MAV!N - Pop vintage
By Marieke van Helden, WGSN, 05 October 2012
MAV!N is a freelance artist. He describes his style as "crazy, sexy, cool street poet", referencing his
Polish and African roots, love of vintage and upcycling.
He also owns the store LeMagass. He's also a singer/songwriter for deep-house project MANHOOKER (Manhooker)
and has featured on the Massimiliano Pagliara track Fade The Light.(Massimiliano Pagliara - Focus For Infinity ALBUM)
MONTHLY SPEND
Clothes: €50
Accessories: €20
Food: €200
Going out: €100
Music: €50
Technology & apps:
€50
Style
What style tribe or style tag would you give yourself if you absolutely had to:
crazy, sexy, cool street poet
What three things define your look: cultural background, dance music and dreams
Describe your personal style:
to fully understand my style, I have to take a step back and explain. I was
born in Poland, as a child of an African father and a Polish mother who met in the creative underground student-scene in Warsaw. I grew up with my grandparents in Poland and they taught me to experiment with everything on a daily basis. Materialistic consumption in general wasn't a possibility, hence not a priority. In order to possess something, we had to create it with alternative materials. That included food as well as clothes, toys and books. Everything was either used or self-created. Traditional Polish folklore was something both my grandmother Monika and my mother's younger sister Agnieszka (who is like an older sister to me) brought into the house and my beloved grandad's carpentry and technical-mania balanced my upbringing. I ended up seeing loads of handmade objects, recycled and upcycled items. While my granny would sew and knit all the time, my mother would rebel against all that, by listening to forbidden Western music, especially disco and Marvin Gaye and Bob Marley, and going to experimental gatherings that idolised world music and Afro beat. She exchanged her hard-earned money for a Halston
blouse or lipstick from Helena Rubinstein or Maybelline in a KOMIS shop (consignment shop specialised in selling Western brands for an exorbitant amount of money, often imported or brought in by private persons in commission). So, my personal style could be described as a big city, street-cred neon VOODOO-PRIEST, a pan-European Sitting Bull inbetween two cultures, using six languages. A dreamer, some call it visionaire, who is busy creating something new from the old, banging on bass drums, singing melodic hooks and fatally optimistic
Describe your work/design ethos:
my vintage store offers 80s disco chic meets 90s rave lifestyle. I am
also working on an upcycling brand that will create unique items inspired by that era. Generally, I'm stuck in a timewarp that influenced me growing up in Berlin as a teenager. I like to call my brand/store a hybrid of the last decade. To put it simply - the illegitimate lovechild of Bill Cosby and The Fresh Prince of Bel Air
Favourite item in your wardrobe:
it has to be either my BOY London cap or my self-made faded black-towhite ripped denim shorts
Basic you can't live without:
Luster's hair moisturiser and sheen spray, a black or grey hoodie, and my
Nike Dunk High Vandal silver red trainers and tube socks. L'Eau D'Issey by Issey Miyake
Top three must-haves for 2012:
penis-jokes T-shirts, Aztec prints and a felt hat or chapska
Top three must-haves for a festival/night out:
since I don't really do festivals or mass-gatherings anymore, keeping in mind that I belong to the Love Parade generation and I try to avoid the masses, I like to go to
selected small happenings with 50-100 people that are like-minded and I can easily talk to and exchange
ideas. I like to dress to impress, so a high-buttoned silk shirt, a funky hat, jewellery and pants with nice
buttons or zipped-details make it impossible to get wet/sweaty or mud-dirty
Top three style icons/influences:
Prince, The Fresh Prince of Bel Air and Cameo singer Larry Blackmon
Top three shopping fixes/stores/online retailers:
Mayflower Vintage, Pane & Vintage, Schuhtütehemd, flea markets and my own store, LeMagass
Mademe clothing http://www.mademeclothing.com/
88tees http://www.88tees.com/index.php
bitchingandjunkfood http://bitchingandjunkfood.com/
In your opinion do you have to have money to have style?
absolutely not
Lifestyle
Describe a typical day/weekend for you:
I work in my store from midday til I drop, so going out is a pretty
big task, since my energy level is highest in the morning and really low at night. I'm a day person, period. The night is for sleeping and dreaming, but if I really want to see my favourite artist or good friends (most of them are DJs, producers and artists) I will close the shop punctually at 19:00 and then go to meet them straight away. I don't like going home inbetween since I would never leave the house after I come home and start reading my emails or eat dinner or take a nap. That would slow me down. On weekends, I need to go outside of Berlin to get inspiration and buy some new items for my shop around Brandenburg. After that, I am busy washing, ironing and preparing the new clothes for the shop, which usually includes Mondays, too...
Favourite hangouts in Berlin by night:
Paloma Bar, Soju Bar, Kleine Reise, Kantine (Berghain) (thank god u didn't ask me for the X-Rated ones, haha. there are a few I like), Sir Iwan, Flamingo, Tape Club (for the HORSEMEAT DISCO parties), Cocktail D'Amore (Discodromo and Boris DJ sets)
Favourite hangouts in Berlin by day:
Friedrichshain Volkspark, Plötzensee, Boxi
Perfect night out:
discovering a new cool spot by surprise, meeting interesting people and dancing to a
great DJ set. Kim Ann Foxman, Julius Petit, DJ Wawashi, Rotciv are my favourite DJs right now. I can't lie, I need some of my favourite tracks to be played to make me instantly lose control
Worst night out:
a crowded hipster party with expensive drinks, cloned posers dressed by a lookbook
...and laptop live acts playing noisy fruity-loops. Worst case scenario: the DJ playing a 128kb YouTube playlist
+ aggressive girls spilling a beer or burning a cigarette on you...and laptop live acts playing noisy fruity-loops. Worst case scenario: the DJ playing a 128kb YouTube playlist
What do you love about Berlin:
the "I don't give a fuck" attitude
What do you hate about Berlin:
the "I don't give a fuck" attitude
Favourite bands/musicians right now:
Kim Ann Foxman, Snax, Azealia Banks, Light Asylum, Massimiliano Pagliara, Max Skiba, Pan K, The Rimshooters, Roisin Murphy, Hercules & Love Affair, Bat For Lashes, Wet Nails, Discodromo, Rotciv, Rafael Postpichil, Drop Out Orchestra, Snuff Crew, Wolfram
Top three must-view magazines:
Hercules
V
Nadir Tejani, Armando Berneth, Hood By Air
Top three things that would improve your life:
I should say free internet everywhere, less globalisation and instead more of a focus on handmade, homegrown talent and variety/uniqueness, but I will go for friendly, open-minded people, an international law of a minimum wage for artists and more women in politics
Top three habits you’d like to lose:
smoking, eating out (fast food), stop using Facebook non-stop
Events that you look forward to in 2013:
my new shop, my first proper record and hopefully performing live (be scared. If you're scared go to church, cause MANHOOKER hurts)
