Have zines, will travel: Caribou caravan at Victoria Baths Fanzine Convention

Visitors to the Victoria Baths Fanzine Convention in May will be able to step inside one of the country's more unusual zine stores – a zine shop inside a vintage caravan, which will be pulling up outside Victoria Baths for the day.

Nottingham-based artist and zine-maker Annie Atkinson set up Caribou in 2011 as a shop and gallery inside a small vintage caravan to showcase and sell the work of artists, writers and musicians working with an independent and DIY ethic. Annie makes the zine Flick my Ankle, as well as other mini-zine boxes such as Ultra Horse Fags and an ET mini-comic box.

Annie was originally going to open a bookshop in Nottingham selling unique art books, zines and furniture but decided to scale down the project and go back down to an idea she'd had a few years before of opening a teashop in a caravan. She explains: “I saw some other people in Canada, Australia and America were doing a similar thing and I thought it’s okay to do it now, because if there are others doing it then I’m not completely insane…so instead of a teashop it’s become a travelling art shop! But the potential for tea will never die.”

The caravan was acquired after a long hunt. Annie admits: “I wish it was a romantic story but I bought the caravan from a man on Gumtree! I had been looking for ages for the perfect one and this one came along and so we drove across the country to get it.”

Caribou is filled with artists' work, records, found mix tapes and a ‘listening booth’ in the form of a Fisher Price tape player. Annie also has an illustration photo booth, where visitors can sit and, instead of having their picture taken, have a picture of their face hand drawn by Annie. The caravan is kitted out to incorporate seating when the shelves are folded away, so there is room to do small workshops and activities such as zine-making. As well as stocking fanzines, hand made books, cards, jewellery, mix tapes, records, prints and ceramics, Annie sells reconditioned typewriters that she has lovingly repainted.

Among the more unusual items are flexagons: small, illustrated paper pieces that fold in on themselves three times to reveal different images. Annie says: “No-one seems to really get them! I have one with the characters of the Royal Tenenbaums, with different hairstyles in each folded image. You have to see it really to understand what I mean. Come into the caravan and you’ll see!” Annie's best seller is the Plastic Knife series comprising zines sent from Australia which come with a plastic knife stuck to the front cover. Annie says: “People go wild for them!” Japanese cut and paste zine Kosho Kosho, where the reader can cut out and make things like an illustrated paper iPhone, is also popular. Other big sellers are moustache teacups Annie paints herself.

The caravan was based inside Hopkinson Gallery in Nottingham until February, and since then it has been to various locations around Nottingham, including North Sherwood Street on Sundays, where it is open to passers by. Annie says: “We’re hoping to take it to more places around the UK, and then hopefully conquer Europe (in a non war sense)!”

Annie describes the experience of running Caribou as “immense”. She says: “People have got in touch from all over the world wanting to sell things in the shop, help out with volunteering and get involved in other ways. I’ve been invited to do talks about the zines at writers' clubs, and I’ve been invited to book festivals and events. It’s been really great and I hope it continues to get people excited!”

Visit Annie's blog at http://caricaribou.tumblr.com.

Step inside Caribou caravan at the Victoria Baths Fanzine Convention, Hathersage Road, Manchester, Saturday May 19 between 10am and 5pm.

Seek and Ye Shall Find

From Space - Islington Mill Shop

From Space

Where is it?
142 Chapel Street
Salford
M3 6AF

www.islingtonmill.com
Open Wednesday -Saturday 11am-6pm
Late opening Thursday until 8pm

History From Space is the new shop opened to showcase the work of artists and designers based at Islington Mill. Mark Carlin, a former musician, co-runs the Mill with fashion designer Bill Campbell, who bought the building in 2001.

Carlin describes the Mill as an “artists’ led project”, based in James Street just off Chapel Street. Although best known to the outside world as the starting place of the Ting Tings and local music fans as a gig and club night venue, it now hosts over 40 studio spaces, which are full of “all manner of small businesses and artists” and “people who make individual products”. These include ceramicists, clothes-makers, creators of designer furniture and lighting specialists. Carlin explains: “There are lots of people who make stuff at the Mill, but that’s not really what it’s known for.”

The Mill is also home to film makers and theatre, as well as the 'self-led' Arts Academy. Carlin says the shop is “a bit of an experiment, like everything else”. The shop isn’t in the Mill itself, because “there's not really space” with the art gallery and recording studio. Though also tucked away in Chapel Street, its location is“a little bit closer to town” than the Mill and just a short walk from Deansgate.

Who shops there? Not just art collectors - anyone can own a small piece of the Mill. Carlin says: “Some of what's on sale is quite expensive, but there are items that are only £1. You can get t-shirts for £10, going up to prints for £500 and clothes at £300.”

What does it sell? Carlin sums it up as “a mixture of fine arts and digital arts prints, fashion and books”. The Glasgow based art books publisher Aye-Aye books has a space at the Mill and links to the art academy. The promoter Comfortable on a Tightrope is also selling fanzines and pamphlets.

If you want something to hang on your wall, art ranges from large canvasses to small pastel life drawings and pencil nudes. Joe Barker has made whimsical acetates in blurry black and white, whilst David Williams photographs nature close-up in glowing colour. Andrew Brooks, who has an upcoming exhibition at the Urbis, is selling photographic prints of the Salford skyline. Tragen Design has contributed a shelf and a striking oval mirror with a wooden frame.

Fashion fans will love Andrea Zap's garments made of vintage fabrics combined with new materials and unusual finds, as well as textiles by the wonderfully named company dontbitchstitch.
T-shirts publicise the band Hotpants Romance, and there are CDs on sale by artists on local DJ Andy Woods' record label, Pronoia, which is based at the Mill.
Ceramics are well represented. Liz Scrine has made fantastic, large scale pieces, including a sculpture of two towers, and a large, tree-like candle holder which is accompanied by ceramic rats and cheese and entitled ‘Stop the Rate Race’. She’s also selling leaf tiles and fold-up ceramic screens. Crackpots offers unique, Cubist influenced ‘thoughts bowls' and ‘goodie barrels’ stamped with provocative statements. Beverly Gee makes quirky ceramic pots festooned with twigs.

Why go there? Carlin hopes people will be attracted by the unusual space itself, and the “rough and ready aesthetics of the building”.The shop is staffed by volunteers from the mill, providing an extra area to work in. Carlin says: “People can come in and see something that is going to be sold, as it’s being made.”

Carlin says “90 per cent of the products aren’t available anywhere else”. He explains: “A lot of the work is practical and useful. It can sit in people’s houses, but it’s not just off the shelf IKEA stuff.”

There's an added, seasonal bonus - mince pies, as well as charming hand-made Christmas cards that are heavy on glitter.

Future Carlin describes From Space as a “temporary store” - the building is owned by neighbouring Britch architects, who have given permission for it to be used for a year before it is redeveloped. He says it’s a “project-led” shop and there will be “things happening in it”.

Artists’ groups, both local and from further afield, will be invited to get involved. Artists will be asked to respond to the space and see what they come up with.

Verdict Far from being run of the mill.