Martine Rose collaboration blog

To give you an insight into the Martine Rose design process, I thought I'd take you through my inspiration wall, which details all of the things that have contributed towards my signature piece for Timberland. My references points are eclectic - a mixture of street culture and music, military, sportswear and fashion imagery, and also novels and diaries.

Right now I'm reading The Soft Machine by William S. Burroughs II. Burroughs is an American beatnik writer who popularized the 'cut up' and 'fold in' literary techniques. This consists of collating random bits of text to create a jarring, random collection of ideas, and I find this really inspiring.

I'm also really into Peter Beard at the moment. A photographer by trade, Beard also channeled a lot of creative energy into his collage work and diaries, which are just fantastic. His photographs of African animals encouraged me to look carefully at the natural world around me and take notice - I even use insects as colour references sometimes.

Despite my workload, I have managed to venture out of the studio. Recently I visited the Photographer's Gallery to see the Self Publish, Be Happy exhibition. An amazingly talented art director and one of my best friends, Patrick Waugh creates the BOYO fanzine and he was there signing copies. His work is beautiful and I find his collages really inspirational - I'm so proud of him.

I love this fabulous neon 'Exclusive' sign, taken from a black hair salon in Paris. I particularly enjoy the play on words with the ‘So white’ sign next door.