CDW 2015 – Two Photographers Clerkenwell Design Week 2015

Clerkenwell has been my milieu for many a year, and much has changed since I first arrived, and worked out my RAF leave for a basement photographers’ studio in Hatton Garden. Gamages Department Store was still trading, and seemingly had given rise to much of the trade in the Leather Lane Market. I worked simply for the experience and expenses for six weeks at Francis-Thompson Studios. It was part of Sidney Barton PR Services based in nearby Breams Buildings, Fetter Lane. I had absolutely no idea at that time of the part that this area of working London was to play in my working life.

I left many times – each time I returned there were subtle changes, but its heart kept beating, and the Twentieth Century brought the most extensive changes of all, and now many of the streets I first knew have disappeared, but Clerkenwell Design Week allows visitors to see the spirit of both the old and the new, and the warmth of the place lives on. A few of my past work colleagues still work here and for the past three years I have taken a camera to capture glimpses of both past and present and the quirky, and welcomed the establishment of Zaha Hadid’s Gallery that opened on my first visit to CDW.

On the Wednesday I treated myself to a break from the stresses of moving my home from Caddington to Marston Moretaine to pay a visit this year, and in chatting to a salesman in one of the first places Geoff Dann and I visited, he knew precisely where my new abode was situated, so this is indeed a small world. On a purely personal level both of us visitors were interested in working chairs for the lengthy times spent in front of Mac screens to post-process images from our respective cameras, and Elite had two interesting task chairs, the iSit and the Airflex which we flight-tested and flagged as worth considering.

Another showroom, Mosa held our attention from a background perspective with individual 300 x 900mm tile panels, we then headed to the Farmiloe Building, now seemingly termed the Design Factory, where my interest in cars was tweaked by the main Sponsor this year, Renault. Taking detail shots of this made it feel as if I was transported to Goodwood and the Festival of Speed. An old school that used to house studios for a couple of photographers I knew has become the London office for Zaha Hadid, whose influence could even be seen on the red Renault Concept Car, when you look at her acrylic furniture on display in her gallery, which we later visited. See if you can spot them.

My own interest in the quirky and amusing can also be seen in some of the more random shots taken during the day, such as architectural details, and amusing juxtapositions such as the lone blue Barclays Boris Bike amongst the line of Santander red ones – an omen that Barclays should heed? Our last major call was in Zaha’s Gallery, before a brief visit to another ex-business colleague John Swift of the Colour Company and his wife Annie, Retouchers with whom I worked before setting up ‘SOLUTIONS photographic’– they also are shortly leaving old London Town, but I end my visual trip where I started, at Old Street and the Tools of Change, the cranes. Till the next time, farewell to Clerkenwell; the beating heart of working London.

Clerkenwell Design Week 2013

Clerkenwell has long been a part of London during my working life, and I have a great affection for what I always thought of as the working centre of the great city. It has changed almost beyond recognition in some areas, but it has retained a strong beating heart. Design Week – a tad over-egged since it takes place over just three days certainly showed how much hard work can be found in such a small area, a considerable effort had gone into creating a warm and buzzing atmosphere, and creativity abounded. I joined fellow photographer and resident of the area, Geoff Dann to explore what was on offer. I started by going to the bottom of Charterhouse buildings which was a cul de sac I once knew very well indeed as I used to park there when I first set up ‘SOLUTIONS photographic’ in 1986. Back then the Ahrend showrooms which inhabit the building now, was a Car Park on a former bomb site belonging to St. Bart’s hospital.

The staff of Ahrend were extremely friendly and helpful, and more than happy for me to wander around taking photos, and I duly entered my votes for the best exhibits by architects in their Art Competition, and this visit was made before meeting up with Geoff. Later we not only made another tour of Ahrend, but we also met up with one of my former colleagues, retoucher John Swift in the very building from which I started my solo career. Back then I sat in a deckchair with a pile of telephone directories by my side and a  monolithic ‘luggable’ Motorola mobile phone atop this ‘desk’ as I rang around drumming up business from all over the country.

Geoff particularly wanted to visit the Priory Church in St John’s Square opposite another of my earlier haunts when I had been Sales Manager for Longacre Colour Labs, and although it did seem somewhat irreverent for their to be exhibition stands within the very chapel itself, there was a cabinet maker who was very happy to discuss with Geoff, the making of custom furniture which involved both modern digital techniques with old-world craft skills – one cabinet, a steal at £8,000!

We also visited a company whose range of bathroom furniture featured a magnificent SuperLoo which promised to cleanse the sedentary occupant front and back when flushed – a snip at a mere £7,000! There we met up with photographer Gareth Gardner who was exhibiting some of his work downstairs and with whom we had a chat. In toto, we enjoyed our visit there; there were several bathroom variants, the baths often complete with water!

Brewhouse Yard had changed to such a degree, I even had to ask Geoff what had been there previously, even though I then well-remembered the brewery as it was somewhere my father frequented when he worked for Allied Breweries! Earlier, before I had even entered Ahrend, I got a call from Charlie Campion of the John Thompson Partnership whom I had met during the Chaulington Planning Weekend, and he very kindly agreed to meet up at lunchtime even more generously taking me to a restaurant where we had a very enjoyable conversation as he had his lunch and I joined him in a white wine.

The further two highlights of the day were our visit to the new Zaha Hadid Gallery, and where we arrived in time to be invited to the inner sanctum on the first floor where they housed a vast range of maquettes which showed how many of their projects were developed, this was a guided tour so we learned the story of their organic growth from concepts that evolved from constant research and refinement. Once again we were allowed to photograph in the two floors; ground and basement, but photography was naturally strictly out of the question on the first floor. Our stay here was far longer than anywhere else! The Americans would have justly described this as ‘awesome’.

We also paid a visit to Milliken who had three excellent speakers who covered the 3D Modelling scene, and that was very interesting and well presented with some very open and honest commentaries of how journalists loved hype, but were less than interested in practicalities.

 There were two areas: the Farmiloe Building and the House of Detention where entry was restricted only to those with registered badges, something neither of us wished to do as we like to control the access others have to us, so sadly that meant there were areas we never visited. I felt that was unnecessary intrusion; I am happy to let anyone know who I am and what I do, but I receive enough spam in my email without extending this reach further. I do feel the Organisers let themselves down in this instance. I hope this is something they reconsider for the future.