The Fool (design collective)
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The Fool were a Dutch design collective who were influential in the psychedelic style of art in British popular music at the end of the 1960s. The colourful art draws on many fantastical and mystical themes. The name is a reference to The Fool tarot card.
The original members were Dutch artists Simon Posthuma and Marijke Koger, who were discovered by photographer Karl Ferris among the hippie community on the Spanish island of Ibiza in 1966. He took photographs of clothes designed by them, and sent them to London where they were published in The Times and immediately caused a sensation. Ferris took The Fool back to London, and together they opened a studio, with the Dutch artists producing clothes and art, and Ferris pursuing photography. Barry Finch, and an artist recorded only as Josie, joined later.
Their work includes:
- the colourful clothes worn by The Hollies on the cover of their 1966 album Evolution;
- the striking cover of the Incredible String Band's classic 1967 LP The 5000 Spirits, Or The Layers Of The Onion;
- a huge amount of work for The Beatles, including the inner sleeve for Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, the clothes [they wore for the 1967 television broadcast of "All You Need Is Love", the decoration of John Lennon's Gibson J160E acoustic guitar (which John was supposed to play during the broadcast, but in the end he decided to concentrate on his singing), a huge 3-storey mural painted in psychedelic colours on the facade of the Beatles' Apple Boutique in London's Baker Street (which also stocked their creations; months later, the mural was painted over by civic order, due to protests from other local businesses, before the shop failed), the bodywork on John Lennon's Rolls-Royce (this outraged one old woman in central London who attacked it with her umbrella, shouting: 'You swine, you swine! How dare you do this to a Rolls-Royce!' - he answered by obtaining another Rolls, and painting it flat-black), decoration to John Lennon's piano, decoration to George Harrison's Mini car and bungalow Kinfauns (including a custom fireplace), as well as several of Harrison's guitars, and the set design for Joe Massot's 1968 movie Wonderwall, with a score by George Harrison (The Fool also appeared in the film's party scene);
- decoration to Eric Clapton's legendary Gibson SG guitar and Jack Bruce's Fender VI (six-string) bass for the 1967 Cream tour of the US.
As a band
The Fool also released an eponymous album in 1968, in the Psych-Folk style, produced by Graham Nash of The Hollies.
External links
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