A merry Monocle christmas

It's that time of year again my 10th Monocle christmas guide. I love seeing what Josh at Monocle gets in for the gift guide and this year was a great one I wanted to take 90% of it home which is always a good sign!

This year was a sneak peek into the front room to see what Monocle santa had left for the big day.

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Hallo!

Last month I was asked by Monocle to shoot their May cover.Richard Spencer Powell came up with a great idea to illustrate their 'Survey on the best villages and hamlets to set up shop in',by using Playmobil figures to represent the different trades, I had forgotten how good they were the attention to detail is fantastic! I'll be adding those to Poppy's Christmas list as soon as she's old enough. I'm convicted we also did the worlds smallest beer shoot for the shot of the hand holing the beer stein, We wanted that authentic look so we used real lager in the tiny plastic steins I had to use a syringe and a staple blade to get the frothy head on top! Another fun cover all in all!

images © David Sykes 2016 All rights reserved.

Pallets full of ideas from Monocle

One of my favourite Monocle shoots of the year is the annual Christmas Gift guide, we always have lots of fun sorting through and shooting all the great products the team find for the gift guide.This year there were quite literally pallet loads to work with. There are some great products in the guide the one I was most tempted by was the new star wars toy the Sphero BB-8 great fun to play around with in a big studio (I'm a bit of a sucker for all things tec and Star Wars!)

images © David Sykes 2015 All rights reserved.

Tools for life

images © David Sykes 2015 All rights reserved.

Last year I was asked to shoot for my favourite issue the double issue with all the inspiration for christmas in it.

This year was slightly different it was a called 'tools for life' taking different places in our everyday life and helping out with the best tools for each situation. As always it was great to see all the fantastic things that Josh found from all over the world.

I also shot the cover for the travel top 50, a lovely paper craft aeroplane.

Bumper issue

images © David Sykes 2013 All rights reserved.

Issue 69 of Monocle is out now and it's their Christmas gift guide issue. It's always one of my favourite issues to work on, so I was very pleased to be asked to contribute again this year. Richard Spencer Powell came up with a great idea to use the fantastic vitso shelving units as the backdrop to display all the lovely gift ideas that Josh had found. I love using the vitso system it really appeals to my graphic still life side, it's super precise and adaptable to any situation because of it's simple timeless design. As usual we had hundreds of items in the studio to choose from and managed to fill one of the big hire studios with it all! I always love getting a sneak peak at all the new gifts and gadgets that are around this year.

This year I also shot all of the stylish merchandise that Monocle put their name to and sell, it was great this year to shoot the products in little sets to create a Monocle house that the products live in.

images © David Sykes 2013 All rights reserved.

The double issue is alway a busy time for everyone involved and this year Monocle also had a tie in with Grundig for me to shoot. I'm really pleased with the double page spread image that I created for them.

images © David Sykes 2013 All rights reserved.

I recommend picking up this bumper issue, as always the articles are interesting, well written and if you're struggling for gift ideas there's something for everyone in this issue.

Monocle, the gift that keeps on giving

All images © David Sykes 2012 All rights reserved.

It's that time of year again the gift guide issue of Monocle and this year it's themed. All the gift ideas are from vienna (who knew they made so many cool things!).

I also shot some of the new Monocle mechanise they are selling this christmas, they have there own umbrella now and I have to say it's probably the best made umbrella I've ever seen but if you're thinking of getting me one for christmas don't I have a tenancy to lose them!

We had lots of fun with paper and boxes this issue and I thought Richard spencer-powells choice of colours for the boxes worked so well I had to give them there very own photo.

Last minute gift ideas

All images ©David Sykes 2011 All rights reserved.

For those of of you who are looking for those last minute gift ideas have a look at the December issue of Monocle they have some fantastic gift ideas in there gift guide.

I was asked to create a Monocle version of a department store window display for each of there gift guide sections. I always love shooting Monocles gift guide as I get a sneak preview to all the latest and greatest gifts on sale (and I have to admit that quite a few were added to my charisma list.)

So this is my last post before Christmas so I'd just like to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New year!

Monocle gift guide

Here is my latest work for Monocle magazine. This month issue is there excellent christmas gift guide one of my favourite issues to work on every year as I get a sneak preview of all the latest and greatest gifts and gadgets out there, and some fantastic cheese to sample!If you struggling for gift ideas would recommend a look its a bumper issue!

All images ©David Sykes 2010 All rights reserved.

All images ©David Sykes 2010 All rights reserved.

All images ©David Sykes 2010 All rights reserved.