Cargo Collective
Here is some information about a great website which is a market place for graphic designers, artists, photographers etc
The Cargo Culture
For the last few years Cargo’s main goal has been to create accessible tools and a networked context to enhance the exposure of talented individuals on the Internet.
To achieve this, we offer our users free-standing websites; a wide variety of customizable templates; simple but sophisticated tools to control the way their content is displayed, and a unique user interface built entirely around the work shared by our members who are connected through the Cargo network.
Today, thanks to the consistent quality of the work presented here, we like to think of Cargo as a creative community participating in a constantly evolving visual culture, defined by the exceptional content that finds its way here.
Cargo Gallery
From the beginning, Cargo has attracted some of the most talented individuals now posting their work online, as can be seen in this constantly updated exhibition of the images we love. All work featured here has been found across the network by the Cargo team. Visit the GalleryBy Invite Only
To maintain the highest possible degree of quality, Cargo memberships are restricted by an Invite Only policy that is mediated by account holders, each of whom can invite 5 new members. (Note: we occasionally award memberships to unaffiliated talents who share a sample of their work.)
Style Salvage – A men’s fashion and style blog.
Style Salvage is blog about how men could (and do) dress. Started back in June 2007, the blog aims to showcase emerging and established design talent alike. It features style commentary, 7 day style diaries, interviews with designers, journalists and shop owners mixed in with the occasional personal style shot.
Click the banner image or the link below to visit the website.
Style Salvage – A men’s fashion and style blog..
Harris and Hoole – Independent Coffee Chain?
Getting out of a cab last week in Uxbridge the first thing to greet Lynda and I was a sign saying “great coffee served here” quite a statement.
Looking up we saw a new coffee house called Harris and Hoole, the name sounded very poetic [the names originates from a diary exert by Samuel Pepys], the glass fronted exterior was covered in doodles telling me lots of info about the company and their ambitions.
It dosnt take more than a few doodles and a sniff of an independent to draw us in; and we weren’t disappointed the interior decor looked really great. The design is following the very popular trend of recycling, renewing and reinventing.
There were all the ingredients of an independent store a community notice board, great music playing, people playing board games, live events advertised, hand written signage, quirky toilets and very friendly, knowledgable staff.
But there was something a little bit too ordered about the place, it looked and felt like an independent but in a “Disney” sense, i couldn’t quite put my finger then my business partner googled the company and found out that they were independent but financially backed by Tesco a big sigh followed this news.
But after looking at their website reading about the owners the Tolleys and reading quite a few press articles a few of which were giving them a hard time for supposedly deceiving their customers by not mentioning Tesco [it does clearly and proudly mention that they are backed by Tesco on their website] I thought does it really matter that they are backed by one of the biggest companies in the UK? Arnt a lot of companies looking for investors? And the banks are forthcoming with their money these days; and didn’t Tesco start out as an independent.
After drinking one of the best lattes i have had in a while i came to the conclusion that it dosnt matter, the most important thing is that its a great new business giving the public a choice, the town a lovely looking shop and lots of people job opportunities.
But don’t let my rantings sway you, pop along to one of their branches, look at their website and and decide for your self.
PS, it did feel a bit ordered but hopefully will get a little bit rough around the edges once the hoards stark flocking to it, which I’m sure they will.
Click here to read an interview with Nick Tolley, Chief executive of Harris and Hoole.
Click here to visit the Harris and Hoole website.
Top Drawer January 2013 – Inspirational Ideas
Here are a few inspirational snaps i took at the Top Drawer home wares show last week in Earls court London.
Love this eye chart graphic
Great use of simple trestle tables and scaffolding tubing
Hay bail displays
Recycled pallets look great painted
These coloured masking tapes are quickly becoming a trend
and can be used visually in so many ways.
Love the large scale perimeter graphics
taken from the print son the aprons, just shows you can take
inspiration from anything for features walls.
Love this simple but powerful heart display,
would look great as a window.
Upcycling is here to stay with people getting more imaginative every day.
Repetition always looks good.
This is a great eaxample of how to use product to create a superb visual feature.
This wood block wallpaper looks so real and love the creation of the
Ella Doran brand name using nails and sting so clever.
I have always loved these funfair style lights.
Here given a contemporary twist in white.
Pallets again this time made new and stacked to create
a great display fixture and laid flat as flooring.
Las Vegas Neon Museum
Las Vegas Neon Museum
Resurrecting the iconic lights of Sin City
by CH Contributor in Culture on 17 January 2013
By Corey Lewis
A wide lens on Las Vegas today shows a city that, while taken over in recent decades by a sterile, mega-mall homogeny along its new main drag, is still no stranger to design, studded with architectural monuments from Rafael Viñoly and Daniel Libeskind (and a tombstone by Lord Norman Foster in the form of the Harmon Hotel). Head south on the Strip and you’ll find a different kind of monument-cum-tombstone in a nouveau graveyard for the icons of capital-F “Fabulous” Las Vegas past.
The Neon Museum, a non-profit project founded in 1996 and officially opened last October, serves as the final resting place for upwards 150 historic neon signs: obituaries for Howard Hughes’ Desert Inn, Bugsy Siegel’s Flamingo, the Stardust and Moulin Rouge all packed into a modest chunk of cluttered but surprisingly curatorial desert hidden in the shadow of The Strip’s new super-resorts.
Click the link below to read the full article
Retailers: how is your marketing mix working? Survey
Amanda Ruiz from Promote Your Shop (www.promoteyourshop.co.uk) is carrying out a survey in order to understand what retailers are looking for and to also identify some possible gaps in their marketing mix. The objective of Promote Your Shop is to help retailers boost customer awareness, loyalty and retention as well as driving the all essential footfall by using the powerful S-H-O-P retail marketing strategies. We will enter you into a draw where the lucky name will win a gorgeous alpaca jumper from HUMM Alpaca Knitwear (www.hummshop.com)
Please note that we will not share your data with any third parties and that your responses will be collated in order to draw up a report in an anonymous manner:
Click the link below to take the survey.
Farrow & Ball – Key Colours for 2013
Farrow and Ball Key Colours for 2013
Our lovely friends at Farrow and ball have just released their key colour trends for the year. So if your thinking of giving your store a fresh look for the season or just want to add a splash of colour on a feature wall take a look and get decorating.
Flow and continuity
Colour in 2013 will create a feeling of flow and continuity transforming homes into a nurturing refuge. Although strikingly different shades, Cornforth White[4], French Gray[2], Stone Blue[3] and Black Blue[1] can all be used to create these harmonious, slightly nostalgic, decorating schemes.
Click the link below to read the full article
Top Drawer – January 13th to 15th January 2013
International Visual at Top Drawer
Lynda and I will once again be presenting seminars on
Monday 14th – 3pm
Tuesday 15th January - 11am
Seminar – Visual Matters
Learn how to unlock the potential of your store through the expertise of Visual Merchandising
Visual Merchandising is an ever changing industry as stores search for new innovative ways to present their merchandise to encourage customers to buy. This presentation showcases great ideas that attract customers to stores and the products inside. Find out clever techniques you can use to handle products. These ideas come from a variety of retailers across all product categories both here in the UK and abroad.
The presentation includes case studies and showcases simple, inexpensive ideas that you can adapt to use in your own store.
We look forward to seeing you at the show.
What is Top Drawer?
Top Drawer is a Trade Show only.
Top Drawer, 13-15 January 2013, will once again bring together an inspirational showcase of over800 carefully selected British and international suppliers to the convenient central location of Earls Court, London. Top Drawer showcases the newest product launches, cutting edge designs and must-have products for 2013 - helping you to restock and refresh your store for the seasons ahead.
Presented in five easy-to-navigate zones, Top Drawer is the perfect opportunity to source bestselling products and preview Spring/Summer 2013 collections – all in one day and in one convenient location within the nation’s capital.
Top Drawer attracts buyers from all over the UK and around the globe. Each year, over 15,000 visitors come through our doors to select from the thousands of products on display, including buyers from:
