The Inoue Brothers
Because style can’t be mass-produced

Some people are super special. The Inoue Brothers are just such people. Kiyo and his brother Satoru run a design/art studio, which blends Japanese sensibility with Scandinavian simplicity.

Although they are renowned for their exclusive knitwear made from alpaca wool and sold in shops like Colette, their motivational force goes way beyond fashion. The first thing you see when you go on their website is a raised fist, the symbol of solidarity and support. Unlike some other companies, these guys practice what they preach. For the Inoue Brothers it’s the humanitarian and socially progressive opportunity a project will create, which drives each new endeavour.

Upon seeing the suffering, which the 2011 tsunami in Japan brought and continues to bring, the Inoue Brothers travelled to the region to see how they could support and work together with the people from affected prefectures. Because creating the finest products available through the heritage and history of indigenous crafts is at the heart of what they do, they created “Made in Tohoku” a special collection made in collaboration with the most outstanding artisans they could find: 85-year-old Mrs Chiba, the last remaining master of Japan’s oldest indigo dyeing technique, Mrs Sato, the last artisan producing 100% handmade Yagiu Washi paper and Mr Sakuma, a small sewing factory owner, who employs 10-15 individuals from the region.

They created a film about the experience called Made in Tohoku. You might be thinking, but it was made two years ago, why are you showing us now? Because chances are you missed it when it came out, and we don’t want you to miss the thing, which has most made us think, “What am I going to do to help others this year?” as that’s not a bad way to start 2016.

http://www.theinouebrothers.net/#about
Made in Tohoku film https://vimeo.com/88737187

The knights of the rectangular table

Made from Iranian Honey Onyx, Italian Nero Portero marble, classic white Carrara marble and American rough-sawn Mahogony, this table is Cathal McAteer’s first design art piece created in collaboration with sculptor Paul Vanstone, whose marble heads have been central to Folk stores since the beginning of time.

Cathal McAteer says about the collaboration: “Paul and my friendship spans many years and over many a wine in the Spanish tapas bar, as well as long walks in the Dolomites and the Brecan Beacons, we realised what we were into aesthetically and decided to embark on making incredible objects together. This is the first piece we’ve made in this series. It’s not 100% perfect, but it’s a thing of beauty. I’m not sure how to put a price on it, but for sure it ain’t gonna be cheap.”

For more information please email Olivia Elias.

http://www.paulvanstone.co.uk

Polenta Jerusalem Style
– The Palomar Restaurant gives us the wintry recipe to seal all deals

Imagine a dish so good, you’d be happy to stuff your face in a jam-pot, Winnie-the-Pooh style, in order to get the last remnants out. That’s what happened to us when we went to The Palomar Restaurant in Soho and ordered the Polenta Jerusalem Style. Since then, we’ve wanted to recreate it. We’ve tried, but failed.

This month, Head Chef Tomer Amedi shares the ultimate make-weird-noises-of-appreciation-in-public-cos-it’s-so-good recipe with Folk. Make the pot, then tell us what happened next.

Polenta Jerusalem Style

Served with asparagus, mushroom ragout, parmesan & truffle oil

Ingredients (Serves 4)
Polenta

• 100g polenta flour (Bramata - per polenta gialla)
• 300 ml whole skim milk
• 300 ml single cream
• 20 g unsalted butter
• Handful of grated parmesan
• Salt to taste

Mushroom ragout

• 300g button mushroom
• 250 g chestnut mushroom
• 25g butter
• Salt/pepper to taste

Asparagus 

• 4 asparagus peeled, trimmed & cut into 3
• Squeeze of lemon
• Drizzle of extra virgin olive oil
• Pinch of salt and pepper

 Garnish

• Handful shaved parmesan
• Drizzle of good quality truffle oil

Method:

1. For the polenta put the milk and cream in a large pot and bring to a simmer. Add the polenta slowly whilst whisking, and continue to cook on a low heat for 20 minutes whilst whisking. When thickened add the parmesan and butter and salt to taste.

2. For the ragout, add butter to a medium heat pot, add the mushrooms and cook for about an hour until the mushrooms are dark in colour and there is no liquid. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

3. Blanch the asparagus for 45 to 60 seconds, season with olive oil, lemon and salt.

4. Divide the polenta into 4 serving dishes (we use small silver pots) add the ragout, top with asparagus, and finish with the shaved parmesan and truffle oil.

This recipe will feature in The Palomar Restaurant cookbook, which is due to be released by Octopus in August.

He started under the arches, but may soon take on the world

Listen up, our pal Jasper Cuppaidge of Camden Town Brewery has just been given the beans to go global. We spoke to him about turning his boutique, craft brewery into an empire in just five years:

Folk: Hey I hope you’ve recovered from the shock/excitement of the sale of Camden Town Brewery and are cruising along with a big, well-deserved smile on your face… You managed to sell to a big company, Anheuser Busch InBev, only five years after selling your first beer under the railway arches of Camden – that's insane. You're like the Joy Mangano of the beer world. Self-made, passionate, with a supreme vision and drive to create the perfect beer. What do you say to the naysayers, who are poo-pooing the sale? Do you think it's possible to keep integrity when you've sold to the big man?

Jasper:  We’ve grown a lot in a very short period of time. They believe in Camden and they believe in me. I'm not going anywhere. They have no plans to change us. They want to give us the support and let us plug into them where we can see the benefit, e.g. we can use their expertise. They are like an Encyclopedia in terms of quality and consistency. Ultimately we want to be a world famous brewer and they will give us the opportunity to achieve that.

Folk: We reckon you should write a book for all us creative types about how to create a boutique empire in five years. What would your top three tips be?

Jasper:  It’s details. I’m like a plough. I’m focused on details, dedicated to that little bit, and lots and lots of little bits make the bigger thing. I open stuff up like a plough, and make sense of it and put it back together. It’s a bit like with Folk, where you will have a small detail, and yet it’s completely fantastic and thought out. Another big thing for us is consistency. We are consistently reliable. The beer always tastes great. It’s a bit like with your friends, you hang out with the ones that are consistently fantastic, the ones who are a bit all over the place, you don’t hang out with so much. And the third thing would be encouragement. I try to make sure that I encourage my team all the time, I go round and support and push them, and explain that what we’re/they’re doing is fantastic.

Folk: We love seeing you at Glastonbury every year. Do they sell your beer there yet?

Jasper:  Can you imagine! Who knows, things like that might happen... That's the magic of where we are, things we could never have done suddenly become a possibility. Now is the time to really be enjoying it because we can do so much more. But then again, if they sold Camden Town beer at Glastonbury, the event might turn into a job not a party for me. Glastonbury is like my holiday of the year. I don’t even know who is playing yet this year, but whatever is happening – great! – as long as I’m there. 

 

Bedside Table Talk:
Artist and drummer Sidsel Top talks Dick and Life books

For our third edition of bedside table talk we’ve asked artist and drummer Sidsel Top, who not only designed Folk’s first shoebox back in the day, but also featured in some early look-books, what she’s currently reading…

I Love Dick by Chris Kraus: “I came across this book via my intellectual friends in Denmark. It’s supposedly a book that no one really noticed when it first came out, but now it’s the book you need to read if you really want to understand relationships, or their demise.”

 
Life? Or Theatre? by Charlotte Salomon: “This is my favourite art book right now. It’s basically a diary consisting of autobiographical paintings of Charlotte Salomon, a young Jewish artist, who was sent away from Berlin in 1939. They are the most beautiful gouache drawings of her inner life and her feelings about what’s going on in Germany and in her soul between about 1939 and 1943. It’s an amazing piece of history as well. She had a show in the Sackler Wing of the Royal Academy back in 1998, but the paintings usually hang in Amsterdam’s Jewish Historical Museum, so it’s hard to see them. She’s incredible. She should be known by the whole world.”

The First Bad Man by Miranda July: “I’m part of a book club in Copenhagen and I chose this book because I’m desperate to read her to see what she’s like as a writer. One of my favourite films, Me and You and Everyone We Know, is by her. She wrote, directed and starred in it. I love her, so want to see if she’s a good novel writer also.

Lucky Peach (the first cookbook from the cult food magazine): “I bought this the other day at the London Review Bookshop opposite the British Museum mainly because it had EASY written on it. I haven’t tried any of course but the ‘easy’ bit made me buy it.”

Folk Playlist II

If you’ve been overdoing it on Bowie for the past couple of weeks, here’s a great way to get away from Lazarus and embed a few new earworms. Click on the second in a series of playlists curated by Folk and get stuck into Yves Simon’s track Au Pays des Merveilles de Juliet, Don’t You Feel My Love by George McCrae and many other gems.