Leeds Fashion Show x Trinity Leeds (Press Release)

Photo by Holly Saxton

Trinity Leeds is delighted to announce that it will sponsor this year’s Leeds Fashion Show, the sixth annual showcase of its kind representing work by 28 independent designers working across the North.

The show will be held at Leeds City Museum on 14 October 2011, where more than 500 people will gather to celebrate a unique pool of talent. Awards given on the night will include those for Emerging Talent, Ethical Fashion and Designer of the Year, for which the nominees include PAJ Couture and  Chai-lee Sharyn.

Speaking about the sponsorship, Claire Reynolds, Marketing Manager for Land Securities said: "We are extremely pleased to be supporting local talent, and introducing our brand to the Leeds Fashion Community. I hope this will be an ongoing relationship and it is an indication of the role Trinity Leeds can play in the Leeds creative scene.”

Leeds Fashion Show Founder, Sherelle Davidson is equally excited about the partnership: “Being sponsored by Trinity Leeds means a lot to Leeds Fashion Show. It's exactly the kind of support and backing that the project needs in order to progress. Our aim is to bridge the gap between local design talent and the Leeds high street, bringing something fresh to the city.”

The relationship with Leeds Fashion Show marks the beginning of a year long campaign that aims to introduce the Trinity Leeds brand to people across the city, through a series of collaborations with some of the most inspirational projects and events happening in Leeds today. Coverage of the campaign can be followed on the new Trinity Leeds Facebook page where, over the coming 12 months, people can also get involved in a conversation about all things fashion, food, film and culture: www.facebook.com/TrinityLeeds. 

The Trinity Leeds scheme has over 120 retailers and restaurateurs covering 1 million square feet and will bring big international, national brands and boutiques to Leeds, alongside a number of stylish restaurant and leisure operators. This urban city centre development will be a dynamic, evolving shopping experience and is set to become a retail beacon for the UK when it opens in spring 2013. 

Pals At Play: New Sister Brand of KitschenSink

Our good friend Rowan Grant and her jewellery brand KitschenSink have recently announced its sister brand Pals At Play, a collaboration between her and graphic designer Paul Jamie Kidd. So we think it's a great time to talk about Rowan's new work, and what we did in Leeds in Barcelona.

KitschenSink was founded in 2008, a fascination of colourful branded toys, and a desire to re-purpose mass-produced materials into handmade. She described her collections as "colourful, kitschy, funky and fun". Rowan's designs have previously been stocked in Selfridges London, and have been featured in Cosmopolitan and Company Magazine. We first met Rowan just days before Leeds in Barcelona, but it didn't take us long to decide that KitschenSink had to be one of the Leeds brands we showcase in Barcelona. And result, Barcelona leading fashion blog Lelook did a special feature of KitschenSink.

Picture from LelookPicutre from LelookPicture from Lelook

We're very excited to see within just 4 months since we worked with her, Rowan, and Paul have already produced a new collection that has had a major change in the material. I'm very fond of the Pals At Play collection, hope you like them as well.

Hyper Island Manchester Launch

Last Friday we attended the first official event at Hyper Island Manchester. As regular readers of our site will already know, we have been heavily involved with the project and Hyper Island globally, so we were excited to check in and meet some of the students from the first-ever class and catch up with some of our other Manchester friends.

Arriving at the Watts Brothers building on Lever Street we, along with the Hyper Island UK team, felt a bit like proud parents watching something that we have all worked so hard on, come to fruition. The first Hyper Island facility outside of Stockholm is a massive step for the brand, but one that we all believed would be a great success. The industry obviously agreed with the likes of Google, MTV, Channel 4, Wieden + Kennedy, Saatchi & Saatchi and loads more getting involved with the project.

It was really nice to spend a bit of time with the new students. They are a real interesting bunch! In just a couple of hours we had been involved in conversations about the city of Manchester, the fashion industry, the use of the word 'viral', the re-birth of speed garage, problems with restrictions when working in government and loads more random yet facinating subject! We are sure that some amazing people and projects will come out of Hyper Island Manchester in the coming months. You can see from their video above, they are already getting in the zone!

Check a couple of our previous posts related to Hyper Island here:

Hyper Island Arrives In Manchester

Creative Spaces Are Key To Creative Culture

We will keep you posted on progress of this first class on here over the summer months. In the meantime check out some of the pictures from Friday's event below:

The first class along with Hyper Island UK Director David McCall and Programme Assistant Amir LodgeShang Ting hanging with some of the studentsLee getting excited about something geeky no doubt!David McCall and some of the students along with representatives from Google, NESTA and Code Computerlove welcome everyone to the eventThe Hyper Island way already kicking inCollecting souvenir stickers of all the students :)

James Steward A/W Photo Shoot Sneak Peek

Shhhh but here is a sneaky preview of couture designer James Steward's latest collection. The ollection is inspired by James' experiences during 'Leeds in Vancouver', and later this month he will be showcasing this new collection during 'Leeds in Barcelona'.

It was a beautiful day at at the breathtaking ruins of Kirkstall Abbey. The day started with hair and make up at independent salon Rebecca Charles in central Leeds. You know when you watch shows like Project Runway or ANTM, the hair and make up work always flashes by like a quick breeze... But in real life, it is more than those two seconds, it took the stylists more than four hours to get the perfect look for the afternoon's fashion shoot.

The crew then moved to the amazing Kirkstall Abbey. (which by the way is a great venue for fashion shows) The sunshine was not ideal for an outdoor photoshoot, so the sets are mostly in the shadows. For what I was doing (backstage report type stuff) I kinda just carried on and had fun under the sun and I'm very pleased by the heavy shadow contrast because of it. When not messing with my camera I enjoyed watching James Steward's signature designs, like the float of the maxi dresses, the details of the back, and interesting use of fabric.

It was also exciting to see some fresh faces in the photo shoot. (I was basically stalking them with the camera!)

The official James Steward A/W photos will be ready later this month and we will be announcing lots more detail around the Leeds in Barcelona project, which James will be a part of, later this week!

INTRODUCING: Shahin Haghjou

THIS WEEK IN OUR “INTRODUCING” SERIES, WE AGAIN LOOK ABROAD AND CHECK OUT ANOTHER CREATIVE TALENT AND MEMBER OF THE   THE PALACE ‘ALUMNI’. SHAHIN HAGHJOU IS A SWEDE, BORN IN IRAN, AND CURRENTLY BASED IN BARCELONA WHERE IS LESS THAN A SEMESTER SHORT OF A DEGREE IN GRAPHIC DESIGN AT THE EUROPEAN DESIGN INSTITUE, IED. 

To say that he’s a “natural” might seem like a cheesy way of describing a person’s talent, but for someone that is yet to complete his degree Shahin has a lot to be proud of. The first time I met him a couple of years ago, he already had several stunning freelance projects as a designer under his belt. He was also commissioned by IED to do some of their ad and print campaigns, already during his 3rd semester. Shahin has also worked with us on a couple of impressive projects, most recently the Hebe Media branding, including the logo and graphics for the website and prints!

Since then he’s developed his skills towards motion design and print, with some of the most notable freelance projects being; Jamon Barcelona for the legendary San Francisco skateboard label For The City, FTC, and more recently; video and motion project Vamos a la Playa together with the Catalan videographer and photographer Hector Ferreño. (They are also rumored to be launching their own studio soon, but don’t tell anyone!) 

At the moment he’s at the Barcelonian super star studio Vasava, following the foot steps of last weeks “Introducing” Albin Holmqvist. 

I had the pleasure to catch up with Shahin, so I asked him about a couple of questions on creativity and the future of graphic design and art direction. Here’s what he had to say. 

What is your ideal environment to be creative?

My ideal environment would be my balcony, normally when I'm stuck with something or if I have run out of ideas I'll go sit there for 15 min or so, and nine out of ten times the ideas come. The good thing about my balcony is that it's facing a wall, so there's no distractions. I'm very easily distracted, so it might as well work with a pair of those sleeping glasses you get on the airplane, haven't tried it yet but might just work!  

The second best would be anywhere where there's likeminded people that you can share your ideas with, the space itself doesn't really matter, it could be at the local bar or in the park, as long as you're with the right people the creativity will flow. 

What is important for an aspiring art director/graphic designer today? 

I think it's really important to try to get work constantly and not to be picky. Yes, some jobs might be boring as hell, but you'll always learn new things. Try to work for or with people that have experience and do not expect to learn everything just by signing up for an expensive design school. You might learn a lot from going to school, but you'll always learn more from real life situations. Keep your steam up and work hard, cause as we all know by now, if you snooze you lose! And finally, never think you already know everything, not even if you have been working all your life. 

 Why is the future in motion graphics? 

I honestly don't know how to answer this question, I love motion graphics and think there's many opportunities within it, but I don't think you should limit yourself to just one specific thing. Cudos too those who can earn a living from drawing the same thing over and over again. Either you have the skills to do that, or you try to broaden yourself which in the long run I think is more satisfactory. 

Check out some of Shahin’s recent work here: www.shahinhaghjou.com, some of his little less current here: The Boo Hoo Boy, and even older, but still cool, here: The Equally Foolish. 

We wish Shahin all the best, and we strongly recommend keeping an eye out for whatever he’s up to next!