Nick Cave on cracking smiles and breaking eggs

Oh joy. Songwriter Nick Cave now brings his creative force to the world of objects, having designed a collection of playful and mysterious items that occupy a unique position somewhere between merchandise and art.

He explains that for him, there has always been a strong visual component to the songwriting process, and that effectively, he has always ‘drawn’ his lyrics, making them a thing to be seen and examined.

His recently launched shop – Cave Things – carries an eclectic stock, ranging from charm pendants to milk jugs – their designs taken from his drawings and his obsessive need to express ideas in visual and physical form. For Cave, the act of drawing relieves the pressure and ‘deep unease’ of songwriting. ’Cave Things’ he says, ‘are the incidental residue of an overstimulated mind’.

The latest addition to the collection is an egg cup – basically a love offering to The Bad Seeds band member Warren Ellis, and decorated with Cave’s portrait of him.

‘Warren joined The Bad Seeds after I saw his band play at a local pub in Melbourne,' says Nick Cave. It was some time in the early 1990s and we were recording the Murder Ballads record. He came bounding into the studio, and our lives, with drug-crazed eyes and a fiddle in his hand, and kicked off a friendship that has lasted more than 25 years.’

‘When we get together in the studio these days there is a kind of wild synchronicity that is nothing short of magical. It is an absolute privilege to work with him. He is an alchemist and a godsend. I have designed this egg cup in his honour. If you think I just scrawled some bullshit on the side of an egg cup, you’d be right. If you think that I am shamelessly exploiting Warren’s good standing amongst his fans, you’d be right again. Yet, I love this little egg cup — truly, purely and without limitation. It is my gift to Warren and the world – The Warren Ellis Pure Exploitation Egg Cup – just the greatest little egg cup ever.

INFORMATION

cavethings.com