Sounds like an exotic new dance – but don’t worry if your moves aren’t the sharpest. It’s your walls that will be doing the waje shuffle if you fall for the concept to be launched at the SECC at the Homes & Interiors August Exhibition.

Helensburgh’s anelephantcant – already a bright invader of the children’s books scene and driven by a pair of highly creative and knowingly left field artists, Brian Cairnduff and Phil Burns, is off on a new adventure.

Phil Burns is the graphic artist and the pair, whose umbrella business is anelephantcant have long been pondering how best to market his Catalan-influenced abstract paintings, whose  style is evident in his graphic contribution to the books already published.

Shuffle your waje is the answer. This offers two conundrums to catch the interest – even on paper: first is ‘waje’, then there’s ‘shuffle’. Is this going to be a ‘does my bum look big doing this’ issue? Is it a board game? Is it new jazz?

You’d never guess. It’s wall jewellery. waje. Get it? And yes – we had to ask.

A clue is, of course the launch event – at the upcoming 2009 Homes & Interiors exhibition. at Glasgow’s SECC, running from 28th -30th August.

The background is the European – and modernist worldwide – influenced affection for plain white walls, creating light, tranquil and sculptural living spaces focusing attention on strategic displays on or against those walls.

OK. But ‘wall jewellery’? And ‘shuffle‘ your waje? Obvious really. It’s about change and the way change refreshes perception and offers playfulness.

This is not rampant consumerism luring you into something you must keep on  buying. It’s a concept that challenges you to keep playing with what you already have – on your walls.

Waje takes the French use of posters as wall decoration and moves it into a structured concept that lets you rearrange, move, experiment with a few basic pieces. Check out this website and you’ll see the general idea – abstract art in geometric shapes that can be repositioned at will to create something new in their different relationships with each other.

What is interesting about what Brian and Phil do is their energetic engagement with the technology as well as with the marketing of their creations.

In this case they have joined forces with a small Glasgow business – 2Canvas, owned by Richard Fildes and Bill Laughlin, and situated in Glasgow’s Stockwell Street – developing an adhesive to premier paper to allow good quality prints to be attached directly to the wall.

No it’s not blutack – but this adhesive is also seriously and serially re-usable. You can simply remove the image and re-stick it elsewhere. The adhesive is good for ’200 sticks’ (Brian’s words – sounds as if they’re taking on the Rolling Stones Forty Licks tour title).

Then they have sourced a very lightweight backing material for the prints of Phil’s art – which can be stuck to the wall like paper but gives the print a degree of depth. This moves them away from the impression of being a simple posters while retaining the spiritual lightness of touch that that is a major attraction of the wall poster approach to decor.

Their inventiveness – not to mention their gift for memorable names for their products – along with their interest in being involved with all aspects and consequences of what they create, looks like a lively recipe for success. So stop worrying abut your bum and get it to the SECC at the end of August – and try shuffling their waje before you make it your own.

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