Suits You

Sounds really geeky, but I'm into nice papers and good stock and love a bit of pulp board! Working for a design and print company we see many catalogues for paper mills come through our doors, GF Smith being one of the studios faves - but this one for Italian paper company Fedrigoni is particularly different to any others I have seen before. Leeds based graphic designer, Jonathan Shackleton, decided to mirror the quality of the paper with the quality of the Italian fashion houses (and with Fedrigoni's client base mainly consisting of fashion labels it makes this design even more appropriate). I love the hands on approach with this concept and always think something with which you can interact with is extremely effective. Being able to make the suits yourself you get a feel for the texture of the papers and how the different colours can work together and really portrays Fedrigoni's beliefs that their paper is "ultra functional yet wonderfully expressive"

Print isn't dead

Last weekend some friends and I went to check out the Print Fair that was hosted at Leeds Gallery. Being part of the Leeds Print Festival it showcased some lovely printed design work from the local talent. One of my favorite pieces had to be what I like to call the "Egg Mixer"  (Graphic designer turned inventor Arthur Carey probably has a more technical name for the ingenious music maker). At first glance you could mistake it for just a collection of birds egg's until closer inspection you realise each egg produces a different sound, rift or beat once turned - amazing. As my camera is currently staying over at a friends I must thank my friend Native Meadows for the lovely pics!

Love Unplugged

Love Unplugged – Love Art Launch night from Love Unplugged on Vimeo.

My lovely friend Maddy, a fellow graphic designer, has been greatly involved in a lovely arts and music festival called Love Unplugged which takes place around the Leeds and Bradford area. The Festival raises awareness of different charities and allows local talent to get noticed. The launch night, filmed by the very talented Luke Rothery, took place at Dock Street Market and was attended by lots of music and art lovers who came to view the various cardboard guitars which have been illustrated by local artists and are going to be auctioned off for the charities involved.

I went down to the launch night  (I have a very small cameo in the film!) and it was a great night full of music, laughter and teapot cocktails! One of my good friends Lizzi has decorated one of the guitars so I even made a cheeky bid on hers, fingers crossed I win! To find out I shall be heading down to the next installment of the festival which takes place in Bradford on the 19th November, for more details check the website here and support the cause!

Hope I see you there!

Secret Bar

I love meeting up with friends and going out for a good dance and when you stumble across a new bar hidden away in the centre of Leeds, it makes the night even better. From the outside, there are no signs, no indication that it's there, the only give away are two bouncers stood outside an intriguing doorway and curiosity gets the better of you. When you enter the bar you climb an elaborate staircase, lined with the prettiest Victorian tiles to some rather large doors with an 'M' for a handle - at this point we still don't know the name of this place. On the other side sits a softly lit bar, small and intimate with pillar candles and roses on each table. It's then when we take a seat we learn the name of the bar from the top of the cocktail menu - "The Maven". Its needless to say a lotta cocktails were drunk! - including a rather large Hendrix Gin punch bowl, which I think was to blame for some very interesting dance moves later on in the night. If you live in Leeds and love cocktails it's definitely worth finding...

Star Gazing

Today me and some friends ventured down to take a look at the recently opened Leeds Gallery, an independent commercial art gallery specialising in Photography, Illustration and Fine Art. The galleries first exhibition is Terry O’Neill: 50 Years at the Top. It celebrates half a century of Terry O’Neill’s iconic photographs, a visual Who’s Who of cinema, rock and pop music, theatre and fashion over five decades. It was really great to see the images up close and personal and the gallery itself is only small and intimate, the perfect space in which to view them in. If your in Leeds I would really recommend going down and taking a look, entry is free, you just need to ring the buzzer on the elaborate doors to get in - if you cant make it down you can view the online exhibition here.