Charles Daly

Cohen removed the casing of his Olivetti to better access the typebars.

One of Poet and Songwriter
Leonard Cohen's most enduring and least publicized love affairs began in 1959 when he picked up his Olivetti 22 portable typewriter, in London, for 40 quid.

He moved in with the machine on the Greek island of Hydra where he typed his second novel, Beautiful Losers, a couple volumes of poetry, and hits like 'Suzanne' and 'So Long Marianne.' As his work found a global audience Cohen's 'old flame,' the green Olivetti, accompanied him on tour, sustaining the dings and damage of the road along the way--he removed the top casing to make repairs easier, and once had to have it rebuilt after writing in a bathtub.

In an interview with Spin magazine he broke his own rule--not to discuss mistresses or tailors--saying: "The biggest influence on my typing: liturgical, country, and folk music. I type very slow at first and work up a head of steam. I type the way I write, one word at a time." In a less balanced moment he once threw it across his flat "in a rage over some imagined injustices a woman had done to me."

Marrianne, of 'So Long Marriane' fame, having a go at the Olivetti, on Hydra, in a photo that would appear on the back of his  'Songs from a Room' album.

Alizé Meurisse's orange typewriter draft, typos and all:

'Parapluie'

'Flowers'

Alisa Gusakova Rings by Springsioux Photo by Sime Eskinja

  Springsioux's 2012 line features silk t-shirts, fish leather bracelets, and a capsule collection combining silver and fur by Orange Typewriter Guest and fur master Quentin Veron.


S&D: How did you assemble the tribe?

PA: Springsioux began with a t-shirts line I put together when I was playing in a new wave band. Alisa managed our Russian tour and during this trip we shared ideas and realized we had a lot in common. We found a perfect balance between creative energy and business so we decided to partner up and launch a jewelry line.

Our friend Photographer Pierre Yves Toledano was also with us during this Russian tour that gave birth to a team with the motto: work hard, party harder. 

Pierre-Antoine live in St. Petersburg.

S&D: What have been some influences on the style of Springsioux?

Alisa: We are influenced by underground subcultures linked to heavy metal, and by native American and Mexicans artwork. We try to combine both universes into something unique using unusual combinations of material like fish-leather and silver...I fell in love with fish-leather several years ago in Russia: we can credit Alexander Wang as a major inspiration for our work with this material.

the Tribe's DJ Victoria Frangie

S&D: Has your personal look influenced Springsioux or visa versa?

Alisa: Our first creations were what we wanted to wear but couldn’t find in other brands. We don’t really think about what people are expecting to buy, we focus more on creating pieces we love. Springsioux gives us the opportunity to enhance and share our wardrobe and our personal style.


S&D: Tell us more about the Tribe’s Paris roots.

P.A: As the months passed, we gathered talented people who believed in us. DJ Victoria Frangie became our brand ambassador. Music video director Aurélien Offner joined the tribe, and we’ve recently started a collaboration with tattoo artist Eddie Czaicki on a t-shirt line which will be released in September. We are also currently working with fur designer Quentin Veron on an accessory line. As we collaborate we strengthen and expanded the tribe. This is what makes these projects totally exciting.

"Springsioux is a tribe, weaving through the crowd, remaining alive in the darkness..."

S&D: The brand's motto is 'alive in the darkness' describe what this means to you:

P.A: Springsioux has evolved in the shadows. We are not interested in the mainstream culture; our goal is to create something different and powerful, something for a person to wear while doing his/her own thing. We're fighting against conformity and creating a community while we're at it...Springsioux is a tribe, weaving through the crowd, remaining alive in the darkness.

Interview by Charlie Daly

Next time: The Orange Typewriter crosses the Atlantic and Lake Michigan to meet Craig Engel and Lorrisa Julianus: partners on stage, in the studio and in life.

                                       
M.C: When we were putting together this interview it seemed like I was always catching you on your way to or from the pool in Montparnasse…What’s swimming got to do with your writing ?

C.D: Oh man…in the cover letter I send along with my stories I say ‘he swims and lives in France.’ That really is the order; I need to get my energy out in the sea—or at least a long pool—otherwise I go insane. Swimming is the source; it's how I make way for the words.

M.C: Tell me about your relationship with France.

C.D:  I guess Charles is a French name. I’m named after my great uncle who died for France in the first World War and is buried near Belgium… More personally: I love fine hats and Paris has great hat shops… As far as art goes, these interviews are a testament to the fact that, in France, art is a community not a race with winners and losers; French poets don't act like movie stars. But, like you said, I think any place could inspire my work; any place, that is, where words are vital to the way people make sense of this life and their place in it. Lucky for me, that’s just about every place. I'm very interested in verbal culture, wherever I find it and in whatever form; hip hop can excite me every bit as much as literature. I love songs. My dad would sing me this ballad he got from a Welsh coal miner:

Interview & Bio by Margaux Curcuru. Photos by Victoria Gold. 'Shaman' Ring by Springsioux .

   
    California born, artist and environmentalist Hannah Day came to Paris this year to study French and to draw trees. A constant in Hannah's work on both sides of the Atlantic, trees have extended their roots in this young artist's life far beyond her sketchbooks. As a fruitarian, Hanna relies on trees for everything she eats. And she helps save the trees she paints by doing much of her work on used shopping bags and postcards. Her environmental concerns, green lifestyle, and artistic passions are spiritually grounded, if that's the right word, in Hannah's practice of 'Flying' yoga. Hannah is currently working on her first children's book.


S&D: Why do you draw trees instead of sunsets, skyscrapers, or jam-jars? 


H.D: Well, I didn’t really choose to draw trees. In fact, I resisted the idea for quite a while, beginning when I did one drawing in my freshman year of college in which trees were an essential element; I was hesitant because trees are a common subject... It ended up being the first drawing I ever completed that I felt was truly successful. At the time I thought my drawing’s success was despite the trees, not because of  them. I realized that trees are only cliché the way a naked woman’s figure is cliché; artists have returned to them over and over for a reason.



S&D: You are a fruitarian, what role has this played in your artistic life?


H.D: It was when I began eating a diet based on raw, whole fruit that I truly became enamored with trees, and as a result, came to accept my habit of drawing them. Their being the source of every piece of succulent sustenance that I consume suddenly brought trees to life in a whole new way. My drawings became illustrations of my reverence for these beings that generously dispense bushels of delicious food. Fruit trees produce more calories per acre than any other crop, and are the only crop that gives back to the soil. At the same time, their branches provide shade and shelter to many a creature, including us, and their roots wind through the earth beneath them to offer stability to the surrounding terrain...The beauty of the simple existence of something so gracious as the fruit tree makes me feel an inexplicable joy which I feel may have saved my work from rolling down a more cynical road.


Next Time:  Next week, poet Margaux Curcuru returns to interview Stacks & Dropper's Charlie Daly about the orange typewriter series, sex, swimming, and Oscar Wilde.

'Salomé' was shown in London's Cob Gallery and appears on the cover of 'Grace/Wastelands' Pete Doherty's  first solo album.

Untitled

S&D: Rimbaud or Baudelaire? (you have to choose...)

A.M: I like Both. I choose Verlaine!

'Petite Mort' from Alizé's 'Second Sex' series

S&D: Why Paris?

A.M: Because I was born here...well, I'm from a Paris suburb (92) and moved to Paris when I was 10.

Discover Alizé at http://alizemeurisse.com/ Photo by Siegfried De Turckheim

    Described as 'technically flawless,' by Muso Magazine, and 'superb' by the New York Times, Tai Murray has impressed and enchanted the classical music world with her virtuosity and energy, and secured her place as one of its great violinists. Her skills as both a concert and chamber musician have taken her to concert-halls and  salons around the world, and won her numerous accolades and prizes including: an Avery Fisher Career Grant, and two years as a BBC New Generation Artist. Her new album was chosen as a Gramophone choice disk, and this March Tai was awarded a Sphinx Medal of Excellence at a black-tie dinner hosted by Justice Sotomayor at the U.S Supreme Court.


S&D: How old were you when you started playing, do you still have your first violin?


T.M: I snacked on my first violin!  I was five when I started with both the Suzuki and Traditional methods, so my first "instrument" was a crackerjack box with a drumstick attached.  All joking aside soon after I was able to have the candy as a stale treat, and my family lucked upon this 19th century Italian half-size violin that I used for maybe 10 months. Such a nice violin of that size is really unusual; I often wonder where it is. I traded it in when I moved up to a three-quarter-size instrument.


S&D: These interviews have been with Paris-based artists. You live in Berlin, why Berlin? (We ask everyone 'why paris')


T.M: My only rule for a place to live is that the city have a "heartbeat". For me this could be a community vibe, a sense of shared general curiosity, a certain crackle-and-pop that drives things. I'd found those things in New York City so when I decided to move to Europe I found what I was searching for in Berlin. I also relish the idea of learning a fourth language having studied French and Japanese as a child, so ... Viel Glück für mich!


S&D: Is there a particular city or venue on your bucket-list?


Growing up we had a faux-photograph painting of a scene in Santorini, Greece.  If I ever get to experience the bright blue roofs of that photo, I will probably cry with joy.





S&D: A lot of us wish our parents had made us stick with an instrument. What would you say to a kid who wants to quit music entirely and will regret it later? 

Interview by Charlie Daly, Photos & Video  courtesy of Tai Murray.

 Quentin  advises young artists to take risks. He would know, Veron launched his brand at the bottom of the recession. Though economic conditions were against him, Quetin had the cumulative wisdom of an eons old craft literally in his hands, with which he crafts each piece himself. This mysterious brand didn't stay a mystery for long; his clients include: Joey Starr, Johnny Depp and Vanesssa Paradis. Quentin launches a new line with Paris' Springsioux this summer. 

S&D: Quentin, What is it about fur?
Q.V: Fur is the most amazing material, it moves like it's alive when you wear it... makes the woman feel beautiful and the man feel powerful.

S&D: What influences/ inspires you outside the world of fashion?
Q.V: The fashion world doesn't inspire me at all. I get my inspiration from a lot of different sources, things I can see in my daily life in the streets, or feelings I can have. As well as the 19th century, the middle age, Tim Burton, death,...ect...but most of the time I get some ideas in my head that come from nowhere especially and I create my own world from that.

S&D: We've got to ask you that 'Any advice for young artists?' question...
Q.V: Work hard, take risks, work hard, be passionated about everything you do, work hard, be smart, take a look at yourself often and don't hesitate to change if you feel you went the wrong way...but the most important is to work hard.. (Quentin Winks.)

Get your Veron before it's too late

"The theme behind the Autumn/Winter 2010 collection of Quentin Veron opens the doors of an underground, secret and almost forbidden land where strange and timeless characters rub elbows. It is a place where androgynous guardians brush against barefoot dancers. It is a world where mysterious empresses reign and where we can hear the frightening echo of the Sabbats from the splendorous Notre Dame era. Once again, the Parisian designer Quentin Veron is at the origin of a universe whose only limits are those of the imagination. He takes you with him where the show is set, where life is always a theater." --QuentinVeron.com

S&D: Why Paris?

Pete Doherty enjoying a cigarette  and keeping warm in a top-hat and waistcoat by Q.V .

Q.V: Most beautiful city in the world....and the hardest one too! It's a real challenge to make it happen here.

S&D: And Finally, if you could design one piece for one figure from the past what would that piece be and for whom?

Q.V: A huge black fur cape for Nosferatu (i know dracula is a myth but i like the idea!!)
If not, a beautiful piece like a lace dress with fur for the Marchesa Casati.

Find Quentin and his pelts at: http://www.quentinveron.com/

Interview by Charlie Daly Photos courtesy of Quentin Veron, portraits by Marie Canciani. Read the typewritten draft!

A Parisian in L.A: Margaux wears her blazer to the beach. Photo by Erik Struve;  ©2011 Erik Struve Photography; All rights reserved.

    Born into a family of Painters, first published at 19, Franco-American poet Margaux Curcuru never had any doubts that a life as an artist was not only possible but could be hers. She was raised on the French masters--Proust, and Rimbaud, who's poems accompany her everywhere her bootlaces take her. She discovered the Romantics, who helped her get back in touch with nature as a muse, when she moved to California where she's now studying creative & technical writing.

     In 2011 her 'Gare de Nation' placed third in Poesie en Liberte's international poetry contest. Margaux is Joining us for the first in a series on young artists in Paris.

S&D: Do you remember your first poem, can you recite a bit of it?

M.C:  I can’t remember it. It was about Mt. Etna. I described how the rocks sounded like cracking glass under my feet. I was using all my senses to describe a landscape. From the beginning it was all about nature. Poetry is a way to awaken our senses, to shake them and make us aware of what we take for granted--nature can do the same. Nature gives me the intense sensations that I weave into a poem.

Margaux's Garden in Sucy-en-Brie

Interview by Charlie Daly

The interviews in this series were drafted on a 1977 silver-reed 280 with a French keyboard--lots of typos. Keep reading to see the originals, outtakes, and a whole lot more courier font.