Hemp Works Blog

Behind the scenes: HoodLamb Fashion Show!

We've got the first footage of the special HoodLamb Artist Jacket Fashion Show! Check out this very cool "behind the scenes" video made by Leroy Joy. The fashion show took place at our Sweet Sixteen party and featured the latest HoodLamb Artist Collaborations. It was a great night and we'd like to thank everyone involved, from the hair-stylists to the last minute models: you guys rock!

    

HoodLambs' Artist Collabs

Many of the world’s great painters like Van Gogh and Rembrandt used hemp canvas (hence the word ‘cannabis’) to work on. They started with a blank canvas and went on to create masterpieces. We wanted to join eco clothing with fashion and art and invited different artists that surround and inspire us to treat a Hemp Hoodlamb® as their blank canvas. Coming from different places and backgrounds (traditional art, graffiti, graphic design, illustration and tattoo), these collaborations resulted in an amazing line of artist jackets and limited edition t-shirt and hoody prints.

Hemp Works Turns Sweet 16!

This month Hemp Works officially turns 16! Whoohoo! To celebrate this great age, we're throwing a party at the Melkweg in Amsterdam on Thursday the 26th of November. It's gonna be a real Sweet 16 B-day Bash with live hip hop performances, hot dj's, art and of course HoodLamb fashion!

Dj Vader and Dj Leroy Joy will be on the decks, Dutch/Brazilian Hip Hop Crew: Wallbangaz will be there to perform live and do a special MTV recording, Jah Ark Manifest will bring on the Reggae, HoodLamb will do an exclusive Art meets HoodLamb Fashion Show with special guest models from the UK and feature new Art Collabs with Achilleas and Gabe360 will take care of some special Visual Effects! 

Sounds like a Super Sweet 16: happy birthday Doug & Adam!

Thursday the 26th of November at the Melkweg
MTV Pre-Party starts at 23.00 (on invitation only)
Doors open at 00.00
Email us for tickets!

Achilleas for Hemp Works’ Sweet 16th anniversary

As we near closer and closer to Hemp Works Sweet 16th anniversary (check our party blog here!), we are proud to present one of HoodLamb’s most enchanting collabs all year with featured artist: Achilleas Giannissis. Hemp Works were so pleased to work with Achilleas that we asked him to create a 2nd HoodLamb Art jacket for the anniversary. This because Achilleas is a wizard of art, or a machine if you want. He creates instantly and intensely. That’s magic!

We decided to delve into his mind about his art and sweet inspiration.

Q: How do you personally best describe your art? I think it's a combination of urban surrealism ....with a cartoon twist. It's part of the inner fight ;) 
when drawing for the Serendipitee series, things are more on the 70s side - liquid forms, rough sketches, melting letters all floating in a funky haze. Some are nightmares ...some are dreams...

Q: Living in Greece, do you feel that your surroundings and the history of your country play an influential role on your art? I guess sun helps the mood ..but trying to keep yourself in the studio and work…is another thing ;) Greek History never was a part of influence…I guess music was a great deal. Thank god my neighbors are pretty cool with me listening to music really loud…most of the working day :-)

Q: What was your inspiration for creating the ‘Sweet 16’ HoodLamb art jacket? All started from something totally random. A small pink gum stuck on a black table…triggered the whole thing. I know it sounds crazy…but this was it.I tried to make the sweet 16 part…so sweet and fruity…and so  gummy as if it was made of this gum! happy sweet 16 birthday Hemp Works!!   

Q: Describe your artistic process when creating the Sweet 16 HoodLamb? I made a few roughs on graphite pencil on recycled paper that this time "worked" fine. For the jacket I used graphite pens, markers, airbrush, you name it! The colors are 100% eco friendly and custom mixed in markers and airbrush feed jars.

Q: Words of wisdom? 
Nothing endures but change!

Q: Words for the future?...hope I will make it ;)

Achilleas' Art Jacket will be presented at the HoodLamb Art Fashion Show

It's On Tonight: RETOX Reunion Party at Winston Kingdom!

If you’re in Amsterdam tonight, don’t miss the RETOX Reunion party at the Winston Kingdom! This evening we’ll be nostalgic and celebrate our 10 year anniversary of RETOX, a monthly Drum ‘n’ bass night hosted by Hemp Works. Back in the day we invited renowned DJ's and MC's from the UK like Ed Rush, Bad Company, SHY-FX, DJ Marky, Total Science, Marcus Intalex, Digital, Cause for Concern, MC 5Alive etc … and presented our own true familia of DJ’s; Adi-J, Shapeshifter, Quilla, Keira, Bass80, Harsh, MC Dapper to name a few.

This time we’re proud to present DJ STORM (Metalheads), UK’s first lady of Drum ‘n’ Bass. Storm played at our party 8 years ago and now she’s back to blow up the decks! To back her up we got the old RETOX legends, like Adi-J and Shapeshifter, and some very special surprise VIP guests!



23rd of November 

At the Winston Kingdom: Warmoestraat 131, Amsterdam

From: 9PM – 04AM

Entrance fee: 7 euros

You don’t want to miss this one! We promise!

In the name of RETOX we also asked artist V.McB. to create an art jacket for the occasion. Being specialized in bunnies and all we gave her the old theme party ‘Evil Easter’ to be inspired by. The RETOX Evil Easter party was one to remember. We had Bad Company (BC Recordings) on the decks, girls dressed as evil bunnies and a packed venue!

The V.McB. art jacket has 14 bunnies painted on it. Each bunny with an individual expression. Cause that’s how bunnies are, full of emotions…Curious to see the whole jacket? Come by the Hemp Works! It will be on display from next week and on…

Q: Who is V.McB.? V.McB. is short for Vixen McBunny. It’s my artist name on art projects. It started out as a joke. I had to come up with a name for my website. After half an hour of thinking up serious names, I came up with Vixen McBunny Productions, just for fun. To me it sounds like a Super Hero or a Porn Star. I like that contrast. Hilariously, my forum got trashed by porn companies, and I got tired of getting rid of dirty pictures, so I closed the forum. Even when I had to renew my website, porn got hold of my web address, so I decided it was time to quit the website. To me V.McB. stands for freedom, fun, play and anything I like. V.McB means no rules.

Q: How do you best describe your art? I do all kinds of projects; from sock puppets, clothing to graffiti on canvas. The common factor is that it’s playful, colorful and bold. I don’t know if it’s any good, but I enjoy what I do and think people can see that.

Q: Why this obsession with bunnies? I like them. I always have. They are perceived as innocent creatures, but I believe they can have an evil side. They are still creatures of the night. And they are really smart.

Q: What was your inspiration for creating the ‘RETOX Reunion’ HoodLamb jacket? I had a lot of ‘bunny ideas’ for the design. Not only because they are my trademark, but also because I used the “Evil Easter” theme of RETOX. I also make ‘bunny paintings’ so decided to incorporate the jacket in my series of paintings.

Q: Describe your artistic process when creating the ‘RETOX Reunion’ HoodLamb. I did what I always do and that’s going with the material and my gut feeling. I love graffiti, but it’s a difficult material to work with so it demands thinking fast. It always comes out different and that’s exciting to me. So the jacket was created out of playing with graffiti and having fun with it.

Q: Words if wisdom? Dream big and work hard.

Q: Words for the future? Fuck the future, do what you love and improvise!

Photographer: Odin Pepper, Art Direction: Kim Verduijn, Art assistance: Cecilia Forsman

Exclusive Designs For The High Times Cannabis Cup

Every year, around Thanksgiving time, Amsterdam gets enveloped in a blanket of Cannabis scent. Subtle gusts coming from corners and side-streets; big clouds escaping from the doors and windows of the cities' famous coffee shops. It makes you wonder: did we enter another level of recession and is this how we handle it? Or has another year passed and is it time for another Cannabis Cup? 

That's right: it's Cannabis Cup time! For all of you who have no clue what this is about: it's a 5-day festival organized by the worlds' haziest magazine High Times. It brings together Cannabis lovers from all over the world to sample the best weed & hash in Amsterdam and discuss the latest developments going on in the Cannabis Universe.

And what would the Cannabis Universe be without hemp? At Hemp Works we have many special deals during the Cannabis Cup; great discounts on the HoodLamb Winter Jackets and other HoodLamb items, and especially for this years' Cup we're launching a exquisite range of custom-made Cannabis Cup T-Shirts!

Hemp Works joined forces with its favorite Greek designer, Achilleas Giannissis, also known as Serendipitee, to create these beautiful limited edition hemp/organic cotton T-Shirts! Contemporary art meets eco-fashion in the light of the hazy Cannabis Cup...

Besides these great Cup t-shirts, Achilleas also designed a new HoodLamb Art Jacket. Watch out for the story about this exceptional collab, it will be on our blog soon! To find out more about Serendipitee, check his website: www.serendipitee.eu

These limited edition T-Shirts are now available at Hemp Works