Art Comes First
A menswear fashion brand and artist collective
Artistic Expression & Cultural Craftsmanship For A Redefined Global Style. Founders Sam Lambert and Shaka Maidoh ensure their creative expression extends beyond their base in London, is found in the cultural craftsmanship their designed garments, products and collaborative pieces worldwide.
The meaning behind A-C-F Acronym: Each is its separate project on its own right, Here is the breakdown :
Art Comes First is an arts collective that houses everything that we do as a company, focusing on networking between creatives and businesses , building a community of individuals to facilitate the connection.
Avec Ces Freres is the fashion side, clothing brand to be precise, we believe clothing doesn’t have a gender this is humanswear created by a couple of brothers.
Always Cut First focus more on the art of sustainability, recreating, redesigning, reusing, learning and keeping vintage more relevant to our design world.
Aperture Camera Flash is our visual language, photographic documentation of imagery that we created to share with our audience to communicate and keep the world inspired.
Associate Creative Friends are all the ACF collaborators, partners, creative peers , manufacturers etc...
Another Creative Force is anything we do out of fashion, such as film, Education, Nutrition...etc
Anti-Capitalist Fashion is a project of slow fashion, to avoid over producing, looking after the manufacturing conditions, making smart choices, keeping eyes on products from the beginning to the end, who makes it to who wears it we are all as important. Everyone matters here.
Ancient Culture Footprint is the core of the brand, here is more about innovation we do focusing on tradition, learning it from the source and knowing the rules to move the craftsmanship forward.
Africa Coming Forward is a non profit project looking more towards Africa as future, creating opportunities, giving mentorships, adapting and using the resources given, working closer with local talents and bridging the gap with African and its diaspora.
Art Core Foundation ACF - Art foundation is a place where art meets direction. a foundation planned in the continent for exchange of work between home and diaspora. Call it ACF space training camp, which will host education (creative courses, master class, lectures, skill sharing, workshops), talents (representation, mentorship, community, legal) Space (consultancy, photography studio, residency, gallery, pop up events).
Championing art in their creative expression above all first, they lead a movement of tailored and classic style-driven garments for gentlemen and gentlewomen. Think Saville Row and English sartorialism mixed with British punk and a D.I.Y philosophy.
Art comes First proposes that this blend of ingredients can become the center of a meta-art form to provide protection, nurture and galvanization for other forms of expression in Art. Photography, Painting, Performance....Any form of expression concerned with alchemical process of transforming the base experience into the more sublime, even divine, alloy stair-steps of a particular man’s independent accession full potential.
