Category Archives: reviews

great gifts for Christmas – part five – a design magazine subscription

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Over the last week or so we have been looking at great gifts which may not necessarily be on the usual gift guide supplements at this time of year, but ones which we would be chuffed to receive this Christmas.

We started with the joy of fixing with Sugru, moving on to a personalised sketchbook from Moleskine Press, then an inspirational book and on Tuesday we featured a super sexy recycled belt made from bike tyres.

But as the days creep on and mail order dates pass for Christmas, we thought we would turn to the virtual for our last choice. Something which can be sorted out at the very last minute.

The magazine subscription is a gift which has been around for years, but with more publications becoming available virtually and more people on the move, the online subscription market is changing publishing as we know it. There is something to be said for settling down with a real magazine and a cup of tea, but time is precious and for some, reading the latest edition of a mag is only done on their gadgets.

We read a lot of design stuff. A lot. We have around 8 subscriptions to various magazines at the studio – some as hard copies and some as virtual and we get excited each month as we wait for the thump of a new edition on the mat or in the inbox. We read stuff from the UK, the US and Europe – no need to pay over the odds for an imported copy when it simply lands in our iPads.

For a creative, it is great to see what everyone else is up to in your own and adjoining sectors – new stuff, exciting materials, trends, reports, reviews. It feeds us and keeps us running.

So, why not think about an online subscription to a design publication as a gift this Christmas – the joy will be delivered every month to your lucky recipient.

(image via the guardian)

great gifts for Christmas part two – Moleskine Press

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The countdown is upon us and the general feeling of panic is beginning to spread amongst people that we have been meeting recently. ‘Have you done your Christmas shopping?’ seems to be the first question people ask, even before the very British standard reflections on the weather. But gifts do not have to be expensive or elaborate. Many people will hugely appreciate the thought that has gone into the gift and this is why we have chosen the Moleskine Press as the next item on our studio wish list for Christmas.

Christmas gift

Despite our continued connection to our technology (and we are very guilty of this too), there is nothing to beat sitting down with a notebook or sketchbook and doodling. We are firm believers that your brain can only truly wander around when the distance between your head and hand is as short as possible and the pen and paper is the simplest form of thought manifestation.

There is a huge amount that can be gained from daydreaming – processing thoughts through sketchy text and sketchy drawings and our personal sketchbooks are as important to us as our iPhones. I have around four sketchbooks on the go at any one time. One for drawing, one for notes, one for clients/active projects and one for songwriting. And there are probably a few more floating around as well. They are familiar friends.

So if you have someone like this in your life, you could do far worse than give them a truly beautiful notebook /sketchbook and a lovely new pen. Their excitement will be immense and they will spend lots of time seriously considering what to enter into the first, crisp pristine pages.

If that sketchbook was personalised, well, that is beyond special. It shows that you know how precious the item will be to the owner and that you know them well. Enter the Moleskine Press. 

moleskinepress debossed blue red green

The premise is simple. Choose the notebook or sketchbook you want. Choose the text you want. Order it. And if you order it before 11 am it will be with you the next day. Simple and beautiful, with your chosen name or phrase heavily indented in the cover. Team this with a gorgeous new pen (even the humble biro may be perfect) and you have got a winning combination.

Just don’t begin your chosen phrase with ‘Keep Calm and …’ or we will personally hunt you down. Think about the person and choose a lovely phrase or check out our ‘Inspirational quotes we work to’ board on Pinterest for some, well, inspiration.

(image via Moleskine Press and claire potter design)

great gifts for Christmas – part one – Sugru

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We have been talking in the studio of late about gifts that we would be pleased to receive this Christmas. Most of the ones we have come up with are useful in one way or another as we are quite practical people, but it did make us think – the stuff that we would be chuffed to receive may not be in the usual gift supplements which float about then feed the recycling bins. So, we will be posting a few bits on here with some suggestions for the sort of people in your life which may be a bit like us. Creative and eccentric.

The first gift on our wish list is the truly wonderful Sugru. For those of you who are yet to be introduced to this wonder stuff, simply put, it is a self setting hand mouldable silicon rubber which can be used in a whole range of ways. It’s primary use is for fixing, adapting, amending and hacking stuff – and we absolutely love it.

It comes in a range of colours (or can be mixed to blend colours), will stick to virtually anything, is stable at low and high temperatures and is incredibly durable.

So it can be used to fix things which are broken by acting as a bridging compound or can be used to adapt things for a truly personal use. We have used ours to fix the studio blender, adapt a hacksaw, mend a friend’s oven knob, put ‘bounce’ corners on my LOMO LC1A (after a previous dropping accident…) and repair my leaking snowboard boots. We have also used it to customise stuff for clients – all with great results.

If we got packs of Sugru in our stockings this Christmas we would be very happy bunnies indeed and would then go wandering around on Christmas day looking for stuff to fix, adapt and hack. The possibilities are actually endless.

So, male or female, old or young – Sugru may be the present you are looking for…to use a phrase from the Sugru website – give the gift of fixing.

AND – we have just been informed by the lovely guys and gals at Sugru that they have a very special 4 packs for the price of 3 offer running, so get ordering! (keep one pack for yourself though.)

(image via sugru)

Dumb ways to die – possibly the best safety video ever?

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We all know that this time of year spawns a whole range of online, television and radio safety adverts from various groups, reminding us to be aware of our actions through the festive seasons. Some are shocking. Some are confusing. But some are humorous, just like this ‘dumb ways to die’ safety video from Australian Metro, which has gone viral since it’s release last week.

As well as being a lovely little piece of illustrative animation, it has a great tune and enough humour to keep you engaged until the message is delivered in the last 30 seconds or so. Even though the message is extremely serious, the light-hearted manner in which the message is delivered ensures that more people are likely to become engaged with it and spread it to others.

For example – we are sharing this with you all as we think it is an excellent piece of engaging design. Would we, or have we shared a safety campaign before? No. The fact is that for a message to be delivered it has to relate to those it is intended for. A large shocking poster will be seen by some, but will it be shared and remembered? This little, sweet animation is delivered through a You Tube video which is easily shared and replayed. Even the title ‘dumb ways to die’ sparks that little bit of interest in people who wander around You Tube of an evening.

Plus, you will be humming the tune for ‘dumb ways to die’ for days to come, which means it has cemented itself into your brain – hopefully with the safety message attached. We can guarantee that you will think of this video next time you get on the tube or train.

Great design does not need to be complicated, or overly clever. It needs to relate to people.

Wednesday walls – Head to Toe illustration prints from Imeus

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At the end of last week, we attended the Glug Brighton creative meetup, which was a fantastic mix of talks, live illustration and a pop -up shop from local design studio Unlimited. There was a fantastic mix of pieces at this pop-up shop, from beautiful prints, to shopping list magnets and icon like earrings. But one set of images caught our eye – the beautiful and quite retro prints from Imeus.

These images formed part of an exhibition, which is running until 17th November at the unlimited studio, entitled Head to Toe.

The link to vintage educational posters is immediately obvious, with the bold shapes and colours on a plain background and there is a distinct medical and physiology theme with the body parts and medicine motifs.

The illustration is simple, yet full of little quirks when you look past the first glance – like these pills, which give you the ‘power of greyskull’ – something we would have given our right arms to have when we were children.

We thought these designs were absolutely beautiful and would be perfect on the walls of any eclectic interior. Give them a simple frame, or even just suspend them from a plain wall with bulldog clips, just like the images above.

In Brighton? Visit the exhibition this week and grab yourself a great piece of locally made illustration, or visit the unlimited website.

(images via Imeus)

great illustration prints from InkHeart

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Readers of the Ecospot will know that last week we spent the weekend in Shoreditch, discovering a whole raft of fantastic creatives in all disciplines, from wonderful events to great interiors and inspiring artists ranging from graffiti to fine art and illustration.

One such artist we found was the very talented Felix Green of InkHeart, tucked in a street market just off Brick Lane.

We were immediately drawn to his fantastic grizzly print which adorned a series of limited edition jumpers – a black and white illustration with stacks of movement and character.

The rest of his stall followed a similar theme and style, with the black and white illustrations being presented across t-shirts, tote bags, cards, postcards and even shoes. Animals were represented in a signature style along with robots and a bit of manga too.

We had a good old chat and bought a postcard print of the Grizzly, which is in the process of being framed to go in the studio, and we have just discovered that there is an InkHeart Shop on Etsy, so check them out for customised clothing, prints and more.

You will be guaranteed a friendly service as well as a stunning illustration.

(image by claire potter)

in our little black book – Wickle, Lewes

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Most of us have a few shops that we turn to when we suddenly remember a friends birthday and need a lovely gift that is just perfect. Handmade, British, eclectic, beautiful – just some on our tick list which is always fulfilled by a visit to Wickle in Lewes.

As well as gifts, Wickle has a great range of stunning clothing and homewares and we have even spotted some great vintage furniture finds there too.

We are very partial to a woollen blanket for our interior design schemes and Wickle always has a pleasing stack of blankets and throws in a variety of colours and patterns, from modern to traditional .The interior is stuffed to the gills with great finds, but neatly ‘zoned’ so nothing gets confusing when you are browsing. Jewellery, candles and purses together, cards, wrapping paper and graphically printed notebooks in a section etc.

There is a small, selected range of adult and kids clothing, which has been selected carefully to meet the general feel of the store, allowing it to blend beautifully with the other items for sale. So, lovely graphically printed mugs and illustrated sketchbooks mingle well with quirky printed baby clothing.

The section of traditional toys at the back is a welcome change from the plastic wrapped toys usually found, and you can even grab a lovely cookie and coffee at the back of the store, sitting at one of the few tables if you can nab one.

All in all, Wickle is a great shop full of friendly staff and inspiring finds and well worth a visit on a trip to Lewes.

 

(images by claire potter and via Wickle)

A great industrial interior – Cafe Coho, Brighton

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It has to be said that we are quite partial to a great coffee or tasty chai latte and recently we have been meeting with lots of clients at coffee shops around Brighton to discuss projects as our own studio is in the process of construction. What is nice about this is that we discover new places ourselves in the city and when we visited Cafe Coho last week in Ship Street, the great coffee and lovely industrial interior design boxes were well and truly ticked.

 

All the ingredients of an industrial interior were there – bare brick walls, scaffold board shelves, enamel shades, handwritten signs, blackboards, reclaimed chapel chairs, stone floor. But what we really liked was the distinct personality that the space had.

There were some nice little touches, like a ‘specials’ menu board which was made from a roll of brown paper which hung from a chain on the wall. Daily specials could be added to  the sheet, then recycled at the end of the day. Some may say that this was wasteful, but really, this helped to differentiate the specials from the rest of the regular menu – plus the brown paper is easily recycled.

Another feature which we feel really makes the character of any cafe is the way cakes, biscuits and other delectables are displayed. This can be organised, just like a French patisserie, with everything in neat rows, it could be traditional, with elements arranged in piles on glass cake stands, or even vintage, with old china used.

The tasties at Cafe Coho were arranged with a keen eye and a nod to the rest of the industrial interior – artfully arranged on timber boards and slates with small, handwritten blackboard style signs. Using tins as raised tiers, if you did not feel hungry when you went in, the almost eye level cakes meant that you soon were.

We enjoyed a very nice meeting here and will definitely be visiting again. A lovely cafe and a great example of a nice and simple industrial interior design.

(images by claire potter)

review: ‘Here’ – the one day design symposium from ‘It’s Nice That’

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We love attending design conferences, meetings, exhibitions, shows and events. We love to see what other people are doing, trends that crop up through all design disciplines and generally, talk to other designers. It is inspiring.

So we were very excited about attending the ‘Here’ event from ‘It’s Nice That’ which was billed as a ‘one day design symposium’, held at the Royal Geographical Society in London.  The line up was impressive and varied – with representatives from graphics, film, photography, fashion and jelly.

After registration we were presented with our goodie bags – a nice collection of an ‘It’s Nice That’ mag, bottle of water and some Pantone stuff, including a lovely colour mug – all held in a custom printed calico bag.

The location was beautiful – a combination of the old Royal Geographical Society building- think white walls, wood panelling, high ceilings and display cases and new, slick glass elements. We wandered around each of the interconnected rooms, grabbed a drink and looked at the many additional activities available for the day.

There was Ping Pong (with the table sporting a lovely purple colour, the same as my mug), short films, portrait illustration, magazine sales and the wonderful Photobot.

 

Fashioned from the old style photo booths, the Photobot provides a unique photographic experience. You sit in the booth and have a conversation with the in house robot, who then provides prompt words for your photos. This was tremendous fun, and the photos which popped out were fantastic. Our happy, angry, sad and surprised made us laugh.

 

 

The lecture hall was beautiful – a lovely mix again of old and new, with surprisingly comfortable seats and we settled in for the talks, of which they were many.

Looking at the schedule, we were pleased to see that the majority of the day had been crammed with talks rather than the ‘walking around’ breaks which sometimes take over in whole day events.

The talks were fantastic. Each one enthused us in different ways – the frankness, humour and work philosophy of Eike Konig, the personal and touching stories behind the photos of Giles Duley, the films of Carol Morley which gave people a voice, the illustration of Quentin Jones which had developed into her own language, the absurdness and enthusiasm of Bompas and Parr and the beautiful experimentation of body architect Lucy McRae. These, plus the other talks were truly fantastic.

The last speaking spot went to Sir Paul Smith, who we adore. His eclectic character, work ethic and humour are right up our street (along with his ‘classic with a twist’ style) and his talk did not disappoint. He was full of energy – skipping around the stage, waving his socks around and speaking with his whole body. He recounted where he had begun, his style and why he thinks like he does. He emphasised that what you love should be balanced by what you do. If you need to separate ‘work’ from ‘personal design work’ then do so. You will be better at both in the end.

A full packed day from 9 till 5, but an event which left us feeling invigorated and proud to be  part of the wide design community. Our brains and sketchbooks were full of scribbles of how we can develop our own works, both personal work and work for clients. All in all, a wonderful day.

(images by claire potter)

the mini – a true design classic

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The terms ‘design classic’ or ‘iconic design’ are banded about all too often in our opinion. Exactly what is a design classic? Is it something which is timeless aesthetically, or pure in appearance? Is it as desirable now as it was when it was conceived? Is it as practical today as it was, or does it not need to be practical at all? Surely all of us have a different set of parameters when it comes to deciding what qualifies?

For us, a design classic has to tick a great deal of boxes. It must be simple and pure aesthetically. It must be useful as well as beautiful and function to the best of it’s abilities. It  should have a recorded history of invention – not just a whimsical piece from the mind of a designer – and it should be as relevant to the issues of society today as it was when created.

Lastly, it should be instantly recognisable. Some may not know who the designer is/was, but for a design to be truly a ‘classic’ we think almost everyone should be able to identify the product, whatever it may be.

So, if this is our personal tick list for what makes up a ‘design classic’, what would we choose for the top of the list? For us, there is one answer. The Mini. 

Developed in 1959 by engineer Sir Alec Issigonis, the Mini was revolutionary in that 80% of the floorplan was used for passengers and luggage, making it incredibly efficient for the space it took up as well as being wonderfully fuel efficient. The engine was mounted transversely with the radiator to the side to save space and the car was front wheel drive – something very different for the time, but a pattern which has cropped up in small car design since.

The interior was also very innovative – the door pockets were deep to contain (supposedly) a Gordon’s Gin bottle – made possible by fitting sliding windows. Four people could comfortably sit in the tiny interior space with their luggage sitting in the small boot behind, which was hinged at the bottom to allow large pieces to be supported from the opened lid.

Simply put, at it’s inception, the Mini was designed at a time of fuel shortages, for growing families, in a tiny space to allow it be easily parked and driven about. Efficient in fuel and space, the Mini quickly grew to be an extremely popular car with families and fashionistas alike, with later incarnations featuring period colours and detailing. There is a Mary Quant Mini, a Paul Smith Mini and do not forget the iconic John Cooper Minis.

It even became the star of it’s own film – The Italian Job.

Speak to many people and they will have a story about their first Mini, or their Mum’s Mini, or how many people they fitted into their friend’s Mini when at college. They are fond memories of a car which has personality, style and a special place in our hearts.

So much of a special place that the efficient design barely changed from the 1959 ‘orange box’ to the last issue of the Rover Cooper Minis in 2000. They always remained a Mini, even with small changes to colours, details and wheel sizes. But with the release of the new MINI, in our opinion, the design classic was lost.

But is the classic Mini as relevant now as it was in 1959? We think they are. With increasing fuel prices, the small engines are very economical to run (only £18 or so to fill my tank thank you), they are easy to maintain (yep – you can change your own spark plugs!), parts are cheap and readily available (erm, £6 for a new indicator anyone?), a doddle to park and lovely to look at as well. No need to sit on the waiting list for a new Italian tiny car when you can have a British made design classic for a fraction of the price which still looks the same as it did on the pages of Sir Alec’s sketchbook. For us, there is no competition. But even the new MINI, is just not a Mini.

Bring back the proper Mini – one of our best British made design classics and a true design icon.

(images via wikipedia)

(This is my entry into Little Greene’s 20th Century Design competition. Find out more at:http://www.littlegreene.com/retro)