SINGAPORE – While on tour, Coldplay’s bass player Guy Berryman used to take the towels from hotel rooms and turn them into bags.
“Don’t tell the hotel I cut the towel up,” he said, discussing how he would take along a sewing machine when travelling the world with the massively popular British pop-rock band, which also comprise frontman Chris Martin, guitarist Jonny Buckland and drummer Will Champion.
“I’m a very hands-on person. And I think sometimes when you’re on tour, and you’re sitting in hotel rooms for long amounts of time, it’s really good to be able to have something like a sewing machine so you can give yourself challenges and just be able to make something.”
While many know the 45-year-old Scotsman as a musician, few know he is also a noted designer who started his own fashion label, Applied Art Forms, in 2020.
The brand was soft-launched in Singapore on Jan 16 at retail concept store Dover Street Market (DSM) Singapore in Dempsey Road.
Fans can get up close with Berryman – who will be holding a meet-and-greet there on Jan 28 from 3 to 5pm – by purchasing an Applied Art Forms item. These include an exclusive Love Is The Drug T-shirt ($220) that is available only at DSM Singapore.
Looking relaxed in loose-fitting white tops and dark pants from his label, the rocker spoke to The Straits Times at the store on Jan 25, a day after playing two nights – Jan 23 and 24 – at the National Stadium as part of Coldplay’s Music Of The Spheres world tour.
The group will resume performing on Jan 26, 27, 30 and 31. All six shows at the arena, which has a capacity of 55,000, are sold out.
The fans at the packed stadium were “incredible”, he gushed. “It’s always surprising (to) us when we go to a different country, and we get such a warm reception and just the level to which people sing along to the songs.”
“I was surprised by the heat and humidity on stage, that was different from what we’ve been used to, but it was just wonderful. We’re so lucky we can come here (and) play so many shows in Singapore,” he said, adding that he is looking forward to eating local cuisine like chilli crab.
And even though Berryman is the resident fashionista, he has no interest in styling the band’s stage outfits.
“Some of the guys, they do like to wear the Applied Art Forms collection. Chris wears a T-shirt and Jonny wears the pants. They do like what I’m doing here, but I’ve never tried to force my clothes on them.”
Berryman traces the roots of his interest in fashion and design to his days at University College London, where he studied engineering and architecture, and met his bandmates.
“I combined my interest with engineering and architectural skill sets into a new-found passion for collecting vintage work, military garments and denims and these kinds of utility clothing, which I’m drawn to so much.”
He is inspired by the principle of form following function. “One of my heroes from a design point of view is (German industrial designer) Dieter Rams, who designed a lot of the products for Braun in the 1950s and 1960s. And his ethos was really all about reducing everything to its simplest form.”
Based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, Applied Art Forms’ unisex collection spans outerwear, pants and accessories. Most are made in small batches by manufacturers in the Netherlands, Italy and Japan. Some are handmade at the Amsterdam studio.
The items available at DSM Singapore include Applied Art Forms x Hannah Martin A Vanitas, a jewellery collaboration with London jeweller Hannah Martin.
The tie-up, which includes rings, bracelets, pendants and earrings based on the themes of a 16th-century Dutch painting style called Vanitas, came about after a serendipitous meeting with Martin.
“I was travelling through Heathrow Airport (in London) a couple of years ago and this lady walked up to me and was looking at my ear, and she said, ‘Excuse me, your earring. Have you had it a long time?’
“And I was a bit surprised by this line of questioning. And I said, ‘I’m sorry, I’ve had it for so long, I don’t remember when I got it.’ And she said, ‘I designed that.’”
The duo kept in touch and eventually started working together on the jewellery line.
Besides clothes, Berryman is also a keen collector of vintage automobiles and is the founder of car magazine The Road Rat. He was surprised when told about the high cost of car ownership in Singapore. A compact car, for example, would cost three times as much in Singapore compared with in Britain.
He is starting to reduce his reliance on motor-powered vehicles though, as Coldplay is famous for their eco-conscious stance.
“I’ve just moved to Amsterdam, which is a city where everybody cycles. So I’m kind of leaving cars behind me for a while, and I’m getting a bike.”
Those who purchase Applied Art Forms items are entitled to attend a meet-and-greet session with Guy Berryman at Dover Street Market Singapore (18 Dempsey Road) on Jan 28, 3 to 5pm.
