As you know we like to keep our collective eyes open here at Don’t Panic, constantly scouring for the next big thing in the art world. This week we managed to find two of them. Anna Lomax and Lauren Davies are Jiggery Pokery, a young, blonde art duo that have been busy making a name for themselves across the magazine and internets world.

The girls recently graduated/survived a three year art and design course at Brighton University. Since leaving they have worked on all sorts of projects for all sorts of people. Their latest project for the Young Creative Network involved making an enormous and delicious cake (you can’t eat it) in a park in South London. They have also given Selfridges front window a re-working, oh and they designed a poster for the coolest poster-based youth marketing and events company there is (you know the one I mean). Enough talking! It’s time to talk to the girls themselves.

Whiter than white

So what exactly is Jiggery Pokery about?

A: We do everything from editorials to set design, propstyling, performance. Illustration.

L: We just did a massive pinata.

A: We would like to get into more fashion stuff and music videos. I would anyway.

Right before this interview I was...

L: Well… sitting here and drinking this JD and Coke. Anna has been drinking lemonade.

You know what I mean.

A: Today I've been working on a photoshoot.

My studio space is...

*together*: Messy! We share a studio space which can be good and can be bad.

Explain.

L: Well it’s always good to have someone to work with who you can bounce ideas off and such. You can fall into the trap of believing in too many of your ideas without a partner to put it into perspective. The bad side is working and living and being good friends with someone. It can lead to arguments and bad atmospheres. We’re pretty good like that though and rarely fall out seriously or for long periods of time.

The inspirations for my most recent work are...

A: We like to take inspiration from everywhere. A lot of it comes from random props and things we find around places. We like to get most of our props from charity shops and wherever we can find large amounts of junk. Sometimes you will need something really specific but a lot of the time you will find just the thing you need buried under a mountain of crap. It’s recycling for art’s sake, saving the planet one dump at a time.

Not quite so white anymore...

Are there any current artists you take inspiration from?

A: Yeah, there's some. James Price I like.

Tell us about this cake though. The YCN cake.

A: It's going to be about six foot tall. Lots of bright colours.

Mmm, sounds delicious like delicious cake.

L: You can't eat it. It's going to be made out of cardboard and plastic and lots of paint.

What a let down. I was looking forward to blagging a slice.

A: It would have been in the shop window for ages so you couldn't have eaten it anyway.

I've had worse from Greggs I'm sure. I've heard about Anna's cooking anyway so maybe thats for the best.

A: Ha. Who's been talking about my cooking?

Can't say, bros before hos and that. How do you come up with these sorts of ideas? For massive cakes and stuff?

L: We work from a brief most of the time. We look at what the client wants and try and put our own spin on it so thats it's something we both love equally.

A: The client would have done some research so you know they must like what you do in general.

The Art World is...

L: …everywhere! We get so many people from crazy places seeing our work and leading us on to more work. We did a poster for you guys ages ago. We were in Australia and some guy who had seen us hooked us up with more work from that. A guy from Norway also saw our Don’t Panic poster whilst he was on holiday in Budapest. They do get around!

Work poster

Well that’s how we roll. What other interesting stuff have you guys done over the years?

A: We got flown out to America to work on the White Rapper show. I think they were looking for the new Eminem.

Did they find him?

A: No, I don’t think so. There were some good rappers but nobody ever really made it big out of it. Not Hip Hop big I mean.

What do you mean 'Hip hop big'?

A: Well, lots of bling and stuff. Limos and bikini girls and the like.

You mean 'bitches', the correct terminology for that sort of thing is 'big booty bitches'.

A: Okay, watever.

What were you doing? Rapping or something? Lets hear some of your bars then.

L: No, we weren't rapping! We were doing set design.

Hip Hop is 100% about selling out. Did you have to do any product placement sorts of moves?

A: No, it was really good like that. The sales and advertising people (eww) were kept completely away from the creative team.

We're only seperated from ours by a short distance between desks. One of them sits close enough to me to touch me.

L: I'm sure they're not that bad.

Anything else up?

L: We just did a perfume editorial for Androgeny magazine.

What was that like?

A: Good and weird. We had to 'visually represent the smell of each fragrance'. Literally 'smell this and then draw it' sort of thing.

Weird.

L: That's the job.

Window

The music I am listening to at the moment is...

L: All sorts really. I’m into all sorts of dance music. I’ve been really into the dubstep scene lately. We always liked drum and bass and all kinds of interesting and abstract music. Hip hop sorts of stuff. I haven’t really been into pop music or anything for a long time now.

I’m going to print that your favorite act is Britney Spears on the website.

A: Haha, you better not or we’ll sue you and Don’t Panic into oblivion.

The voices in my head are saying...

A: Haha, I try to ignore them.

L: They only want trouble.

After this, I am going...

A: To my friends birthday party! It’s literally just up the road from here.

Cool, can I tag along?

A: Yeah, thats fine.

Buy their Don't Panic poster here, or check their website for more work.