17 - Dakarai Akil

In a Paris hotel room, beneath the Eiffel Tower, we finally tracked down the wonderful Luis Mendo. Join us for a ranging conversation, taking in a career designing magazines in 90's Amsterdam, a life changing decision to relocate to Tokyo and how his work as an illustrator was born from a language barrier. Trigger warning, contains mentions of AI that artists may find refreshing.  Check out Luis' portfolio at handsomefrank.com Feeling a strong desire to stroll through Tokyo with Luis? You're in luck! Join him on his daily routine in our 'Little Film About...Luis Mendo'. Watch now on vimeo    

Part illustrator, part model maker, part engineer and full time Handsome Frank royalty, paper artist Helen Musselwhite visited our studio for our 20th episode. 
 We catch up with perhaps our most analogue artist to discuss her childhood fascination with model villages, thinking in 3D, and how she uses her photography skills to bring her paper worlds to life. If you haven't seen it yet, you can watch our 'Little Film About...Helen Musselwhite' in full, here. Visit Helen's portfolio page at www.handsomefrank.com            

Matt Murphy brought his customary warmth and good conversation as he called in to see us and record podcast EP19. We discussed colour theory, great music and dream commissions past and (hopefully) future. 

Brooklyn's finest, Niege Borges, flew over to London to fill our studio with colour and recount stories of her art journey, her cat Shakira, and her inflatable sidekick Elizabeth.      

From driving taxis, sleeping in a gallery, to working in a homeless centre on Skid Row, Dakarai’s journey to becoming a freelance artist is one of the most fascinating and eventful we’ve ever heard. Warning this podcast contains rattle snake references.

For latest episode we jumped on the Eurostar and headed to Amsterdam to meet with artist and illustrator Leonie Bos. From her studio, tucked away on the ground floor of an old Victorian school, we talk about everything from squatting in abandoned buildings to punch needle and the difficulties of growing vegetables. 

In our latest podcast we embark on a magical mystery tour into the world of Liverpool based artist Luke McConkey. Luke spills the beans on how he first grabbed our attention, the fact that he "draws like he's a nice guy", and his side project as an independent record label owner.

Once again we took the Handsome Frank podcast on the road, this time to a snow covered Liverpool to meet up with the wonderful Joël Penkman. Based in Maghull, on the northern outskirts of the city we turned up at the beautiful mid-century family house that Joël and her partner James call home. The smell of fresh coffee and freshly baked bread greeted us, offering a very welcome sanctuary from the unseasonable elements of the morning.

Illustrator Andrew Joyce is perhaps best known for his maps and building illustrations. As such, we thought it would be fun to take the Handsome Frank podcast to the streets and check out some London architecture on the move. Grabbing some newly acquired roving recording equipment, we wired ourselves up, clipped some microphones to our lapels and went for a little walk and talk around one of our favourite neighbourhoods.

If you love beautifully rendered buildings and hate the price of train tickets, this is the episode for you! This week we’re off to Norwich to chat to the equal parts talented and lovely Zoë Barker. (Leave your Alan Partridge impressions at the door please!) A small content warning - we discuss themes around mental health, including OCD and anxiety. Many many thanks to Zoë for her candour and openness in discussing how she’s learnt to manage her life and career while looking after her mental wellbeing.