The event took place in the Old Spitalfields Market in the trendy East End, adjacent to Brick Lane, of Brick Lane Market fame.
The surrounding area was so cool and trendy that we lost count of the number of fixed wheel bicycles, tall, elegantly quaffed ‘guys’ wearing pedal pushers and boat shoes and young ladies who looked like Rosie the Riveter that we saw. In fact, if you want to get a feel for the genius loci watch this.
As usual we carried everything down on the train. An advance party – Rhiannon Robinson (33) – travelled down the day before (Monday) with the exhibition banners. The exhibition stand was therefore speedily decorated during the Tuesday morning set up.
Tuesday 2pm – the stand ready for action…D&AD, like most organisations are obviously feeling the financial pinch, as this year they didn’t even supply tablecloths, water or more than one chair. The ever resourceful Rhiannon procured a tablecloth from a nearby branch of Brentford Nylons.
The exhibition stand was staffed by our ever helpful students, working in two hour shifts and it would be fair to say that they were incredibly busy over the two days it was open to the public.
The troops assemble for a final briefing from H.R.H. The Typographer Royal™.
D&AD laid on various speakers and events (including one-to-one portfolio tutorials) but the main draw remains the large numbers of design professionals who visit the exhibition looking for emerging talent. Our students’ portfolios were pawed over and scrutinised and business cards were exchanged. It’s still early days but we can already confirm that one student has been offered a job, others paid internships and many received offers of interesting illustration/design commissions from a range of businesses (from publishing to the world of high fashion).
No, it’s not a battery farm, it’s New Blood!
Although Spitalfields market has real character, the space allocated to the exhibition this year was fairly tight (as you can see in the image above). This made navigating around a very busy exhibition space fairly difficult and the high number of visitors, coupled with very high temperatures, effectively turned New Blood into a sauna. It should be noted however that even in these conditions, the ultra cool kept their cardigans on…
I just wasn’t made for these climes… A tired and emotional ‘Man of the North’, Dwayne Bell (33) pictured just before he melted.
Whereas… James Meacock (21) was perfectly at home in the sub-tropical environment. It should also be noted that James is a ‘cool’ person (note presence of cardigan).
The four Grillust™ operatives attending say hello (and goodbye).
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