Monthly Archives: October 2016

23.10.16 — Journal

Design Manchester & Towneley Hall

True to form, I haven’t been staying in one place for too long, which began as last week me and the rest of my house (all designers) headed on the train to Manchester to check out the Design Manchester Festival which was in full swing. We landed in Manchester Piccadilly and immediately headed to the old Fire Station just around the back of the station, where there were some food trucks, the opportunity to get our portraits drawn, and a huge array of handmade products from local designers.

Sooner or later we’d stuffed our bags with as much stuff as we could afford, and wound up having some beautiful portraits drawn – italics for sarcasm – mine had a crown on it and I insisted upon it being labelled “Queen Briggs”. After these shenanigans we headed towards the centre where we hopped onto the Manchester Metropolitan University campus, where we had a bite to eat before heading to their ultra-modern art and design building for a talk by renowned letterpress designer Alan Kitching.

Meandering through the exhibition

Before the talk we took a breather to snoop around the exhibition which had been laid out in the gallery space which spanned each floor of the building, and which provided a beautiful insight into the traditional hands-on approach to the process of designing and upsetting Kitching’s work.

Colour and texture

We then headed into one of the university’s lecture theatres where Kitching presented a selection of his work and his thoughts on design, letterpress, and the process of arriving at his final designs. It was a wonderfully interesting insight into this manual process, and afterwards we all headed back into the city to find something to eat before we all headed off back home.

A view from the art and design building

After stuffing our faces with Wagamama, it was time for everyone to head back to Leeds, except I, for I had arranged to visit Burnley for the weekend and meet up with a friend for some afternoon tea and a wander around one of the town’s most beautiful attractions – Towneley Hall.

Towneley Hall in the afternoon

Towneley Hall is named after the Towneley family who used to live in the lavish house and grounds, which are now form a museum and a lovely public park. We first stopped off at a café/restaurant housed in the old stables, where we enjoyed afternoon tea and scones, before we headed around the museum. The little galavant around was not only interesting from a historical point of view, but also reminded me of various trips I made to the hall whilst in primary school!

The grandeur of the interior
A colourful autumn afternoon

It was soon time to head back home after our day spent sleepwalking around the idyllic grounds, and so I headed off back home before heading back to Leeds the next morning. I currently write this back here in my university city, where I’ve had a clear out of my room and am feeling ready to take on the coming week of work – I think.

10.10.16 — Travel

Flying Visit to Madrid

In between the rising pressures and final year lectures of university, I managed to somehow find a three-day lapse, and then through some divine intervention a couple of cheap Ryanair flights to go with it – and so booked a spontaneous 48 hour trip to Madrid a couple of weeks back!

A colourful welcome to Spain

The trip began with a grueling 2:30 wake-up, followed by a groggy drive down a barely nevagble M60 to Manchester Airport, upon which every single exit specified by Google Maps (which had also rather helpfully decided to give all voice commands in Spanish) was closed for roadworks. My frazzled brain somehow parsed the Spanish and I made it to the airport, whereupon I proceeded to get myself completely lost trying to find my car park.

Once I had realized that I’d booked my car out for 2am rather than 2pm, I made my apologies in the car park reception and waddled over to the terminal building, where inside I then proceeded to panic as I couldn’t find my passport and boarding card – of all the things to misplace. They were indeed eventually found and I made my way through security, on to the plane and southward over the plains of España.

Wandering through Parque del Oeste

Once I touched down I began my familiar wander through the airport, onto the trusty Metro and into the belly of the city, where I stopped for a bite to eat before heading straight for the Erretres studio before I had even found my place for the night! I wandered in and said hello to everyone, before eventually settling down and having a laugh with the guys I used to work with plus their new designer. We decided then to head out for lunch together the next day, and eventually I had to head off out to find my apartment for the two nights.

After a much-needed nap I then headed out to meet up with Thuy, with whom I used to work with in my earlier days at Erretres, and we headed off into the city to grab some steamed buns and tinto de verano – and we wound up spending hours and hours chatting and catching up! Before we knew where we were we found ourselves in a cocktail bar, and then we wound up in a classic Madrid institution, San Ginés, where we finished our night with a plate of churros and chocolate.

Late night churros are always a good idea

The next day I woke up and spent a while meandering around the city, where I visited the Jardines del Recuerdo, a large cemetery and public gardens in the east of the city. It was peaceful and solemn and felt a million miles from the hectic university life back in Leeds! I was soon rushing off again though, as it was time to grab the Metro to meet the Erretres team back at our old favorite Thursday afternoon haunt, the Café del Rey.

Heading into the gardens

Lunch with the team was as lovely as ever, and as everything was all over too soon as they had to get back to work and I had some more strolling around I wanted to do. I headed from the studio back up to the Debod Temple, down through the Plaza de España and approached the Royal Palace through Sabatini Gardens, snapping photos and basking in the sunny ambience as I went.

Looking from Debod Temple
The Plaza de España

As the evening drew on I met up with Alejandro for a burger dinner at my favorite burger bar, Bacoa, after which we headed up to a bar I hadn’t visited before which sits atop the huge El Corte Inglés department store right in the center of the city. Up there I grabbed myself a huge gin and tonic and admired the view, which looked right down Madrid’s Main Street Gran Vía, past the infamous Schweppes neon that sits on its corner.

Looking down Gran Vía

The night was still young, however, and clutching a bag full of jamón and wine I headed to one of the flats I used to stay in to meet up with my old flatmaes and the new arrivals there. We wound up cooking pizza (which went unbelievably disastrously wrong), having a glass of wine and chatting well into the wee hours of the morning – it was a lovely chance to catch up and have a laugh as we always did!

Blue sky

Four hours later though I had to wake up and head to the airport, and so my late night had me cursing myself on the flight back home. Once I landed the trip back to Leeds was much smoother than my outward journey, and I arrived back at my place to be greeted by an empty and peaceful house and a bed to collapse on. A whirlwind visit it definitely was, but every moment was a joy, and I shall undoubtably be back soon for another few days of vagueando…*

* Being super lazy