When Analogue Digital front man, Matthew Haynes asked us to be involved with his Gold Coast event back in August of this year it was a no brainer. Of course we wanted to be there and partner in the Analogue Digital design competition! Once we started talking with Matt about what else would be going on at AD, ideas for sideline projects just kept coming.
Aside from the design competition we would be running, the opportunity arose to collaborate with the Sydney based street artist, Numskull. Fritz has had a lot of experience in laminating printed designs into our timber composite materials and this is just what we had in mind for Numskull. After a few conversations with the artist, a design was chosen and sent to us here at the Fritz workshop. The image Numskull chose to use in this colab was an artwork he created on small pieces of wood that were then puzzled together to create the work featured above. Rather fitting when you consider the image has now undergone a major transformation but is still presented (on the inside of the frames), on wood.
It was all up to Numskull when it came to the style and timber he wanted Fritz to use in these frames. In the end he went for our frame, Shamal in dyed oak timber as the canvas for his image. The idea of working with an artist who is known for designing huge wall murals and translating that onto a surface as small as 1cm x 5cm is a little bit nuts and precisely what we loved about this colab. To see our signature style and the artist’s back to back, literally, on this project was exhilarating.
With only six frames ever made, this is truly a scarce as hens’ teeth edition. Those lucky enough to get their hands on a pair will also receive an original Numskull print for their private collection! This was an adventure for us, and a real departure for the self-taught artist and it feels great to be venturing into new territory. Timed with the launch of our new website, this kind of colab project is something we are very keen to develop and to cultivate online. To see our frames as a canvas for artists of the highest calibre is adding another dimension to the uniqueness of the brand, something we are all about here at Fritz Frames.