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