Christmas Greetings

It's been a busy year here at Creative Twinning HQ. One of our partners, Hannah, had her second son Ethan a few weeks ago. Congratulations Hannah, John and Isaac! Debbie has been expanding her shop in Nottingham's Lace Market, making more space to include more items from our Karlsruhe twins. And I (Jayne) have just moved house, so the Creative Twinning correspondence address has changed, check it out on our Contact page.

We are delighted to have Creative Twinning showcased in Karlsruhe right now. 2014 twin Jutta Becker invited us to show work in her small but perfectly formed shop on Marienstrasse in Karlsruhe.

We are delighted with how it looks and can't wait to develop this relationship further- in the meantime check out Jutta's work online http://www.jutta-becker-objektdesign.de

In 2015, we plan to return to Eunique and to invite some more Karlsruhe 'Twins' to Nottingham. if you are a designer and would like to get involved in either trip, please get in touch. See you soon, have a Happy New Year!

Creative Twinning designers are off to visit German ‘Twins’

Only weeks after waving farewell to Karlsruhe design visitors, Creative Twinning designers Debbie Bryan, Hannah Lobley and Jayne Childs prepare to exhibit their work in Germany for the fourth year running.
The team are heading off in mid-May to Eunique Applied Arts Fair. The annual fair is held in Nottingham’s twin city of Karlsruhe, Germany and welcomes around 13,000 visitors over three days.

Thanks to support from Design Factory, One Nottingham and the Creative Quarter, the Creative Twinning team are determined to keep a good presence at the fair, which has been an important networking opportunity for Nottingham designers since Creative Twinning’s first showcase in 2011. Even though there are financial pressures on designers here in the UK, the show has led to many successful opportunities for the trio. Jayne has developed a successful jewellery collaboration with Karlsruhe goldsmith Brigitte Adolph, Debbie has sold her products in Karlsruhe and welcomed German designers to stock their work in her Lace Market shop, and Hannah has received a trade order for Korea and sold work to the President of the World Craft Council!

This year the team’s ambitions continue to develop: for Debbie the visit will be a buying trip, researching new designers and collections for her shop. Hannah has been selected to take part in the 'Just Paper' showcase within Eunique. Jayne will show her contemporary lace textiles as part of the daily fashion show for the first time this year.
Jayne said ‘Eunique has always welcomed our British design contingent and we are delighted to return this year for the fourth time. We hope that next year we will again be joined by other Design Factory members to continue our strong British presence.’

Nottingham and Karlsruhe have been twinned for over 40 years and over that time many good friendships and working relationships have been forged between residents. Design collaborations include Jayne’s lace made into solid silver by with goldsmith Brigitte Adolph, and Kit Anderson’s work with street artist Juli Foos. This year’s visitors were ceramicist Jutta Becker, and jewellers Susanne Högner and Leonore Jock.

The visitors had a privileged tour of the Lace Archive at Nottingham Trent University, a chance to chat with Kathy McArdle of about the Creative Quarter and met with Creative Greenhouse members at Rufford Abbey Country Park. They also toured Harley Gallery and Studios on the Welbeck Estate in North Nottinghamshire. The trio’s design work is currently showcased at Debbie Bryan Studio & Shop 18 St Mary’s Gate, in Nottingham’s Lace Market area.

Creative Twinning are looking to make new opportunities and spark collaborations, so if you’d like to be involved in next year’s activities or would like to find out more about Eunique, do get in touch

Gearing up to welcome our Creative Twins!

At the end of March we welcome our Creative Twins from Karlsruhe: Jutta Becker, Leonore Jock and Susanne Högner. We have some exciting events planned where you will be able to meet and exchange ideas with them.

Leonore Jock

Susanne Högner

Jutta Becker

In association with Projector at Broadway, on the afternoon of Thursday 27th March we will be deep in Conversation with designers on the Projector programme, discussing 'Challenges'. 

After that at 5.30pm we'll be hosting the private view of the Creative Twinning Showcase at Debbie Bryan Studio and Shop on St Mary's Gate. All are welcome, but please do book your place!

On Friday we're off to the Craft Centre at Rufford Abbey and Country Park, where Creative Greenhouse will be hosting a 'Kreativ Kaffe' networking session. Refreshments are provided by Creative Greenhouse, you bring the conversation! All welcome, simply book here.

The designers are then being whisked off to have a guided tour of Harley Gallery and Studios, before we return to Nottingham for a more relaxed Friday night in Nottingham.

The designers will be Nottingham based on Saturday with visits to Nottingham Contemporary, the Castle and other art venues across the city. 

Please let us know if you would like to be involved with the designers visits or if you would like to chat to them. They are really excited about visiting Nottingham- so let's make their stay a warm and welcoming one!

Creative Twinning Design Showcase Opportunity

Creative Twinning Design Showcase - deadline extended to 25th Jan!

View and download the Information Document here
View and download the Exhibition Application Form here

Nottingham, Karlsruhe & New York March 2014

Creative Twinning  invite applications from designers based in Karlsruhe to join Nottingham and New York Designers for a showcase of their artwork and to share experiences of running a design business. The successful applicants will be invited to make a visit to Nottingham, UK in which they have the opportunity to:

 1.Take part in a Creative Twinning Showcase with an agreed selection of work at:
Debbie Bryan Studio & Shop, 18 St Mary's Gate, Lace Market, Nottingham NG1 1PH www.debbiebryan.co.uk
Showcase dates Saturday 1st March – Saturday 3rd May 2014
Work to arrive at venue by Tuesday 24th February and any unsold work will be returned to Karlsruhe by the end of May 2014.
With a Private view, Drinks & canapés during your visit to Nottingham on 27th March

2. Showcase an agreed selection of work alongside Creative Twinning Designers in the Apsidal Gallery, Rufford Abbey Country Park from March-May http://www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/enjoying/countryside/countryparks/rufford/

3. Share your story with an invited audience of like-minded designers, entrepreneurs & creative industrie

4. Participate in formal and informal networking and awareness raising events

5.Visit retail outlets and introduce your work to build links

Please note: The artist is responsible for all postage costs, including the return of your work

The visit will take place between Thursday 27th – 30th Sunday March 2014, candidates need to be available to visit Nottingham for these dates.

To apply please provide your full contact details, a brief CV and a one page summary (in English) of:

1. Your product;
2. The story of your commercial success and any obstacles you face;
3. Your customers and why they buy your products;
4. Any awards or competitions you have been considered for.

Please also include 5 recent images of your work and any web-links. You must also complete a worksheet with information about the work you would bring for the showcase.(Download above)

The closing date for applications is Friday 24th January 2014

Our contact in Karlsruhe is Angelika Schmidt, City of Karlsruhe, Culture Office - Department of International Relations. E-mail: angelika.schmidt@kultur.karlsruhe.de
She is willing to assist with queries about the project.

But applications must be submitted to: info@creativetwinning.com

Rufford Showcase

We were delighted to be invited to showcase our work at Rufford Abbey Country Park. The fantastic Arts Development team at Nottinghamshire County Council have been so supportive of us from the start, and have allowed us to fill the Apsidal Gallery with Creative Twinning work. we'll have work in there until April 2014 on a rolling programme.

The Apsidal Gallery at Rufford Park

So far, we are showing the work of Jayne, Debbie and Hannah. In October, we plan to add work from designers joining us in New York for Twinning events. Finally in March 2014 we will showcase the Creative Twinning designers who will visit us from Karlsruhe and New York.

We are planing a 'Meet the Makers' event  when you can come along and meet the international visitors, see their designs up close and talk to them about their work, hopes and future plans.

In her own words - Juli Foos

One man‘s trash, another man‘s treasure
I have tried to discover things among all the garbage that no one else sees. I have transformed the trash without really making any changes. The result, in the end, were rugs or carpets that consist of beautiful graphical patterns and at the same time tell something about our throwaway society.
I like the thought to leave the trash where it usually is - on the ground - but arranged it in a certain order.

When the thrown away things are multiplied, collected and brought into a certain order, the trash can be seen in a different context and its image changes. From everyday garbage like plastic or paper bags, ordinary packagings for sweets or tissues and caps from drinking bottles, just to mention a few, I created textiles that consist of graphically interesting patterns. All the objects have different and individual qualities, but every single one is telling its own story. Because of the materials some of the rugs are perfect for outdoor or bathroom use and some are more considered to be in the living area.
The rugs don‘t have any other special use, they are just carpets. Beyond that they are nearly pieces of art that tell something about our society: What we throw away, what we are consuming and what kind of trash we have in the end. The stories are always about people and products. The objects offer the opportunity to see all the amounts of waste at once, brought together with old handicraft techniques like weaving, crocheting, ironing or welding.

 What makes me an eco-designer?
For me as a designer, the most interesting and exciting part of my work is to discover things not everybody recognizes at first. I always try to find a story behind everything.

What I really like about waste, is that it is always attached to a story because it comes from some person who has done something that produced the trash. The moment, when a certain object or packaging is no longer a packaging but turns into trash. When I was a child, I already felt sorry for objects or products that are not needed anymore and thrown away.

Within my project „one man‘s trash…“ I have mostly worked with real waste from the streets or from some shops or wherever I could get much of one certain type of trash. I tried to see not only polluted pavements in the streets but a huge material storage, free off charge. It was all a very big challenge because many artists and designers have worked with trash and recycling, but I think I am going my very own way now with arranging, ordering and connecting the trash and that‘s what I consider as the most important thing for a designer or an artist.

The so-called story of my success:
The story of my success probably is as long as I am doing creative stuff. I was always searching for „my thing“ and I always used to be interested in urban surroundings, street art, trash and all the things you can tell stories about. So this diploma work is just a logical conclusion of all the thoughts and ideas in my mind that used to be so uncoordinated at some points. I think now that I went through this project and i‘m still into it, I learned how to use my sometimes very autistic way to look at things.

I was working on a completely different topic for the diploma at first, but then I realzied that I have to change it very short in advance, cause the trash project was what I was actually really in love with. When I presented it to my professors and the first time to an audience, I put up an exhibition in a graphic design studio. The rugs were presented in a certain order that build up a story and you could go through the different rooms and follow the story. I placed rugs also in the kitchen and in the bathroom, just where they are supposed to be used. I had a brief talk and showed my short movie and everyone loved it and I never heard my professor talk like that and I was really touched and proud.

Then I was invited to present the project again, one week later at the EUNIQUE International fair for art and design in karlsruhe on a 70 squaremeter stand. I was really surprised and overwhelmed and we came up with an exhibition concept in 3 days and with the help of many people we built up a great stand on the fair and the feedback I got there was really extraordinary and amazing.
I talked to school classes, teachers, artists and designers, to children and to older people and it was so good to see that they all understand my point and liked my objects.
Some of the pieces will be taken into the kkaarrllss design collection (limited designs created by young german designers) and they can be bought from there or from upcoming exhibitions.
The Big Donut Rug has recently be shown in the Design Center in Kielce, Poland and I was told it was the „darling of the public“.

As I have been working for a summer theatre, I haven‘t worked on the project lately, but now, when autumn comes I want to get into it again and also travel a bit and find other trash in other cities and there are plans about creating a golden chandelier from the trash that a certain Black Forest beer produces.


The project has been awarded a scholarship of the german IKEA foundation to support my
diploma work and it has been nominated for the ZKM (center for arts and media in Karlsruhe)
advancement award.

www.juuuli.de.lv
http://julifoos.wordpress.com/one-mans-trash/die-objekte-the-objects/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3qZ14FByQU

In her own words - Renate Schweizer

What makes you an ‘eco-designer’?
I am working and using recycling material as basic- material of my art since my childhood. As an
artist I am taking responsibility in using economical and recycling material for I want to take care
for the health of earth, of the nature, of life in its whole.
Studying arts in India and United states in the early eighties I found the awareness of recycling
material as basic-material for art in the childrem-museum of fine arts in Boston. There for example
people could buy cleaned old cups from yoghurts or bottles to create puppets and masks in
workshop with children. I was very amused about this, that people gave money for the cleaned
yoghurt-cups in the museum but didn't clean their yoghurt-cups at home... this would have been a
different worth-thing in their minds.
2004 + 2005 I have been artist in residence in romania 2005/6 I have been artist in residence in
New Delhi, India. There I started to dry and collect the teabags after drinking my tea. Back in
Germany I continued collecting the old teabags, and created a Kimono made of 600 teabagpapers
for my art-project „Come to dinner – evention to all nations and religions“ exhibition in Karlsruhe:



2007 I created a dress with teabag-papers from red tea

2009 I created the 1st Karlsruher Teebollenhut

Tell us about any obstacles you face and any commercial successes you've had
Until now I didn't really do the cloths commercial, just create them for my art-project „Come to
dinner – invention to all nations and religions“ because for dinner it's a must to wear special
clothes.
For future I dream of creating more individual and crazy hats for Ascot and get the recomend of Charles Barnet and sell it for the happening in Berkshire.

Tell us about your 'customers'
My customers are visitors of my exhibitions and they buy the hats, because they can used it in real in
summer. Also I give workshops in creating your own individual sun-hat with old teabagpapers.

Renate is a member of GEDOK Karlsruhe and International Association of Paper Artists and PaperMakers (iapma)

In Her Own Words - Weibke Goos

Currently, I’m concentrating on designing and producing wearable jewellery - unique pieces as well as small-scale series. My jewellery is characterized by the combination of innovative manufacturing methods, traditional gold work and very old casting techniques. Due to the different manufacturing processes the pieces obtain special surface structures and quite often an archaic charisma.

During my studies at Pforzheim University I have already launched the jewellery brand “Goos Jewellery”. I believe that social justice and the protection of our environment are as important as excellent quality and design. Therefore every piece of jewellery is manufactured from recycled or fair-trade silver, gold and gems. It is my aim to unify timeless and individual design, highest value as well as social and environmental responsibility.

Right after my last year’s graduation I opened the gallery “Goldaffairs” in Karlsruhe. It is the first German gallery for ethical jewellery and sustainable accessories. It is located in the east of Karlsruhe, in close vicinity to the old slaughterhouse. Currently, this area is on the move, there will be studios for artists and designers in the near future. Besides my own works I sell products from international designers and small brands. The accessories I offer are out of recycled materials or vegetable-tanned leather. The jewellery is manufactured from fair-trade precious metals and gems or recycled precious metals.

Trying to establish a business based on a holistic concept of sustainability and social justice is not always easy, but in my eyes it is worth trying in so many ways. In Germany, topics like “ethical jewellery” and “responsible mining” are not as widespread as they are in England, but the public awareness is increasing and the media presence is growing. I experience my customers to be very interested and receptive. Some of them come to my gallery because they already knew about my concept and would like to buy jewellery made of fair-trade gold or silver, others like my design, the personal atmosphere and the products I’m selling.
As I already implied highest quality in design and fabrication, the selection of unique and exceptional products as well as a distinguished customer service are my priorities. Fair-Trade and sustainability are therefore more like a topping that my customers appreciate and that makes my business remarkable.

For me it is more complicated, more expensive and time-consuming to buy fair-trade precious metals and gems. Furthermore, the production of my jewellery is costlier but I hope that this will change in the future. In the meantime, I am convinced it is worth dealing with these aspects even though one must make compromises sometimes.


 Last year, I won the “Heinrich–Blanc Förderpreis” which is awarded every year and honors exceptional academic theses to promote the progress in Baden-Württemberg. I developed an own manufacturing method to create a symbiosis of jewellery and packaging. Both elements interact and therefore are inextricably linked with each other. Every piece of jewellery is formed in its own mold which is, at the same time, the packaging. Thereby every item gains its very special charisma and uniqueness. (mein stein)
In the same year, I competed for the STUDENT DESIGN AWARD for rapid manufacturing and won the second prize. I presented an innovative jewellery concept working with generative design to create rings consisting of very complex organic structures (morphogenetic).

Creative Twins from Karlsruhe arriving soon!

Our Creative Twins from Karlsruhe are arriving at the beginning of next week. We are so pleased to be able to welcome them!

They are:
Juli Foos - 'One man's trash is another man's treasure' - Find out more on Juli's website

Weibke Goos -a jeweller creating a green alternative to conventional jewellery - http://www.goos-jewellery.com/

(photo: Petra Jaschke)

Renate Schweizer describes herself as an 'intermodal artist'. She is bringing recycled fashion this time
She has a YouTube channel showing her work here

Come and meet Juli, Weibke and Renate at Fantastic Futures 5-7pm at Designer Forum and  Designer's Resolutions 6 7- Midnight at Antenna on Tuesday 23rd October, and Inspire and Unite 5-8pm at Nottingham Contemporary on Friday 26th October

Back from Germany

Time has flown by since we returned from Karlsruhe for a second time! After a week in Germany Debbie and I (Jayne) have been rushed off our feet getting back to our own businesses and working on plans for later in the year.

I'll get a review posted just as soon as I can. In the meantime you can view images of our trip on Flickr by clicking this link. 

Here's the amazingly talented CT designers at the press night at Eunique 

(L-R: Suet Yi, Jayne Childs, Debbie Bryan, Rachel Lunn, Michele Arieu, Ashi Marwaha, Gillian Lee Smith, Lucy Harding and Kit Anderson)

Off to see our Creative Twins

We can't wait to meet up with our Creative Twins in Karlsruhe this week. We're back there showing at Eunique Applied Arts Fair for a second year. This year our ranks have swelled to ten, with designers joining us from across Nottingham and the East Midlands.

Debbie and I are also joined by Mandi, Kate and Georgina from South Nottingham College, who are hoping to set up a student exchange of some kind and are going to see exactly what opportunities there are. Hayley Banks from Design Factory, who have generously supported the ten designers, will be there to make links with creative organisations from across Baden Württemberg and beyond.

We'll be looking for Karlsruhe designers to join us in Nottingham for a reciprocal visit in October 2012 and catching up with Angelika, Brigitte, Nora and Philine from last year's twinning events. As you may know, I (Jayne from JC Middlebrook) have started to work with Brigitte making Nottingham Lace in silver. We hope this year's trip will produce more joint enterprises and design collaborations.

Wish us luck, we'll try and update you whilst we're there. See you soon

Creative Twinning 2012

We're in the midst of last minute preparation for Creative Twinning's visit to Eunique Applied Arts Fair in Nottingham's twin city of Karlsruhe. The original Creative twinning designers Debbie Bryan, Hannah Lobley and Jayne Childs will accompanied by 7 designers from across the East Midlands. You can find out more about the designers showing at Eunique here.

We'll also have representatives from two of our supporting partners Design Factory and South Nottingham College. Alongside the fair we'll be busy making links with creative organisations from the Karlsruhe area in preparation for the Creative Twinning showcase we are already planning for October 2012.

We took time out yesterday to take part in some German Language and Cultural Awareness training from the fantastic Jo Small at Optima Training. Our supporting partner Future Factory at NTU hosted us for the day as we prepared our language skills for the trip!

Creative Twinning next stage plans

We will be meeting with some of our supporting partners and designers this Friday to get acquainted and start planning our Creative Twinning trip to Karlsruhe in May. As you may know ten designers from across the East Midlands will be exhibiting at Eunique Applied Arts Fair in Karlsruhe. We hope to also offer partners from Design Factory and South Nottingham College the chance to meet up with their 'Creative Twins' from that region of Germany.

Then we are planning to invite some German designers to return to Nottingham in October 2012 for more exciting events and a design showcase. Later on this year we will be focussing on bringing on young designers so are working on plans with South Nottingham College to help mentor and encourage them, with the aim of involving the young people in the 2013 exchange.

We'll tweet some photos on Friday so don't forget to follow us @creativetwin

‘Creative Twins’ meet up in Munich

JC Middlebrook designer Jayne Childs has just returned to Nottingham from Munich where she visited her ‘Creative Twin’, jewellery designer Brigitte Adolph at the Inhorgenta international jewellery fair.

Brigitte's stand at Inhorgenta

Jayne met Brigitte in May 2011, when she exhibited at Eunique Applied Arts Fair in Karlsruhe. The trip was Creative Twinning’s first trip, and culminated in three German designers making a reciprocal visit to Nottingham in October 2011. Jayne and Brigitte were reacquainted during this visit and decided to start collaborating on some lace designs for jewellery.

JC Middlebrook lace in real silver!

Brigitte has developed a range of silver jewellery from Jayne’s lace designs and the show was the first opportunity for Jayne to see how the designs had worked in the precious metal.  The pair took some time during Jayne’s stay to work out some technical issues with the designs and plan new work for the coming months. Jayne is returning to Germany with Creative Twinning in May, alongside nine other Design Factory members for Eunique 2012. The pair hopes to have more work completed by then, alongside some special pieces to be incorporated directly into Jayne’s textiles.

About JC Middlebrook – Jayne Childs began making lace under the business name JC Middlebrook in September 2010. She is inspired by the history of machine made lace in her home city of Nottingham and uses original designs from the former factories as a starting point for her lace textiles.

More information about JC Middlebrook at www.jcmiddlebrook.co.uk and Brigitte Adolph’s lace jewellery can be seen here http://www.brigitte-adolph.de/en/spitzenschmuck.html 

About Inhorgenta - Inhorgenta is an internationally renowned industry forum offering the most comprehensive overview of current and future developments in the world of jewellery and watches. Inhorgenta covered a total of 66,000 square meters of space, divided over six exhibition halls at Messe München International and around 30,000 trade visitors made their way around 1134 trade stands.  http://www.inhorgenta.com/en/portal

Creative Twinning 2012

We're so happy to be returning to Karlsruhe in May 2012. This year, we have partnered with Design Factory to offer 7 additional East Midlands designers the opportunity to showcase at Eunique Applied Arts fair.

The Creative Twinning/Design Factory group will include:

• Debbie Bryan - Knitted textiles and fashion accessories
• Paperwork by Hannah Lobley - Recycled paper products
• J C Middlebrook - Lace textiles
• Ashi Marwaha - Jewellery
• Catherine Carr Glass - Glass
• Gillian Lee Smith - Textiles
• Foto Ceramica - Ceramics
• Porcellana & Duomo - Ceramics
• Rachel Helen Designs  - Jewellery
• Suet Yi Ceramics - Ceramics

It will be so exciting to introduce these designers to this fantastic arts fair, and to Karlsruhe, where we received such a warm welcome last year. We'll have more news in the next few weeks, so watch  this space!

Creative Twinning, Creative Winning

Last week's Creative Twinning events went off without a hitch (or at least none that you could see!) and we thank our partners for their help and support in making it all happen.

Our Karlsruhe guests Nora, Philine, Brigitte and Angelika arrived safely in Nottingham on Tuesday and we kicked off by attending a screening of 'Made in Dagenham' (written by Nottingham's own Billy Ivory) at the Nottingham Girls High School. The screening was hosted by Women in Nottingham, who made our guest very welcome and plied them with nibbles!

Billy Ivory introducing Made in Dagenham

Wednesday was a busy day for all, with Debbie, Philine and Angelika starting the day as guests of Mark Dennison on BBC Radio Nottingham, talking about Creative Twinning and the cultural links we are starting to form.

The first formal event was a forum, or panel discussion held in the Paul Smith Suite at the Broadway. we had over 50 attendees and the audience really engaged with all the designers. No awkward moments where noone wanted to ask a question. What was lovely was that the first and last questions in the session were directed at the audience by panel members! Thanks to Sarah McNicol from Antenna for her lively and informed chairing of the discussion.

Waiting for the forum to start

Then we were off to Designer Forum, where we had more nibbles and refreshments. A slightly hairy moment for a couple of the German designers who took a left in stead of a right on their way to Designer Forum and ended up ringing Jayne from outside the Victoria Centre, admitting 'We are lost!'.  We really enjoyed an opportunity to network and have a look round the DF facitlies including the truly amazing trend books.

Nina welcomes the guests for networking at Designer Forum

One very quick change for us designers and it was back to the Lace Market Gallery where the Creative Twinning collections looked lovely in that unique space. Many attendees stayed to round the day off with wine and nibbles and took the chance to talk more to the designers and other guests. Photos were taken by Affari magazine and are available to view here. By the time we said goodnight to the last guest we were pretty bushed but still managed to go for something to eat at Edin's on the way home.

L-R Debbie Bryan, Nora Rochel, Brigitte Adolph, Angelika Schmidt, Hannah Lobley, Jayne Childs, Philine Kempf

Thursday was our designer's last day in Nottingham and they used it well, Brigitte visited a lace manufacturer and came away loaded down with samples, whilst Philine and Angelika went on a whistle-stop tour of Nottingham Castle. Nora headed off to New York (what a jet-setter!) at midday, so we said goodbye to her mid morning as we went off to attend a lecture at Nottingham Trent University by Eco Fashion author Sass Brown.Thank you to Future Factory for organising that!

Finally we all had the pleasure of a look into NTU's Lace Archive, for which we must thank Amanda Briggs-Goode. Amanda is in charge of this amazing collection of lace and lace industry and was very tolerant of our oohs and aahs as she revealed yet another layer of Nottingham's amazing design history to us.

Angelika and I nipped off to the New Art Exchange where we were greeted by CEO Skinder Hundal and team, and treated to a personal tour of the new Leo Asemota exhibition.

One last meal together and it was goodbyes all round as our guests had to catch a taxi to the airport at (whisper it) 4am! I do hope they have recovered and have finally got back into the real world since thier visit. It has taken me this long to come down from the ceiling and evaluate all the opportunities that are coming Nottingham's way as a result of this twinning week.


Thanks again to our partners, to Debbie and Hannah for being good sports and to all of you who came to the events.

Finally don't forget you can catch the showcase at the Lace Market Gallery, 25 Stoney St Nottingham until 27th October. Please do leave your comments if you go, just like these! 

See you soon, Jayne x

Our Creative Twins from Karlsruhe

We are very pleased to announce the names of the Creative Twin designers joining us from Karlsruhe in October. They are*:

Brigitte Adolph - Brigitte Adolph’s elaborately crafted pieces look like delicate lace. What seems to be finespun fabric, however, turns out to be pure precious metal. The graduate designer likes to play with optical illusions. Although inspired by the past, her rings, brooches, pendants and earrings are nevertheless characterized by an authentic, contemporary formal idiom.



Philine Kempf - Philine's work combine different materials in collages. The focus on the one hand, the portable art objects in the foreground. Different metals, stones, wood etc. adorn the people, but the carrier can also direct references to art and to produce energy: Physical, tangible, visible to constantly changing places, transformable by the background.




Nora Rochel - Nora Rochel's new work is called “Phytophilia” which means “love for plants”. She draws inspiration from the miracle of life, the cycle of growth, bloom and decay. The emphasis is on life affirming energy and the positive symbolism of plants and flowers representing growth and fertility.

The designers will be accompanied by Angelika Schmidt who represents the Department of International Relations in Karlsruhe Culture Office and has been a great help to us in organising the Creative Twinning visit.

To find out more about the designers and about the creative sector in Germany more generally, why not attend our Creative Twinning events on 12th October?

For more information and to book your place, please click here http://www.creativetwinning.eventbrite.com/

*Please click on the designer's name to visit their website. 

Creative Twinning October events

Following on from the success of a collaborative showcase in Karlsruhe in May, we have created a programme of events on the 12th October 2011, including the launch of a  3 week exhibition at the Lace Market Gallery, Stoney Street, Nottingham.

12th October 2-4pm - Paul Smith Screen Room, Broadway Cinema - FREE EVENT

Creative Forum - This is a unique opportunity to find out about the Creative Twinning concept and meet the designers involved from Nottingham and Karlsruhe. During question time, ask the designers anything! It's a great opportunity to find out about exhibiting abroad, get their views on eco-design and sustainability or maybe what it's like to run a business in 2011?

 The questions are yours to ask, places are limited so booking is essential. Click the button to the right to register now. alternatively, find out more on the event web page www.ctforum121011.eventbrite.com

12th October 4.30-6pm - Designer Forum, Lower Parliament Street- FREE EVENT

Informal follow on networking event to meet like minded creatives and small businesses within the East Midlands. Booking essential and mandatory.Please see the http://creativetwinning.blogspot.com for booking procedures

12th October 6-8pm - Exhibition launch event at Lace Market Gallery - FREE EVENT

Private view of the Creative Twinning Exhibition, a Collection of environmental and ethical sustainable work including jewellery, textiles, lace & paper.

Come and join us for this unique event, view the artwork and meet new people in a great venue.

12th - 28th October - Lace Market Gallery, Stoney Street, Nottingham - FREE ENTRY

Creative Twinning Exhibition- a collection of Eco-Creative work by J.C Middlebrook, Paperwork by Hannah Lobley, Debbie Bryan Collections and 3 designers from Nottingham's twinned city of Karlsruhe, Germany. Private view Wednesday 12th October from 6-8pm



Remember you can find out more and register here  www.ctforum121011.eventbrite.com