Last Thursday, a few Bluesteppers headed into the heart of Birmingham to the oh so quirky Spotlight Bar on Lower Trinity Street for the part 2 in the series of Glug’s ‘Craft & Graft’.
When we arrived, we picked up one of these amazing free prints which were created by one of the guest speakers of the night, Supermundane and also managed to grab a few industry mags (thanks Glug).
What we found the most intriguing about the Glug enterprise was their vision for growth, the community strives by 2017 to have presences in 100 plus cities (we predict a TED Talks scenario, any one agree?). Not only that, they have some pretty big names involved with their venture, with the likes of D&AD, The Drum and Google too.
This night was all about championing creativity, centred around the life of hard working designers working in installations, displays and print for some of the biggest brands in the U.K, all of which was to be discussed over a whiskey or two.
The evening kicked off with the sassy duo, Isabelle & Helen. These two ladies specialise in set design and interactive installations. If you’re a dedicated ‘Christmas shop window display’ fan, you would have probably have seen their work in the past. Commissioned by THE Selfridges, the pair created a captivating installation themed around ‘the galaxy’. The pair went into detail about all the hard grafting that went into their crafting for their projects and the tools that were involved, including how they worked in some questionable locations until the early hours of the morning. And it was all for the love of the work.
Another of the girls projects centred around a debate that essentially went viral, ‘Pig or Wig’, a very real trivia that tested and tormented the audience. Take a look for yourself and play along why don’t you. Next up was the girl with an array of skilled strings to her bow, Emily Forgot. Throughout her time on the podium, she went through her work and how the creative was derived from all of her sources of inspiration. These taking the form of canvassed art pieces and architecture, through extensive research (the graft) she created the craft for the likes of Dulux, Computer Arts magazine and an extensive list of exhibitions. Check out her blog here for an insight into her drivers and inspo.
After a quick break where the team grabbed some printed goodies (and beer) from the court yard, we headed inside to listen to Supermundane / Rob Lowe. He captured our attention instantly, with his super bright video that showed his finished craftings, complimenting his super bright personality very nicely indeed. With his hand drawings, work in typography and graphic design, the colours he uses across all of his creative reminded us of 80’s pop / children’s illustration and we were all hooked. And when flicking through his website, we’re sure that you will appreciate our love for his work too.
To find out more about Glug as a brand, take a look at their line up for future events here.
(Images courtesy of inkygoodness)