Live in our studio, Artists in residence together collarborating! India Flint and Julian Roberts.

(a small homage by the elephant)

India and Julian are pretty damn' spectacular as individuals, each amongst my top five amazing humans I have met, (and believe me I have met some pretty amazing humans) so as a tag-team duo they'll be stupendous.

India is an artisan and writer specializing in bio-regional ecologically sustainable plant dyes. She's concerned about where our clothing is derived from: the fibres and the processes that have gone into the garments that we wrap around our bodies for the majority of our lives. India and her two books are full of tips and suggestions for the eco-conscious and she is one of Beautiful Silks' most popular presenters. As a co-artist in residence, she'll be creating new garments from old with individuality and the exploration of personal style. India’s generosity with her experience and skill is huge.

Julian in his own words:

Day 52 in the Big Brother house.

Sophie & i have a small 450sq.ft studio in Bethnal Green in London, in which we spend most of our lives.

We make clothes, which we show at London Fashion week.

But we find it hard seeing ourselves as just 'Fashion Designers'.

We help & mentor other designers, we teach at fashion schools & demonstrate our techniques & ideas in front of the press & public, we do our bit in the seasonal fashion pantomime, and some website design & graphics to market Blow PR our own press agent, and the 20 on&off schedule designers they represent.

And then i've just become a Professor of Fashion at the University of Hertfordshire in Hatfield, where I’m setting up a new fashion school from scratch.

To give you a rare insight into our daily lives behind closed doors, most of our time recently has been spent writing a lot about fashion & what it is, about designing & cutting & all the things we really enjoy doing together.

We have a million plans each day, big ideas for new ways of making fashion, new ways of being or becoming a Fashion Designer.

So therefore we are not really 'Fashion Designers' any more, we've outgrown that description, 'cos if we were just that & it was that simple, we wouldn't be doing all these extra things, or wasting so much time thinking about what else we are or could become.

We are Fashion Motivators.

How the collaboration will work, as explained by India from the back of a taxi to the elephant:

I'll dye the cloth. I'll hand it to Julian. He'll cut it. It will end up as a garment.

"Well," thought the elephant," I have seen the only other such garment in existence, made for Marion Gorr (my wife) by India after Julian's workshop in Melbourne in February 2011. It's pretty impressive, in fact a garment that previously a mere mortal such as an elephant could only imagine... "