The Real Hackney Dave In episode 20 I chat to artist Dave Buonaguidi - otherwise known as The Real Hackney Dave.  We chat about Dave’s mid-life epiphany during which he left his marriage and his career in advertising and became an artist.  Dave is a fascinating guy and a natural story-teller and I loved hearing about his time in 90’s Spitalfields as it just started to become cool (If you’ve been on one of our tours you’ll probably know Dave’s former home, 11½ Fournier St!), his time at channel 4 during the Brit Art Years and how he’s continued to move with the times and constantly r ..read more

In this first episode of the Alternative London Podcast we chat to co-founder of the East End Trades Guild, Krissie Nicolson. The Trades Guild was founded to give independent businesses, the self employed, charities and social enterprises a voice and a platform to organise in the face of rising rents, large-scale development and rapid gentrification in the East End of London. The value of this union was really amplified for us during the pandemic, so we wanted to publicly thank Krissie for helping us and many others through it as well as finding out more about the Guild, Krissie's journey so f ..read more

One of Britain's master bronze makers, artist and environmentalist - it's the one and only Jonesy! Mark Jones moved to East London in 1988 to take up work as a finisher in a bronze foundry. Apart from a few stints abroad, he has been there ever since. In that time he has produced works for some of the most well known artists of our times. Alongside his professional work however, his bronze street works have lead him to become one of the most endearing street artists in the East End. The intricacy and detail of Jonesy's work, not to mention the fact that he's working in bronze, has always blow ..read more

In this episode I speak to entrepreneur and Jewellery maker, Nadia Abbas. Nadia, Quincey and Luke co-founded Stööki in 2011 as a Jewelery brand with its roots firmly in London youth culture. We talk about the highs and lows of running a sustainable fashion business in a throw-away world, how Stööki survived after the tragic and untimely passing of Quincey and how everything Stööki does is centred around building community. Stööki is more than a brand, it's a movement. Nadia is so passionate about her craft and a real inspiration to anyone - particularly young women of colour - thinking about s ..read more

In this episode I sit down with the one and only, Cranio. Hailing from Sao Paulo, Cranio has emerged as one of the world’s best and most loved street artists. We’ve been big admirers of Cranio and his work since the first time we met him in 2012 so it was great to catch up ten years later for this chat. A lot has changed since then and his unique style has evolved a lot, so it was great to see him in great spirits and form – humble as ever and staying true to his roots. Due to the translation of this episode it’s short but sweet and we cover Cranio’s story so far, how he deals with success, th ..read more

Jade LB is an award-winning author from Hackney. In the early 2000’s chapters of a story started to appear on the blog site Piczo, and suddenly it went viral. Keisha the Sket was well known for being sexually explicit and violent, despite Jade having no sexual experience at the time of writing. Suddenly Jade stopped writing and left the story on a cliffhanger. Fifteen years later she was approached by Stormzy’s book imprint, Merky Books, to publish the original and re-write the story as a novel. Both the original and the ‘Revisited’ offer a brilliant insight into young love in the housing esta ..read more

In this episode I chat to artist, Ant Carver as he prepares for his solo exhibition - All Alone in a Crowded Room. This current body of work, inspired by the tragic loss of Ant's best friend, muses primarily on grief and loss. It also displays a shift in Ant's style in which he creates stunning realistic oil paintings on aluminum board, with abstract elements seemlessly blended in. We talk about all of this and much more and I loved getting to know Ant and his process better as he welcomed us into his world for a little bit. All Alone in a Crowded Room opens at Copeland Gallery in Peckham on 7 ..read more

The self-proclaimed Vandal Extraordinaire. Crackney's undisputed finest. Ronzo has been an ever present fixture of the London street art scene since the early days. His characters exist in their own world but reflect on the issues of our reality and have, as such become iconic cult monuments of the East End and beyond. As I turned up to his studio, he was all set up to make me a sculpture while we recorded! We talk about Ronzo's chance move to London from his native Germany. His introduction to the street art scene here from his time sharing a studio at the Stolen Space Gallery and hanging ou ..read more

Jenny Lewis is an award-winning photographer who embarked on her own projects after a successful career shooting for editorials. She has published three books: Hackney Studios, One Day Young and 100 Years and has exhibited her work around the world. Her intimate portraits focus on people in the East London Community so I wanted to meet her and find our more about her work and inspiration. Through these unique and deeply personal projects and their subsequent public interventions, Jenny has brought the faces of so called 'ordinary' people to a wider audience. By placing them back into the visua ..read more

In this episode I chat to the brilliant Jay Ka3s. Jay is a ln East London based, Spanish street artist, muralist and animator whose current body of work deals with our relationship with the online world with his style he refers to as the glitch. We talk about Jay's background in hip-hop and graffiti, the astonishing efforts he went to to get his degree and how he eventually started a successful mural agency. Jay's love of graffiti culture is palpable and he is an artist totally dedicated to his craft. It's been great to watch his work progress over the years and I loved having this opportunity ..read more