[]
Your ongoing selection
Asset(s) Assets
Your quote 0

Your selection

Clear selection
{"event":"pageview","page_type1":"news","page_type2":"news_case_studies","language":"en","user_logged":"false","user_type":"ecommerce","nl_subscriber":"false"}

Hapshash and the Coloured Coat- Psychedelic Visionaries

The iconic Hapshash and the Coloured Coat was the brainchild of Michael English (1941-2009) and Nigel Waymouth (b.1941) a collaboration of music and graphic art, which expanded and influenced the psychedelic rock era of the late 1960s. 

 

The artists were at the center of the psychedelic movement which originated in London, and worked with some of the most famous musicians in the world - the likes of Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix and the Doors - to name a few. The innovation and experimentation of Hapshash and the Coloured Coat swayed and shaped the aesthetic of the era. 

 

UFO, Hapshash and the Coloured Coat (fl.1967-69) / © Hapshash and the Coloured Coat / Bridgeman Images
UFO, Hapshash and the Coloured Coat (fl.1967-69) / © Hapshash and the Coloured Coat / Bridgeman Images

 

Nigel Waymouth

1966 - the year when the US landed its first probe on the moon and Star Trek made its debut - Nigel Waymouth launched his controversial and legendary boutique Granny Takes a Trip on the Kings Rd in London. The shop sold clothes that were made using a mix of exotic, Asian and floral materials inspired by designs from the Victorian craftsman William Morris. Granny Takes a Trip stitched together a strange and unconforming aesthetic for their clothes, bringing forth a new vision of dandyism and decadence amongst its unchanging traditional surroundings. 

 

Granny Takes A Trip Shopfront, Nigel Waymouth (b.1941) / Private Collection / © Nigel Waymouth. All rights reserved 2022 / Bridgeman Images
Granny Takes A Trip Shopfront, Nigel Waymouth (b.1941) / Private Collection / © Nigel Waymouth. All rights reserved 2022 / Bridgeman Images

 

The decadence and cheek of the store were epitomised by a comic artwork on the front door where captain America was depicted speaking the indulgent words of London’s ‘original’ dandy himself, Oscar Wilde, saying: ‘one should either be a work of art or wear a work of art’, an innate rule of life no doubt. The psychedelic boutique attracted an immense amount of attention for its attractive waywardness, with major celebrities and musicians frequenting the store who coveted the groovy look that was on offer only at the granny. This included monumental figures of the era like Lennon, Warhol, and Hendrix. However, the signature aspect of the store was not the interior but the exterior, as it was here that Waymouth would repeatedly paint the store’s façade. 
 

Michael English

On a trip of his own down the King's Road, Michael English apparently by chance or divine fate stumbled upon Waymouth painting the store. Whether they met this way or another, one thing is certain - their meeting was of cosmic importance and ushered the birth of Hapshash and the Coloured Coat. 
 

The Move and Pink Floyd at UFO, Hapshash and the Coloured Coat (fl.1967-69) / Private Collection / © Hapshash and the Coloured Coat / Bridgeman Images
The Move and Pink Floyd at UFO, Hapshash and the Coloured Coat (fl.1967-69) / Private Collection / © Hapshash and the Coloured Coat / Bridgeman Images

 

By 1966 Michael English had just finished his three-year course at Ealing art college in West London where he was taught by Roy Ascott who implemented fierce techniques centred around creating disorientation. This stream of thought concerned around perception alteration led English to become ‘captivated by the pop movement’, creating and selling designs harnessing its style which allowed a ‘potent mix of art nouveau with hard edge sci-fi’. 

 

Jimi Hendrix Tracks, Hapshash and the Coloured Coat (fl.1967-69) / Private Collection / © Hapshash and the Coloured Coat / Bridgeman Images
Jimi Hendrix Tracks, Hapshash and the Coloured Coat (fl.1967-69) / Private Collection / © Hapshash and the Coloured Coat / Bridgeman Images

 

The two artists first collaborated over posters advertising the UFO club late in 1966. The UFO Club (pronounced 'you-foe') – was a famous but short-lived underground London club, established by Joe Boyd and John Hopkins and featured well-known rock acts such as Jimi Hendrix, as well as light shows, poetry readings, avant-garde art by Yoko Ono and local bands like Pink Floyd and Soft Machine.

 

Hapshash and the Coloured Coat

Many of the bands that played there went on to become icons of the industry, and the projections, light shows, and installations were precursors to what we would now typically class as contemporary art and performance. The multifaceted mix of visual art, music and psychedelia was captured in the promotional artwork of Hapshash and the Coloured Coat, whose art posters produced for the club are sought-after collector's items to this day.

 

Jimi Hendrix, Hapshash and the Coloured Coat (fl.1967-69) / Private Collection / © Hapshash and the Coloured Coat / Bridgeman Images
Jimi Hendrix, Hapshash and the Coloured Coat (fl.1967-69) / Private Collection / © Hapshash and the Coloured Coat / Bridgeman Images

 

The pair worked under various titles including ‘Cosmic visions’, ‘Jacob and the coloured coat’, finally concluding with replacing Jacob with Hapshash in 1967. Their title development shows the imaginative direction their designs would be born from, a place dimensionally uncharted and dreamlike, with allusions to the story of Jacob and Joseph in the bible. They arrived at the peculiar name ‘Hapshash’ from flicking through books on Egyptian antiquities and discovered the story of Queen Hatshepsut’s journey to the land of the punt. Apparently, Waymouth and England could not remember the spelling correctly, writing their own version Hapshash, which uncoincidentally happens to include the word ‘hash’ alluding to hashish.

 

Pink Floyd CIA v UFO, Hapshash and the Coloured Coat (fl.1967-69) / Private Collection / © Hapshash and the Coloured Coat / Bridgeman Images
Pink Floyd CIA v UFO, Hapshash and the Coloured Coat (fl.1967-69) / Private Collection / © Hapshash and the Coloured Coat / Bridgeman Images

 

The posters are infused with complex psychedelic landscapes and colours, creating a world distorting aesthetic. The optical effects of the works make us fall into these strange and uncanny worlds full of castles, space crafts and mystical creatures, all placed in a natural alignment. They perfectly accompany the artists and music they were promoting, whose songs were pushing the frontiers of sound and lyric to delve into regions of the subconscious and the unknown. This art has its roots in the symbolist and decadent movements of the fin-de siècle, especially the illustrations and designs produced by Aubrey Beardsley.

 

Illustration for 'Salome' by Oscar Wilde, 1906 (litho), Aubrey Beardsley,  (1872-98) (after) © British Library Board. All Rights Reserved / Bridgeman Images
Illustration for 'Salome' by Oscar Wilde, 1906 (litho), Aubrey Beardsley,  (1872-98) (after) © British Library Board. All Rights Reserved / Bridgeman Images
The Soft Machine Turns On, Hapshash and the Coloured Coat (fl.1967-69) / Private Collection / © Hapshash and the Coloured Coat / Bridgeman Images
The Soft Machine Turns On, Hapshash and the Coloured Coat (fl.1967-69) / Private Collection / © Hapshash and the Coloured Coat / Bridgeman Images


To produce their vivid and seamless prints Hapshash developed their own silk-screening techniques that merged up to three colours when the squeegee (the flat-bladed printing tool), is pulled across the screen blending these colours with gold, silver, and fluorescents. This process was labour intensive, meaning few prints were made, preventing them from fulfilling their ambition to ‘plaster the streets of London with this brightly coloured and beautiful poster work’ to contrast and counter the ‘drab’ posters populating the streets. The pair explained their intention was in a way a precursor of graffiti, and there is no doubt that if succeeded the face of London’s bleak streets would have transformed into a confounding labyrinth of psychedelia.  

 

Save Earth Now, Hapshash and the Coloured Coat (fl.1967-69) / Private Collection / © Hapshash and the Coloured Coat / Bridgeman Images
Save Earth Now, Hapshash and the Coloured Coat (fl.1967-69) / Private Collection / © Hapshash and the Coloured Coat / Bridgeman Images

 

Each poster’s perfect combination of vibrant bold colours and figurative motifs, (influenced by Eastern and Asian iconography) elevated their work from other designers at the time who opted for ‘an indiscriminate use of rainbows’ avoiding clashing colour combinations. It was crucial that Hapshash’s unique printing method was able to achieve the smooth gradients between the colours allowing them to ‘strive for maximum colour effect without sacrificing balance or harmony’- granting them their illusionary and arresting quality. 


The Hapshash posters, in addition to their promotional duties were initially sold at Carnaby Street stores and fashionable boutiques of the day. The posters went beyond promotional artwork and became staples of 60's psychedelia. Today they remain as cultural artefacts of this famed era. The V&A currently holds an extensive selection of the posters in one of their permanent collections focusing on the art of the 1960s. 

 

The Who, Hapshash and the Coloured Coat (fl.1967-69) / Private Collection / © Hapshash and the Coloured Coat / Bridgeman Images
The Who, Hapshash and the Coloured Coat (fl.1967-69) / Private Collection / © Hapshash and the Coloured Coat / Bridgeman Images


 View all the images in our archive from Hapshash and the Coloured Coat

 

Contact our sales team for enquiries about licensing images and clearing copyright. 
 

Related Content

A photographer since 1981, Vasconcellos has had his images exhibited over 200 times in twenty countries. We spoke to him for a new and candid interview.
The iconic Hapshash and the Coloured Coat was the brainchild of a brief artistic partnership between Michael English and Nigel Waymouth.