footprint a magazine for people
issue one
about people
free
DIFFERENT
/
BOLD
/
LIFE
FREEDOM / OUTSPOKEN / SOU
/
BRAVE / OVERCOME / ENCOURAGE
VALUED / LEARN / INSPIRE /
/ COURAGEOUS / EXPRESSION
EMBRACE / CONFIDENT / CARE
/ HAPPY / INDEPENDENT / VIBE
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DRIVEN / MOTIVATE / ENLIGH
FAITH / CELEBRATE / EXPLORE
/ CONNECT / PASSION / LOVE
KNOWLEDGE / ACTIVE / GLOW
WONDER / TRUTH / POWER /
PHENOMENON / SOUL / LISTE
6
MEET THE EDITORS
14
WARREN DEAN INTERVIEW
11
MIRUNA BIANU INTERVIEW
CONTENTS
7 19
LOUIS BENZOUITA INTERVIEW
BECKIE HART INTERVIEW
WE ARE...
footprint Luke Catleugh London. I have always been passionate about food. My footprint is still hugely orientated about food. If I could trace them back to a child it would probably be me crawling to the fridge. Emelia Anderson London i am passionate about fashion and music. i could trace my footprint back to rummaging around in my grandmothers wardrobe and incredible vinyl collection!. @emeliaanderson_ Zara Arrowsmith London If I could trace my footprint back I’d be found surrounded by my friends, my footprint has been influenced by those I’ve always had around me. @zara_arrowsmith
Lucy Bramwell London Tracing my own footprint, i would probably find myself with my head in a book. I have always had a passion for literature and writing stories. @_lucybramwell
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Welcome to the first edition of Footprint, a magazine for people about people. Have you ever wondered what someone’s story is? Have you ever wondered where someone came from? or how they got to be where they are today? Footprint gives you an insight into individuals stories from their perspective. Everyone’s footprint is different, an individual’s story is like their DNA, no two identities are the same. Making your footprint on your world that you live in is something we are all subconsciously doing. With each edition, there will be new stories from unique people to discover. Team,
LOUIS BENZOUITA
A German-born singer and producer, with an EP due for release in the New Year of 2018. Louis moved from Cologne, Germany to London last year to study Professional Music Performance at the Academy of Contemporary Music. His goal? to follow his passion of getting into the music industry and to produce his own EP on abudget.
INTERVIEWED BY EMELIA ANDERSON
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Fresh from a morning of university, Louis walks into Brickwood coffee shop - a quirky, little joint situated to the side of Clapham common high street. It is an unseasonably warm October afternoon, so we grabbed some coffee and sat ourselves in the court yard garden. After catch up about our days working together turning into an hour of filling each other in about university and life - we naturally got talking about where Louis is at now career-wise before I had time to hit the record button. So, I know you have got a few main interests and are quite the creative, but what would you say is your main passion? LB: I would say being creative in general, I am always just doing different things I don’t just like sitting at home, I actually like going out and doing different things. I started dancing when I was 6 but I had to stop because my dad didn’t really like it – he wanted me to do things like football and be a proper ‘guy’.Then when I was like 12 I started watching television shows like X-factor and I really liked it, which is kind of when I started being inspired to sing. At this point I did like my voice but I found that other people didn’t, so I had to work on it to be able to show other people what I hear and what I am going for really. i know that it can be a real problem convincing some parents that art-related careers can be just as successful . leading on from that, i know that you have done a fair bit of modelling for your mates on Instagram - is that something you are interested in also? LB: kind of yeah, at 16 I was scouted back home but he was so bad. But it made me send my pictures to people and model for my friends – nobody ever replied *laughs*. But that led to a better scouter who actually believed in me and this is the reason behind me changing my name from ‘Ahmed’ to Louis. She advised me that nobody would second look my profile with that name and i know that sounds really bad, but at that moment in time I wasn’t really connected to Islam like i am now, mainly because i only got caught up in the bad things about it, also because of my sexuality I just thought ‘how could I be a Muslim if I liked dick.’ I just didn’t feel accept ed basically or that it represented me. But yeah after a few shoots of me looking like an Aldi advert, I just quit the modelling idea and went back to focusing on music. I had no idea that was your real name! i know religion is controvertial and respect the fact you created an identity that you feel more accepted in. Do think this experience with modelling diverted you in anyway? I know that you are heavily into visuals now and base a lot of your music on ways to present those.
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LB: the modelling made me realise that I wanted to be more creative than that, I didn’t like how meidioca it was. Which is one of the reasons I moved to London, following different people on social media really inspired me to become more creative, I started to challenge styles that wernt seen in my town back in Cologne. So who in particular on social media inspired you? LB: Recently people like Solange, Daniel Caser and Frank Ocean - especially in music as well. There is this one guy called Rahquise Bowen, I really like his street style. I like Kanye’s style and his visual performances but I don’t like his reputation.
“I wanted to focus on nature, fashion and architecture throughout” I know you do covers of songs, but have you got into writing your own music as well? LB: I did a lot of covers in the beginning, mainly because of my English not being great to begin with as a second language – I’m also not really a fan of German music. so when I started out I didn’t really write anything at all to be honest. To be fair to you, at a young age singing covers is a good place to start out, especially if you are trying to establish your sound. LB: Yeah, I wrote my first song at 18 and honestly it was the cringiest thing ever, it is actually so jokes! No way, why have i not heard about this sooner man! what was it about? LB: well it was for this contest and I remember that we had to sing like two songs, but one of them had to be selfwritten. So I literally wrote this song in something like two days and it was terrible!
I am trying picturing it, I feel like I need a sample of this! Can I take a guess that is was about love? LB: it actually was yeah!, I am trying to remember how it went again but it was something like “baby I do, I really do need you” and I was in a relationship at the time and I remember that I showed my boyfriend and he was like “what the f*ck”. But then about 5 months after I turned 18 I got in contact with a producer through my friends and that’s when I really started to focus on music. we had this private school in my town which prepares you for music university, so I went there which surrounded me with music – this was the time I was sure that I wanted to be a musician. I know you recently started producing your EP, what made you think ‘right now is the right time’ and how did you go about funding it? LB: I remember I was at work on my break and I literally just thought ‘why don’t I just officially do something’. I basically had savings of £3000 and I was like okay “why don’t you just invest your money in something”, you know spend less money on clothes and stuff and instead spend one or two thousand pounds on an EP, because I have never actually released my music properly. That was at the beginning of this year, so I said to myself that this is a fresh start, so strip it back to the beginning. Luckily, I knew a lot of creative people from artists to photographers and that really helped me. So you had your funding and your friends at this point, then what was the intial idea behind this EP? LB: I am so interested in visual art and obviously music, so I thought why don’t I make my focus mixing the two of those things together – which is where Solange inspires me because she is f*cking sick! From there I was sitting in the staff room, jotting down notes of what I needed to prepare and how I was going to go about it. So I messaged my friend who I know has a brother who Is a videographer, asking her if he would consider working with me on a budget? And he actually did. That’s so ideal as well, when money is tight! How did you go about getting people involved? I know it can be hard getting people on a project when there isn’t payment and contracts involved. LB: Yeah it is! I sent messages out to my friends at uni to help with harmonies and although I could pay people I always said how thankful I am for their help, because its not like I have a record label behind me to fund anything – but you know it’s a creative experience for them to be involved with as well. Myself and three guys from uni wrote the first song together, just by taking instrumentals off YouTube and playing them on my piano – the second song came about a month later.
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How many song are you planning on writing? LB: All I wanted was three songs and one interlude, or this I got in contact with the most talented guy at my uni and asked him to come to Germany with me like ill pay for the flights for him to work with me alongside a producer from Germany – and he did for a week, which is when we wrote the third song. Things were starting to take shape! I guess the visuals were being thought about through the whole process of writing the songs as well? LB: I think I was horrible to work with, I was so picky because I didn’t want songs that were too wordy, I wanted songs that really made you focus on the visuals. I am currently looking for a new producer at the moment, he just thought I was too picky especially as it wasn’t his full-time job as well. I collaborated with all my friends, drew inspiration from everywhere I could and then put together my first mood board for ‘Distant’ which I had a month to prep for once everything was in place. The first photoshoot was so intense and it was my job to oversee everything and also look after everyone. It took 10 hours, I was so grateful to know these people, who were paid in food - but it looked so good in the end. The second photoshoot was shot in Dover, the three main things I wanted to focus on throughout was nature, fashion and architecture. I am a really emotional person and as a musician it doesnt matter how much time you spend on a project, people will always hate regardless of what budget you have. For me it was important to learn to love myself people there will always be people who dont like what im doing, i always question things and know theres always room for development. Yeah I get the impression that you do strive for improvement. I think it’s that way for most people in creative paths, because there is a bit of you in every piece of work you create which is raw and can leave you feeling vulnerable when critics come to the table. LB: Definitely, which is okay as long as you feel what you have said or produced is right! Couldn’t agree more, its so important to back your work. It may feel cringe down the line, but at that moment in time that’s exactly how you were feeling, your vibe. Which is how you felt with your first song and how many people feel later on when their skills have developed. LB: It is all progress in the end and there will always be somebody who doesn’t see it like you do. For me, I am really competitive and being around people are good at what they do only pushes me to do better. Everything I have done and all the effort I have put into it is essentially an A* portfolio. After all thing, eventually I want to have a team that I can pay and do this professionally - that’s the goal.
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“People will always hate, regardless of what budget you have”
MIRUNA BIANU After many weekends of a few too many glasses of wine and blurry conversations about both past and future, a ‘get-to-know-you’ chat with my flat mate Miruna Bianu, 22, was well overdue. Getting comfortable on our burnt orange couch – a piece of furniture that was not our decision! - Miruna shares her inspiring story of how she grew up with an alcoholic mum, but aspires to be a majorly successful film director.
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Where did you grow up? “Ok so I grew up in Bucharest, the Capital of Romania and I lived there most of my life until the age of 15 when I moved to Brixton in South London.” What made you move to London? “I always find when I tell this story the mood changes ha ha. Basically, when I was 13 my parents got divorced, and mum didn’t take it very well. She moved to London and left me with my dad, but then when I was 15, we found out she started abusing alcohol and she wasn’t doing good, so I guess I moved here to take care of her.” That is a lot of pressure for a 15-year-old, how did you cope? “It was so hard, at that time I felt very pressured into finding work, you know to help my mum out. People wouldn’t really take me seriously because of how bad my English was, which I understood, but at the same time it just made things so much harder. I couldn’t make friends properly and I didn’t have much time to myself because I was always worrying about where my mum was.” So, when did your interest in Film Direction start? “When I was around 16, my mum had started to get a little better, she met this guy called Stefan who she started dating. Our financial situation wasn’t great, so I was still looking for work. Stefan offered me a part time job paying less than minimum wage, helping him out on set of a short film that he was making. I loved every second of the experience and It really inspired me. I knew that’s what I wanted to do with my life and, so I started working really hard to get it.” Were you able to get involved with the actual directing much? “Back then I was more of an observer ha ha. I would be the girl to run and get coffee’s and look after props. I didn’t do much, I think Stefan just wanted to help my mum out really, so I didn’t benefit from it much in terms of hands on experience, but it helped me a lot with my English, and I made some of my closest friends whilst on shoot.” So where did you go from there, how did you learn more about the production industry? “I went to college In Brixton and chose to study Media and Film Studies. They were honestly my favourite subjects ever. I felt like I really came out of my shell in college too, I was able to be myself and make new friends, I loved it. I left college with an A* in both subjects, along with an A in Fine Art. It was such a proud moment to see that all my hard work had paid off. I got into University of West London, where I currently study Film and Video production.”
Have you had any other experience working within the industry? “Unfortunately, on a professional shoot, I do not have any more experience yet. I do have a lot of friends who study music at the same university as me and I have actually directed a few of their music videos, which was so much fun. My favourite has to have been Come my Way by Ishy Dee, shooting that was such a good vibe. That sounds cool, have you ever produced any of your own material? “Well I have been writing scripts for short films since I was 15. Now and then I do like to use them and produce videos which I then post on my YouTube channel. In 2015 I released a short film called “I’m Beautiful” starring my mum ha ha. It was about 6 minutes long and it did quite well on social media, thousands of people had watched it, I couldn’t believe it.” Ill have to watch it... So, are you only interested in making short films? “No, not at all actually, It would be a dream come true to direct block busters, but It just so happens that most of my experience is working on short films. But I would never limit myself to just one genre, or industry. I like to be ambitious, it gives me a reason to work harder.” Are you working on anything now? “I am currently swamped in coursework with it coming up to deadline week, so unfortunately, I am not working anything at this moment. BUT… I have just made plans to actually direct the music video for Tess Kharyn’s After Party, when deadlines are over. So, you will have to keep your eyes open for that!” Where do you see your career in 10 years’ time? “In 10 years’ time, I would love to have directed a bigtime movie, because that is my biggest dream. I hope to have gained so much more experience within the industry and I would love to have worked along side some of my favourite directors like Quentin Tarantino and Angelina Jolie ha ha, I told you I was ambitious.”
“I LIKE TO BE AMBITIOUS, IT GIVES ME A REASON TO WORK HARDER”
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I NEVER REALLY KNEW IT WAS GOING GOOD UNTIL IT WAS TOO LATE...
WARREN DEAN, RESTAURANTUR .
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Previous Corinthia chef turned smoked meat connoisseur Warren Dean tells all about the highs and lows of being a chef with a dream in London and how social media can be both a blessing and a curse. Brixton, South London. Ten years ago, it was considered the “rough ends” where ‘The Village’ was nothing more than a fruit and veg market. Fast forward to today and you will struggle to find yourself struggling not to be within stone’s throwing distance of a flat white drinking mid-twenty something hipster. Setting aside rising rent prices, lavish new builds and urban neighbourhoods, gentrification does have some positives. As I sit on a wobbly stool in the heart of Brixton’s Electric Avenue, at the prep kitchen of Warren Dean’s ‘The Joint’ the smell of barbecued food fills the air. I find it hard not to fall in love with the rough edges and magic of Brixton. Dusting his hands free from flour, Warren pulls up a stool and starts to divulge the true reality of what being a chef in the social media age entails.
LC: “It was an instant success then?” WD: “Pretty much, we were so lucky. I actually regret not enjoying it as much as I did. I spent a lot of my time worrying that it was all going to come
“I NAMED MY RESTAURANT WARREN DEAN’S AND MADE THE LOGO ON PAINT... GENIUS I KNOW”
to an end. I just wish I enjoyed it more. Not to say things aren’t good now but I got the opportunity to cook for famous chefs, I won ITV’s show Britain’s best dish, all that good stuff. Looking back now, that was the highlight of my whole journey.” LC: “The Joint obviously now has a huge social media presence, when did that really kick off?” WD: “We have always had a strong social media presence on Twitter. That shows my age, Twitter was at one point the Instagram of social media. It
LC: “So how did you get into what you are doing
was dangerous, people could use it as a review site
today?”
and it was completely out of your control. Some
WD: “I had seen so many chefs, I will spare you
people say any exposure is good exposure but I
the names, who had spent their life in search for
have to disagree.”
a Michelin star only to fall at the last hurdle. I had also seen chefs acquire the star and spend each
LC: “So what are your thoughts on social media?”
day worrying that they were going to lose it. I
WD: “Truly, I still don’t understand it. I hate Face-
knew that wasn’t what food was all about. I knew I
book, I have never really been a fan. Instagram still
had to change my tactic.”
alludes me. Sometimes, the way food photographs is more important to some people than how it
Luke Catleugh: “Can you
tastes which is crazy. We
tell me where you are
had someone come in the
originally from and when
other month who posted a
you moved to London?”
photo and it got 4000 likes,
Warren Dean: “I’m Warren
but we didn’t experience
Dean, I’m thirty-one,
a busier following week. I
originally from South
sometimes wish the likes
Africa but I moved to
would convert into sales.”
Australia when I was quite young. My parents
LC: “What do you think
decided we couldn’t stick
your footprint has been?
around all the crime in
Do you have any regrets
South Africa for the sake
or things you would do
of having a swimming pool
differently?”
and a bigger house. For as
WD: “I think everyone
long as I could remember
would do some things
I loved food, my mother
differently in their life. I would say my footprint is
was my main inspiration
one of food and it always will be. If I could do this
I guess. She is a wicked cook. I moved to London LC: “So you gave up on the star and searched for a
crazy journey again I would listen more and loose
new venture?”
some of that chef arrogance. I mean if I had known
LC: “Why did you move to London?”
WD: “Kind of…I got a job in a street kitchen. I was
what I did now back then I would have been a
WD: “I came to London with one goal. To gain a
a blown away with the quality of the food and how
fucking YouTuber…”
Michelin star. In my eyes, that was what made a
relaxed the whole environment was. I actually
great chef. To have that star by your name. I went
got fired from that job for not smiling enough but
through the traditional route of working my way
that’s beside the point. A friend got in contact soon
up the chef ladder. I landed some pretty good gigs
after that who had a restaurant in Brixton Village
too, The Ivy and The Corinthia were some of my
asking if I was interested in going into business
proudest moments. I also travelled around with an
with him. I was unsure at first.”
in 2006.”
F1 team providing the food for the whole crew.”
“WHO KNEW THAT SERVING PEOPLE BURGERS IN BRIXTON WOULD BE SUCH A SUCCESS?” 17
MENNACE | NEXT LEVEL MENSWEAR LOCATED | BOXPARK SHOREDITCH, LONDON
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Beckie Hart University student turned Instagram infuencer Beckie Hart reveals how she made a part time hobby a full time career.
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“
Boohoo contacted me and thats when I thought you know what, I could probably make something out of this
”
After endless rescheduling it was finally time to meet with Instagram blogger Beckie Hart, finding time to fit into her busy schedule was almost as difficult as fitting onto a central line tube at rush hour. Finally now sat in a cosy coffee shop in Notting hill, one of Beckie’s favourite shoot locations, it was time to find out how the girl next door from Horsham has found herself with a huge Instagram following which is growing daily. From free clothes to free nights out my main question is HOW can one girl be living every girls dream.
Where did your passion for blogging start? I’ve always been interested in fashion blogs and the influencer community but I never really thought I could get into it, it’s only when I had to start a university project during my first year where part of the brief was to start a fashion blog, so thats where the passion initially started. I really loved going out and taking photos, showing people what I was wearing. After a few months I got contacted by Boohoo who were looking for influencers as part of their student ambassador scheme, at this point my project had finished so I didn’t have to continue the blog but because Boohoo contacted me thats when I thought you know what, I could probably make something out of this ever since Boohoo reached out its made me driven and made me want to continue with my blog. Who is your inspiration when it comes to your blog? I take a lot of inspiration from both big and small bloggers, I quite like to take inspiration in terms of my feed and the photos that I post, from bloggers such as Lydia Millen and Iamchouquette, I really like their vibes of photos. I aspire to be like them because they create really great content and I really like their way of engaging with their followers, their blogs are really nice and I love their style of writing, its something I like to read as its not too boring. I also take a lot of inspiration from a lot of the travel bloggers too as they all create such beautiful imagery that I could only ever wish to produce, so I often look at them for inspiration for shoots that I do around London. Who is your biggest support? A lot of my support comes from the the people that I’m really close to around London, a really good friend of mine called Ben originally started taking photos of me when I first started my blog he was incredibly supportive, he was always there every weekend taking photos of me. Another big support is my room mate Dannie, she’s also a blogger. She began blogging just after I did so its really nice to be able to bounce off someone you’re so close to in terms of imagery, content and going to events etc. It really gives you that confidence to know that you’re going to do well together, I wouldn’t of been able to do what I’ve done without her. Why do you do what you do? Other than the fact I absolutely love blogging its a hobby that I’ve actually stuck with for longer than about two minutes unlike most of my hobbies. So other than the fact I love it I really do love the professional outcomes that come from it, so knowing that your work is appreciated when you’ve goneout and created something for a brand its always nice to know
they’re grateful of it whether they email you back or they want to post it on their channel is when you know within yourself that your work is of good quality. I’ve managed to make so many new friends through the blogging industry too which is rewarding. Whats your five year plan? In terms of blogging I’d love to be able to do that full time when I finish university, that would be something that I really enjoy doing and a massive passion of mine that I’ve been doing for a few years, however in terms of what my degree is and something that I enjoy is PR. In the space of five years I would’ve liked to have opened my own PR company called Hart PR. I really love working with influencers whether that be as a fellow blogger talking and communicating with them or whether it be working for brands and connecting with influencers that way. Have you experienced any challenges within your field? When I first started blogging I had quite a lot of ‘hate’ from people in my home town of Horsham, its a countryside so the people there don’t really understand the concept of blogging so I received some nasty comments via twitter and some private messages with comments like ‘Who do you think you are dancing around London in your high heels’, but more recently I’ve just had a lot of support from people instead. What advice would you give to people that want to start blogging? I’d simply say ‘do it’. When you first start blogging I feel like a lot of people don’t do it in a professional manner which is the reason why they don’t grow, so my advice would be if you do start blogging really take control of the content that you’re producing make sure its good as thats going to be the only way you grow. My other piece of advice would be do what you love to do, don’t try to be someone else just because they have a big amount of followers, if you do the same thing it already exists instead you need to find your niche and when you find your niche you’ll do really well with it. How do you think living in London has helped you develop your blog?
“When I first started blogging I had quite a lot of hate from people in my home town”
London is such a typical blogger location, if anyone is visiting from another country they always want to shoot beside the typical London white houses and in Oxford street too as its very picturesque and incredibly ‘instagramable’. I feel like living in London has also allowed me to connect with brands and influencers more as most events are in London so they are very easy for me to get to whereas if I was still based in Brighton I wouldn’t be as fortunate as it takes a while to travel up to London. But yes obviously London is such a good city to create all kinds of beautiful imagery.
LONDON COLLEGE OF COMMUNICATION
SHORT COURSES
SUMMER 2018
VISIT:HTTP://WWW.ARTS.AC.UK/LCC/COURSES/SHORT -COURSES/SUMMER-SCHOOL/
born out of love, sweat, tears, late nights, and coffee.