Notting Hill Carnival

For most Londoners, August bank holiday means one thing - Notting Hill Carnival. People come from all over the world to experience this 2 day street festival so it always shocks me when someone who actually lives in, or around London, admits they haven't been there.

Europe's largest street festival with over one million people coming to experience the sounds and tastes of the Caribbean, it's the kind of event that you just can't imagine unless you've been there. Trucks with hundreds of speakers drive along the roads, followed by processions of brightly costumed dancers of all ages. Having never been to the actual Caribbean, this carnival makes you almost feel like you're there.

The one thing that stands out for me the most are the costumes. Some of them are so intricately designed that they must have taken months to create, whilst some are so large that they get caught up in the trees as they walk along the road. Colours that normally would clash work together in this setting and watching the procession is definitely the highlight of the carnival in my opinion.

Spinalonga

Sorry for the lame attempt at the 'I went on holiday and saw this...' post, but in all honesty although I did go to Crete during the summer it wasn't on this trip that I visited Spinalonga.

Spinalonga is the old leper colony of Crete,  a small island on the Eastern coast of the country. I went to visit it when I was about 10, and only recently remembered whilst having a chat with our holiday rep about places to visit in Crete.

Since 1962 the island has no longer been in action, however you can get a boat over for a tour of the island to see the old derelict buildings, fortress and graveyards. It's an incredibly moving experience, and really makes you think about the way that medicine and sociable acceptance has progressed over the past few centuries. The island was a vast improvement to the leper colony as before they had been banished to the area's caves to keep them away from civilization. On this island however, they received food and medical care.

A far cry from the crazy Malia nightlife on the other side of the island!

I Wish I Worked There!

I always feel a bit guilty for liking picture books but this one is pretty fun. 'I Wish I Worked There!' by Kursty Groves shows the world's most inspiring and creative places to work by looking into the offices of 20 global brands including Google, Dyson and Dreamworks. The underlying message behind the book is the idea that having an innovative work place can lead to innovative ideas, and some of the world's most successful brands. 

In the Lego offices in Denmark they facilitate team building through table football on giant lego shapes, with the aim of encouraging employees to relax and socialise with one another. I wish I worked there...

Peter Saville's New England Shirt Design

Peter Saville has designed a new England shirt that will be worn on the teams home match against Bulgaria on September 3rd. The shirt will be available to the public for £49.99. The makers, Umbro, state that the design is inspired by the more formal classic shirts of England's footballing past.

Not being a great fan of football I have noticed little difference in the new design. Saville has had very little input by only adding a number of different coloured crosses on the shoulders of the shirt, which is meant to be 'evocative of stitches synonymous with bespoke tailoring'. They also aim to represent the diverse nature of modern English society.

Coming from a design aspect I have no clue how this is meant to represent our society in anyway. Possibly the colours to replicate the different ethnic groups? I do however know that England fans will not be impressed with having to pay such a large amount of money for a shirt that has very little difference to it's predecessors.

Os Gemeos and Futura

Next time you're walking around the Chelsea neighbourhood in New York (as you do), look out for this 80ft high mural on the wall of a school.

Artistic duo, Os Gemeos, and graffiti artist Futura, completed the design in 8 days, and were supported by Nike and a number of New York design agencies, including AKANYC. The overall theme for the design is unity, with flags from all over the world being painted in non-standard colours, with no borders or separation.

As random as the design looks against an otherwise dark backdrop in New York, I like the way that a usually taboo form of art, in that of graffiti, has been used to create something that sends across a message to so many people. With the sponsorship of Nike, I can imagine that lots of people would travel to visit this piece of art.

Design Museum : Urban Africa

I'm very lucky to live close to London so it's easy for me to pop over to the Design Museum near London Bridge to have a ganders at their current exhibitions. I love the way that one week it can be focused on fashion, and the next the attention can be turned to photography. It's ever changing.

Following on from my last post concerning the photography project of George Logan, where he put African wildlife into unexpected settings, 'Urban Africa', a photographic exhibition by David Adjaye currently being shown at the Design Museum until 5th September, follows on a similar African theme.

Architect David Adjaye has taken photographs of African cities as part of an ongoing project to study new patterns of urbanism. The idea behind the images is to show Africa in a different limelight. Although usually considered to be a very underdeveloped country, Adjaye has used his architect's eye to create images that argue with this preconception.

Similar to my last post this exhibition stood out to me as I liked the way it portrays the unexpected. We make assumptions about where things should be placed, or how they should look, and when someone changes these it makes an interesting piece of work.

Give Peas a Chance

Every time I drive northbound up the M25 (usually on the way to Leeds) I see this piece of graffiti across a bridge between J16 and J17. It was done by a graffiti artist who posts this phrase all over London. Encouraging healthy eating maybe?

It began to make me think about roadside advertising and the potential for advertising on certain parts of the  motorway. You regularly get random old vans in the middle of fields promoting a gadget website or 'use this space', however maybe larger brands could look into using this as a potential advertising space. 

I think the only reason people would be skeptical about it would be that it would distract drivers who were driving at a high speed, and could cause accidents. However, this could be a possible design issue that could be overcome in some way. If you imagine how many people travel on the motorway everyday, it seems like too good a chance to miss!