Freestyling With Hideout Tees

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EnterTheTreehouse.com have just produced their first three t-shirt designs under the label “Hideout” and assure me they have another three on the way very soon. What’s unique about this small but mighty collaboration of Leicestershire based graduate designers (Robert Palmer, Jonathan Moon and Tash Walkerdine) is their total passion for BMX. They are currently aiming to promote their screen-printed t-shirts by sponsoring BMXers, Rob who is the most fanatical about the sport is actually a BMXer himself and as a film maker has decided to push his BMX videos through Hideout. Their latest BMX video is out next week. The video stars amongst others; Robbo who is in the Mutiny BMX team – MutinyBikes.com and Frog from the Deluxe BMX team – DeluxeBMX.com. They plan on producing a new video every 6 months, and have already received some great feedback on the trailer. What’s more many BMX teams are already clambering for sponsorship so all is on the up and up as far as the Hideout label is concerned!

They do just about everything under the sun under the banner of “graphic”, including music videos, corporate videos, design, stop motion animation video being very close to their hearts, they’re what I’d describe as modern day urban surrealists working for a buck to pay the rent. These are the kind of people that would’ve been printing flyers and calling for a revolution back a century or so. But now, in their present incarnations we can expect their art to do the talking for them, and it doesn’t just talk, it shouts, no it sings, loud and strong, visually lifting them above the usual diatribe of commercial design and into a quirky and unique realm unseen by the likes of Leicestershire in a very long time, if ever. They’ve already had a few brief brushes with fame, their recent video for Kyte’s, “Boundaries” (the song that appeared on The Sopranos‘ final episode advert in the USA) got them a showing on MTV2 in 2008.

But enough of their glorious diversifications in the world of commercial arts, let’s get down to the nitty gritty and show you their first three offerings in the majestic form of the arts medium more commonly known as “t-shirts” on offer at their incredible store!

Deterrant T-Shirt

Erm, wow? This has to be one of the strangest t-shirts I have seen in yonks and yonks, I mean, we’re talking on the verge of intellectualism as far as t-shirt designs go, here’s the explanation at Hideout – “A moment before the pinnacle of numbers versus strength, ants and scorpions unconciously respond, as their mechanics perpetually drive the struggle. What can I say, the mechanics of nature, the Yin Yang of war, the technology of pain, the eternal struggle to survive? There’s a lot racing though my mind right now, it’s not often that a t-shirt design leaves me on another plateau of thought, but Deterrant (nice wordplay!), certainly has. I love the interjection of what I assume are cogs and gears from a BMX bike in the composition, I’d never guessed this market was so cerebral, then again, BMX does owe a lot to the understanding of engineering and dynamics, still a whopper of a surprise. There is a heap load of detail in this image, I could imagine this work as part of a painted or printed triptych, definitely one for the graffiti crowd, and of course BMXers. Great stuff.

Little Red T-Shirt

Another phenomenal design, very tasteful, and for one with an aversion to slapping logos over a t-shirt this must be one of the most tasteful typographic choices I’ve come across at this blog. Little Red is wonderfully illustrated, it’s not often that one finds a free flowing illustrative style like this for a tee, it’s probably down to the complexity of the print, but here it is, and telling by the close-up shot they’ve done it perfectly. I love the surreal nature of the composition here, very striking, very engaging. It reminds me somewhat of a surrealist take on Victorian children’s book illustration, I especially appreciate the delicate splatter of blood and the enormous amount of work involved in drawing the tree. It makes me think of various things, sacrifice, a Tree of Life, and perhaps an insight into the female mind and even sexuality, I assume this tee is by Tash? Overcoming all odds, no matter how great they may seem.

Rat Photon T-Shirt

I’m confused, either I’m too stupid or too clever for this one, perhaps you have to be a BMXer to understand Rat Photon, but after Googling (yes it is a verb hah) the term I’m none the wiser. I did start to think, hey rats, laboratories, experiments, something along those lines and came up with this link. Some rather disturbing data revealing just how much lead amongst other pollutants rats have absorbed from our polluted environment. Rats are survivors, it’s a myth that they or even cockroaches will survive a nuclear war, but should they manage to, it would only take one highly mutated pair to fill the remains of the sewers for a century or so. There used to be a belief amongst Ancient Greek science that eyes emitted rays of light which has of course been debunked, but it would have been nice I suppose. I think it may all be to do with both Photon BMX bikes and a rider called Rat? I will most likely be corrected in a very short while. Striking image all the same, I particularly appreciate the way they’ve hidden the logo in this one.

If you fancy any of the above tees, all are available for the low price of £15 each, and remember they have another three coming out very soon, we will update you in the news section as and when as I’m sure Hideout at EnterTheTreehouse.com will keep us updated!

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