This past year has been a novel one for everyone, let alone the fashion world. Contact caught up with designer Adam Jones, after his show at the Peckham Working Men's Club. We asked him about balancing the current crisis with putting a show together, and how he reacted by leaning more into the digital realm he had previously been cautious of. He talked about getting his inspiration from where he grew up in rural Wales, materials from car boot sales, t-towels and towelling.

Using a cast strong with Contact faces, the show encapsulated youth, DIY culture and Jones' distinct homegrown style.

I am definitely not designing for myself, I am designing for anyone but myself, although there is a lot of myself in my work, my personality and my tastes, I wear all black every day, it allows me to focus on the work rather than thinking what I will wear. I design for everyone and anyone, I have heard it said that if you design for everyone you design for no one, however, I don’t believe this to be true as my customers are all so different.

My designs are really dictated by what material I can get hold of, the tea towel or beer towel or blanket that I find will tell me what I can make out of it, inspiration comes from restrictions.

I obviously know the kind of materials I am looking for, and that search is inspired by my upbringing in rural Wales and the move to London, the clash of the two places really, I am very inspired by Sarah Lucas, Robert Rauschenberg and their use of material. 

Growing up in Wales has really inspired my brand and impacted positively on the brand's journey I would say, growing up in the countryside spending every Sunday at a car boot sale has inspired my aesthetic, and being able to move back home after university allowed me to live rent-free whilst focusing on my brand and get a very cheap studio. 

It was very last minute to be honest, as things kept changing with the government guidelines, I was lucky I put the presentation on when I did, as the next day restrictions were brought back in whereas they had been relaxed a little which meant I could go ahead and have a small socially distanced audience. I was very stressed trying to conceive a digital-only idea, which just is not my forte and without a team, it is not something I would have been able to pull off very well, so I left it until very late to see if we could actually make a ‘show’ happen, which luckily we did. The location was an obvious choice, it was the perfect setting for the clothes, it’s the kind of place I take inspiration from, and then to put the work into that place which first inspired me just completes it.

I had to adapt enormously, the show itself obviously had to be on a very small scale, I had to ensure I worked with tech to live stream the show and make sure we got enough content to post online, whereas I would usually put that to the back of my mind and just put on a good presentation and enjoy the moment, it was about creating evidence that something happened as people couldn’t be there. Designing and producing the collection didn’t change, it was still me working away on my own at home or in the studio.  

I always say decide what success looks like to you, don’t compare yourself to others, focus and decide what it is you want from it and what you would consider a success, just be happy that you are designing and doing what you love, do it for yourself, and you have to be obsessed with doing what you do.

I have really learnt the art of collaboration and working with others, rather than working in solitary confinement. I have learnt to really embrace the digital as we all have which I want to explore further, as it was something I always I was afraid of or didn’t understand.

I would like to still be fully in control of my brand, I hope I am still the one producing the pieces, that I have the time to make them myself and not get too distracted and bogged down by the business side, I want to continue enjoying what I do for the love of it, rather than become a businessman.

Models: TJ, Ellie, Bel, Oscar, Tyreece, and Tobi.