The magnificent W Project initiative has progressed from an exhibition and symposium of female talent across the creative industries to a stream of new workshops. Teo Connor and Loren Platt have organised a few preliminary open call classes to bring together the local community of Hackney to interact with the burgeoning creative industry taking residence in the borough and bring the two worlds together. By inviting teenage girls to meet and interact with artists who have studios in the area, the program has been put together to provide opportunities for the local youth culture to have direct access into exploring the industries operating in the locality.
When I was asked to host an "accessories" afternoon I extended the invitation to Anita Blay a.k.a Cocknbullkid to discuss the creative process between musician, stylist and designer in putting together the visual element of a pop persona. I first met Anita when I cold-called her via MySpace to gift her one of my pieces in the early stages of both our careers which has latterly evolved into collaborating in bespoke pieces.
Anita gave a presentation of her history from which we learned of her education at school holiday courses in Hackney where she first discovered music alongside adolescent contemporaries such as Plan B. After an insight into both our backgrounds, we then sat down to a hands-on experiment in creating hair adornments and necklaces from my craft kits kindly donated by the V&A. All of the 16-19 yr old girls in attendance set about cutting and gluing some beautiful individual pieces to take away and wear .......... with a little tennis Wimbledon themed pattern I made to fit to the NIKE sports element of the gig which was all undertaken in their 1948 premises which has just re-opened its doors since a refurbishment at its HQ in Shoreditch.
Congrats to Teo and Loren for their extra curricular passion inventing this project and thanks to Anita for joining the proceedings to share her story and special energy to make a fun filled experience.
See more live action footage of The W Project at their Tumblr.
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