GUS AND STELLA

Creative duo Gus and Stella on life in lockdown and the importance of play.

Gus and Stella have been on our radar for a long time, firing up our senses with their combined visuals and boundless imagination. This effortlessly cool Belgian couple work with a range of media, from collage and photography to film. If you want to leap out of your everyday surroundings and into a world where colour, texture, real and surreal merge, take a look at their work.

Luckily for us, they jumped at the chance to create something for our Celebration Of Life At Home project. And the result is unsurprisingly magical. Shot in Ostend on the Belgian coast, their photos and collages are a dreamy blend of painting, windows, sunlight, stones, and statues. They combine hand-scribbled recipes with shots of flowers beneath running water; bright skies and freshly-dowsed pasta. The story of their lockdown.

Here, we talk to them about seaside isolation, pining for museums, and the undying art of play.

What made you travel back to Ostend for lockdown, rather than staying in London? 

Just before lockdown, we were on a holiday with our families so when we came back, we found ourselves stuck in Belgium. Last year we bought a flat in Ostend by the seaside and this turned out to be a blessing in disguise. It was the best and most chill spot to be in lockdown.

For people who travel so frequently, what has it been like staying in one place for so long? 

At first, we had a bit of trouble adapting and missed going to Paris or Amsterdam for meetings/shoots/projects. But after 2 weeks or so we started to realise it also had a certain peace to stay in one place. We organised our weeks, did a bit of study, redecorated and reorganised our archive. We also enjoyed being tourists in our own neighbourhoods. We loved exploring Ostend and its surroundings and it was a lot of fun to discover a city at a slow pace.

Talk us through your collages. 

Our way of working is always very intuitive. Usually, we work on the mood and feel of the project first and from there on it goes quite quickly. When we make collages, we start by gathering lots of photos, images, tear sheets, scraps, and other pieces of paper that we have lying around. Everything is done manually so paper, scissors, and glue are the main tools. We try different shapes, combinations, and colours. We then edit the results and once we’re both happy with how it looks, the collages get scanned, retouched and are ready for the limelight.

You take photographs and create collages a lot for work. How else have you been channeling your creativity since isolation began?

 The lockdown was a perfect moment to finally take more time to experiment with paintings and drawings. We really found it important to explore more and we even dedicated a day of the week to PLAY. We somehow forced ourselves to think outside the box and create new work, mostly for ourselves, but it was great to try new things. It might even be something we can push towards our commissioned projects. Besides that, we also focused on the apartment and loved tweaking and changing the interior like a sculpture that’s always evolving.

In times of uncertainty, such as right now, how do you feel this impacts your work and your creative process? 

With the lockdown in mind, we thought hard about our business. Thinking differently about ongoing or upcoming projects and meetings was quite a tough one. But since we focus on our own style, we feel we are flexible to find new jobs in other directions. We strongly believe beauty, patience and hard work will always prevail. We also had time to rethink our creative process and how we split our days and were able to come up with a system that focuses on one single activity for the days when you're working in the studio.

Working and living together, you were probably already used to spending lots of time together. Has lock-down felt any different in this regard?

 For us, work and life are one so it was no trouble to change our routines in terms of work and relaxation. Whilst being in one place for a long time is calming, it does have its downside of not being able to escape it for a bit. Sometimes we missed having a coffee on a terrace, watching people go by or going to a museum. Mainly because it sparks our imagination and gives us inspiration but also because it's just nice to sometimes have a change of scenery. But luckily we found other ways and went for long sunny walks, cycled around Ostend, or took our reusable coffee cups to the park. 

When you first met and started working together, was it a meeting of creative minds? Or have you had to make compromises to find your creative language as a duo?

 We were friends first before we became a couple and studied photography in the same class. We helped each other with school projects and we always had a great connection. It actually felt very natural to start working together. We’re both very different in our approach but meet each other in the process of creation. As it is part of who we are, it’s very easy for us to find a collective creative language.

What have you learnt about yourself during this time? And about each other? Has it shifted the direction of your work?

 As we mentioned before, we feel our style is our trademark. Since it’s joyful, spontaneous and bright, we believe we can easily adapt to new projects and industries. Having time during lockdown to reflect on this has made our brand stronger. Personally, we’re both very happy to have introduced the PLAY day into our week as it encourages us to explore and actually take time to play more.

Who can shoot the most hoops on your indoor basketball hoop in a minute?

 We actually don’t have an indoor hoop but on an outdoor basketball field, Stella has to give Gus all the credit. His height and 8 years of experience when he was a teenager definitely helps when we play a friendly one on one.