POP MALAYA
Azizul Abdul Latif, 32
Izham Fazely Pakhorarazi, 26
Mohd. Shaffiq Ahmad, 26
Mohd. Adam Jalaludin, 23
Alam Yaakub, 26
Azyzeer Rahiim Sarkawi, 25
BY SUNITHA JANAMOHANAN

I can’t remember when exactly I first encountered Pop Malaya T-shirts, but I remember what I saw. The girl’s face with the Jawi inscription stood out and stuck with me. Then it was an image of P.Ramlee surrounded by psychedelic swirls—in fact, P. Ramlee meets Andy Warhol is how I like to think of their work.

Months later we (British Council Arts Team) hunted down the boys, Ijam and Zul, because we’re always on the lookout for interesting young local designers. What makes the two particularly special is the fact that they don’t just produce funky T-shirts, they’re driving a movement of urban independent labels. What they’re doing with Angkatan Baju Malaya, bringing the indie labels to the indie music gigs, and touring the country to get cool shirts to the masses outside the Klang Valley is great.

In fact, Ijam and Zul are leading a movement to get more young designers to a wider audience by thinking about how to market and distribute their wares, while improving production quantity and quality. We just returned from a trip to Bandung where Ijam was networking with the leading “distro” guys from the hugely popular indie market and we think Pop Malaya will go far. Business aside, the guys are also really good designers. Their designs are simple and matter of fact—witty without trying too hard to be clever. They’ve applied the legacy of Pop Art to real local icons, and it works.

Sunitha Janamohanan is the Arts Manager for British Council Malaysia and works with both established and up and coming designers, creative entrepreneurs and other talented artistic souls in Malaysia, putting them in touch with like-minded folks in the UK and around the region for opportunities for collaboration and development, work and play.