People have told me once or twice in life that I’m quite funny. I’ve been known to make people chuckle from time to time. Which would indicate that I have a good sense of humour. The truth is, I actually don’t think I do! It’s not that easy to make me laugh and wish I had a bit of a looser funny bone. But there’s someone who always makes me have a proper laugh out loud. Someone super funny, to me, and that’s the talented Danielle Clough.
Image by Sarah Nankin.
Now Danielle, or D she’s commonly known, isn’t a stand up comedian by any means, but she’s one damn talented girl, with a unique and unusual look out on the world. Which is also why she’s carved herself a niche that is so unique, fun, quirky, colourful and joyful in the world, that only someone unique, fun, quirky, colourful and joyful could do.
Picture: By Jono
Danielle is an embroidery artist; taking colour, thread and texture to the next level. By combining every day objects and urban factors like gates, window frames or fencing, she is threading the world ‘red’ with her beautiful and unusual embroideries. She’s such a unique talent that this Cape Town girl was just featured in Gucci’s #24HourAce campaign. Yes. THE Gucci. As in, Gucci, Gucci. That’s pretty amazing for a girl with a thimble and a dream. Watch:
(By Jono did the video and the music is Ross as Mac Motel)
At the time of writing this, this video had been up for 11 hours and was already reaching the 50 000 views mark. Danielle’s website describes her work as a, “a collection of fibre art” and yesterday she did a SnapChat take over of Gucci’s channel to show people her art a little more closely.
“For Gucci Ace, Danielle adapts Alessandro Michele’s sneaker embroidery, echoing his bees and flowers with her own renderings of birds and fruit, plus felt baubles swinging from the laces. Sneakers, after all, are a reflection of the self, and they should be as customizable and as individual as the wearer.” – Kyle Chayka
I asked D what it was like to be approached by Gucci and work on the project. She says,
“Its really crazy to be approached by, and then work with a brand that feels so inaccessible like Gucci. I think the real trip was to have them trust me and give me freedom to create what I wanted with minimal guidance. So often agencies and brands pretend that that`s the objective, but are really more using you to execute their own vision.
But with this project I had freedom and got to work with two of my favorite artists. Jono, who is super talented videographer and editer, who sat patiently while I made the work, and Mac Motel (Ross Finck) who allowed me to use a piece of an unreleased song called This Dream, which to me is the reason I have been able rewatch the video over and over. It`s been a trip.”
Visit D’s website to learn more about her creations and where you can follow her. Well done D!
