introducing DEAN GEORGE

ept: this is one of your hackney spaces, when was the moment that you thought, this thing that started in hackney could go from hackney to the world?

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dean george: that's a crazy question, you know? I feel as though there's not even a straight, direct answer to that, but I think a very big moment was the first time i started going to paris, if i'm being real with you. my re-lationship with paris is what started it.
i had a friend who i met in london. he was doing his own events out here in paris and in london. I met him and he was like, "yo bro, come to paris," and all that, so i was like, okay, then i would stay at his crib for weeks on end, just immersing myself in other cultures.
i feel as though paris and london are so similar because they're proper melting pots in terms of communities and the things that happen in those spaces, just talking to people about the creative industry, the things I'm passionate about and what they're passionate about, there was a crazy synergy between us.

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that's when i was like if i can do this in paris, why can't i do this in tokyo? why can't I do this in la? why can't i do this in new york?
then the network just started to grow like that, fashion week, funnily enough -paris fashion week in particular that's when i started meeting people from all over the world, before i knew it, just by being in paris, my hackney mindset of seeing things and doing things had a pathway to be seen by the world through networking and being around people.
there's something so powerful about conversation, being able to talk to people, learn from people, bring that into your own world and see how far It can travel, it's a beautiful thing.

ept: you've had this space since 2022. before that, where were you working from? where were these "graveyard shifts" taking place?
dean george: the graveyard shifts before were in brent cross, at a little studio called oxgate house, infamous studios because the rent is cheap-mad cheap, i had this little box and it was under £500 a month, at the time, that £500 felt like, "damn man, i don't want to spend that." but i knew that investing in a space would be amazing.
sometimes it would take me two hours to get to brent cross because once you get stuck on the 3406, you're done just sitting there, but late nights, when i finished at like 4am, i could get home in about 25 minutes.
those sacrifices brought me to a point where we landed a massive cam-paign, that campaign put us in a position where we were like, "yeah, let's move, let's look around for a bigger studio and something closer to the roots."
before that brent cross studio, i was working out of my parents' house my bedroom. certain times, mumsy's seeing the little lamp on late at night. this was in my late teens, early twenties, she'd be like, "yo, yo, yo-what are you doing?"
she wasn't understanding what i could see for the future, she wanted me to be a physiotherapist, i was like, "I don't want to be no physiotherapist."
being at home and trying to work, i had to change my environment be-cause i wasn't getting anything out of staying there. so that two-hour trip? sometimes i'd make sure i stayed at the studio for at least 12 hours.

ept: coming from hackney, how have you seen the area change over the years? and how has that informed your practice and gauchoworld?
dean george: you know what? that's something i'm duelling with every day.
I remember there were certain places in hackney where you just couldn't tread. if you walked through certain locations, your life was at risk. looking at broadway market, for example you couldn't walk from one end of broadway market, from the e2 side to the e8 side, without getting "signed off".
if you weren't signed off, you were losing something from your pockets. but luckily, because of sports and football, i was good. still, I've seen some crazy things with my own eyes.
now, to see broadway market on a saturday, with people from far and wide enjoying aperol spritz and sourdough pizza, i look at it and think: well done, hackney. i don't look at it in a bad way. i look at it as growth, change and development.
hackney and family are recurrent themes throughout our conversation as we head to gauchoworld space a brick-and-mortar expression of the gauchoworld world, just a stone's throw from his childhood home.
a former comer shop he used to frequent became available, and dean saw it as a sign and acquired it. he tells us his family helped with the wi-ring and carpentry a true family effort by a true community man.

ept: dean, on your profile it says, "best thing out of hackney since lon-don fields lido." was it always the aim for a space like this to make an in-real-life statement that hackney hadn't seen before?
dean george: yeah, 100%.
I've had that bio on my instagram for over 10 years. i'm super proud of being from hackney, where i'm from and how it shaped me. i strongly be-lieve that i am the best.
(the lido being an open-air public pool located not too far from dean's family home.)
the lido did something crazy for the hood, man, it was safe, a safe haven, and it brought people together. it brought different people into hackney.
so when gauchoworld space was made, naturally it became a nice double entendre. the space is now the best thing that i've had. it's a beautiful thing to say, but now it means even more than it did before, which is real-ly special to me. it's mental.
my parents moved to the uk from the caribbean in the late '70s and '80s. when we opened the space, people kept referring to it as a coffee shop because we had a coffee machine in here. but it's not a coffee shop.
that frustrated me, so i started thinking: what offering can we provide that makes this different?
my mum makes notoriously good sorrel, the caribbean drink. so we were like, you know what? we're going to do sorrel and jamaican patties. (that explains the sugar in the studio sorrel needs its fair share of sugar.]

as a result, people were like, "this is crazy a magazine serving sorrel and jamaican patties." it's funny because we're the first magazine to ever serve jamaican patties.
I take great pride in having that element of heritage and connection to our roots, paying homage to what my parents came over here for.

ept: i see in the window it says, "sometimes you just need space." what's that about? and what would you say to someone who doesn't know what the gauchoworld space is about?
**dean george:**
we never place pressure on anyone to come here or do anything here. people come because they want to be here.
we don't really do exhibitions or anything like that. people just come to us and say, "hey yo, we've got this idea but no budget." and i'm like, "yo, this is a sick idea - let's do it."
a couple weeks ago we had a trans masque event i forgot the exact name off the top of my head, the original venue cancelled on them, and they shouted me. i was like, "i'll back that man, 100%. let's do it."
they were so grateful and happy just to have a space to make something happen. i think this space is for everyone.
taking a short walk from gauchoworld space to artwords, a local bookshop and magazine stockist, multiple greetings are exchanged between george and passers-by. some wear the insignia of fashion-forward cultural insi-ders; others are clearly local stalwarts living simpler, but rich, lives. dean has time for them all.

ept: we're on our way to artwords. when did you first start going there?
dean george: close to a decade ago now.
I used to go in there and spend the little money i had on magazines be-cause i wanted inspiration. i didn't even know i wanted to start a magazine - i just wanted something tangible in my hands.
fast forward almost a decade and my own magazine ended up being stocked there. i think it's sold out now, it's not there anymore, but yeah we were stocked in artwords.
that was a really special moment for me.

ept: in the era of social media, what's the importance of having so-mething tangible? something you can hold?
dean george: without a doubt, it's crazy important.
the internet is a gift and a curse. i feel like we really need to embrace and embody being present and having things in our hands.
with the internet, we're sometimes forced to consume things. but when you pick something up and open it, you're in control of that narrative and what you consume.
i just think it's very important to have balance in life. if you don't, you're constantly being fed into the consumerism of what the internet is right now and for me, that's a very dangerous place to be in.

ept: what's so special about this part of regent's canal for you?
dean george: it's just a nice little getaway for me.
when i was building the space, i used to come here whenever everything was going wrong and i was facing obstacle after obstacle. it became a place of respite.
I'd come here, recharge, then head back to the space.
i used to wear this stüssy tracksuit-stüssy tracksuit bottoms - that had me locked into the grind. i'd sit here, take it all in and visualise the space being open for our community.
and now we're here, which still feels surreal.
ept: how important are these moments in between these moments of respite - for creative practice?
dean george: vitally important.
they let us recharge, reload and realise that you don't always have to live life at 100 miles an hour.
the stops you make on the way are just as important as the speed you travel at.
sometimes you need to pull into the services, get a snack, get some fuel and continue your journey. I think this is a space that allows me to do that.

ept: what's so special about this food spot, logma?
dean george: it's an iraqi-iranian spot run by this amazing couple. it's great.
i had the food before and they're local too, so we're on the same road, we always give each other a hail when we see each other i want to show them love although they don't even need the love. they sell out. the queue outside there is mental sometimes.
I love knowing what's happening in my area. i feel like it's my responsibility to understand what's going on and who's doing what in the community.
I tapped in, greeted them, said hello-and yeah man, i just love the power of local.
they've got such a beautiful story too. they started out operating from one of those shared kitchen spaces, and now they've got their own permanent spot. seeing the queue outside their place genuinely warms my heart.
ept: today we've visited a few independent businesses, what would you say are your core business principles in running your ventures - your dean george principles?
dean george: i think my core principle is to always make sure there's a sto-ry behind everything we do.
whether it's something we're doing ourselves, collaborating on, or being asked to do is there a narrative there that we can celebrate, pay homage to and wave the flag for?
nothing should ever be done just for the sake of it.
parties, events-just doing things for the sake of doing them-i'm not a big fan of that. what's your purpose? what are you celebrating?
that's something i hold myself to religiously, if you're coming to me with an idea, don't just come with the idea-come with the story that lives with the idea too.