Yesterday (29 April) saw the official opening of phase II of Butterfly World. Attendees included David Bellamy, one of the project’s patrons. The new signage (see images above) was designed by Mytton Williams as part of our branding work for this exciting new education and conservation project. The signs take the idea of the symmetry of butterfly wings and aid way-finding around the site. Also, they add excitement through the use of enlarged details in brilliant colour. Our work also included information boards, directional signage, advertisements and leaflets.
Phase II (of four phases) sees the addition of a new butterfly breeding house, an insect study centre, gardens, the Chrysalis lake, a shop, a cafe and a large ‘Very Hungry Caterpiller’ (the Eric Carle creation) who sits in his own garden of caterpiller-attracting plants. The project, sited near St Albans, is due to be completed in autumn 2011 with the opening of a massive rainforest Biodome filled with 10,000 tropical butterflies.
On our trip to Brussels at Easter, we serendipitously stumbled across Turtlewings at 165 Rue Washington, Ixelles in Brussels (www.turtlewings.be). Run by creative director Julie Anne (a charming American who has both industrial and graphic design training) and her Belgian husband Pieter (who has a background in interior design and materials), Turtlewings specialises in a combination of children’s workshops and professional design services. They also work with educators and organizations serving children and young people, to promote creativity in education.
When we met Julie Anne, she told us about her newest venture called “Turtlewings Atelier” – where children, artists, designers and other creative people can work together as design partners. Workshops are aimed at all age groups from those “for children who use their hands to think” to classes for adults “who wish to produce something with their own hands and their own ideas”. She had just run a course for adults where the participants made their own books inspired by Bruno Munari’s Unreadable Books, and had recently been involved in a ‘Serve the City’ event for World Water Day.
We found it very inspirational the way this design studio is reaching into their local community to make creativity more accessible for all. We’re now wondering what else we could be doing…
Bob and Sophie went to Brussels over Easter weekend. We loved the variety of buildings and the individual detailing; not just the amazing Grand Place (the central market square) but even in small residential streets – each one is different from its neighbours. The best way to check out the famous Art Noveau and Art Deco buildings, particularly if it’s your first time in Brussels, is with an ARAU tour run by a non-profit local residents group (www.arau.org).
We visited the Belgian Comic Strip Centre in Rue de Sables (based in a Victor Horta art nouveau building) which features all the Belgian classics including Tintin, Spirou, the Smurfs and Lucky Luke, as well as more modern comic strip artists. We went to an exhibition called “Mexico’s self-portrait: icons, images and reflections” at the Palais de Beaux-Arts (Centre for Fine Arts) in rue Ravensteinstraat – and also spent some time looking at this great art nouveau building, also by Victor Horta.
We walked through the St Hubert Gallery – an impressive covered shopping gallery dating from the 1800s – and popped into a wood-paneled fine arts bookshop called Librairie Saint-Hubert at 2 Galerie due Roi. Another of Bob’s favourite bookshops, with plenty of arts, architecture and design books, is Librarie Peinture Fraiche at 10 rue du Tabellion (only open Thurs-Sat).
Being Easter, we had to try the chocolate: we went to Le Saint-Aulaye at 4 rue Jean Chapelie (www.saintaulaye.be) which also sells sumptuous cakes and ice-cream and is staffed by friendly young men in designer uniforms, and visited one of the prestigious Pierre Marcolini shops which are laid out (and priced!) like exclusive jewellery stores.
For tea-lovers, we can recommend an exquisite tea shop called Comptoir Florian at 17 Rue Saint Boniface in Ixelles (www.comptoirflorian.be) where we liked the impressive red tea canisters stacked to the ceiling. The Belgians certainly know how to turn food retailing an into an art form.
We sampled a wide range of Belgian beers at various bars including La Mort Subite in 7 Rue Montagne aux Herbes Potageres (near the Grand Place) – a busy, noisy and traditional mirrored brasserie which still has the old 1920s décor; and also at the cool Café Belga in Place Eugene Flagey Plein (www.cafebelga.be).
Just received the latest ‘Bath Talks Arts’ leaflet featuring three interesting talks organised around Bath and culture: on 29 March the topic is about developing sustainable art projects with a strong sense of place; on 26 April the focus is on how cities can inspire culture; and on 17 May a panel will debate future cultural developments for B&NES. It’s good to see some thought being given to these issues. For more information about the events and the speakers involved, go to www.bathfestivals.org.uk
The West of England Design Forum got a really special event lined up for February. A talk by five leading illustrators: Noma Bar, Paul Davis, Adrian Johnston, John McFaul and Simon Spilsbury. They will each give a 15-minute profile, discussing and showing their work, followed by a Q&A session.
Wednesday 17 February, 7pm
Arnolfini, Bristol. Box office 0117 917 2300
Tickets £12 / Students £8
www.wedesignforum.co.uk
Amazing what photographer David Liittschwager found in one cubic foot. In five different environments he set down a 12-inch metal cube. Over a three-week period each inhabitant that passed through the cube was photographed.
Read the
article and have a look at the
photos.
Plenty of snow in Bath… (Matt)
With the downturn in the sales of books, highlighted when Borders went into administration recently, it seems as if people just aren’t interested in books anymore. Not so for artist Su Blackwell. Her dreamlike characters and landscapes, escape from the pages of old books bringing new life to the stories trapped within the confines of the covers. See www.sublackwell.co.uk for more of her work.
Organised by the West of England Design Forum we all enjoyed the ‘Hotel Chocolat’ talk in Bristol last week. A little warm-up for our upcoming Christmas Party this Thursday. (Sandra) www.wedesignforum.co.uk
On Friday 11 December, the Design Council hosted a 1 day event: ‘Shape the future of design networks’ bringing together Regional and National Design Bodies. Around 70 people attended from across the UK. Speakers from the national bodies – BDI, D&AD, DBA, CSD as well as regional networks – South West Design Forum, South Coast Design Forum and Designer Breakfasts shared their insights on the value of networks for designers. The aim was to discuss how the regional networks can be even more effective at supporting design. There was much debate around how all the different organisations should collaborate and learn from one another. More information and details should be posted on the Design Council website later this week.
Go to www.wedesignforum.co.uk to discover more about the West of England Design Forum and join the mailing list to hear about design lectures and events.
