DR.ME

What is the story of DR.ME ? DR.ME was conceived and established in 2010 on a drunk walk home in the rainy streets of Manchester. We were both studying graphic design at the time and had no desire to work in a commercial design studio. That is why after our studies, we decided we were going to go it alone and have not looked back since. We worked under Mike Perry in New York for three months in 2010, which was an invaluable experience in understanding how to successfully run an independent studio. During this time, we explored our creative influences and layed the groundwork for what we do now. The name came from a mixed up anagram of our collective names Ryan Doyle (DR) and Mark Edwards (ME). We have been based in Manchester for the past six years, but now we are split between Manchester and the French Riviera which is a new challenge, but has not stopped us working collaboratively together on studio projects.

Do you have particular references in the field of art and design ? RD: My high school art teacher turned me onto Neville Brody when I was fifteen, I guess this was when my interest in graphic design started. At University I discovered the work of Basquiat which really blew my mind and led onto heaps of new discoveries, which still continues today. I met Eddy who introduced me to studios like Neasden Control Centre and Nous Vous which was awesome as a student to discover. I recently fell in love with the work of Robert Malaval a painter from Nice whom deeply inspires me right now… So my influences are constantly changing and, to be honest, most of my inspiration come from photographs I take on my phone, which is mostly of walls in one way or another. Writings on walls, colour palettes, torn down posters, graffitis… all these things are all hugely inspiring to me. ME: I have a lot of love for Op artists like Bridget Riley and Frank Stella, I remember sitting in front of Bridget Riley’s ‘Blaze’ for ages as a kid and just being blown away. Design-wise, my mom introduced me to Steve Smith, who does Neasden Control Centre, and getting to meet him and see his work really opened my eyes to the idea of working in the world of art and design. I recently went to a talk by the collage artist John Stezaker which was incredibly inspiring. Since the beginning we have always shared a studio with Steve Hockett (http://www.wonder-room.eu) who is a brilliant designer and maker, and a great person to talk over ideas and inspiration with.

Do you think there is a lack of a design culture ? ME: I like to think we have been quite lucky in being surrounded by a lot of creatives who really feed into the design culture. In Manchester, I have just moved into a large three-story studio with a host of creative people. The collective culture is very strong with people constantly bringing new ideas for collaborations to the table. There is also a healthy competitive nature in the studio. Outside of this, I think that design culture is actually starting to become quite strong. There are more and more people who embrace the nature of the Internet and work on projects together over long distances, without being afraid of starting studios in remote places rather than the capital of their country. We have always been lucky enough to loosely call Mike Perry and James Victore mentors, even though they live in America, they have often been there for us on the end of an e-mail or a Skype chat. We have also been working on a book called 'Cut That Out', which is a compendium book featuring fifty creative studios, the idea of working on this before the Internet is almost unthinkable… as it has given us the ability to feature studios from all around the world.

We saw that you organised a lot of exhibitions, a lot of group shows. Can you explain the process of it ? Exhibitions are important to us as it allows us to experiment freely with no constraints of a client brief and no one to tell us to change anything. That is why since the beginning we have always tried to exhibit. We have done a lot of group shows simply because it allows us to invite and work with people we admire and can often lead to future collaborations. I think a good one was ‘Happy Accidents’ 2012 in New York. We were invited by our mentor Mike Perry to curate a group show as part of his epic ‘Wandering around Wondering’ exhibition. This was a particular highlight because it was in motherfucking New York but also the artists involved submitted some super exciting work. We had video, painting, light boxes, collage, sculpture, ten ft silk print suspended from the ceiling… It was an awesome trip, a definite highlight. Interview conducted in April 2016 ©ktlg