Absolute Disaster: Interview with former Abandon Ship designer
Designer and muralist Richie Davies returns to the fashion scene with a brand that is 100% him…
In the basement under Margate’s Old Town Barbers, disaster is brewing. Not literally. That would be dreadful. No, this is a punky dive-bar space spliced with an art studio and fashion house.
The all-black walls and ceiling are covered in the pink illustrations of Richie Davies, a muralist and designer whose move to Margate was provoked by an extended seaside holiday filled with picklebacks, pizza and pubs that you can roll home from.
Originating in Dundee, Richie’s pre-Kent life experiences could take longer to list than an entire Martin Scorsese epic. Founder of Abandon Ship Apparel - a nautical-ish-themed apparel fashion brand whose tentacles stretched into retail, bars and tattoo studios from London’s Soho to Glasgow - Richie has somewhat been there and done it. But, as with many businesses that become successful, the original goals and reason for doing it can become clouded. So, 11 years after he started it with a friend in an attic, and having it stocked in Topman, ASOS and Foot Asylum, Abandon Ship beached indefinitely. A move to Margate and a new chapter began.
“One of the main things I wanted to do was not compromise…”
“I started it when I was 24 and exited when I was like 35,” says Richie. “It just felt like it was the end of that chapter in my life. I was quite happy just to leave it and now it’s been a couple of years. I look back on it fondly and I enjoy the legacy of it.”
Stepping away from the business and doing something different had a cathartic effect, but unfortunately wellbeing doesn’t often pay the bills and Richie went back into the world of freelancing, working with clothing brands on artwork for new collections as well as touring the UK to fulfil mural requests.
“Anyone who works freelance knows half of it is looking for work, the other half is chasing invoices. And then there’s like a tiny half per cent margin where the actual work is done. I was creating artwork all the time and I feel like I’ve got more stories to tell, and I felt I could do something that’s different from Abandon Ship, which was maybe a little bit truer to me.”
And so, on March 1st 2023, with £500 and a BigCartel account, Disaster Inc (@disaster_incorporated) was born.
Disaster Inc was started to create weird and exciting products that bring joy to not only the people who wear them but to Richie himself.
“In Abandon Ship, my goal was to take over the world,” he says. “Now I’m just quite happy to live in my own little world, pay my bills and create for living - that’s just a joy.”
The project is free-flowing without seasons as such, with pieces released as ‘drops’ in limited quantities and the idea that the little stock that is held sells out quickly.
“I just really want to have a lot of fun with it, trial a bunch of different products,” says Richie. “Last year, I did a death metal T-shirt, something based on Dungeons and Dragons, all-over-print swim shorts and tracksuits and we did higher-end, really heavyweight boxy cotton T-shirts, with just a small logo on them. It’s like ‘I want to make this. Let’s hope it works’.”
The captivating nature of the products released so far ranges from the provocative Lamb to the Slaughter T to the rose-adorned Tartan FC football kit. All designed and illustrated by Richie, the irregularity of the pieces might look totally random to most people, but to those who have followed his career across the brands there is a thread of continuity.
“I was very lucky to still have quite a strong following,” says Richie. “People kind of came over not necessarily knowing what to expect but trusting in the process.
“I’ve seen even people now tagging Disaster Inc with products that are Abandon Ship because they understand that the art’s kind of fluid throughout, which has been really cool.
“These things mean so much to people, like one of the designs ‘Not Everything Sucks’, more than 500 people have it tattooed on them. So it’s these things that stick with people. It’d be wrong of me to ignore it just because I feel like I’ve moved past it. The truth is I probably haven’t moved past it, I just wanted to feel like I was doing something new.”
Intent on keeping it small and personal - like the beginnings of his first brand - Richie’s plans are to not really have too many plans for Disaster Inc.
“I’m the one packing the orders, doing the social media, replying to customer emails and designing everything. It feels almost full circle. There’s an enjoyment to that. And there’s almost a part of me that doesn’t want it to ever get beyond that.
“I just want to be able to tune into it, create it, release it and then just step away from it.”
THE DUNGEON
Barbershops and salons are the information exchange of most towns. They can be a neighbourhood hangout and a place where strangers become friends. The Old Town Barbers in Margate is no different and it was a series of conversations during a series of haircuts that led to Richie taking on its basement as, initially, a studio before it was converted into the Disaster Dungeon (@disasterdungeon).
Anywhere that has the sentence ‘Welcome To Hell’ on the wall as you go in should be unnerving, but the Dungeon is ultimately a pleasant attack on the senses. There’s actually something quite calming about the neon lights and ferocious illustration that make up the dungeon and, as he explains, the interior is designed to replicate Richie’s brain.
“I wanted to feel like the inside of my head, I wanted to work from somewhere that feels 100% me,” he says. “This is not everyone’s cup of tea and I understand that. When I took on this space, one of the main things I wanted to do was not compromise - no one else had any say, not even my wife, and she’s from an interior-design background. She would never have let me paint everything black.”
At one end, an office has been created for studio work, while the small space is punctuated with a bar and Richie’s own collection of artworks and interesting trinkets - including a life-sized pink suit of armour.
“I love American dive bars,” he says. “But you can’t create a dive bar, it has to be lived in and breathed in and sweated in. But this is our homage to a dive bar. You know, it’s very rough and ready.”
While the kit is all there, its intended use is as a creative space for pop-ups both for Disaster Inc and other businesses. And there have been a few already.
“It’s a space that when people come down for pop-ups, I want them to be able to feel comfortable in the space and be like ‘This is cool, this is weird’. Look at some T-shirts, have a beer with me, chat about stuff and then go away feeling better about the day. That’s what it’s all about.”
There are plans for comedy and perhaps a punk band or two. But failing that, it’s just a place to sit and have a nice chat.
“It’s a small space, but the energy is there,” says Richie. “It’s sweaty, it’s fun. And if it works, then we can take it a step further and see where it goes. But it’s just really to create something weird and fun that can be used and enjoyed by people in Margate.”
