Straight to you: Nick Cave’s online gift shop
Nick Cave’s new collection of goods isn’t merch, but it isn’t art, either
Sometimes, even rock stars have to pivot. In the yawning void left by an absent live music industry, many musicians have embraced alternative mediums. Some hosted live-stream dance classes (Haim), while others took to Instagram to offer informal guitar lessons (Laura Marling). Some redirected effort into commerce, which is why, in part, the internet is now home to cavethings. com, a “store” selling goods “conceived, sourced, shaped and designed by Nick Cave”.
“My songs are highly visual narratives,” he tells Esquire, “and I have always drawn or painted or photographed — just generally ‘created’ — visual stuff that supported them. I had often thought about creating some sort of space to make this stuff available. The pandemic allowed me to stop running around the world for long enough to action the idea.”
Merch, in general, has long since evolved beyond poorly printed T-shirts — FKA Twigs sweat-suit, anyone? — but Cave Things takes the concept to an altogether bric-ier brac-ier level. There is crockery, stationery, jewellery, wrapping paper and much, much more.
“I dream up everything and I design everything,” says Cave. “If, for example, I decide to make a child’s bunny bowl, I draw and paint the fucking bunnies myself, and I source the bowl myself. If I want to make pornographic wallpaper, I draw the naked women getting it on, and personally choose the actual paper. There is not an aspect in the design of the product that I am not involved in.
“Some are sceptical of my involvement because the question, of course, arises as to why any self-respecting rock star could be bothered designing a child’s cereal bowl, a ‘Suck My Dick’ T-shirt, a series of prayer cards or a satanic milk jug, but the sad truth of the matter is that I enjoy making these things; to me, they are precious objects, beautiful, soulful and devotional; a humorous departure from the genuine agonies of my real job, which is songwriting.”
Cave agrees that his things go beyond the concept of merch, but doesn’t call them art. Referring to them as such would be like recording Picasso singing in the shower and releasing it as a single, he says. They are “peripheral to the main event”.
“Part of the beauty of Cave Things is that much of it endeavours to be artistic, but in most cases sweetly fails. I have always had a thing about amateur art — the humble striving and the failing, to me, are deeply moving.”
Given Cave’s joint statuses of rock star and style icon, it is unsurprising that Cave Things has proven wildly popular. The alpaca “Suck My
Dick” small dog sweater, one of Cave’s personal highlights, sold out in 15 minutes. “People just can’t get enough of them,” he says. “Someone actually bought a chihuahua just so it could wear the sweater” — and there is even an unsubstantiated rumour that the lewd knitwear warmed the backs of royal corgis this winter.
“I am very proud of Cave Things,” he says. “I just do stuff that I want to do, entirely on my own terms. It is an extraordinarily liberating and happy-making experience, and a shot in the arm for the other artistic ventures I am involved with. I’ve never written as many songs as I have in the last six months.”
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