muted earthy tones overlaid with vibrant neon. They are at the same time both tranquil and atmospheric, as well as vibrant and energetic. Check out Tom's art here.
Hyman Wolanski
Photographer
Hyman has been taking, developing and printing photos ever since he got his hands on a Kodak film camera in his early teens. Now, nearly 50 years later, he has reluctantly made the switch from film to digital photography. Whilst appreciative of the incredible convenience of the digital era, he hankers after the 'good old days' when he was stuck for hours in a smelly and claustrophobic darkroom watching his black and white prints come to life. His passion is to photograph people in real life situations - no posing for the camera, please - with each picture telling a story. He will be dispold laying some of his 'Swinging Sixties' shots."
Agenda Collective
Film Producers
Agenda Collective are David Procter and Peter King. They are a multi award-winning independent production company based in London. After building their reputation with short films they diversified across platforms, spanning the fields of: film, cinematic documentary, commercials and promos. With their powerful narratives and high end content production, Agenda Collective’s films have screened in international competitions across over 40 countries, gaining numerous awards. Producing work across Europe and Africa, with films backed by the British Council, Fishtank is very proud to present Agenda Collective.
Agenda Collective
Artist
Daniel Rundle is a London-bred artist, bookbinder, and graduate of The Byam Shaw School of Art. In an ongoing “Rogues” series, he explores the potential of a single, striking face, through chalk and charcoal’s murky frame, to evoke a sense of narrative. The portraits allude to the sinister characters that lurk within the darkest stories from both comics and cinema traditions.
Speakers
Alex Hearn
Entrepreneur and Host of "Monkey Business"
Oxford Entrepreneurs founder and serial inventor Alex Hearn founded pharmatech business Kind Consumer in 2006. Capitalising on his background in inhalation technologies, Hearn has developed a cigarette-replacement product to help smokers everywhere kick the habit. Read more here.
Adam Goodyer
Entrepreneur talking on "Manipulating your Market – How to Rise Above the Rest"
Adam Goodyer and James Perkins, both 29, established Concert Live in September 2005, recording live music concerts and selling the high quality CDs to the public. To date, they have sold over 70,000 CDs and worked with some of the UK’s biggest artists including Keane, The Feeling and Faithless. In just two years, the business now employs up to 50 people and is set for an annual turnover of £1 million by the end of 2007. Check out Concert Live here.
Nikhil Shah
Entrepreneur talking on "Building a Business on a Bootstrap Budget"
Nikhil Shah is co-founder of Mixcloud, an online radio startup based in London (see this link). He also runs successful London club brands Man Make Music (here.) and Retro Remix and DJs under the guise Sketchy. Cambridge University Mathematics graduate and former Brand Consultant, Nikhil has always had a passion for building brands and communities, starting from his first club nights as a teenager. He has worked with some of the world’s leading DJs, event brands and venues, including Ministry of Sound, Glastonbury and Bestival. Follow Nikhil on Twitter.
Jo Ellen Gryzb
Entrepreneur talking on "Communication for Collaboration"
Jo Ellen spent 20 years in the arts, entertainment and corporate sectors in development work on both sides of the Atlantic (including the New York City Ballet, the Arts Council of Great Britain and the London Philharmonic), before setting up Impact Factory with Robin Chandler in 1991 (see The Impact Factory website here). Jo is a successful author (see here); "The Nice Factor" was published 1997 and was revised and reissued in 2008. Jo Ellen is a counsellor/psychotherapist and broadcaster as well. She likes doing media work and was featured in The Human Mind series (BBC1) and SKY TV's Angry Britain. She lends her advice to such diverse publications as the FT's Financial Advisor and Brides' Magazine. See Jo Ellen's full bio here.
Jay Bregamn
Entrepreneur talking on "Using Technology to Change the Rules"
After being let down by a traditional courier company when he was desperate to get his hands on tickets to a tennis match, Jay used his Master’s thesis to overcome the problem! Combining service and technology, the company’s technology platform brings together mobile computing, location-based services, a Web 2.0 application, and an optimisation algorithm (which they have christened Larry!) that determines routes in real-time. The company has solved the problems of low efficiency and high overheads that courier companies faced in the past. “We set out to solve a problem in our everyday life and have done just that - to the benefit of those who find themselves in similar positions,” says Jay. The company employs 45 people as well as 150 sub-contracted eCouriers. Check out eCourier here.
Fraser Doherty
Entrepreneur talking on "The SuperJam Adventure: From Gran's Recipes to Tesco's Shelves"
Edinburgh schoolboy Fraser Doherty went into the jam-making trade at the age of 14, after his homemade preserves sold well locally. With its range of no-added-sugar preserves, SuperJam is now a thriving business. Check out SuperJam here.
Richard Bowdler
Scientist
Richard Bowdler is an Oxford graduate who trained himself to have an exceptional memory allowing him to store vast quantities of complex information. While training as a stockbroker in the city, Richard himself went from having no financial knowledge to being a fully fledged broker within one week using his methods of information retention. He is the founder of City Memory, a company dedicated to providing private memory coaching for business professionals, and will be introducing the memory techniques that have served him so well.
Tasty Treats
Butterfingers
Ladies with Cake
Butterfingers revive the traditions of our grandmothers and great-grandmothers, in the belief that all cake should be homemade with the freshest ingredients, eaten from doilies with full fat cream and served with tea from a china tea service. Inspired by afternoon tea, the WI and all things naughty but nice, Butterfingers is the culmination of a hearty Northern upbringing, an insatiable thirst for indulgence and the love of all things cake! The Butterfingers ladies will be gracing us with their vintage presence, providing a quintessentially English afternoon tea service and delicious handmade cakes.
Gourmet Barbecue
Barbecue
Coming Soon
