Friday 30th August: BLOG TAKEOVER Ciara and Nicci @ PATTERNITY X YrStore.

Yesterday evening we headed over to YrStore at Boxpark in Shoreditch for the Patternity take over. An innovative collaboration between pattern pioneers Patternity and Yr, a concept from interactive digital specialists Luma.

The installation at Boxpark includes some mega high tech touch pods which allow you to create your own t-shirts and totes. Patternity have hijacked the system with their award winning patterns and signture mono designs. Visitors are encouraged to play around with the Patternity graphics and rework them into bespoke products created by you.

A perfect meeting between technology and design. We really enjoyed how fun and interactive the idea was. The Yr Store is a great opportunity for anyone with an interest in design to get involved in the process and see 'Yr' creation materialise 'hot off the press' in a matter of minutes.

Patternity will be hitting up the Yr Store until this weekend so be sure to head over to Boxpark to get your print on before its too late.

This has been a blog takeover from Ciara and Nicci from Fred Butler HQ.

Thurs 29th Aug: Notting Hill Carnival - Red Bull Music Academy Soundsystem

.............. and here are a few snaps from Notting Hill Carnival at the Red Bull Music Academy Soundsystem which is set up under the fly-over at Portabello Road.  Top to bottom:  Stephanie Sian Smith & Tess Reidy,  Anita Blay & friend, Me & Aaron Frew, Aaron with Ella Dror & Zebra Katz, Rodigan MBE on stage, the crowd, and my ShyFX soundstyem t-shirt designed by Margot Bowman. .......... 

Tues 27th Aug: Carnival Headdress for Red Bull Music Academy Soundsystem

And here is what I conjured up for Carnival - a macaw inspired headdress for my fave Red Bull Music Academy soundstystem.  We hand dyed feathers like a spectrum to layer up into a rainbow and I stitched sequins to look like the parrots black and white eyes.  It was so much fun to make and ended up in the VIP area for the guests to wear, including Jourdan Dunn ........... giffs here.

Read my interview about the process here and find my Carnival playlist here.

And see more studio pics in an interview with TheWProject here.

Tues 27th Aug: WINDELL’S RESTAURANT

It's my absolute favourite time of year - Carnival.  Its what gets me thru the winter.  Every morning cycling to work in the cold and wet, I'm dreaming of Carnival.  And here it is!!!  I can't believe the magic weekend is finally here.  

To kick-start the celebrations, Sharmadean Reid opened a pop-up restaurant serving classic Jamaican dishes for one week only during Notting Hill Carnival - named "Windells" after her grand father.  

"Windell Stanford Reid arrived in Britain in 1956 travelling by boat from Jamaica. He later sent for his wife Odelyn Victoria Reid and together they had 12 children and over 60 grandchildren, including Sharma. Like many Jamaican men, Windell did most of the cooking in the household, creating soul warming dishes for his large family. Cooked in dutch pots in the morning and left on the stove for his busy family to help themselves from throughout the day, the menu would range from delicious curry goat and brown stew chicken to harder-to-stomach tripe and cowfoot. Fridays were dedicated to cooking, and the large meal would often be supplemented by saltfish fritters which Windell would portion, bag up and drive as a gift to the home of each one of his now adult daughters. His granddaughter would always come along for the ride."

I went down to the opening night with Jamaican girl Marsha Smith who is a connoisseur critic when it comes to Caribbean fair.  We ordered Jerk Chicken served in a dumpling, the saltfish fritters, roasted breadfruit, coleslaw, plantain ......... all served with this tri-colour scotch bonnet chili jam and washed down with daiquiris and cane juice.  Apparently the jerk sauce was absolutely on point, having been slow cooked using an authentic grilling process.  As you can see, Sharma was actually on the tools herself!  Incredible!  Lots of people talk about their pipe dreams, but Sharma is a girl who you never hear bigging-up plans prior to their happening.   You just get blown away by the ventures when they suddenly appear.  From her WAH! fanzine, to her WAH! nails empire, to her NIKE position, to becoming a mother ............ now taking on a casual spot of restauranteering.  Is there anything she's not cracking or conjuring up?!  Many fingers in many pies........ literally in this case.  Its the final night tomorrow, so scoot down to The Dead Dolls Club to wrap up a winner of a weekend!!

WINDELL’S RESTAURANT
22ND - 28TH AUGUST 2013
6-11PM NIGHTLY
AT THE DEAD DOLLS CLUB
428 KINGSLAND RD, LONDON, E8 4AA

Weds 21st Aug: Rundemcrew

Leading on from the last post outlining my cycle ride with Rundemcrew - here are images from that day where we explored and tracked down the street-art of Dulwich............ which I've incorporated with a few snaps from the actual running days with the crew......... every week is a different destination and here are images from when we ran to Big Ben via the Millenium Bridge................ 

Its taken me 18 months to finally join up since meeting the founder Charlie Dark on the NIKE Fuel Band launch trip in NYC.  Thanks to Teo Connor for the motivation to get involved........... there's going to be quite a bit of content from this part of my life coming up so stick with me and get running yourself if you don't already.......... Im a late starter and wish I discovered it so much sooner!

Monday 19th Aug: "Bold Tendencies" 2013

Yesterday Rundemcrew made their first venture out onto the streets of London as "Bikedemcrew", wheeling out instead of running out!  I'm a sucker for a bike ride so I signed up for the adventure and safari of South London to find it's street art in Dulwich.  On our return journey we passed through Peckham and took a detour up to the top of the multi-storey carpark to visit the open air sculpture exhibition "Bold Tendencies".  We spiralled up the ramps to the top and the sun came out in perfect time to reflect off the tinsel banner by Ruth Proctor.   My favourite piece is this 1983 MB 123 series Mercedes installation by Jimmy Merris collaborating with Brian Shimkovitz from Awesome Tapes From Africa.  Each Thursday evening Jimmy will be at the show with the car open for anyone to join him in taking a seat to listen to the cassette selection to experience the joy of hanging out round car sound-stystems.  

In a slightly tenuous link, I have taken the opportunity to add in the new Afrikan Boy video here for your viewing pleasure............ which was recorded on the site of "Bold Tendencies" and who coincidentally was the second act in the double bill with "Awesome Tapes" at the Studio Africa event I hosted earlier in the year!  See that event here.

(Other works, top to bottom:  Franks Cafe by Practice Architecture, "I see you liking everything" by Ruth Proctor, "Bright" by Cecile B. Evans, "Transit of the megaliths" by Nicholas Brooks, "Awesome Tapes From Africa Mate by Jimmy Merris)