San Francisco

21.05.2013

San Francisco in a nutshell

A B&C whistle-stop tour guide of our five days in San Francisco...In pictures.

Rent yourself a nice little pad in the Mission district. Where hipster doesn't mean try hard.

We knocked for Mrs Doubtfire in Alamo Square, she wasn't there so we settled for the Painted Ladies.

Someone put a shop in a shipping container in Hayes Valley.

Go deep into the Mission and step into the Hispanic neighbourhood to snap the murals in Clarion / Balmy Alley.

We like signs.

Get cultured at San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA).

People watch at the Ferry Building.

Catch some evening rays, dinner and a classic movie at Foreign Cinema.

Cocktails for him (looks a bit girly) and her. Made with love.

Take a morning jog and catch the sunrise over the city.

Grab a coffee and take the BART across town.

Paddle in the sea.

Guess what you can eat at Fishermans Wharf.

Join the masses on the ferry to Alcatraz island.

Grab some pizza and espresso and chill with the Italians in North Beach.

Feel the love in downtown.

Hang on to your hat and ride the tram up to Nob Hill.

Chuckle every time you see a yellow school bus.

Castro is gay in a good way.

OMG, seriously, what is with all the hills?

Take it back to the 60's in Haight Ashbury.

Get lost in Golden Gate park.

Try not to get blown off and cycle across Golden Gate bridge.

And finally sit back a minute in Sausalito to admire the San Francisco skyline.

Next stop... San Diego.

by Claire & Gav
Travel

Cheltenham Design Festival #1

30.04.2013

Cheltenham Design Festival #1

After an influential visit to Cheltenham Design Festival last year, it was without doubt we were to return for the 2013 schedule.
With a slight career direction change (moving from the comfort of an agency to self employment) I found my choice of events
had differed also.

The Art of Creative Oneupmanship was to discuss the meaningful client/designer relationship. A yellow sofa studio event, the intimate discussion was chaired by former Design Week editor and design writer Lynda Relph-Knight. In the hot seat was the Creative Director and founder of Bristol based Taxi Studio. Spencer Buck introduced his studio, their story, portfolio and more interestingly - their relationship with client Jessica Robinson.

To introduce Jess, well she's not your average client. Jess is the Global Design Director of Carlsberg (nice title ay), with a previous role in that famous red and white branded cola company. She sits on the client side of the relationship, but trained in design school she very much understands and appreciates the value of good design. Brought into Carlsberg 3 years ago she has been responsible for the global redesign of the Group's 5 international brands as well as overseeing glassware, merchandising and POS - a pretty influential figure.

Spencer and Jess stem back 10 years. They discuss their friendship and business relationship, with an insight to how they work together to push each others creativity (working for a worldwide beer company no doubtedly fuels some rad ideas). Jess speaks on how she works with people, not clients, how she'll follow a talent - rather than brand. It's those individual relationships that are an incredible asset to creativity and pushing the boundaries. She also explains how she chooses partnerships over pitches, which was a reassuring thing to hear.

It seems that times are a-changin' for big brands, with the importance and value of design taking prominence in businesses, more and more companies will follow Carlsberg's lead and be investing in internal design disciplines. This will aid the dreaded client/ agency relationship - through the mutual language of design. With figures like Jess on the client side, we'll have savvy patrons backing our corner to interpret those bold ideas (and give a helping hand to convince the account managers it was all their concept). Hopefully, long gone will be the days of creative suppression by untrained eyes.

by Claire
Design

Designs of the year

12.04.2013

Designs of the year

With the Designs of the Year 2013 category winners announced earlier in the week I thought it was quite apt to post a few snaps from our recent trip to the Design Museum. The exhibition runs yearly and features some of the best design from around the globe -  from architecture, to fashion, to product. A total of seven categories, entries are nominated and they can be designed by a practice, team or individual.

Colour Porcelain
As an avid tea drinker this tableware collection caught my eye! Designed by Dutch designers Scholten & Baijings, the minimal pieces are a result of research into Japanese porcelain manufacturing and their traditional use of colour. Created and hand painted in the town of Arita (where the 1616 manufacturer takes its name) the collection is a collaboration in applied arts and everyday design.

Faceture Vases
There was a cool video to accompany this one so we recommend you give this a watch. To summarise, each design is unique as each cast is individually moulded before casting in a water-based resin.

Berg Little Printer
Now this first came on my radar a couple of years back, maybe it's the little face that got me but either way it's a great piece of technology design. It sits on your shelf at home and using your smartphone to set up subscriptions it brings you news, puzzles and gossip from your friends in a miniature newspaper form.

Re-Imagined Chairs
London based StudioMama take an interesting approach on resourcefulness and encourages users to re-look at unwanted furniture. Working with local craft people, the unloved items are re-imagined in a variety of patterns and shades.

by Claire
Design

What is a Flea Market?

10.04.13 

What is a Flea Market?

Noun - A market, typically outdoors, selling secondhand goods.
Synonyms - Rag fair

So what's the difference between a flea market and a car boot sale?
We went on an arctic treasure hunt to Malvern Flea market to answer this question...

An abundance of mid century designs, mixed with a few tape stalls (I really do mean the sticky tape, not VHS), with a few little gems in between. The cold probably dampened our venture but if you're after something a bit unique - then here's yer place!

Overall flea market vs car boot verdict: less baby clothes, more rust.

by Claire
Travel

Fleet Street Kitchen

20.03.13

Fleet Street Kitchen

It's not that Birmingham is lacking in places to go for food. It's just that for us, there's not that many places that can genuinely tick all the boxes. Those boxes being:

• Considered brand & interior design
• Proper good grub
• Value for money

So after a cheeky invite to one of the launch nights at Fleet Street Kitchen, I was looking forward to checking out what had already been touted as a tasty little place.

First impressions are everything and I was suitably impressed. Even though we were the first ones to show up, there is a natural good vibe and atmosphere to the place. Better still, the more we looked about, the more subtle details we noticed from the branded ketchup bottles, to the choice of quotes on the walls, to the perforated tear sheet menus and branded clipboards. Every last detail had seemed to have been considered...Tick.

Ok, down to business. We were shown the impressive Barbacoa grill, the only one in the UK I'm told. After an impeccably served Wye Valley HPA (brownie points for that one), we had calamari (pictured) and scallops for starters, followed by chicken skewer (also pictured) and a fillet steak with a good drop of wine.

Alternatively, skip dinner altogether and head down to the basement which we've yet to see in full flow so you'll have to check it out yourself.

All in all then, I'd say it's well worth checking out, looking forward to going back on a normal paying night to see how it fairs up.

by Gav
Food & Drink