TFOF 5.jpg
Hayley Louisa Brown, Brick Magazine

Hayley Louisa Brown, Brick Magazine

Nancy Tilbury, Studio XO

Nancy Tilbury, Studio XO

Issue #2.jpg
Alia Loren

Alia Loren

Dawn Shadforth and Roisin Murphy

Dawn Shadforth and Roisin Murphy

Riposte Presents...
Beats Working

2nd July 2016

 

The latest installment of Riposte Presents brought together four women who are innovating across different areas of the music industry. We were joined by Hayley Louisa Brown, Brick Magazine; 

Nancy Tilbury, co-founder of Studio XO; Alia Loren, Grime DJ and radio presenter director Dawn Shadforth and Smirnoff kindly supplied the drinks for the evening.

In the Council Chamber of the Town Hall Hotel, Hayley Louisa Brown kicked things off. Hayley began her career as a photographer and hip-hop editor at Clash Magazine. Bored of commercial work and looking for a new challenge she launched Brick, a brilliant magazine dedicated to hip-hop music and culture. Brick showcases intriguing stories from the world of hip-hop minus the cliché’s. Hayley and her team shoot huge stars in rainy middle class areas of London, there’s no bling and dollar shots and definitely no cribs style posturing.

Hayley talked about her desire to set something up where she had full control, where she worked with the photographers whose work she admired and could tell stories that weren’t so obvious but no less intriguing. Brick features never seen before shoots with the likes of Aliyah, there’s an interview with the woman who was Tupac’s pen pal whilst he was in prison and there’s an interview with Nina Bhadreshwar (Death Row Records) amongst many other fascinating interviews and features. We’re looking forward to issue #3 already.

TFOF 6.jpg

Next up Nancy Tilbury talked us through her work as co-founder and ECD of Studio XO. Nancy attended the RCA studying fashion and focussed on the intersection between fashion and technology as soon as she graduated. Working with Philips she developed a now iconic Bubelle dress which was picked up by Nicola Formechetti for Lady Gaga. Numerous innovative projects followed that pushed the boundaries of tech, fashion and art. Nancy talked about her work with Will.i.am and how an epiphany at one of his concerts lead to a new business focus. Whilst side of stage Nancy and her business partner Ben realised that although it was cool to dress the artists it was the fans they needed to be targeting. After several rounds of development they’re soon to launch a brand that will allow consumers to digitize their body in an amusing, emotional and interesting way.

"Determination to turn something heart breaking into something positive"


Alia Loren gave a moving and inspiring talk about her own personal journey in music. Coming from a strict religious background Alia was forbidden to follow her passion for music and it ultimately lead to her breaking ties with her family. She bravely talked about the affect this had on her, her pursuit of her career and her determination to turn something heart breaking into something positive. She was recently named by Fader as one of the seven women pushing grime forward and it’s not hard to see why. She gives younger artists a platform on her Radar Radio show and plays blistering sets for the likes of Boiler Room. She ended on a quote from Skepta, “pain breeds creativity”, which for Alia definitely rings true.

Dawn Shadforth was our final speaker of the evening. Dawn gave a great insight into how she started her career in Sheffield surrounded by a creative bunch of contemporaries such as the Warp crew and long time friend Roisin Murphy. She showed some early work and went on to screen her latest video for Metronomy’s Old Skool. It’s an amazing piece of work that she said was based on a vision of a space age Abigail’s Party.

Thanks to everyone who joined us, a huge thanks to Smirnoff for keeping the drinks flowing and for the Town Hall Hotel for the beautiful venue.

You can follow the Riposte Presents events live via our Twitter using the hashtag #RipostePresents. Look out for the next one as we host one a month!