Jo Cope

Photo Courtesy Of Jo Cope

WHERE ARE YOU RIGHT NOW AND HAVE YOU ALWAYS LIVED THERE?
A village in Leicestershire called Wigston. I moved about a year ago after returning from London, We bought it for the garages/workshops which was more important to us than the house, for vital needs such vintage car collections. The bungalow needs work but has some interesting 70’s features such as a sunken living room.

WHERE WERE YOU BORN AND RAISED?
Leicestershire is my birth place, more specifically a small village called Sileby.

WHAT'S THE BEST THING ABOUT YOUR PRESENT CITY OR HOMETOWN?
It’s very down to earth and not pretentious and studio space is cheap!

WHAT WERE YOUR ASPIRATIONS GROWING UP?
From when I was about two years old I just wanted to make things with my hands, I would get all of the stuff out of the bin each day and see what I could create.

WHY FASHION?
In a small village individuality stands out stronger than anywhere else, I always dressed differently and people often stared. I started experimenting with my identity through combinations of second hand clothing from a young age. I started to get specific ideas of what I wanted to wear and those things I couldn’t find.That turned into me having to work out how to make things.

WHAT IS YOUR BACKGROUND TRAINING?
I started with a general art and design foundation and moved on to a Fashion Design BA. I worked with performance art at that time and other art departments as a break from commercialism, which I could never connect with. I recently went back into education to do an MA after 10 years of my own studio practice to develop more leather skills, footwear and craft at The London College of fashion. Prior to that I worked with the body through massage and that comes through in the work.

WHAT IS YOUR PREFERRED MEDIUM TO WORK WITH?
I enjoy working with leather and wood, one can be sculpted and the other stretched and molded. I love the relationship of touch between my own hands and these materials.

WHAT IS YOUR PROCESS FROM CONCEPT TO CREATION?
Something will start to get triggered in my subconscious, and as that starts to become more real, I turn it around in my mind as a 360. All of my work relates to the body in someway, so once I have drawn and written rough thoughts I will act out ideas and experiment with my own body. The prototyping process can vary but it often involves building objects in paper and card in the very first stages and attaching them to myself. Later on the work becomes more technical and more about materials, maths and engineering along side the more spiritual hand sculpting.

WHERE DO YOU DRAW INSPIRATION?
From life, particularly lived experiences and observing and talking to others. I naturally psychoanalyse everyone and everything.

WHO OR WHAT HAS HAD THE GREATEST INFLUENCE ON YOU?
My own life experiences, things that I have gone through that have been hard or challenging have been catalysts for the best work, materialising experiences becomes a means of making sense of things, hand process creates mental processing in that way it is fashion as art therapy.

HOW DOES YOU AESTHETIC MANIFEST IN OTHER AREAS IN YOUR LIFE?
When I started creating work in the colour red a couple of years ago to talk about concepts surrounding love and relationships, my own identity started to change and the colour started to take over my life, to the point where I have sometimes painted my face red as well as wearing it constantly head to toe. My aesthetic lives in the home, somewhere between modernism and bohemia and with an obsession for seamless objects from the 50-70’s in high colour fibre glass and plastic and in the documentaries and avant-garde cinema I watch particularly.

WHAT DO YOU GET UP WHEN YOU'RE NOT WORKING?
Work is an extension of life, I love to live and work. A favourite treat is hanging out with my 9-year-old niece. We have so many adventures. We are both free spirited. We love to get in the car and go where ever we want, laughing singing, being in nature, seeing great art. We always have a great time.

HOW DO YOU STAY MINDFUL?
My work keeps me mindful, I use it as a mirror and a means of self reflection daily. I love to work in isolation with no music on sometimes and truly connect with myself though art. Walking is also a therapeutic practice. It doesn’t always have to be somewhere vast and awe inspiring, it can be as simple as walking on your own around the backstreets of the village.