+ -

30.9.13

A creative education offers no benefit...

Last week I found myself in another bizarre situation preaching about the benefits of a creative education... I mean can you imagine having to persuade people to believe a 'normal/academic' education is beneficial?

To cut a long story short I met a lady on the same short course. In a bid to fill awkward silences she told me that her daughter was really keen to study fashion but that she isn't supportive of this choice and has found herself researching more academic college sixth form open evenings on her daughters behalf. 

I asked why, to which she said that she sees studying fashion or any other 'design' course as having no benefit to her daughters future and would be much more comfortable if she was to study maths or english. 

Wow. What a statement.

Out of curiosity I asked the lady what she does for a living, it turns out she practises as a Chartered Accountant and has done for many years. In my opinion she will have probably experienced as much of an academic education as you can get, which is probably the answer as to why she is so adverse to anything other. Equally she strikes me as a highly intelligent and intellectual individual and it baffles me how she cannot see the bigger picture.

You cannot force someone down a route of algebra or periodic tables if they are just not programmed that way. It was hard for me to not get frustrated while ultimately justifying my whole education to this lady. 

Research over the years has proved that children and adults learn in different ways and stressed the importance that no way is a wrong way. Initially this lady was not aware of my creative background so was not trying to ruffle any feathers with her opinion, I suppose just expressing a personal concern for her daughter. For somebody with such a negative outlook on creative education, I couldn't understand why this lady was enrolled on a fashion short course! To me this is where academics struggle to see the millions of links between a creative education and beneficial skills that are transferrable into everyday life. 

I guess the point I am finding myself struggling to deal with is the challenging brick wall that a creative education has always had to overcome and probably will always have to in the future. This alongside the added frustration that parents try to push their children down a route that they see as being the right route, rather than what makes their child happy.

I think I will always feel responsible to push the positive attributes of a creative education and find ways to relate these positives to each individual situation, without having negative on academic education. This is an important point to make and I must stress that I am in no way saying that a creative education should replace an academic one but that it should be accepted with equal weight, rather than being overlooked and dismissed as the easy way out.

I'd love to see a list of negatives that people feel a creative education has, and equally a list of positives. I wonder which outweighs the other? I bet I can have a good guess. 

5 Fiona Plews: September 2013 Last week I found myself in another bizarre situation preaching about the benefits of a creative education... I mean can you imagine having...

What makes YOU happy?


This makes me happy. What makes you happy?
5 Fiona Plews: September 2013 This makes me happy. What makes you happy?

27.9.13

This year's Saltaire Festival...

Saltaire always has a lovely warm vintage welcome, I think its a combination of the architecture and  little vintage shops, together with a bunch of friendly people! Last weekend the streets of Saltaire were lined with lots of small market stalls selling tasty breads, olives and homemade gifts, to celebrate this years Saltaire Festival! On the other side of the canal, the large park hosted a stage for local bands to play throughout the day and numerous beer tents offered a taste of locally brewed ale, providing such a great family friendly, relaxed and fun atmosphere. The festival actually runs for a full week, this year from the 14th until the 22nd September, giving you plenty of time to visit!

The streets full of foodie stalls!


At night...
Tasty breads!

You can find more out about the festival and stay updated about next years here.

My favourite parts of the festival were discovering some brilliant quirky food suppliers, revisiting the Salts Mill, (a must if you are visiting Saltaire!), munching homemade bread and olives and listening to folk music from the bandstand! Here are my faves...

The Salts Mill

Titus Salt brought his vision, inspired by the Italian Renaissance to life by creating the Salts Mill and the surrounding village of Saltaire. The Salts Mill opened in 1853 and soon became the biggest working factory in the world. After the textile industry unfortunately declined, Jonathon Silver bought the almost derelict mill in 1987 and led the transformation of the mill into a vibrant, inspirational centre for arts and crafts that it is today.

You can potter around the quirky shops full of the area's homegrown talent, enjoy some lunch at one of the restaurants or rent a flat and live in this vibrant area!

Streatza - Woodfired Pizzeria

This is such a brilliant concept. I'm a foodie at heart and hate the usual processed food burger vans and  that are often associated with festivals and outdoor events. Streatza, the woodfired pizzeria serves a selection of freshly cooked, delicious wood fired pizzas from a retro style kitchen on wheels! The thought behind this concept is brilliant, handwritten chalk boards, vibrant advertisements and a cool van serving a brilliant pizza. Perfect for outdoor country weddings, parties or village fetes! Follow Streatza on Facebook or Twitter!
Streatza Woodfired Pizzeria

The Greedy Bassets Kitchen (nice site too!)

Another lovely foodie concept - Yorkshires own innovative catering company which was creating a buzz around its fab fish and chips at the festival. The whole fishing theme looked fantastic and when I've come to visit the site and read the blog, there is such a lovely story to this business and its so well thought out. The design of the site fits well with how they display their kitchen at events, creating a nice brand. This is an absolutely fantastic idea for summer tipi, yurt or marquee weddings and other outdoor events, I love the fact they are Yorkshire based too! For news and updates follow on Facebook and Twitter!

One of the menu's from The Greedy Bassets Kitchen

Everybody needs to visit the festival next year! I'm on the look out for other outdoor foodie concepts, can anyone recommend any? :)


5 Fiona Plews: September 2013 Saltaire always has a lovely warm vintage welcome, I think its a combination of the architecture and  little vintage shops, together with ...

20.9.13

Bar RA, Barcelona

A stones throw from our apartment on Carrer del Carme, we found Bar RA serving a top notch experience.

Step away from the main street of La Rambla into the real streets of Barcelona to find beautiful food in a cool, quirky setting. Everything about this restaurant works - food, wine, service but most of all the interior knocks your socks off! A bargain too, I must add.







































Have a glimpse of the menu here. Have you any quirky foodie finds in the city? :)
5 Fiona Plews: September 2013 A stones throw from our apartment on Carrer del Carme, we found Bar RA serving a top notch experience. Step away from the main street of...

18.9.13

Life lately, according to my iPhone pics



The last few months have been pretty busy, I've been lucky enough to have a little break in Portugal and visit Barcelona for the first time. I also lost my job (blog post coming soon), which was definitely unexpected but I have used this spare time to get back into my love for sketching, sewing and reading more books alongside finally getting myself properly set up as a freelancer and organising some exciting new internships! Find a positive in every negative.






5 Fiona Plews: September 2013 The last few months have been pretty busy, I've been lucky enough to have a little break in Portugal and visit Barcelona f...

13.9.13

The Happy Pills Concept

What a beautiful city Barcelona is, culture just grabs you as soon as you touch down! If you haven't visited Barcelona, it is an absolute must for inspiration. For now I am going to share with you an unmissable concept I noticed while admiring the Cathedral in central Barcelona...

'happy pills'. A short concise but most importantly, intriguing brand name and a store exterior that visually is very clinical and pure. The pink adds warmth with a splash of playfulness, while the traditional structure of a cross centrally aligned above the typography could suggest that this store would sit within the medical sector. It doesn't. The unexpected strikes again.

The whole concept is built around the idea of spreading happiness through sweets! Two common scenarios are married so simplistically to create 'happy pills'. The well known scenario of when you are feeling under the weather, the doctor will prescribe you some medicine as a cure or if you are out of energy the immediate go to is sugar! The 'happy pills' stores prescribe sweets to add a smile to your day!

The execution of the store experience adds to the brilliance of the concept. A pure and sterile medical environment, where everything is white or pink is softened by the infectious 'kid in a sweetshop' atmosphere!

Select the size of jar or pill box you wish to cram with happy pills, fill it to the brim with sugar packed sweets and take it to the till where it will be sealed and you will pay a very reasonable price.

The simplicity of the concept together with the clever and unexpected brand design creates that wow. Currently there are only franchises in Barcelona and Zaragoza. Fingers crossed we will get one in the UK soon... but for now you can order your happy pills and find more out about the brand here or follow on twitter @HappyPillsBcn

I haven't got a photo of the mini jar I bought because they were gone within seconds of getting home! You can get a good idea of the medical store interior by browsign the 'happy pills' pinterest page.

happy pills. Arcs, 6, 08002 Barcelona, B, Spain. The store near the Cathedral.

Enjoy!
5 Fiona Plews: September 2013 What a beautiful city Barcelona is, culture just grabs you as soon as you touch down! If you haven't visited Barcelona, it is an absolut...

11.9.13

A Creative Education


In reaction to a subject which is quite heavily stumbled across on Twitter today,  I thought I would share my thoughts on creative education. I wrote this post back in April following some really influential talks at Cheltenham Design Festival. See what you think...
Are you born with a creative mindset or is it taught?
In 2012 we heard that the government was strongly considering the removal of design-related subjects from the school curriculum with the introduction of the new EBacc. The concern was that at its very worst this could result in the death of UK creative industries, which currently employ around 2 million people.
A talk entitled ‘The Next Creative Generation’ at Cheltenham Design Festival addressed this topic and encouraged debate amongst attendees, all of whom are engaged in some kind of way in the UK creative world. Speaking at this talk were Sir Christopher Frayling – Professor at RCA, Tim Lindsay – CEO of D&AD and Adrian Shaughnessy – writer for Eye, Creative Review and Design Observer (Chair) – three extremely passionate and inspirational personalities.
Sir Christopher Frayling kicked off the discussion by sharing a piece of personal memorabilia from his school days – a woven square, which he has kept since he made it at school. He used this to demonstrate how design work can provide a sense of achievement, recounting the tale of the creation of the square, and sharing his belief that other subjects within school struggled to replicate that sense of achievement without a real physical outcome.
For me design always encouraged freedom of thought and the ability to create.
At school I struggled to concentrate in “academic” lessons, but found my passion in creating art from collections of shells or splurges of colour. The freedom to create was magical but most importantly encouraged! My art teachers were full of passion for what they did and genuinely enjoyed sharing the art and design love. This is the key to why design as a subject is special – it’s infectious and fun! I believe schools have a responsibility to grow the personalities of children and encourage their individualism.
This is what art and design does. The report on Higher Education written by Lord Browne focusses heavily on the importance of Science and Engineering as the core of the education curriculum. Design is not treated with this importance. The talk highlighted the ongoing battle that people working in the creative sector have to prove that their industry is worthy.
A large part of this battle is due to how design is taught in schools. In 1988 design became a mandatory subject, later became a core subject and now is only an option. Quite often the choice to study design is frowned up as it is wrongly perceived as an easy option as opposed to science or mathematics for example.
The battle is ongoing. ‘Have you had a hard day drawing pictures?’ If design is removed from the education system it will have such a negative impact on children’s imaginations, creative thinking and the curiosity to not just accept the given but question it, will be taken away. I believe that if I had not has design taught in early years I would not have become the person I am today.
The freedom of thought is a such huge positive, and creative thinking should be encouraged.
Are born with a creative mindset or are you taught it? I think everyone is born with the ability to think and learn creatively but it is whether you nurture and encourage this mindset. I don’t necessarily think that the quality is taught and I believe its not a choice that you can make either.
If you respond well to creative thinking it is then your choice to realise this and teach yourself more about design. If schools didn’t teach design then maybe it is this realisation that wouldn’t be discovered and everybody would have the same academic learning brain.

A Mini in Cheltenham
5 Fiona Plews: September 2013 In reaction to a subject which is quite heavily stumbled across on Twitter today,  I thought I would share my thoughts on creative...
<