A collaborative exhibition produced by Manchester’s creative community to launch
the first annual creative festival Design Manchester, sponsored by the Manchester School of Art,
part of Manchester Metropolitan University.
The exhibition took place in the Bench Self Made Gallery and during the festival can be seen
at Kosmonaut with a specially commissioned showcase of the pieces by photographer Sebastian Matthes.
Creatives
— Mark Kennedy x David Arnott
'Pub of the week. Forever.'
— John Cooper Clarke x John Owens
'Things are gonna get worse'
— Dave Sedgwick (Designbydave) x Tim Denton
'Don't sit still. Keep going.'
— Helen Musselwhite x Loz Ives (Fieldwork)
'Save Yourself'
— Jon Bland x Mike Ash (Music)
'howfatisjonbland.com'
— Owt Creative
'Diamonds aren’t forever'
— Matt Booth x Zelig Sound
'VISUALISER'
— Percy Dean x Alan & Brenda
'Alan and Brenda: Diptych: Percy Dean 2013'
— Katherine Beefheart x Buddha
'Karma's a bitch'
— Liam Hopkins (Lazerian) and Daren Newman
'Unknown Time'
Creative profiles
10 x 10 featured designers, makers, crafters and creators who have been tasked with creating
a piece in collaboration exploring the theme of longevity.
Mark Kennedy x David Arnott
'Pub of the week. Forever.'
…I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving, hysterical,
naked… was the opening line to Ginsberg’s seminal poem. Howl of the British pub one could state…
I saw the best pubs of my community destroyed by smoking bans, tax hikes and the greed of breweries.
In the so called northern quarter the British pub has become a success story.
It has even become a career move for the middle classes to become a landlord or a landlady.
The new hipsters flock to this museum piece for hand pulled beers that sit nicely with the beard, the cardigan,
the 50s handbag. This piece of work (pub of the week, forever) works as a homage to nq pub the Smithfield hotel.
It is a pub that is effortlessly a pub. Its beer is cheap. Its regulars are full of stories and it is about
to become modernised as it undergoes refurbishment. Success and failure are strange bedfellows.
In the Smithfield hotel you can get a bed for 35 quid a night… one for the ditch then… cheers… goodnight.
Note from landlord: It’s £20 a night.
Mark Kennedy
Born. Ardwick 1965. Left school. Looked for a job. Played guitar. Found job. Hated job. No job. Dole.
Lived in Salford. Leeds. Madrid. Ordained as novice monk for 1 year. Lived in and around Scotland.
Got a degree at Salford university. Put the art of mosaic he’d witnessed in Madrid to the iconography
he’d learned in Buddhism. Hey presto afflecks palace Manchester icons. 20 years and still counting.
John Cooper Clarke x John Owens
'Things are gonna get worse'
John Cooper Clarke is working with designer John Owens (Instruct Studio) to laser etch a uniquely penned poem
into Perspex, detailing the woes of growing old.
John Cooper Clarke
Britain’s best-loved and most important performance poet. John is as vital now as he was in the 70s;
His biting, satirical, political and very funny verse, is delivered in a unique rapid-fire performance style.
Design, the culture and all the processes that surround it have dominated John’s life for over 10 years.
His work spans across many disciplines and sectors with strong emphasis on brand, strategy and creative direction.
John specialises in experiential design with a background in architecture/regeneration and interactive design,
which has led him to curate and design for exhibitions and installations around the world.
David Sedgwick (Designbydave) x Tim Denton
'Don't sit still. Keep going.'
Dave Sedgwick (designer) and Tim Denton (maker) have come together to create an exhibition
of work which asks the question, 'What is the secret to a long and happy life?'.
Dave and Tim have collaborated with Chorlton Good Neighbours, a collective of older people who meet
a few times a week for coffee mornings, exercise classes and social gatherings.
The question was put to this group and these answers have formed the concept and creative for the exhibition.
Dave will be designing a series of typographic rubber stamps based on the answers and Tim will be making a set
of hand held wooden devices. We will then be asking people at the exhibition to make their own postcards using
the stamps and send these out to those they feel may benefit from the pearls of wisdom imparted to us
by the older generation.
Portraits of the wise worded ones will be shown as part of the exhibition and the aim is to distribute
the secrets of longevity from an older group of Mancunians to the next generation.
Dave Sedgwick
Dave Sedgwick is a graphic designer based in Manchester. He has worked with a variety of different clients
and more recently his work has involved organising exhibitions, creating typographic pieces and trying
to collaborate and create as much as possible.
Tim Denton is a Manchester based Designer Maker that creates furniture and objects which aim to engage people.
In the past he has worked as one half of the creative partnership 'electricwig' and also runs the Manchester
based design and fabrication company Make Strange & Co.
All karma, good or bad, keeps us entangled in the cycle of death and rebirth.
Understanding things as they truly are frees us from the cosmic chain of cause and effect.
Katherine Beefheart
Katherine Beefheart is a Buddha-loving embroiderer, producing handmade, and often sweary, philosophy with thread.
The beginning of a shame exercise, designed to prolong the life of a young overweight designer.
Medium: website, 24 year old 6'1" male
Jon (graphic designer) & Mike (developer) both work for the Manchester design agency Music.
They often work together within Music and have now begun collaborating on external projects such as 10x10.
Helen Musselwhite x Loz Ives (Fieldwork)
'Save Yourself'
Have you broken your heart or lost an eye? Perhaps just a fingertip?
Have no fear, we have replacements to aid your longevity.
Helen and Loz have created different organs and appendages out of paper and other materials, playing
on the idea of longevity in our lives and what it might be like if you could replace old with new.
Helen Musselwhite
Helen works with paper, coloured and painted, hand cutting detailed and multi-layered scenes inspired
in the main by the natural world and its inhabitants, although people and their belongings
do increasingly creep into her world! Helen works from a studio in her home accompanied
by her dog Earl but only if he doesn’t steal paper off cuts from the bin!
Loz Ives is a multi-displinary designer and maker of things from the north of England.
After 4 years known to the world as Because Studio he has recently co-founded of new brand & digital agency Fieldwork.
He likes Robots and has a cat called Zissou.
OWT Creative started with the plan to create fragile, useless versions of hardwearing objects that take on a new,
artistic quality and came to the idea of subverting the diamond.
As an object and a symbol the diamond is the ultimate in long lasting, they're also expensive, coveted and glamorous.
Removing the glamour, expense and 'for life' element of the diamond OWT have created sack of paper diamonds,
free to be taken by the audience. Essentially every trait, except for shape of the diamond will be it's opposite,
plus the piece will constantly change throughout the exhibition as people take the diamonds.
OWT Creative
OWT is a multidisciplinary design collective.
Starting life as an experiment in publishing with the OWT ‘zine they now pride themselves on initiating collaborations
and challenging the status quo of how an agency should work: constantly working on self-initiated projects and events
alongside our conventional client briefs.
"OWT have that uncanny North West knack for making great things happen in the face of British regionalism.
They are not only the super smart children of Northern counter-culture, they're actively enriching that legacy
with every fanzine they publish, with every collaboration they initiate. OWT make me want to be in Manchester."
Johnny Hardstaff
Matt Booth is collaborating with Zelig Sound to visualise the sound of Manchester.
Zelig who provides original composition and sound design for films, TV, branding and games,
will be recording sound around the city and creating a unique soundscape.
Matt will be producing live graphical visualization piece to display the sound.
At any point visitors will be able to pause the visualization to see what the sound is doing at that time.
They will also be able to change the elements of the visualisation during the track.
Zelig Sound
Original and expressive. We want to inspire, create and heighten experiences.
We want to bring emotion and magic. We chose to do this with original music and sound design.
Come and join us. Zelig Sound.
Our team's diverse musical background and skill gives us an exceptional understanding of all genres,
briefs and techniques. We understand and hold the creative freedom needed to take on any project.
We work with some of the most sophisticated sound design equipment and offer some of the best composition,
musical and sound design talent available. We pride ourselves on producing unique sound and music
that inspires and drives the emotion of any project.
Matt(H)Booth is a multidisciplinary designer who splits his time between commercial work for the likes of the BBC,
Red Bull, McLaren, Computer Arts magazine, and his experimental, graphic-led, self initiated projects.
Percy Dean x Alan & Brenda
'Alan and Brenda: Diptych: Percy Dean 2013'
Alan and Brenda are both 86 years old, they have lived within 50 yards of
each other for close to half a century.
In 1999 Brenda's husband Frank passed away and Alan's wife Kathleen died in early 2013.
They now care for each other over the small divide between their homes.
Through 'place' and circumstance they became companions making their scars of loss easier to bear.
Percy Dean
Percy Dean is a UK based photographer/cinematographer.
He developed his early photographic practice within the world of street skateboarding and began working
for national/international publications. In 1997 he founded Document Magazine where he held the position
of editor/senior photographer for over a decade.
His work now revolves around subtle observations on people and ‘place’ and he holds tight to the influence
of his time within the subculture of skateboarding, implementing this natural style for international clients
and commissions.
Liam Hopkins (Lazerian) x Daren Newman
'Unknown Time'
Daren Newman
Daren Newman is an illustrator, letterer and designer born, raised and based in Manchester UK,
who also works under the moniker of Me&MyPen. Daren works on non-commercial and commercial projects
and over the years has been fortunate to work with various high profile clients. His work has been featured
in various magazines and illustration/typography titles, as well as exhibiting his works internationally.
Daren generally generates his works by hand, using pen, inks & paints.
Liam Hopkins (Lazerian)
Liam Hopkins was born in Manchester, England. At an early age, curiosity led him to experiment with everyday objects,
and by taking them apart and re-building them he began to learn about the nature of their construction and material use.
Lazerian is a creative practice that began in 2006, set up by Liam Hopkins, a Manchester born designer-maker.
Based in an ex- hat factory in Manchester, the practice is focused on the creation of functional objects through
playful investigation of materials and processes, and seeks to imbue objects with a bit of soul.
The practice works on a variety of projects, including furniture, interiors, and objects.
