what to see at brighton festival, fringe and artists' open houses | last weekend

Lets talk about how awesome Brighton is in May, you've got Artists' Open Houses, Brighton Festival AND Brighton Fringe. There's a lot going on and a lot of it is FREE!

We try to go to as much stuff as we can during May, some of it is hit, some of them - big misses!

Here's a little round up of what we have seen over the last week (well the one's I took photos of)

| Dr Blighty |

You've got tonight and tomorrow night to get down to this! A ten minute projection showing you the history of the Pavilion, there's also lots of other parts of the exhibition in the gardens, from story telling sound trumpets and multi coloured lights in the lawn... it's the best thing we've seen as part of the Festival, definitely check it out if you can, it's FREE after all!

| Studio Loo |

Studio Loo is our FAVOURITE open house, now I find open houses a little bit #awkward a lot of the time, some people make you feel like you're trespassing, others you don't know whether you're allowed to cut the cake yourself or if you have to be served, and some of them are just damn right boring and you can't wait to get the hell out of there.

Studio Loo however, none of that, Claire is almost always there, she's chatty, she'll tell you all about how they turned an old public loo into an awesome eco studio complete with salvaged parquet flooring (painstakingly laid by hand) and old-skool gymnastics horses.

All of this is alongside a whole heap of awesome designer makers, why would you not want to go?

new work by hello DODO

 | Big Steam Print |

A lino printing steam roller! Now this isn't happening again as part of the Brighton Festival BUT if you missed it you can see it in Ditchling at their village fair (perfect time to check out Gary Stranger's Type Graffiti then too if you do go!)

It's noisy, colourful and therefore the most fun to watch! We spent a couple of hours watching lots of different lino prints being made, some small designs, a couple of massive ones by local artists and Prints which survive the pummelling of tons of steel on tarmac will form the Big Steam Print exhibition at Phoenix Gallery in Brighton: 6– 21 August.

Hope you have a super fun weekend, if you go to anything good, let us know!

ROAR!

Karli

made in cumbria. jane postlethwaite.

Jane Postlethwaite is an actor, comedian and writer based in Brighton. Originally from the Lake District, she thinks of herself as an advocate for the North.

We met Jane at Craftaganza a few years ago, we got chatting and now she is a designosaur ambassador, wearing our pieces at her gigs!

Jane looking FRESH in our brachiosaurus necklace

This year Jane has written her own Brighton Fringe show and you are all invited! Her first ever solo show, ‘Made in Cumbria’ will introduce you to a selection of dark female characters who will welcome you into their unique world. One of my favourites is Kirsty Bird!

I was really excited to meet the other characters including Karroll Kavannagh a survival expert who is serious about survival and has her own video diaries! Also the first northern female astronaut, a children’s author who is determined to be the next Beatrix Potter, and Bri Frommage a creative director and online life coach.

Jane is laugh out loud funny, but then I have a pretty dark sense of humour too!

Want to see for yourself? It's going to be ALL THE FUN! It's at the Laughing Horse at The Quadrant on 16, 28 May at 7pm and then on 31 May on 5.45pm. You can also follow the adventure on Jane's blog.

Have fun and let us know if you do go down!

Karli

Sunday!

So I had the day off on Sunday, and we tried to cram in as much as possible, so this is going to be a bit of a day in the life of post. With lots of pictures. Here goes!

This is what I wore, new glitter jelly shoes which I got for my birthday but this was the first weather appropriate day to wear them. They are awesome and I got LOADS of compliments. However I'm not a heel wearer and wearing them for 10 hours with tights (slippy feet) made my feet hurt, so I think I want flat ones too!

The Unicorn ring is obviously designosaur, and the rainbow ring is the HEAVIEST ring I own, I also wore a Minnie Mouse crop top, so I couldn't have been more 90s if I had tried...

designosaur Unicorn Ring and Me and Zena Rainbow Ring via Porta 

We headed up to the AT Open House which is just beyond Queens Park and it was AMAZING! Honestly, it was AWESOME, go and see it. If you really really can't see it, read on and live through me...

This looked amazing! You had to put your hand on it, turn the crank and then you got a fortune  print! I didn't do it because it was £10 and having recently got all of my other prints that have been piling up, framed, I didn't want something else to get scrunched up in the cupboard waiting for a frame.

I love this! I think it's the simple colours and that it says BERT in the middle. I also have a bit of a soft spot for pharmaceutical art as I did my GCSE on Pillboxes (the title was 'Safely Enclosed' - best not to ask)

Bert Ibertprofen - Screenprint

Delicious Industries pop up on my twitter feed and I love these awesome prints. I think I need this one, but as I said before... PENNIES! I think it was very reasonable sold framed though... so I'll see if I last May without it ;)

Delicious Industries - Screenprint

Jacques has a T-Shirt with a bear similar to this one on, it was bought in Brighton and we were told they were designed by the people selling them but we don't remember them mentioning Claire Scully, so I'm not sure. More research needed!

Claire Scully - Bear - Archival Print

We watched some poetry, sunglasses were needed because it was sunny but also because HelloDODO led us astray again, and we were all a little hungover.

Hello DODO repping designosaur! Narwhal necklace and Dodo Brooch (links to necklace as the brooch isn't currently available on Etsy)

Hello DODO, new designs and some of the classics!

Everybody's favourite Print... 

More Hello Dodo

Jam and Ali (Ali is holding Vegan Cake which she was very excited about eating!)

There was much more that I didn't take photos of, so definitely go!

When we were having breakfast, because our flat is on Grand Parade, we saw all the buses and trucks going down to Maderia Drive for a London to Brighton. I LOVE the fonts, badges and styling on the faces of the trucks, and vintage cars are just so much more interesting to look at than modern cars. They were less about streamlining so they had awesome shapes! We wandered along and I stored some inspiration for a rainy day!

           

           

           

           

Ollie (our friend) said this one looked like Brum's Dad...

Jacques has been researching Brighton Festival events, and this was one he read about, he was particularly overexcited when he spotted this... but then immediately underwhelmed. You can read about it by following the link.

Under the Shadow of the Drone

As we came to the end of the trucks, Jacques pointed out that Fishtail Neon was open, I was so excited because we always come past when it's closed. I took some snaps, but the man, who I presume is the artist Andy Doig, was making something with a big flame and some Neon tubing so I didn't want to chat (distract) him too much!

It's amazing there, I begged Jacques to buy me a light but he said no. Again. Life's so unfair.

Oh yeah, Jacques works at Brighton and Hove Plastics and they cut some of the plastic for the big box type lights, it's amazing all the cool people he gets to work with!

Fishtail Neon

Andy Doig - Fishtail Neon

Fishtail Neon

We had a nose around the Makers Boutique Gallery on the seafront too! Checked out some more Hello DODO, and as you can see some of another of our favourites, Beetlecherry! Go and have a look next time you need a bit of shade on the seafront.

Makers Boutique on the Seafront

Then after a longer stroll to Hove Lawns, an icecream, a Pint and a tasty Sunday Lunch we headed home, past the clocktower which is COVERED IN CLOTHES!

Kaarina Kaikkonen clothes the clocktower

This post is long, and big, and it took FOREVER for me to link everything to the appropriate places because I HATE reading things on the blog and being like, I WANA KNOW MORE, or WHERE CAN I GET THAT and not being able to find it. So I hope you appreciate it. Let me know if this is too long or if you don't care what I did on Sunday.

ROAR!

Karli