The Barbican

In the relatively short time that I've been in London, I've done what I can to explore and learn about this massive city. Though I've only scratched the surface, I'm certain I've found a place that will remain one of the city's highlights for me, no matter how long or short a time I live here. The Barbican in the City of London (London's financial and commercial centre, within ancient boundaries, is a city within a city) is an area with a long and complex history and is now the site of a brutalist complex of residential buildings, amenities and The Barbican Centre, a massive and wonderful arts venue. As a recent convert to brutalism and a long-standing fan of the arts, this place is heaven for me...

Irish Design Retailers

This article was first published in Architecture Ireland #272

One of the first columns I wrote for Architecture Ireland, two years ago, took a look at some of the new stores being opened up around Dublin by passionate (and intrepid) design enthusiasts. It was called Dublin Design Retailers and has become by far the most popular post on this blog. Since then they've been joined by other design shops and online ventures and I thought it was high time to take another look at those selling design in Ireland, selling Irish design online and everything in between.

Reimagining Traditions at LDF

This article was first published in Architecture Ireland #271.

From 14 to 22 September the 11th edition of London Design Festival proclaimed that 'Design is Everywhere' and it certainly seemed that for those 9 days it was. While in a showcase the size of LDF there is a myriad of projects, products and trends to be seen (here's a post about one of the highlights), one thing that struck me about a number of the exhibitions and products I saw was a reimagining of tradition, in terms of process, material or aesthetic. A number of designers and curators presented work which stemmed from, revisited or played with the notion of the traditional, whether it was taking traditional forms or aesthetics and playing with them or engaging with traditional materials and processes. At a time when technology and its advances seem to be at the centre of so much of what we do, many of us keep coming back to our past.

Meeting and Making

Is there something in the water?! It turns out it's not just the team behind Make Works in Scotland (who you can read about here and here, if you haven't already) who have been thinking about better connecting designers and making or manufacturing facilities. There are a number of projects in Ireland with similar aims and here's a little run-down of a few of them:

New Stuff

Lots of new products have appeared in the past two months: with LDF happening here in September, the Irish Furniture and Interiors Fair going on in Dublin recently and more, I guess now's a good time of year to get new work out there. So here's a little round up of some new stuff from Ireland, Scotland and here in England that has caught my eye. First up is Birmingham-based studio Plant & Moss with their range of Polka lights, launched at 100% Design back in September. Polka takes a simple shade in a range of bright colours (or a brushed brass finish) and applies it to two table lamps and a pendant. The tall table lamp is particularly cool, pairing the sleek shade with a wooden base and wing nut to adjust the direction of the light, combining a bright, bold focal point with a rough and ready design solution.

Noodge

Launched at OFFSET2012, TypeGroup is a type foundry from Dublin-based graphic design studio Conor & David. First introducing Orga, followed soon after by Kettle, TypeGroup released their third typeface back in August, named Noodge. Inspired by the work of Wim Crouwel and 8vo and constructed using a modular system, Noodge comes in three styles - 20, 80 and 320 - which are differentiated by how many units are used to create them. Noodge is designed by Steve O'Connell and Simon Sweeney and the pair have created a type family reminiscent of early digital typography but with a fresh feel.

100% Norway

A real highlight at the recent 10th edition of London Design Festival was 100% Norway, also celebrating its 10th birthday. An annual exhibition presenting the best and most interesting of Norway's product design, mixing established and emerging designers working across a variety of scales, materials and objectives, I'm really glad to have made it to this year's show (thanks to the guys from Designgoat for pointing me in the right direction: I would have totally missed it otherwise). Commemorating 10 years of exhibiting in London by bringing together 10 established designers and 10 emerging ones, 100% Norway presented a range of confident, attractive work. Some pieces totally fucntional, others more playful or expressive, all of it was designed and made to high standards and proved that while Norway hasn't been cultivating its design industry for as long as its other Scandinavian neighbours, they haven't let that hold them back now.

Here's the Heads Up #17

Welcome to the first London/Dublin edition of Here's the Heads Up, with some info on current and upcoming design exhibitions and events that a) I've been to, b) I plan to go to or c) I wish I could go to but am sorry to say I'll miss. Enjoy!

Make Works Tour

Having just moved into a new place in South West London, my tour of Europe continues! But I'm not the only one touring right now: today is day 78 of the Make Works Tour in Scotland. I wrote about Make Works back in April, a project aiming to better connect designers and manufacturers in Scotland through an online resource filled with information, interviews and videos. Back then, the Make Works team were planning their 3 month road trip upon which they would visit manufacturing facilities and workshops of all shapes and sizes all over the country to get a better sense of what and how you can make in Scotland. Having set off from Glasgow on 1 July in Rhubarb, the Make Works VW van, they're approaching the finish line and last weekend I checked in with Fi Scott, founder of the project, to see how they're getting on...

Whisky Galore!

On Wednesday night I FINALLY got around to watching Whisky Galore! An Ealing Studios comedy made in 1949, Whisky Galore! is set in the Outer Hebrides northwest of Scotland and tells the story of an island that's run out of whisky and its inhabitants' attempt to steal the spirited contents of a merchant ship that's run aground. It's a pretty charming film (particularly when accompanied by a dram or two) and well worth a watch :) Its most recent re-release was paired with a beautiful DVD cover and poster by London-based Sam Ashby Studio. Clean, bold and crisp in a great colour palette, Ashby's work does the movie real justice, portraying the mammoth task of stealing - and hiding - the whisky and the massive payoff the inhabitants will have if they pull it off. Click through for stills from the movie, including a great shot of the doctor enjoying a dram with his patient. The doctor provides the best lines in the movie, including this gem about a lightweight islander: "It's a well known medical fact that some men were born two drams below par". Now there's some medical advice...

Gillian Kyle's Tunnock's Treats

There are many great things about Scotland (the buildings of Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Edinburgh festivals, everything the city of Glasgow has to offer...), but top of the list is easily treats by Tunnock's. A family-run company based in Uddingston just outside Glasgow, Tunnock's have been making delicious Caramel Wafers, Snowballs and more since 1890 (read about their past and present in this fab piece over on the Telegraph website). Their pièce de résistance is the Teacake, a chocolate-covered mallow biscuit that I can't believe I'd been living without for so long. How did I ever survive?! Celebrating these and other iconic Scottish food, drinks and historical figures is Gillian Kyle, a Glasgow-based textile designer. She's made a host of work from her Local Heroes (and Villains) range of homewares celebrating people such as Charles Rennie Mackintosh (and his super-tache) and Bonnie Prince Charlie to a recent collaboration creating products for Glenfiddich whisky. But the crowing glory in her body of work has to be her Tunnocks-inspired textiles, mugs and cards. The latest addition to the range is the Caramel Wafer cushion, pictured above.

Tile-Inspired Tables by Susan Harper Furniture

At the recent Craft Scotland Summer Show (at which I swooned over Fiona Daly's British Sheep Breeds collection) there was another range of work that caught my eye and I think regular readers will understand why... Susan Harper has produced a number of tables inspired by Victorian tile patterns. YUM! The tables are simple, really beautiful and totally up my tile-obsessed street, referencing a fab form of decorative arts in slick, muted colours. Click through for more images, check out Susan's website for a look at more of her great work and keep an eye out for future Craft Scotland events here.

Atheists Have Soles

About a year and a half ago a group of religiously uninclined designers and shoe-makers based in Berlin (one of whom is Irish-born David Bonney) exceeded an impressive Kickstarter target and raised over $59,000 to create a range of shoes under the name Atheist. First thinking it would be funny to make shoes for Christians with water in the soles (so they could walk on water...) they then thought it would be more appropriate to create products more in line with their beliefs: believing in nothing. First came a range of low-top smart sneakers in soft leathers and a great range of colours and now they have launched Das Boot: a hi-top sneaker available in petrol blue, mustard yellow and bitter chocolate brown. If the delicious design of these shoes aren't enough to tempt you, maybe you'll be impressed by 10% of Atheist sales going to secular charities (because you don't need a god to be good). See more images below, check out the fab range on their website and keep an eye out for pop-up shops for you to see these tasty specimens for yourself :)

British Sheep Breeds

At the beginning of the month I headed along to the opening of the Craft Scotland Summer Show, showcasing the work of more than 30 Scottish-based designers and makers. One of the highlights of the show is a collection of work by Irish-born, Edinburgh-based textile designer Fiona Daly. Fiona and I studied together in Dublin but her work would have stood out from the rest of the show even if we hadn't :) Fiona's recent work is a collection called British Sheep Breeds which combines woven wool and screenprinted cotton to create beautiful functional items which also inform you about wool and its origins. Her collection of cushions are double-sided: one side is a particular wool woven in a simple pattern and the other side is organic cotton with the sheep the wool came from screenprinted on it (see Mr. Welsh Mountain as an example below). Accompanying the cushions is a range of sheep-themed (but not at all sheepish) screenprinted tote bags with the relevant wool woven to create a tag peeking out of the side (pictured at the bottom).

Legless in Dublin

For a couple of years now Dublin-based Louise Bruton has been writing about music, pop culture and accessibility on her own blog, for the Irish Times and for a host of other publications. She started using a wheelchair two years ago and before that used crutches full-time, giving her more experience than most of how easy (or difficult) it is to get around Dublin when mobility is impaired. To this end, she's begun Legless in Dublin, a blog reviewing the various cafes, pubs, venues and shops she finds herself in, detailing things such as how easy it is to get through doors, whether everything you need is on the ground floor or not (and whether there's a lift to take you upstairs and down), what surfaces she encounters (wet marble will impair even the most mobile of us, after all), access to proper sized bathrooms, helpfulness of staff and more. All this with a healthy dose of humour means Legless in Dublin is a really enjoyable as well as a really useful read.

Welcome to Drogheda

So the biggest thing to happen to my hometown since yer one was cast in the Harry Potter films is going on this weekend and I'M NOT THERE TO ENJOY IT!! Artist Fergal McCarthy takes up residence (literally: in a tent) in the Highlanes Gallery for Welcome to Drogheda, a weekend of talks, walks, table tennis and more to explore and celebrate Ireland's biggest town, kicking off today and finishing up on 18 August.

Edinburgh International Book Fest

Edinburgh's Festival season continues to pick up pace, with Edinburgh International Festival opening yesterday and Edinburgh International Book Festival kicking off today. I've already been to a number of Fringe and Art Festival events (keep an eye on my Twitter feed for 140 character reviews) and am looking forward to having two more festivals - each with a different focus - added to the mix. Edinburgh International Book Festival is the largest celebration of the written word in the world, with over 750 writers and thinkers from all over the world coming to Edinburgh to share their work through talks, readings, workshops and more. While talks and readings occur in a host of venues, the Book Fest's hub is in Charlotte Square Gardens. Free to attend and open to everyone, the Festival's hub features two bookshops (one for grown-ups and one for children), a cafe, workshops, readings and more. It goes without saying that if you're in Edinburgh at the moment you should take the opportunity to spend a few hours there and soak up whatever's going on, but there are some other highlights from the festival below worth checking out too:

Make Your Mark: Public Vote

Recently the O2 Academy invited artists and designers from all over the UK and Ireland to submit work to be considered for permanent installation in the Glasgow music venue (there's info on the competition here). While the artworks for display will be chosen by a panel of judges including Franz Ferdinand's Alex Kapranos, the winner of a public vote will also win a prize! As I Like Local has been chosen as a media partner for the competition you can vote here: just click through to see the many submissions and pick your favourite before 14 August!

Artime Clocks by Life With Art

Portuguese designer Pedro Gomes (who featured on the blog recently) has just launched a new collaborative project with an ethical bent. Life With Art aims to create art and design products that positively impact on the environment through sustainable materials used to maximum effect with a minimum of waster, 100% Portuguese suppliers and a partnership with Portuguese NGO Plantar uma Árvore. Life With Art's first range of products are the Artime Clocks and each time you buy one a tree gets planted by Plantar uma Árvore.

Best of Year #4

Another year older... I Like Local is now four! Year four has seen me move from Lisbon in Portugal to Edinburgh in Scotland via a brief stop off at home in Ireland. There's been more design and architecture spotting, culture vulturing and event listings and reviews. Thanks to all of you for being such great readers (both old and new), hi to all the mailing list subscribers and a general hooray for design and architecture! Here are some of the most popular posts to look back on from the past twelve months, while I look forward to continuing to share my finds and shout enthusiastically about the good stuff around me. Year five brings with it a fifth location (London, if you don't be minding) so there'll be no excuse not to keep this blog full to the brim! But for now, click through for some highlights from Lisbon, Dublin and Edinburgh. Enjoy!

Mid Century Modern Dot-to-Dot

At the recent DesignMarket in the Fruitmarket Gallery there was heaps of great stuff to look at made by a host of Scottish-based designers, makers and retailers. While there I picked up Mid Century Modern Dot-to-Dot, a zine made by Edinburgh- and Reykjavík-based team The Lindström Effect. As the title suggests, this is a zine celebrating iconic 20th century designs through the medium of join-the-dots puzzles, featuring pieces by Louis Poulsen, Verner Panton, Charles and Ray Eames and a portrait of Le Corbusier himself. It's a fab little publication, click through for more images and you'll find copies to buy on The Lindström Effect's online shop.

EAF Programme Picks

You may have already read my recent effusions about Edinburgh Art Festival's identity, now it's time to take a little look at the Festival's programme. Kicking off on 1 August with the main events and exhibitions in place until 1 September (some exhibitions lasting longer), Edinburgh Art Festival presents over 40 exhibitions across the city, 10 commissions and a whole range of talks, events and screenings too. There's heaps to see and do (if you didn't already have your hands full with all the other festivals on in August) so I recommend you give the website a look. The strand of EAF's programme I'm most interested in is the Festival's commissions, grouped under the theme 'Parley'. Through Parley EAF has invited 10 artists to create works that in some way respond to the city or open up dialogue within Edinburgh's context. Most of the I Like Local picks come from this strand so without further ado...

Horror Vacui at Trienal de Lisboa

With less than two months to go until the third edition of the Lisbon Architecture Triennale kicks off, more and more projects are being finalised, announced and, in some cases, kickstarted. Close, Closer will see exhibitions, events, interventions and more unfold all across Lisbon from 12 September to 15 December and three architects hoping to join in are Jaffer Kolb, Ang Li and Phoebe Springstubb with their tile-based project Horror Vacui.

Make Your Mark

Glasgow's iconic music venue the O2 Academy on Sauchiehall Street is looking for some new permanent artworks and has invited artists and designers from the UK and Ireland to submit ideas. Four panels will be displayed in the venue's main auditorium and the winners will be selected by a judging panel including Alex Kapranos from my favourite Glasgow band Franz Ferdinand. Along with having your work displayed in the venue, there are gig tickets £1000 up for grabs for each winner. There will also be a public choice award with gig tickets and £500 for the artwork that receives the most public votes. Deadline for submissions is 30 July, for more information and templates visit Talenthouse.

Update on 1 August: The deadline for this competition has been extended! You can now submit your ideas until 6 August and the public vote will run from 7 to 14 August!

Recycled Bags by Alkemi

Recently Dublin got itself a new shop specialising in a variety of products, gifts and jewellery designed and/or made in Ireland in the form of Mayfly in Temple Bar. While browsing through the vast amount of stuff they're selling online as well as in store I came across Irish-based designers Alkemi. Alkemi take materials that may otherwise end up in a landfill such as rubber tyres, seatbelts, newsprint, plastics and more and recycle them to make a range of bags and other accessories. The results are great: ranging from items that look quite industrial such as the tyre-turned-shoulder bag pictured above and the rubber iPad sleeve below to chic accessories like the handbag made from recycled plastics at the bottom, Alkemi's products take upcycling away from its sometimes naff origins (stonewashed patchwork denim bag, anyone?!) to make ethical, stylish and affordable products. See more over on their website and get buying over on Mayfly.

Suri Collection by Pedro Gomes

Portuguese designer Pedro Gomes has just launched the Suri Collection - a set of six chairs, each with a subtle difference. By utilising a combination of woods, fabric colours and treatments, supports and legs, Gomes gives each chair in the Suri Collection a different look, feel and character. The chair's two upper components - a round back and a seat which curves up elegantly on either side to create arms - are created using various wood laminates and are upholstered differently for each chair in the collection. These components sit on top of a variety of different legs, my favourites being the wooden ones pictured further below. Gomes has plans to further develop the collection for use in the work environment, and I'll be curious to see what adaptations are made to the chairs for the workplace. Have a scroll through the images to see which one's your favourite, and find out more at suri-collection.com.

Design for Children

This article was first published in Architecture Ireland #269

To date, this column has always focussed on design for adults, be it the visual communications us adults consume, the furniture we sit on, the lights we read under or the events we attend. But it's not just the older and taller members of society that use design, and with the recent Children's Books Ireland (CBI) conference in Light House Cinema, it seemed apt to take a closer look at design for children. In fact, when we consider the importance we place on instilling a love of reading, or sport, or music, or nature at a young age, should we not be doing the same with well-considered, attractive design too?

IDEATE Festival, Kilkenny

50 years ago saw the opening of the Kilkenny Design Workshops, the first government-sponsored design workshop of its kind in the world. At the height of its activity, KDW brought together Irish and international designers to create work, generating high quality graphics, textiles and products. In fact, Danish designer Holger Strøm designed his iconic IQ lamp while based at KDW in 1973. Though it may not have stimulated a design culture quite as it intended (there are/were a lot of other factors at play in Ireland's slow design development, just one being Ireland's limited industrial-scale manufacturing capabilities), KDW cemented Kilkenny as a creative hub in Ireland, leading to the opening of Ireland's National Craft Gallery on the KDW site and inspiring the Crafts Council of Ireland to base their operations in the city.

Summer Wish List

London-based website Blog and Buy Sale aims to shine a light on independent designers and makers creating great products and selling them online. They do this in a number of ways, including interviews and daily blog posts and have just launched this year's Summer Wish List, showcasing a host of products they think you should know about. I'm chuffed that they've selected TILEWATCH to be included this time round, along with I Like Local favourite Fun Makes Good with a range of placemats and coasters. Other highlights for me are some of the more triangle-oriented products on show: a tote bag designed by Kirsty Thomas for tote touters Totes Amazed (pictured above) and the Spear Luin brooch by London-based architectural students Triptych Designs (below). There's plenty to browse through in BBS' Summer Wish List, all linking to each designer's online shop. Happy hunting!

Edinburgh Art Festival Identity

With Edinburgh International Film Festival opening this week and brochures for August's 7 million festivals (approximately) beginning to circulate, festival fever is starting to build here in Edinburgh. With a programme that includes a host of flags saying 'Hello' across the city's skyline, a number of site-specific installations and an Edinburgh Complaints Choir (I have a few...), Edinburgh Art Festival is one festival I'm definitely looking forward to. It's also the festival with the best identity thanks to London-based Fraser Muggeridge studio, giving the city's most visually-oriented August event a bright, bold and clean feel.

Edinburgh Contemporary Crafts

On the recommendation of my friend Fiona I attended a day of workshops at Edinburgh Contemporary Crafts two weeks ago. Recently moved into a new building on Blair Street in the Old Town, Edinburgh Contemporary Crafts is an organisation providing space and facilities for artists and designers in Edinburgh while also running a series of workshops and courses in various printing techniques, bookbinding, ceramics and more. This particular day ECC was offering a menu of six different workshops over the course of a sunny Saturday and for a pretty reasonable price you could come along for the day, take part in four of those workshops, have all your materials provided and be filled with tea, coffee and food at regular intervals. About 30 of us participated for the day and it was a great opportunity to try new techniques, revisit old ones and make some cool stuff to take home.

MAKLab

MAKLab, based in The Lighthouse in Glasgow, is Scotland's first public digital fabrication studio, allowing low-cost access to otherwise quite costly equipment (along with the training and support to make the most of it) to designers, makers and inventors. Set up with a view to helping people turn ideas into objects and hopefully profit, MAKLab couldn't come at a better time. Since its founding in 2010 the UK has seen continued and significant levels of youth unemployment, but facilities such as MAKLab can help and encourage young people to make new products and develop new businesses. To this end, MAKLab was a finalist for Google's UK Global Impact Award and received £100,000 in prizemoney, which will go towards further developing MAKLab in Glasgow as well as possibly opening MAKLab facilities in other UK cities. Scroll through for more images of their facilities and visit their website to book equipment, events and more.

Scottish Brutalism

Wolfson Centre for Bioengineering, University of Strathclyde, designed by Morris & Steedman, 1971

I hadn't considered myself much of a fan of Brutalist architecture before moving to Edinburgh. Here, where the New Town is a model of Georgian order and the Old Town is a finely conserved organic growth of medieval winding streets and lanes, the occasional Brutalist building of the 50s, 60s or 70s may be pretty bold and definitely potent but breathes fresh air into a city otherwise rooted significantly in pre-20th century history. Though I appreciate the value of this architectural heritage and am glad Edinburgh preserves it so well, it can get a little monotonous, not least because so much of it is built using sandstone, which is the bedrock here. And apart from a few exceptions, little of what's been built in the city since has much personality of its own, preferring to blend into the city's sandstone background than make its presence felt. Against this sandy-coloured backdrop the harsh glass and concrete of a Brutalist building stands out far more than in other settings, and I can't help but like it all the more for its unashamed brashness.

Here's the Heads Up #16

Designgoat at the opening of Making Things Better as part of Design Intelligence at the National Craft Gallery. Photo by Pat Moore, courtesty of the NCG

IRELAND

Tuesday 18 June: NEWNOWNEXT, Tatiana Bilbao
Samuel Beckett Theatre, TCD, Dublin 2
The latest series of talks presented by the Irish Architecture Foundation (and supported by Arup) is entitled NEWNOWNEXT, bringing exciting young architects from all over the world to Dublin - some for the first time - to speak about their work. The series kicked off with Jeanne Gang and booked out in no time: keep an eye on the IAF's site for free tickets to hear architect and urban advocate Tatiana Bilbao of Mexico speak about her diverse portfolio of work.

Tuesday 18 June: Urban Knights
Science Gallery, Pearse Street, Dublin 2
If you'd prefer something else on the 18 June, Science Gallery's Urban Knights series of talks from people in Ireland and abroad making changes in cities continues with presentations from John Lynch of the Copenhagen Institute for Interaction Design, founder of Rothar Anne Bodes and others.

Degree Show Dates for your Diary

Image via University of Ulster

This is a busy time of year as final year art, design and architecture students mount their work and art and architecture schools open their doors for their annual degree shows. Here's a list of dates and locations of final year shows both in Ireland and Scotland for those of you keen to see work from the newest entrants to the creative industries. It's as exhaustive a list as I can come up with, but if your show isn't here, drop me a line and I'll add it. Unfortunately I've put this list together too late for a couple of shows (apologies to those of you looking to see shows in Ballyfermot, Athlone and Duncan of Jordanstone in Dundee...) but most of the schools in Ireland and Scotland are covered. Thanks to James Benedict Brown for providing some of the architecture dates (you'll find his pretty comprehensive list of architecture shows in the UK and Ireland here), while Creative Review's rundown of art and design shows in the UK may also help you plan your degree show trips. Enjoy!

A Chunk of This City's Soul

Launched last week, Ireland's newest stamp celebrates Dublin as a UNESCO City of Literature. It features a short story written by Dublin teenager Eoin Moore as part of the Fighting Words creative writing programme. The stamp was unveiled at the Fighting Words Centre in the north city centre, a place founded by Sean Love and Roddy Doyle and beautifully designed by Grafton Architects to house creative writing classes and workshops for children and teenagers. See Eoin pictured below with our literature-loving president, Michael D. Higgins at the unveiling in the centre. Eoin's story evokes Dublin's energy and pulse, and eloquently describes the particular way the city has of brimming with history while spilling over with life: simultaneously being old and new, looking to the past while being full of youth. As someone living away and missing Dublin more than just a little, this story really touched me and the part I love best is:

Every High King and scholar, every playwright and poet, every politician and every rebel, every merchant, student, and busker who ever set foot in the city holds or held onto a chunk of this city’s soul; every one of them stepped to the city’s heartbeat. I listen to the streets at night and I can feel the city’s lifeblood pumping through me; I can feel myself flowing through it.

Lamps by Vicara

Portuguese company Vicara produce a small range of lamps and tabletop objects in a variety of materials such as cork, ceramics and even cardboard by a number of different designers. Their latest lamp Nata comes from Gonçalo Campos, whose work has been featured here before. Nata cleverly repurposes ceramic tableware moulds to make a cup-shaped lamp that sits on its handles. Another of their highlights (no pun intended) is Cartonado, a flatpacked cardboard lamp designed by Fábio Afonso - scroll down for images of both and a short video of Cartonado.

Bags by Laura Spring

Glasgow-based textile designer Laura Spring creates bold, fun accessories using bright geometric prints. I first fell for her work when I came across her Weather Collection. Launched in 2011, The Weather Collection takes its inspiration from everyone's favourite talking point, placing patterns of windmills, umbrellas and the sun on a range of suitcases, rucksacks and totes (pictured at the bottom). More recently she's created a great range of duffel bags using a simple linear screenprinted pattern (above and below), and she launches them in a wider range of colours and sizes at Pulse 2013 this weekend in London. Check out the short video at the bottom giving a glimpse into her process.

You're All Just Jealous of my Jetpack

Last week I headed along to Analogue Books for a talk and signing by cartoonist and illustrator Tom Gauld. Scottish-born Gauld has just published a collection of cartoons drawn for the Guardian newspaper called You're All Just Jealous of my Jetpack, and a group of about 20 people squeezed into Analogue on Thursday evening to hear a bit about Gauld's work over a beer. The cartoons featured in the collection are all drawn to sit on the letters page in the Guardian, so always take their inspiration from the comments and complaints of Guardian readers. Though their starting points come from readers' rants, they sit really well out of context and are really funny all in their own right. See below for the cartoon that the collection's title comes from, and read more cartoons over on Gauld's tumblr page. The book is available in store in Analogue and from other retailers listed on Gauld's site.

Life Story

Last Saturday was Record Store Day, and after visiting my nearest record store in Stockbridge I went for a wander in the Edinburgh neighbourhood known for its charity and vintage shops, boutiques and cafes. My second favourite find of the afternoon was a Phaidon book on modern architecture in the Shelter bookshop on Raeburn place - it's a massive and beautiful book and only cost me £8! But as great as that sounds, I stumbled upon something even better: Life Story on London Street. A design shop run by textile designer Fi Storey and designed by Adam Storey, Life Story is a bright and airy space containing a great range of clothes, accessories, stationery and homewares all clearly selected with a careful eye.

Make Works

Though I was aware of the existence of Make Works for a little while, it wasn't until I read an interview over on Sync with founder Fi Scott that I realised just how cool a project it is. Aiming to help designers and artists make work, Make Works will be a directory of manufacturers all over Scotland, connecting creative people with materials, processes and prototyping opportunities so they can produce their ideas right here in Scotland. The Make Works team (Scott, fellow designer Vana Coleman and friends from the Edinburgh Film Company) are currently planning a summer-long road trip. Taking a VW van equipped with all the writing and recording tools they need - plus surfboards - they will travel all over Scotland visiting manufacturing facilities of all types and sizes, gathering information on each. Through interviews, blog posts and videos Make Works will ultimately gather an online directory of places and ways to make in Scotland, giving manufacturers an online presence and giving creative types the gift of clear, useful and usable information about how and where to make their work.

Deskstructure by Héctor Serrano

Italy's Seletti has long been producing ceramics with character, and one of its more recent ranges comes courtesy of Spanish-born London-based designer Héctor Serrano. Deskstructure is a set of ceramic containers for your pencils, pens, paperclips and all those other items that need storing and sorting on your desk. It comes in three varieties - a ship, a city and a warehouse - each glazed in white with a brightly coloured stripe around the bottom. The Deskstructure set can be configured in a number of different ways, giving you the chance to build your stationery city whichever way you want!