TEXTILE COLLAGE ARTIST
NOKI
Interview 02 MAR / NOKI - textile collage artist
REINVENTING THE REJECTED
NOKI
AN EXCLUSIVE Q&A LUMEN INTERVIEW WITH NOKI - THE DECONSTRUCTIVE AVANTGARDE COSTUME BUILDER. THE ARTIST REINVENTING THE REJECTED.
We met Noki at his new artistic place, in the middle of London- Piccadilly Circus, in collaboration with a creative project called ARTS ARKADE, he is surrounded by his past work and upcoming T-shirts being used for new collage works and stencil paintings to become part of the NOKI NEST where Noki is teaching his students the way of DIY deconstructed collage textiles. Meeting Noki with His collage masks, which is a soothing barrier to mask media he said: "I’m able to be more relaxed as a human being rather than just being an objectified Face . The mask means I am no differnt to you, I refuse to be elevated further into sexualised celebrity culture.
Noki’s work as an artist blends his ideas of sustainability and the way we perceive garments with his personal connection to London subcultures and their influence on his perspective on the lifespan of a garment.
Taking inspiration from his early touchpoint with the Punk scene through his brother, to Noki finding a community in the Rave culture in the late 80’s - he has a unique perspective on the relationship between subcultures, their perceptions by the industry and society and how a garment’s association can have a direct correlation to the way we consume them. The Noki Nest is his democratic way of teaching students how to be lagitimate evolutionary thinkers, how to custom build Noki-style. "They can have authentic agency on how I created my rule breaking archive, to further the rule breaking with there youthfull originality".
“Dadaism - from paper collages to textile” is one of many ways Noki describes his way of “Taking the normal and making it extra, ABNORMAL. Seeing textiles as a commodity and a brands leftovers as ideas,…, being able to propose a solution.”
By “foraging and collecting textiles to create the perfect collage at that point in time” Noki shifts the focus from the nostalgia of a garments past to finding playful ways to ensure a garments future.
“By taking scissors to a garment created to exist in a specific pattern & reframing it, you allow nostalgia to be sidelined and make room for modernism to be at the forefront” - Noki 2025
WASTE
ISN'T WASTE
UNTIL WE
WASTE IT
YOUR DESIGNS EMBODY REBELLION AND INDIVIDUALITY.
IF EAST LONDON WERE A GARMENT, WHAT WOULD IT LOOK LIKE, AND HOW WOULD YOU DESIGN IT,HOW HAVE YOUR EAST LONDON ROOTS SHAPED YOUR CREATIVE VISION AND APPROACH TO YOUR ART IN FASHION?
NOKI: Very much so. I waz in my early 20’s arriving in London in 1995 finding a warehouse at 71 Leonard street, 2 weeks later my first job at The Blue Note club which emersed me in underground club culture around Goldies -Metalheads and MoWax - Dusted nights . Meeting the crem dela cem of young underground artists / musicians s . Not long after Viking P allows FeeDoran & myself the keys of the opening of the Brickayers Arms pub on Charlotte Street as a weekend as it was always closed, to manage as the first ‘mash up’ pub shenanigans. Being in the epicentre of all this new London Wave underground movement was totally immersive and utterly inspiring . It’s informed all my noki art to this sustainsble day.
NOKI: I'd say im not an anarchist I protest but I don’t smash and grab & destroy without a positive solution with little waist the community have to sweep up.I customise up the branded Rave T shirt uniform, to new DIY sustainable ideas. Noki is a positive solution for a fashion style to evolve by replication through my Noki Nest platform at ArtsArkade in Picadilly circus , art directed by Killa Kella.
YOU’VE BEEN CALLED A "FASHION ANARCHIST." WHAT’S ONE RULE IN FASHION YOU’VE BROKEN THAT YOU’RE MOST PROUD OF, AND WHAT REACTION DID IT SPARK?
PUNK IS ABOUT BREAKING RULES. HOW DO YOU INTEGRATE THIS PHILOSOPHY INTO YOUR ART COLLECTIONS WHILE MAINTAINING A MODERN EDGE?
NOKI: The modern edge is a pair of sharp Sissors and knowing collage proportions to reassemble them into new ideas for the gallery wall or rave pit.
NOKI: My textile collage Art is how I feel I can contrabute to Someting new for the 21st Centuary . Sustainable concepts have kicked in to support my original ideas to only use vintage clothing to achive this final conclusion be it framed art or the wearable custom builds as DADA assemblage ideas . I’m told my work now fits society standards more now than in the 90’s . People are listening more now than ever which is exciting and necessary.
YOUR WORK BLURS THE LINE BETWEEN FASHION AND ART. HOW DO YOUR CREATIONS COMMENT ON SOCIETY, CONSUMERISM, OR IDENTITY?
YOUR ART OFTEN FEATURES BOLD DECONSTRUCTION AND REASSEMBLY. DO YOU THINK OF YOUR PIECES AS PUZZLES, PROTESTS, OR BOTH?
SUSTAINABILITY IS KEY TO YOUR PROCESS. HOW IMPORTANT IS UPCYCLING, AND WHAT CHALLENGES DO YOU FACE WHEN WORKING WITH DISCARDED MATERIALS?
NOKI: Sustainability is an idea, it’s a creatieve mind though process that when you engage in it, it does induce positve dopamine’s. So I hunt for my daily rave fix that way . This energy I’m told come’s out in my art and Clients cross-fix to this.
NOKI: Yes, both of the above it tasks my attention to aspire to the best collage every time I custom build or frame my collages
YOUR ART OFTEN FEATURES BOLD DECONSTRUCTION AND REASSEMBLY. DO YOU THINK OF YOUR PIECES AS PUZZLES, PROTESTS, OR BOTH?
THE EAST END HAS BEEN A HUB FOR CREATIVITY, FROM PUNK IN THE '70S TO MODERN STREETWEAR. HOW DO YOU THINK YOUR DESIGNS BRIDGE HISTORICAL AND CONTEMPORARY SUBCULTURES?
NOKI: I think the noki Bridge was my way of finding a personal way forward for my own style it has cross pollinated intoo wider audience to cross that bridge
NOKI: Yes, both of the above it tasks my attention to aspire to the best collage every time I custom build or frame my collages
IF YOU COULD COLLABORATE WITH A PUNK BAND, PAST OR PRESENT, WHO WOULD IT BE AND WHY?
NOKI: Punk isn’t just a look; it’s a lifestyle. What’s one everyday act of rebellion or creativity you practice outside of design?
Turn your plastic bags ;we all use regardless of the situation they present , inside out . And turn your adidas branding into a-id-s to create a safe sex campaign in the rave, for a positve & numerous community engagement.
NOKI: Turn your plastic bags ;we all use regardless of the situation they present , inside out . And turn your adidas branding into a-id-s to create a safe sex campaign in the rave, for a positve & numerous community engagement.
PUNK ISN’T JUST A LOOK; IT’S A LIFESTYLE. WHAT’S ONE EVERYDAY ACT OF REBELLION OR CREATIVITY YOU PRACTICE OUTSIDE OF DESIGN?
YOUR COLLECTIONS TURN DISCARDED MATERIALS INTO COVETABLE PIECES. IF YOU HAD TO DESIGN AN OUTFIT FROM SOMEONE’S ATTIC FINDS, WHAT WOULD YOU HOPE TO DISCOVER?
NOKI: Well your in the right environment to get me Noki’ing . Nostalgia will be cut up with positive reinvevtion .
NOKI: My collages are simply an assemblage of what I find in the land fill . It all depends what I allow myself to be emersed and influenced by . The narrative is random and sometimes hilarious and sometimes very serious
YOUR WORK OFTEN FEATURES BOLD GRAPHICS AND UNEXPECTED TEXTURES. WHAT ROLE DOES STORYTELLING PLAY IN YOUR CHOICE OF MATERIALS AND DESIGNS?
FASHION OFTEN REFLECTS THE TIMES. HOW DO YOU SEE THE ETHOS OF PUNK AND EAST END GRIT EVOLVING IN THE NEXT DECADE?
NOKI: To be unique iswhat youth seek . & Rejection Breeds Reinvention
This Etos is my remit, it’s always has been the sustainability of my creations demands it and I submitted to this in 1996
NOKI: That Woud be when I turn an adidas into a-id-s to create a safe sex campaign in the rave, Major FORCING a positive change in the branded rave landscape
YOUR DESIGNS ARE WEARABLE ART WITH STRONG NARRATIVES. IF ONE OF YOUR CREATIONS COULD SPEAK, WHAT STORY WOULD IT TELL ABOUT ITS JOURNEY FROM CONCEPT TO CATWALK?
WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO YOUNG DESIGNERS WHO WANT TO CHALLENGE NORMS AND CREATE SOMETHING UNAPOLOGETICALLY UNIQUE LIKE YOUR WORK?
NOKI: Customise, customise, customise your wardrobe or your mates unwanted warderobe landfill. Become a custom builder the new Fashion designer . Be 21st century. Create Landill Drops not Land fill Up’s
NOKI: That Woukd be to create your own NokiZine where all your issue content is screen printed / collaged on the 2 T shirts it takes to custom Build my wearable Commuinty Zine
IF YOU WERE TO CREATE A LOOK FOR LUMEN, HOW WOULD YOU ENVISION IT?
