Malika Favre and George Wu: I can’t afford this but maybe she can
Malika and George
Ah these lovely ladies! They have impeccable taste! If you don’t follow them on Insta or you haven’t been on their website and made a massive mental wishlist, well, read on and find out what you’ve been missing.
Who are you?
Malika: I’m a French artist and illustrator. Paris born, London made, Barcelona based. I’ve been working as an illustrator for over 15 years and now moonlighting as a curator of vibrant, sometimes slightly bonkers, but always beautiful objects. Five years ago, that shared obsession with George became our feed, and more recently a curated concept store, the Bazaar: a very personal edit of shoppable objects we love from independent brands and makers around the world.
George: I'm George Wu, designer, video maker, and wannabe millionaire at I Can't Afford This But Maybe She Can. Malika and I met working as directors at an animation studio, and it was our shared love of beautiful things that cemented our friendship early on. Back then I'd send her things I loved, and weirdly, she started buying them. Before I knew it, I'd become her personal shopper by accident, so I opened this Instagram account as a joke, just for an audience of one.
Why do you also have a thing with ceramics?
Malika: There’s something perfectly imperfect about clay. As someone whose own work is extremely controlled, flat and precise, I think I’m naturally drawn to objects where you can still see the hand that made them. I love vessels in all shapes, sizes and functions, but especially vases: hollow beauties waiting for flowers to blossom. I also can’t resist ceramic figurines and creatures.
Some of Malika’s ceramic creatures
George: I have a pretty severe crockery addiction. I rarely host a dinner party for more than six people, and yet I own enough dinnerware to feed a banquet of fifty. I'm especially hooked on pieces from the 1930s to 1950s, there's something about that era I can't resist. Every flea market, car boot sale, or charity shop I walk past, I get this little rush hoping I'll find the missing piece of a set I've been slowly hunting down. I dream about going back to Finnish charity shops and scooping up more Arabia, hunting for those teeny tiny soy sauce dishes. But honestly, the UK holds its own too, Denby, Hornsea, and Poole all have some gorgeous stuff.
Some of George’s crockery collection - I spy some Homemaker!
When did ceramics come into your life?
Malika: I don’t think there was one big ceramic epiphany. I’ve always collected objects, big and small, and been fascinated by the people behind them, but ceramics gradually took up more and more space in my life, quite literally. My first real obsession was Hedwig Bollhagen. I remember discovering her work in a tiny shop in Berlin and falling in love there and then. Her pieces felt timeless, somehow retro and incredibly modern at the same time. I immediately went on a bit of a hunt, and now have her ceramics scattered all around my house.
George: George: I'll try my hand at pretty much any craft, and I actually gave pottery throwing a go back at uni. Turns out ceramics is a fickle mistress. I don't think I have the natural talent, or the patience, to sit with all the mystery between stages. That said, I did a workshop with Emma Carlow making my own bird whistle, and that was an absolute joy. Now my son and I like to play our whistles together, much to my partner's annoyance.
Where can we find you on a typical day?
Malika: Either working like a maniac at my desk or on the terrace, joy-scrolling for the feed and falling down endless rabbit holes of pasta-inspired objects, butter-shaped accessories or insane sculptural couture dresses. Colour, pattern, craft and humour are my four pillars.
George: Right now I'm living a bit of a double life: design director by day, Instagrammer by night. Depending on the day, I could be working on a campaign for a well-known coffee chain or designing packaging for a brand-new startup. By night, I'm usually scouring the internet for new treasures to share, and dreaming up what's next for ICATBMSC, chatting with new designers for our Bazaar, I love hearing what they've got in the works.
What are your plans for the future?
Malika: I honestly don’t know. Launching this beautiful beast has been an intense ride, and one we’re figuring out one day at a time. My dream would be for this love project to become viable without compromising its soul, and to somehow bridge the gap between my artistic practice and all the objects I love. For now, I’m learning to tell other people’s stories, and it’s been a really nice change.
George: I've been quietly tinkering with something for a while now, and I'm about to launch something new and exciting for ICATBMSC. I can't wait to see what everyone makes of it. Beyond that? I'm dreaming of buying a campervan, which, naturally, will need its own set of crockery.
