Thursday 1 July 2010

BBC London radio show 30th June


Aha. So, first off, it was a chat with the fabulous Clare Beaton. She's the illustrator who started out her career at the BBC, working on children's programmes before the age of cartoons encroached upon such creativity. After that, and before her current artistic endeavours, she told us that she authored quite a few books ("written in pen and ink"), but really she was on the show to talk about what she does now - collage. And talk we did (although Robert found the subject a little bit "girly").

I stumbled upon Clare's work thanks to an exhibition in Haberdashery, one of my favourite cafes.


They had an exhibition of her original collages, aimed at children, but immensely pleasing to the adult eye.




They were also selling her excellent children's books, which are actually photographs of the original collages. Predictably, I bought one of those (£5) rather than the original artwork (around £300, framed), but the latter will go on my aspirational wish list. In the real world, though, the Elusive Moose did very nicely.


I'll talk about it in more detail on another show I think, but Haberdashery is found in Crouch End, on Middle Lane. I noted that while I called it a "local" cafe, I actually live on the wrong side of the tracks, in Stroud Green. Just before I signed off to let the news take over at 1pm, someone called Mike (or was it Nick?) from Holloway wrote in to reassure me that, from his point of view, I live on the right side. Thanks Mike/Nick! 

To find out more information about Clare Beaton, and where to buy the books, have a look at her website. And if you fancy having a go yourself, she's going to be running a workshop at her daughter's new enterprise, Oak Studio:




It's just opened in Hampstead, so I haven't been inside - but it sounds like there are great things afoot there. The plan is to host multifarious workshops (writing, baking, making, and a whole squelch of other creative ideas) and occasionally sell things; shopping has become ubiquitously pop-up, wouldn't you say?


Then it was straight on to the Bust Craftacular, which seemed difficult to say, suddenly.


On Saturday 10th July, at York Hall (5-15 Old Ford Road E2 9PJ), there will be fun and frivolity in the form of 60 independent designer/maker stallholders. Selling their wares to a soundtrack of cool tunes and the clatter of china teacups, it's an 'Indie Shopping Mall'. If it's anything like the Christmas one I attended, it'll be good fun.


I went into a great deal of detail on yesterday's show about who would be there, but rather than having to trawl through my opinions, just look at the website for all the information first hand. 

Well, OK, I will quickly mention that I very much like the Make Lounge who will be there.






I like them because a) their shop in Barnsbury St is so colourful  b) they provide cake and drinks at their workshops and c) last Christmas I got a present of a teacup-candle...as in, a vintage tea-cup filled with wax, sitting on a saucer, thanks to them. The CLEVER thing about it all is that the wax is soya wax, and when you've burned it all down, you just rinse out the cup and hey presto it's ready for some tea. My sister made it at the Make Lounge, you see. Just one of their ventures, along with cupcake decorating, knitting, et al.



BTW my sister is one of the stallholders at BUST - have a look at her blog Hawk & Fallow where you'll get a sneak peak at some of what she'll be selling. I know I'm a sibling, but aside from familial loyalty, I am a fan of her greetings cards, made from vintage playing cards and old council rent books:












 Back to the show. Next I suggested that you buy a radio. Not one that you'll ever see, but it's definitely worth it. Amnesty's latest campaign is to get 4,000 radios into Burma before the elections - the first in 20 years - later this month.



Because of the suffocating censorship, it's extremely difficult for the Burmese people to get a real sense of what is happening politically. Consequently, they rely on daily radio broadcasts put out by a small group of brave individuals. But not everyone can afford a radio. That's why you should click here to donate one (or ten). Amnesty estimate that about 12 people will use each radio, so if they reach their target, that's 50,000 more people who can hear independent news broadcasts, and understand that despite the isolation, there is tremendous international support for them.



For reasons beyond my control, you'll have to wait with bated breath for the rest of the information about the show, which will appear later, I promise. Apologies. If there's anything in the meantime that you urgently want to know, just write a comment below.

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