The Inkspoon project evolved slowly and organically while we were still in school and figuring out what to do with our lives… you might say it “happened while we were making other plans”.

The main force behind Inkspoon is the partnership of Lauren Iredale and Blake Wrinkles. We met at Emily Carr University in 2006 while studying every manner of art medium with the exception of silk-screening. Ironically, today silk-screening is a huge part of our world and the main source of our bread and butter now. We are entirely self-taught and our method is very un-traditional.

The seed for Inkspoon was planted when Basil Magpie, an undergrad at UBC with a major in feminist studies and a minor in fine arts, snuck a few friends into the print studio at UBC late at night with a bottle of wine and a couple garbage bags full of used clothing. He showed us his basic free-hand method of putting ink on clothes and away we went. That summer we spread a Blanket on the grass outside of the Vancouver Folk Fest and sold off our hodgepodge assortment of mash-up, sometimes clash and crash-up silk-screened wearable art endeavours.

Although in the early days Inkspoon was an experimental side-project around which a small collective of art students orbited, sharing designs and energy occasionally without too much commitment, the project slowly begun to gather steam. As artists looking for a means of creatively supporting ourselves, the notion of accessible, affordable wearable art seemed like a good answer. After graduation Lauren and Blake decided to focus their energy on building Inkspoon into a viable business.

From the first gorilla nights in the UBC print studio to where we are now almost five years later the learning curve is a steep grade. And we are still climbing. Our goal is to stay true to our grass roots beginnings and stay small and sustainable. Every piece is printed by our own hands with care and intention. We get bored easily so in order to keep the process fun and inspiring we’re constantly generating new designs and remixing old ones.

A wild assortment of talented artists and designers share their work in a collaborative process of squishy remixery. We’re always interested in collaborating with new artists… give us a shout if you want to get into it.

Usually, our design series’ are based on a theme or concept, whether a cultural myth, an abstract idea, an archetype or even a type of music. Usually the content of a series reflects our current life process; what we’re reading, what we’re listening to, where we’ve travelled. In short, Inkspoon reflects our process of evolution.

As of May 2011 we have moved to Salt Spring Island. We have been blessed with the opportunity to design and build our own home and studio here. Our goal is to build a completely self-sustaining living building, run by solar and wind power, in an endeavour to live and make art and clothing as consciously as we possibly can.

If you have any questions or if you are a designer looking to collaborate
contact the Inkspoon collective here.

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