This is where England most truly excels: in all the characterful shabbiness of its drizzled parks, soiled launderettes, frayed tailors, abject chemists, sparse barbers, bare foyers, dun pubs, weary Legion halls... and cowed solitary cafes. - Classic Cafes

It's a pleasure to flick through Derelict London by Paul Talling, the book of the website. I thought it might be a bit depressing but it turns out to be the opposite. These forlorn spaces, so easily overlooked in real life often have unexpected stories behind them. For all the ones overcome by the wrecker's ball there are other like Soho's Marshall Street Baths (above) being reused and regenerated. Recommended reading.

Posted on May 11, 2008 | Filed under: Architecture | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yesterday I had the pleasure of speaking at the Glasgow School of Art 2nd year study day. I was surprised and delighted to be asked to do it last year, and even more surprised to be invited back. In some ways the Art School is the last place I expect to feel welcome as so many of the things I hold dear are well outside the traditional boundaries of "proper" art and design. But that's why I got the gig. The theme for the day was "Dynamic Glasgow" so I tried to focus on what you can learn from wandering around Glasgow and the rest of Scotland.

This is more or less what I was saying, with links to more information. The photos are all on Flickr.

• I like started 5 years ago as a practice space when I was working as a librarian and learning about web design. It's a scrapbook for whatever I'm interested in, be it sweet wrappers, John Hinde postcards, great illustrators, matchbox labels, Soviet bus stops and much more. Anything goes.
• It's interesting how there's an accepted canon of things that it's okay to like, like antiques and opera, but other things, like pop music or postcards are less acceptable. Gradually these lines are blurring, which is a good thing. Everything is interesting (to me anyway).
• You can find beauty in unexpected places like power stations, signs, and derelict buildings.
• In all areas of design there a lot of stuff that flies under the radar. Some aspects of typography are well-documented (Penguin book covers, the Helvetica movie) but others aren't mentioned. You can find beautiful type anywhere - in museums, on trains, in old iron work.
• Traditionally, "good" design is slick and understated and but there's a time and a place for being brash and imperfect.
• As advertising becomes more abstract and conceptual (Sony Bravia, Cadbury's Trucks) the simplicity of a hand-painted sign is refreshing. It tells you all you need to know.
• Living fragments of the past like seaside shelters or classic cafes are like walk-in history lessons. The Val D'Oro at Glasgow Cross is like walking into the 1920s, The Ritz Cafe in Millport is the 1950s and Boni's in Clarkston the 1970s.
• Tunnock's do branding brilliantly
• Sometimes you can stumble across somewhere that has a fantastic sense of place like Footdee in Aberdeen. There are towns and cities wondering how to regenerate themselves who would kill for something as atmospheric as this.
• A visit to East Kilbride will tell you a lot about modernism and inventive town planning.
• Folk art is a rich and fascinating thing. Storybook Glen in Aberdeen, the Ukranian POW Chapel in Hallmuir and The Knitted Village in Lancaster are remarkable, unique places.
• The world is full of inspiring things so it's easy to get out and find something that interests you.

It's tricky to organise all these random thoughts into a vaguely linear sequence and make some salient points but hopefully there was something useful in there. It was a great day out for me as I got to hear some of the other speakers and there was a lot to think about. Thanks to everyone who came to listen, and to Bruce and Patsy for looking after me so well.

Posted on May 9, 2008 | Filed under: About | Permalink | Comments (3)

The road sign that time forgot, found near Wookey Hole in deepest darkest Somerset. Strangely, I Googled charabancs as I'm never totally sure what they are*, hit on the Wikipedia entry and found that it mentions this sign as a rare remnant of the "charabancs' era". Quirky and significant. Result.

* Rickety-looking open top buses used for sightseeing.

Posted on May 2, 2008 | Filed under: Signs | Permalink | Comments (6)

Publishers Faber and Faber have a fine Flickr stream full of their book covers, catalogues and author photos, old and new. Penguin covers deserve the attention they get but by comparison Faber's covers are hidden treasures. Their Faber 20th Century classics like Ariel (above) are so simple, but so striking. The modern day poetry series with typographic covers continues the text-only tradition (thanks Gareth).

Posted on April 29, 2008 | Filed under: Design | Permalink | Comments (0)

There's a report of our visit to The Bakelite Museum in Williton, Somerset on Nothing To See Here. Probably the best museum ever. Photos on Flickr as usual.

Posted on April 27, 2008 | Filed under: Museums Travel | Permalink | Comments (1)

I liked this little diagram, from the Smiler Take Away in Burnham-in-Sea. It's a bit blurry but you should be able to make out the names of fried foods found on their hot shelf with a rough approximation of their shape. The man behind the counter, who was indeed very smiley, explained that he'd knocked it up because he was always being asked what things were. Nice touch, I thought. Continual improvement and all that. Incidentally, he also mentioned that some people think they're England's smallest chippy, but were struggling to corroborate that. It certainly was tiny. So anyone in the chip shop measurement business check it out.

Posted on April 23, 2008 | Filed under: Cafes | Permalink | Comments (4)

I like it when you go somewhere and find a great hand-painted sign,

then another

suggesting that one (most probably) talented yet unsung signwriter

has global dominance, albeit in a very small geographic area.

I mean, look at the frosting on that lettering. That is ice cold.

Posted on April 21, 2008 | Filed under: Seaside Signs | Permalink | Comments (4)

Well, we had a smashing time in Somerset despite a bit of bother at the start. The car broke down in Carlisle and we had to get towed back to Glasgow. After scrambling about for a hire car on a Saturday (harder than you think in this day and age) we were off back down the road. Everything else went swimmingly. The weather was great most days and we went to lots of lovely places. I was trying to find one picture that sums it up so here's Danny on the enormous beach at Weston-super-Mare with its impressive pier in the background. I've added what seems like loads of photos onto Flickr with more to come throughout the week. Until then, commiserations to everyone else going back to work tomorrow.

Posted on April 20, 2008 | Filed under: Seaside Travel | Permalink | Comments (1)

Just a quick note to say:

• Thanks to all of you who suggested places to go in the south-west. They sounds brilliant and I'm really excited about going away. The chip debate was also very entertaining so thanks again for all the comments. That's what makes doing this really good fun.
• Sorry to anyone who has sent me an email recently and not got a response. All my email got eaten a couple of months ago (wiping a few things I was about to mention or reply to, so do resend if you're waiting for an answer). Since then I've been surviving on crappy webmail and just not keeping on top of it. I really appreciate it when people send me email, and it's not like I'm inundated so I just want to apologise and say I'll get round to replying, honestly.
• Goodbye. Off on holiday now. No internet. Back in a week or so.

Posted on April 11, 2008 | Filed under: About | Permalink | Comments (2)

There's something I don't quite trust about Goldfrapp. They seem like musical tourists - "now we're visiting folk!", that sort of thing. But that aside, I've been won over by their latest single Happiness and its accompanying video, which is a little bundle of joy (via Creative Review which links to an extensive discussion of whether or not it's any good/what is it ripped off etc). The director, Dougal Wilson has an impressive track record having done Goldfrapp's A&E, Jarvis's Don't Let Him Waste Your Time and that freaky Will Young video.

Posted on April 8, 2008 | Filed under: Music | Permalink | Comments (2)