Holiday Postcards

Snapped by Grillust operative Tony Peart in a cottage window in Ditchling*, Sussex last Tuesday.

While the use of Comic Sans is a little unfortunate, we wholeheartedly approve of the sentiment!

*Ditchling was the home to Eric Gill's Guild of St Joseph and St Dominic and is now home to a new museum of art and craft devoted to their work.

Just how well do you know your Dwayne?

Charismatic illustration lecturer Mr. Dwayne Bell (33) is the closest thing the Grillust Team have to a fashion icon (sorry Zoe but he does scrub up better than you).

His sartorial savoir-faire, coupled with those hirsute, rugged, manly good-looks have influenced the grooming habits and personal style of many (mostly males) who have come into his orbit.

On our recent jaunt to Spitalfields for New Blood we were surprised to see  just how far the 'Dwayne Bell Look' had traveled. You see, Dwayne didn't actually come with us to London but we seemed to keep on seeing him everywhere.

As the number of 'Dwayney-likeys' we came across started to multiply, we started to photograph them...

So, ladies and gentlemen, boys, girls and members of the third sex, just which of the following 'Dwaynesters' could possibly be the one and only, genuine Mr. Dwayne Bell?

You can leave your entry in the comments box...

The winner will receive a Steak Pie, or if vegetarian, a Scotch egg.

That looks a little familiar...

No.1 in a very occasional series.

This week: the D&AD New Blood exhibition design.

Here are a few shots of the self-aware, 'chatty', language based, info-graphics referencing design that surrounded the New Blood 2014 exhibition...










...and a spread from the exhibition guide.

Here's a photo of Grillust Operative Tony Peart (33) with D&AD's 'The Ideas Begin as Soon as You Spin' wheel of fortune.

Now, lets look more closely at what he's pointing at, 'Rip Off An Idea'...

It seems that D&AD were being ironically 'post-modern' with the inclusion of this advice to plagiarise.

As long ago as 2003, well known New York design duo Karlssonwilker published their excellent book 'tellmewhy' (we'd recommend it to any design student).

Let's have a look inside a copy to see just what it is about D&AD's 'design concept' that looks so familiar...

 

 Tut, tut...

D&AD New Blood 2014

We've just spent three days exhibiting our student's work at D&AD's 'New Blood' graduate showcase.

'New Blood' takes place every July and for the last three years has been sited within Spitalfields Market in the East End of London, the epicentre of the capital's design industry.

It's attended by a wide range of interested people but principally is an opportunity for students to sell themselves to prospective employers.

It was a hectic three days and has been chronologically documented for your edification and amusement in the following images and accompanying commentary...

Tuesday 1 July, 1.55PM: the stand has been successfully erected and we're about to be 'kicked out' so that the official judging can take place. Grillust operatives Rhiannon Robinson and David Robert (both 33) proudly pose for the camera.

 Tuesday 1 July, 6.45PM: The private view – things are hotting up.

Tuesday 1 July, 7.10PM: Industry professionals queue to get into the exhibition.

Tuesday 1 July, 7.15PM:  These lovely students from Edge Hill University had fundraised for months to pay for their 'New Blood' stand only for D&AD to inform them at the last minute that the event was oversubscribed and they hadn't actually got one! 

Not to be defeated, this enterprising group decided to promote themselves by becoming 'living' exhibition stands and making direct approaches to the industry professionals queueing up outside. It seemed to be working for them and we would like to applaud their entrepreneurial and pro-active approach. 

Tuesday 1 July, 7.47PM: Even busier. Here Luci Ormrod (centre, blonde) engages in some self-promotion. 

Lots of our ex-students – who now work in the design industry – dropped by over the three days. Pictured above (far right) is Craig Parkinson who works at Unit 9

 Tuesday 1 July, 8.06PM:  And here's Rick Banks (the first) with his 'better half' Bella.

Tuesday 1 July, 8.30PM: Luci Ormrod at it again. This time with another of our 'exes', Adam Kirby of Forever Beta.

Tuesday 1 July, 8.43PM: 'Lofty' student Jasper Van Looveren-Baines had a spectacularly good three days. Here he is charming (and being charmed) by two equally 'lofty' designers from M&C Saatchi. 

Note: only their feet have been shown as their collective beauty and 'coolness' would have produced too many pixels for our digital camera to handle...

Tuesday 1 July, 8.50PM: Another familiar face from our past, Mr Barry Smith of dn&co. 

 Wednesday 2 July, 10.23AM: She's still got it! Typographer Royal and all-round 'hunk magnet' Rhiannon Robinson pulls.

 Wednesday 2 July, 10.40AM: We told you he was lofty. Japer VLB ('VLB' saves my typing finger) continues to work the crowd.

Wednesday 2 July, 7.10PM: How was it for you? Jasper VLB at the end of a very successful day.

You always get out of New Blood what you are prepared to put in. Those students who actively promote themselves to interested parties are always the most successful. Most of our students did just that, resulting in many contacts and invitations to visit studios with their portfolios. We'll keep you posted with the results.

Thursday 3 July, 10.47AM: An exhibition panorama with four Lee Lunds!

Thursday 3 July, 11.12AM: The sad truth behind social networking. All those Tweets and blog post about what a great time everyone was having were created by this hard-working, one-woman, 'Team' New Blood.

Thursday 3 July, 11.20AM: Here's some of Team Grillust.

L to R: Adam 'Ady' Norfolk, Emma 'Emma' Liles, Ami 'Swifty' Swift, Ruth 'Foggy' Fogden, Luci 'Keith Moon' Ormrod and Lee 'what's for tea?' Lund.

Thursday 3 July, 11.56AM: Mr David Lawton and Mr Jonathan Henton, both ex-graduates and both now successful freelance designers. More importantly, these are the geniuses behind the spoof 'Fife Design' website and associated digital empire.

Thursday 3 July, 7.30PM: Another hectic evening well attended by industry professionals. Here's bestest pals ever, 'Jaspy' and 'Ady' expressing their enduring, platonic, 'man love'.

Thursday 3 July, 7.35PM: 'Jaspy' spots another industry professional and 'goes for it' one last time...

Thursday 3 July, 8.03PM: We 'roll lite'. 

The exhibition officially ended at 8.00PM. Here's our stand three minutes later!

Friday 4 July, 12.04PM: The morning after the night before. Stands gone, signage binned,
Spitalfields Market returns to its normal state – until next year...