Can you hear me now?

A couple of Fridays ago we had the good fortune to go to the opening of Can you hear me now?, an exhibition at Derby Museum & Art Gallery by Stephen Carley and Anna Mawby.

After enduring a trip across the moonlit Derbyshire countryside, crammed into a minibus with child-sized seating, we tumbled out into the heart of Derby, spines bent, climbing stairs to a gallery full of the unexpected.

We had an inkling of what was to come though, having worked with Stephen on print for the exhibition, designing flyers, response cards and posters, as well as helping with some of the actual pieces; crafting a blue plaque, laying out some vinyl type, editing a video and creating a conceptual newsprint supplement for the show.

Despite that foreknowledge, it still surprised – a complex array of words writ art; phrases stripped of context, printed in sand and dust and light and writhing larvae.

Playful, darkly comic and emotionally taut; the concept centred around public responses to 8 questions, written on cards for Stephen and Anna to transform and interpret through their unique, minimalist vision.

The launch night was an obvious success, the gallery bustling and alive; the artwork challenging and enlivening, contrasting hugely with the safety of the adjoining painting exhibition, while performance artists interacted with the work, silent in mime.

Inspired and tired, we bundled back into the minibus, hungry for food and bigger seats, our minds satiated by a plum night out, recommending it to all.

Can you hear me now? runs until 10th June, with a series of beautifully crafted, limited edition giclée print posters available to buy from the gallery shop (or us – get in touch if you want one!).

www.stephencarley.co.uk

Something to celebrate

Since opening at Weston Park Museum just before Christmas last year this British Museum touring exhibition, designed by The Cafeteria for Museums Sheffield, has seen nearly 18,000 visitors through its doors, a whopping 4,300 attending the opening weekend. It was timed to coincide with Chinese New Year and was a fantastic family experience. The museum was packed with families studying the fascinating exhibits, joining in many workshops from calligraphy to tai chi and enjoying the lion dance as it paraded through the museum. A shiny colourful spectacle in a grey Sheffield winter. We are very proud to have contributed to the success of this event.

China: Journey to the East

Our December was brightened considerably by the arrival of a major touring show from the British Museum at Weston Park Museum. We conceived the interior display scheme and the marketing collateral with an eye on 2012 being the year of the dragon and a sense of festival, celebration and tradition. To give the show that special Museums Sheffield touch that their audience recognise and responds to we engaged the illustration skills of local lad Jonny Wan to provide our knockout lead image. His style of giving traditional and symbolic images a modern twist works perfectly for a family oriented show in this popular venue. We had lots of fun adding touches like paper lanterns and gold trim but perhaps best of all were the hand puppets in the Zodiac Puppet Theatre!

Can you hear me now?

A curious exhibition devised from anonymous responses to a set of questions about our emotions due to open 3 Feb 2012. We designed a set of response cards using artist Stephen Carley’s work. The responses then provided the basis for Stephen and fellow artist Anna Mawby to create work that explores those emotions. We’ve helped Stephen realise some of his ideas graphically – for instance this bizarre ‘newspaper’ story. We have also created the marketing materials including poster, invite and flier, as well as edit a video used in the exhibition.

Join in on twitter @c_y_h_m_n
www.stephencarley.co.uk/index.php?/visual/derby
www.annamawby.com

Ski/Trek/Climb Newsletter

We’re ringing in the new year with a tasty newsletter for expedition experts Jagged Globe. For fans of climbing, trekking and skiing this berliner style paper whets the appetite for adventure with lush photography, exciting first hand reports and tempting trips for 2012. Look out for more like this throughout the year!

The University of Sheffield Annual Report 2010–2011

We just received delivery of The University of Sheffield’s latest Annual Report, a landscape format print which we designed to be at once attractive and inviting to read while successfully presenting large amounts of data through clear and easy to understand graphs and tables.

Christmas Misses

So here it is Merry Christmas, we’ve pulled a winner out of the hat for our Christmas ‘misses’ competition – @ChristoHarvey for the missing Rebel Troop Carrier found unopened years later, ouch.

Here’s a few of the Xmas misses for you all to catch up on…

@sfcockburn think my missed gift would be a Cabbage Patch Doll late 80s – totally vile!

@olimagic4321 Got to be a ghostbusters uniform,would still wear it to work now if i’d have got that beauty! 20 years on, still gutted!

@MuseumSheffield Our #cafexmas misses were the Playmobil pirate ship and the Star Wars rebel troop transporter. We was robbed.

@littlewear I wanted an Evel Knieval #cafexmas but as I was a girl & it was made of plastic I wasn’t allowed…

@kipikapopo i asked for a Barbie, i got a Thunder Cats tent, sat in it and cried all day because the faces on it were scary.

@Needs_Glasses Great Xmas card! I missed out on a Raleigh Burner c.1982 as I was told I had to get a ‘sensible’ racer instead.

@regtubby can’t remember a Xmas when I didn’t want a bike. Even put a duvet cover out as a stocking wouldn’t be big enough.

All the best from The Cafeteria, have a great Christmas x

Victoria Delany Designer Maker

Every so often our imagination sparks in a different way, tickling neural receptors into exploring new formats to help communicate our clients’ ideas to the world.

Victoria Delany, a talented Designer Maker, was one such client, whose playful contemporary take on age-old traditions inspired us to explore her work and processes through film as well as print.

With London’s Origin Contemporary Craft Fair approaching, and keen to avoid the predictable A6 card, we set out with Victoria to create a statement piece of promo print.

That became an A5 flyer that unfolds into a double-sided poster, detailing her showcase pieces and helping promote her work at Origin and beyond.

But we could only show so much through print – to unveil the story behind Victoria’s work we travelled to the beautiful Staffordshire countryside location of her home studio to film her at work and talk about her inspirations, traditions and tastes in the process of making.

A cluttered studio full of curious tools, noisy machines and delicate touches set the scene. What we observed was a designer full of quirk and work made with character. An enlightening window into the world of the contemporary silversmith and metalworker.

Transforming an idea into a film requires a keen process of planning, visual scripting, test shoots, styling, filming, interviewing, recording and editing, turning a day’s worth of film and dialogue into a snappy, delicate whole.

Audio had to be cleaned up, clips spliced and colour balanced. Denoise and brighten. Slow down and crop in. Technology slotting creation within the frame of the editor as virtual acetate fell to the hard drive’s cutting room floor.

We composed the soundtrack in-house too, complementing the visuals with fluttering keys and percussive, rhythmic mallets vibing the klangs of the metalworking studio, summing up an essence of the surroundings, Victoria’s work and our day in the countryside studio.

With the film made and music composed, its place upon the internet was secured, linked to the real world by a fresh QR code, printed on a business card for Victoria to hand out at Origin, ready for a scan and a trip to Youtube.

Socially Responsible

We’re delighted to announce our success in a three way pitch to deliver the identity and campaign for the the University of Sheffield’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programme. It’s early days but we’re very excited about the appointment and are looking forward to a committed and sustainable relationship developing…

Modern Objects

Just in time for the Origin Contemporary Craft Fair we’ll have a new look for designer maker, Victoria Delany. Victoria creates bespoke tableware and lifestyle accessories for fine dining and boutique hotels. Objects like the beautiful CandleStack are available at stores like Wolf and Badger.