They burst upon the creative London Rock&Roll scene in the second half of the sixties, being part of the creative collective The Fool, conceptualizing the visual language for legendary clients such as The Beatles, Cream, Donovan, The Hollies, Procol Harem and P J Proby, to name a few.

The Fool helped build the corner stone of a visionary era. Their daring, impressive, phenomenal, potent-formula launched a new meaning to the use of costumes and set designs by stage and recording artists of the music industry. Designing fashion, creating album covers, doing stage design, painting murals and eventually being commissioned by The Beatles to create a “beautiful place where beautiful people could buy beautiful things” as stated by Paul McCartney, called the Apple Boutique.

After they did a stunning job on the exterior and interior of the building, even stocking up the shop, they were paid handsomely and ready to move on!

Music, Murals and Musicals

The Fool got invited to New York by Mercury Records to record their world fusion style of music, looking like a band of universal gypsies and getting Graham Nash on board to produce it. He later stated that it was the first World Music album ever made; the album sold a 100.000 records at the time.

While promoting The Fool record they ended up in California where they settled and landed their next job, painting the exterior of the Aquarius Theater on Sunset Boulevard where the musical Hair was being staged.

It became another landmark that stood out and even beat the Guinness book of records for largest mural ever made at the time.

Micheal Butler, the producer of Hair, took a liking to The Fool and their ideas so much that he even fell for their pitch of a play called “Fools Paradise”, which sadly The Fool never completed. They broke up in 1970 but finished the storyboard later; it’s never been staged!

Back to Boutiques

Barry and Yosha got married on the day of the landing on the moon on the 20th of July ‘69 after having their first kids. They started their own boutique called The Chariot, again dressing the stars, among them The Mamas & the Papas, Joni Mitchell, Led Zeppelin, Eric Burdon, and The Pointer Sisters and many more, meanwhile helping Jim Morrison and his wife setting up a similar sort of boutique.

Ibiza Inbetween

For years they did well and as their family was growing, they felt they wanted to move back to Europe. They landed a gig styling Paul McCartney’s band Wings back in London.

Barry and Yosha’s tirelessly productive drive to create a rich treasure chest of designs and artistic impressions, was captured by Rock & Roll’s most talented photographers, and thus made it possible for all of us to enjoy on the Internet to this day.

Yet a lot of Barry & Yosha’s works have been kept secret till this day and will at last be exposed to the public.

Their children, following in their footsteps in different ways, have managed to keep their dream alive in the shape of music, fashion and art. They are starring in a documentary that will be exhibited and screened in your cinemas and on your tv’s next year. A sneak preview of my parents's treasure chest will be on view at Gallery and Creative space De.Studio in Amsterdam.

Visit the Expo

This immersive experience of visuals, art fashion and music done by Jade Moon Finch takes place respectively on The Weekends from the 18th of June up to and including the 28th of August, each day from 12:00-18:00, and also on week days. All days are by appointment but you can try a spontaneous visit.

Please, always reserve in advance by sending an email to jade@de.studio (or to his Whatsapp if you have his number).