Leeds Innovation Lab

On Wednesday I attended the inaugural meeting of 'Leeds Innovation Lab'. The event was organised and facilitated by Mike Chitty, who in my opinion is one of the most important assets and voices we have in Leeds at the moment.

The people who attended were from a number of different backgrounds: social enterprise, communications, culture, charities, adult healthcare, the council, financial services and more. The mix of people and backgrounds seemed to work very well. There were a number of common themes and ideas between us all and the enthausiasm for Leeds was really inspiring to see.

As the people who know me personally can testify to, I am really passionate about Leeds and our potential both to improve things internally and then take our city and its talent to a national and international audience. Sometimes when reading certain publications or hearing certain messages in the media it can be easy to almost want to 'give up' or at the most 'consolidate' as a city. Seeing some of the other people at Innovation Lab and hearing their views gave me a shot in the arm and renewed belief that the current financial mess we are all in, could have created the perfect window of opportunity to take a breath and evaluate what we are doing, and perhaps make some changes.

Innovation Lab could potentially be something very important moving forward. Where the idea will end up is still a couple of steps away at the moment but an excellent start has been made. I am sure Mike and everyone else involved will want to keep the momentum going and achieve tangible results and outcomes from the ideas put forward.

It seems there is a lot going on 'underground' in Leeds at the moment. Lots of great events are going on, thanks to people like John Popham & Monica Tailor with Leeds Social Media Surgery, the awesome Emma at The Culture Vulture with the Cultural Conversations events, and many more. Working groups are being formed, people are connecting and talking, tweets are turning into friendships and it seems everyone is wanting the same thing overall... to make Leeds as great as possible. Everyone has their own motives and areas of expertise and there will be a lot of people fighting for their 'space' in this new landscape, but overall I really do feel that this is the most exciting/intriguing time in city for... well as long as I can remember and I am delighted to be a part of it!

Why We Love Toms!

A product that seems to be flying off the shelves in most shoes stores at the moment is the Toms 'classic' shoe. My 'in the know' shoe spy, from a major high street retailer, confirmed that Toms were the best selling mens shoes last week and continue to become more popular every week.

Although the women's aren’t quite as popular, sales are growing by the day. With more and more people wearing the shoe, unusually I am actually not worried if I spot someone in the street in the same shoes... why? Well aside from the fact it is the comfiest shoe ever, buying a pair of Toms helps a bigger project, a project I personally think is amazing. With every pair of Toms sold, another pair of Toms are given to a child in need. Watching the video on the Toms website and seeing little children in developing countries wearing the same shoe is amazing.

While out and about in Leeds, I decided to do a little on research on why people bought the shoes. I actually thought more people would be aware of the ‘One For One’ policy but unfortunately this seems to be more of a trend. Although many people ‘claim’ to be aware of the incentive, in actual fact, they come in to buy the shoes for work, for comfort or for fashion and then find out about 'one for one' when they read the box. Although it’s a little sad that fashion is the main reason so many of these shoes are sold, I am still happy that these shoes are popular and that children in need all over the globe at least have comfy shoes and are in less risk of danger. So go out and get yourself a pair of Toms now and picture that little child running around in theirs. A small step towards a better world :-)

'Leeds Loves Shopping' Launch

Leeds Design Talent On Display Last night the Hebe Media team attended the launch event of 'Leeds Loves Shopping', a festival organised by Marketing Leeds and Leeds City Council. The event was designed to give the press a chance to meet and talk to some of the main people involved in the festival, such as Leeds Fashion Show, Leeds Rocks and some of the organisers. 

The thing that we liked most about the evening was the attention given to Leeds-based talent. Many Leeds designers showcased examples of their work and chatted with bloggers and reporters about the part they will play in the event. It gave me a chance to catch up with James Steward, who I consider one of the best designers we have in the city, and to talk about what he hoped to get out of the festival and also more long term aims (more on this in the coming weeks).

Leeds Fashion Show and Leeds Rocks are events that form two of the real stand out 'pilars' of the festival. Leeds Fashion show is now in it's 5th year and is going from strength to strength. This year it will be held at Leeds Museum on Tuesday, October 19th and will again feature the 'Leeds Designer of The Year Award' which was won by Rav Matharu last year. The people behind this show are something special: dedicated, talented and very ambitious. It is my hope that we as a city, can support this project in a big way moving forward.

Leeds Rocks is a new event, which will showcase some of the best Leeds creative talent in fashion, music, dance and art. The event will be held at Saviles Hall (Clarence Dock) on Friday 15th October. Details of the event are been kept pretty secret at the moment but we all have high hopes that the team behind it will create a special show.

Hebe Media's Shang Ting With Lomo & Pimms!Hebe Media's Stacey With The Gorgeous Cupcakes!

 There are still some plans to be finalised like the 'Merrion Centre Fashion Show', which seems interesting/strange but we are glad that during the ten day festival there seems to be some exposure and much needed help for the independent and vintage scene in Leeds and that is most definitely the part of 'Leeds Loves Shopping' that excites us the most.

We must also at this stage say a big "thank you" to Birds Yard and others for the cool goodie bags (separate blog post coming about the bags!) and to the organisers of last night's event for some very nice nibbles and Pimms. 

Vision For Leeds 2030 - DIY Style

Last week I attended a very interesting event: Vision For Leeds - DIY Style, organised by T4P. The event took place in Leeds at the DLA Piper LLP building and to quote the organisers: 

This event, for people working in the business sector, is one of a series of small events playing around the edges of the official Vision for Leeds 2030* process – stimulated by it, contributing to it… and challenging it!

• What makes cities great places - to work in, to thrive in, to live life to the full?
• What’s your dream for how this city might be in the future?
• What might we then do to help Leeds become all it can be?

We started by talking about why we were there and what we hoped to achieve by coming to the event. The answers were mixed: some people focused on transport, others spoke of narrowing the social gap, others spoke from a business angle, some just wanted to talk about Leeds and this was perhaps their best chance of being heard. All in all the group seemed enthusiastic, intelligent and wanted to help the city.

Picture From Tamara @ ithunter.com

During the session we spoke about when we personally were most happy in the city, and what circumstances facilitated or contributed to that feeling. I spoke about our recent project with the Barcelona online community (blog post to come on this next week) and how it made me very happy to open the doors of our city and it's fashion/culture to an international audience. Some of the other stories evoked great memories such as talk of the Lord Mayor's Parade and other events where the city was alive and the community engaged.

The talk inevitably turned towards the council and city planners. We spoke about some of the barriers that are in place and what we can do to remove them. We also spoke of the 'brand' and 'story' of the city: What is Leeds? What are we good at? What is great about the city?

All in all the evening was very interesting, but for me the next question is: What do we do about it? Do we keep talking, or do we act? Do we wait for the council to tell us it is ok to do things, or do we do things anyway? How can the private sector of the city work together more effectively and collaborate on mutually beneficial projects?

I have a lot of ideas in this area and am currently meeting with lots of people who have an important role to play in the future of the city. If we can all work together, collaborate and take a few risks... this difficult economic climate could have just helped to stimulate the best thing to happen in the city for a long time, and I for one am excited!

Let The Cool Hunting Begin!

I have been cool hunting in a number of different cities in the past, Taipei, Beijing, Barcelona, and now Leeds. So far I have been surprised... in a good way. All the people I've photographed have been very friendly, they stop and listen, respond well, and as you can see, they all have amazing smiles.

We have started cool hunting in Leeds because we think it's important to follow the real trends on the street, what people are wearing. And maybe we can find out what makes fashion in Leeds different to other cities. -Stp