Big Tobacco

From 14 – 16 March 2024, Atelier E.B, the collective practice of Edinburgh designer, Beca Lipscombe, and Brussels-based artist, Lucy McKenzie, present their new fashion collection, ‘Big Tobacco’ in Milan in the private home of Martina Simeti. Inspired by Women’s Tennis, the collection will include Atelier E.B’s trademark mix of fine knitwear, streetwear, and accessories.

For ‘Big Tobacco’, Atelier E.B have collaborated with quality manufacturing partners to produce lambswool and cashmere scarves and blankets made with Scottish heritage brand, Alex Begg; European-grown cotton T-shirts and dickies made with Assembly; bracelets of custom-woven ribbon from artist Marc Camille Chaimowicz’s recent exhibition in St-Étienne, France, ‘Zig Zag and Many Ribbons’, made with Atelier Elf; plain and intarsia cashmere jumpers, shorts, and silk cashmere dickies made with Hawico; felt hats made with Muehlbaur; cashmere socks and gloves made with Scarf Company; and two-piece knitted skirt suits and intarsia loose knits made with Tweedvale Knitwear.

Lipscombe and McKenzie place art and design on an equal footing, applying methodologies from both spheres. First established as an interior design company in 2007, since 2011 Atelier E.B have received international acclaim for their locally and ethically produced fashion collections and collaboration with diverse manufacturers. Known for their small-scale production, and unique manufacturing strategy of utilising fine art networks to bring their products directly to the consumer, Atelier E.B do not sell in shops. Rather, each collection is toured in a series of showrooms and custom-made exhibitions from which items can be bought and ordered from Lipscombe and McKenzie in person.

In 2018, the duo staged the innovative exhibition, ‘Atelier E.B: Passer-by’, at the Serpentine Gallery, London. This was an ambitious project that explored art’s relationship with commercial display, combining historical research with contemporary art, fashion retail, and a radical reimagining of artistic curation. The exhibition later travelled to Lafayette Anticipations, Paris, and Garage, Moscow, with a corresponding catalogue published by Koenig Books. Since then, the duo has exhibited at Fondazione Prada, Milan and La Verrière, the exhibition space of Hermès, in Brussels.