Nonoloa T-Shirts - International Art Meets Fashion

Nonoloa.com describe themselves as a ‘creative platform designing clothing from urban art’ - in other words they take from the streets, in this case the whole world of urban life, and transfer their unique art collection to a range of spectacular short and long-sleeved tees, polos, hoodies and sweatshirts. I recently visited their site for the first time and have to admit it is stunning in more ways than one. Apart from the beautiful and highly interactive design of the store, the products certainly do produce the wow factor, a very individualistic and inspiring range of t-shirts drew me in further

Enrique Flores, one of the people behind the Nonoloa label directed me towards Issuu.com which reveals more of the story and concept behind this avant-garde collective. Essentially they are as international as you can hope to find, their artists hark from every corner of the globe, ranging from as far and wide as Spain, the United Kingdom, Lebanon and even Tehran. I was astounded that a label could source so diverse a community of artists, each with their own pertinent input, both visually and conceptually, towards the Nonoloa platform. Incidentally some of their artists have even exhibited at the famed Tate Modern Gallery in Britain. You can see their works at Tate.org.uk.

Nonoloa have a fascinating history too! In April 2004 a friend Félix moved to the coast to open a t-shirt store, Juanjo Barreda, a designer offered to help with the first collection, however it came to nothing. By 2005 Juanjo decided to take a chance on his own with the directive of producing something more resonant than a mere graphic pasted on a t-shirt, as a form of self-inspiration and discipline he formed the name ‘Nonoloa’. Combining the Aboriginal word ‘Mauna Loa’ meaning ‘big mountain’ or volcano. To soften its effect, he combined it with a childhood word repeated to help him sleep ‘Nono’. The two merged and created the name ‘Nonoloa’. For the next few years he struggled to sell t-shirts wherever he could, even sidling up to stalls full of ‘colourful pills’ at music festivals across Europe. Soon he had his own website, researched more advanced printing techniques, soon tired of working alone he redesigned the website and formed a new arts collective to further enhance his vision of style manifest, and the rest is history.

The whole site is written in Spanish, English and I believe Japanese (I’m not too au fait with the latter), to further imbue the international feeling of the site and label. I’ll feature a t-shirt by each artist in residence just to give you a feel of exactly what they do at Nonoloa.

This the Ipunx T-Shirt at Nonoloa (available in four colours), power-packed with attitude, very punchy, very in ya face! If you want to know more about Ipunx, who as far as I can tell live in secret residence somewhere in Hackney, then check out their website at Ipunx.com - they’re actually an illegal ‘mash-up’ duo who have done some fantastic remixes in the past - care to listen to their mash-up of the venerable Beastie Boys’ track Love and Hate? I think it’ll explain exactly how they came to create their unique t-shirt style. There’s plenty more available including an incredible mix of Roxanne by The Police and My Sharona by The Knack - see the video here. They also sell it all on vinyl here. These guys have restored my faith in mix tracks, they mash-up about five to six tracks at a time on a bunch of old PC’s, they rock!

The next tee was created by Gee.Oh.Dee (a.k.a Pablo & Javier) and is available in grey and light blue at Nonoloa.

This is a very cool abstract shirt with just a hint of fifties paranoia meets eighties iconic i-D Magazine about it, very nice composition, kind of old school Francais, but I love that whole eclectic style, as you’ve guessed by now. Check out more of Gee’s work at Geeohdee.com designer’s blog and Beliomagazine.com.

Carp remains the best selling shirt at Nonoloa, the design is even incorporated in the website design.

An absolutely beautifully illustrated Ancient Eastern design, I can understand why this would be the favourite at the store, and essentially it shows once again how diverse the offerings at Nonoloa. It’s been a privilege to review the site, an inspiring visit for anyone who wishes to witness the elements of design, form and function, and the collective nature of the artist’s world at it’s best.