1st Meeting at 'Bench'

Yesterday the whole design festival group met at the Bench studio/ gallery space in the Northern Quarter for an afternoon of discussion, sharing of ideas and think-tanking. It was a brilliant chance to see how everyone was approaching the brief in their different ways and to shine a light on any reoccurring themes that we could work on further. 

The 3 main themes we all agreed on were:

MADE 

Process rather than Product.

Stories and meaning behind design. 

Handmade design and the benefits of this.

Slow process making.

Sustainability and Upcycling.

Engagement and interaction within making.

MOBILE

The movement of Events around the city.

Accessibility/Ability to reach communities on the fringes of the city.

Modular/Portable spaces/architecture to house events/exhibitions/workshops.

Pop-up spaces/markets to promote experience rather than selling.

Sustainability/ Reuse of moveable modular spaces. 

WASTE TIME

Using 'waste' as a design material.

'Wasting time' through making/doing with no purpose (focus on experience).

Questioning the idea of wasting time. Who decides what is a waste of time?

Link to slowness of making- Does this make the end product more beautiful/ valuable?

Creating a story.      

The 3 areas that we agreed to work on within these themes are:

PROMOTION/BRANDING

Focus on communication with the audience.

Audience participation and involvement within the festival.

A growing and evolving brand that is shaped by engagement/events/reactions.

Documentation through various medias.

Making and designing to promote creativeness/experience not necessarily a 'brand'/product.

Reaching a wider audience.

Create excitement and connections within the community.

MAKING

  Using Handmade techniques to engage the community in process and materials.

Shared experinces and bringing the community together.

Learning through workshops and short courses.

The sharing of ideas and knowledge through making/discussion.

The use of materials that will connect/merge with the surroundings to add to Manchester's scenery/history. 

Leaving a making and designing mark on the city.

SPACES

Venues- Disused? abandoned? badly designed? well designed? historical buildings?

Regeneration? Doesn't necessarily mean economic. Link to age? To make something new again. Growth.

Urban landscape?

Industrial heritage?

Green space?

Lost spaces? eg. River Medlock/ Old Warehouses etc. Draw attention to these spaces.

Community regeneration.

'Manchester Zen?'-  The empty space in Manchester can be richer than filled space? Empty space can be a get away from the hustle and bustle of the city.

Suprise and the unknown within space.

Reacting to space through art/design.

We have decided to work as one big collective to pitch ideas for a festival as we feel we will gain more ideas and the variety of skills will make our ideas/ work more interesting. However as everyone is interested in different aspects of the festival, we will all pick one of the three areas to work towards then come together every week to share ideas and work to start to form an overall view/feel of the festival we are creating. We feel this will provide a much more organic process to the design of the festival. 

I have decided to work in the area of promotion and branding through making as I am interested in the ways in which making can provoke interest and creativeness in people who are not in contact with it everyday. I am also hoping to explore ways in which unfamiliar forms of 'promotion' can attract more people to the festival. I'm looking forward to discussing these ideas with like minded individuals within the group and making unconventional and creative promotional material using our varying skills.