Know Design

image: Craft vs. Technology by Darren John

It would be impossible/hugely time consuming to put into words all that I saw and heard at the BIAD show.

Instead, here are some key words and phrases to give a flavour:
helium balloons, fairy cakes, Apples, picture frames, paint, gossip, projections, networking, spillages, paper, jostling, double bass, keyboard/organ thing, people, people ... and yet more people.

Yes it was, perhaps unsurprisingly, a bit too rammed to get a proper look at all the work on display but the show’s on for a few days yet so there’s always time to go back for more - although I guess the cakes will have been gobbled up or gone stale by now ... www.onedge.co.uk

Tomorrow evening it’s the private view of this year’s crop of Visual Communication graduates from BIAD. As former students of that very establishment, we love to go along each year and have a nose at what the new lot – who are this year calling themselves Edge – have put together.

I did a smidge of digging and found their website (www.onedge.co.uk) which features quite a lot of the work by the looks of things; but of course it’s always better to go and see these things in the flesh so I’ve not dug too deeply. Last year the students put on an extremely accomplished show (with a string quartet and everything) so I’m expecting great things of tomorrow evening ... no pressure there then!

Having said that, we don’t just attend these high-falutin’ events – oh no, at the moment we’re busy working on the website for BIAD’s Fashion Retail Management graduate show which is happening next week. More on that as it happens!

Some bright florals to cheer up a soggy, grey June day:

(Shot a couple of weeks ago in Moseley Park.)

Last week was a busy one. Here’s a quick round up of the non-work highlights:

We went to see Jens Lekman at The Glee Club on Wednesday and, if you’ve not heard his music before, I’d heartily recommend having a listen - and definitely go to see him live if you get the chance. He’s a real showman and a great storyteller. His trip to see Nina in Berlin is classic ...

Foodwise, we were lucky enough to have lunch at Piccolino’s, a new Italian restaurant on Oozells Square (where Petit Blanc used to be), before its official opening last Friday. The food is great and the chairs there are massively comfy. Okay, that might be a slightly strange thing to point out, but they really are particularly pleasant ... oh, and their homemade ice cream’s delicious.

And finally, the BYPY awards were on Thursday night and we had a fantastic evening. It’s not often that graphic designers get the chance to attend a black tie shindig, so it was pretty exciting - though James wasn’t thrilled at seeing himself on the big screen, as you can see!

Sadly, he didn’t get a gong this time but between you and me, I reckon that being shortlisted as one of the top 18 young professionals in the city is a pretty huge achievement. Wragge & Co’s Anthony McCourt won the overall title so massive congratulations to him; a worthy winner and genuinely nice guy. Right, that’s more than enough back-patting for one post ...

So, that was your super-quick Supercool catch-up for last week!

So, Thursday night is the night ...

That’s when the winner of Birmingham Young Professional of the Year 2008 will be announced at a glittering ceremony at the ICC – and James is shortlisted in the Entrepreneurial category.

There’s more about all the nominees and judges on the Birmingham Young Professional of the Year website and also an article in The Birmingham Post, giving the lowdown on the evening itself and special guest compere Trevor Beattie.

I’m taking a camera to capture the glamour of the occasion so I’ll post some photos on Friday ... afternoon, probably!

A big thank you to everyone who came along (despite the manky weather!) to our little ‘Likemind’ coffee morning at Saint Caffe today. It was a really good turnout (about a dozen I think), with lots of interesting chats and the meeting of new people. Definitely a very pleasant start to the day.

So, I’m looking forward next month’s event which’ll be 20th June I think ... will confirm nearer the time.

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