YOUGO PRODUCTIONS

Gayle A. Hall designs ‘For the Love of M’

07554 583 510
gayle@yougoproductions.co.uk
www.yougoproductions.co.uk
@yougomina

Hello, welcome to The Sourcebook.  Tell us about YouGo Productions – who are you and what do you do?

I create bespoke artwork - portraits and abstract art pieces - and can also recreate this artwork on digitally printed products for the home; anything from wallpaper, fabric, cushions, blinds and upholstery to floor tiles, kitchen splashbacks, lighting and door handles. Everything is made to order, and I work closely with my clients to create something meaningful, bespoke and completely personal to them.

Have you always been an artist? 

I’ve always loved creating and my main career in the television industry uses high tech equipment that can edit and replay in an instant. I’ve been lucky to have worked on many major shows such as I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here, Big Brother and both the winter and summer Olympic games, for which I’ve been awarded three Emmys. My work involves a whole range of creative and technological skills, and these, together with the life skills the industry has taught me, help in making my art today. 

How would you describe your style; what influences you?

It’s all about maximalism – vibrant patterns, colours and designs. My artwork draws on my West Indian heritage and life growing up in an urban British city. Maximalism is a buzzword in European interiors now, but this look has been around in the black community for a long time, and West Indian people have been into it for decades. 

My biggest inspiration, however, is my mum, Mina. As  a child, I had a lot of unusual creative ideas, and she was my biggest champion. We were very close. So, when she died in 2017, I didn’t cope well. Creating art was what helped me through. 

Your home in East London doubles as your gallery and showroom. How did that come about?

Funnily enough, it happened by accident, back in 2021 when I had a leak in my kitchen and had to take up the floor. Replacing the Amtico vinyl floor tiles was going to be expensive, and the available designs weren’t very inspiring. I discovered it would cost roughly the same price to create my own, so I translated my art into hardwearing floor tiles. Of course, once I’d decorated that one room, the others looked tired! I went through the whole house, putting my artwork on everything from wallpaper and furniture to door fingerplates and even the bath panel. I learned about new materials and digital printing techniques along the way, and eventually held an open weekend at home to showcase the results. I hope to do it again, as the response was phenomenal. 

You describe your work as being very collaborative. How involved are clients in a finished piece of art?

Very – I actively encourage people to get involved, in both my portraits and interiors commissions. For example, when clients commission portraits of someone they care about, I’ll talk to them, learning about their relationship and slowly building up an idea of the subject. One lovely American client sent me 25 photographs of her mum to work from, and after we’d finished, she said the process had been like therapy! I put little details into the portrait border that were relevant to her family, and it’s these things that makes my pieces so personal.

What do you feel are the benefits of going bespoke? 

No one piece is exactly the same. I have examples of my abstract work to choose from as a starting point, but it’s all tweakable – from the colours and scale of the pattern to the surface it’s printed on. I work with a wide selection of suppliers, enjoy investigating new techniques and I love a challenge – so whether you need me to make a sofa, a set of door handles, or a printed wall panel you can take with you when you move, almost anything is possible. 

What’s the best way for somebody to start a project with you?

Take a look at my website and get an idea of the kind of thing you like. Then contact me and we can have a chat about what you want, and what shape that might take – whether that’s a personalised portrait to hang on the wall, or something practical yet beautiful, such as a kitchen splashback. A call is a good way to see if we click, and if we do, we can take it from there.