Thorneywork Studio at Spring Fair 2013

Following previous tweets and blog post, I thought you might like to see some images from Thorneywork Studio's stand at this year's Spring Fair.

Francesca Duffield & her Thorneywork Studio stand at Spring Fair 2013

A close up of the Thorneywork Studio stand

'Ophelia' lamp from Thorneywork Studio

Francesca is a graduate of our Interiors & Lifestyle Futures Ventures' programme. You can read more about her here

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Adrian Burns is part of a team supporting  the West Midlands community of interiors & lifestyle companies. Find out more at ILFutures

Gold stars - Plant & Moss continue to shine

This summer is proving a busy time for designers James Plant and James Moss. Following on from their successful showing at the Birmingham Made Me Design Expo, Heal’s is now turning the spotlight on the talented duo. Their Bisley Suite is featuring in Heal’s Discovers project, which celebrates “the work of the best up-and-coming furniture and homeware designers.”

Plant & Moss are also part of UK Trade and Investment showcasing of great British design and innovation in support of the 2012 Olympics. You can catch Plant & Moss’s work at the British Business Embassy from July t to September at London’s historic Lancaster House.

Find out more about  Interiors & Lifestyle Futures members Plant & Moss here


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Adrian Burns is part of a team supporting  the West Midlands community of interiors & lifestyle companies. Find out more at ILFutures

5 reasons to visit the Birmingham Made Me Design Expo Friday 15 June- Friday 22 June

The Birmingham Made Me Design Expo kicks off next Friday (15 June) at The Mailbox in Birmingham. And, here are five reasons not to miss this week-long celebration of the best in Midlands design and innovation.

• It’s the first one and it’s telling a unique story - drawing together strands of design inspiration to create a unique platform for growth - featuring over 100 exhibitors from business and education in the Midlands.
• It’s all about design for everyone – thought provoking, inspirational, conversational, challenging.
• It’s been created and led by the region’s leading businesses, to pass on their unique experiences.
• It’s showcasing new talent, new design and providing inspiration for new collaborative opportunities. Many of them Interiors & Lifestyle Futures companies.
• The only cost of accessing this wisdom is your time!

Thanks to Charmaine Stint, Enterprise Development Manager at Birmingham City University

 For more see ilfutures blog and for a detailed programme Birmingham Made Me 

And, don't forget to call into the Entrepreneurs store

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Adrian Burns is part of a team supporting  the West Midlands community of interiors & lifestyle companies. Find out more at ILFutures

Olympic heroes - Bean2Bed

Three cheers for Bean2Bed who’ve landed a very cool deal to provide its bean bags, which convert to full size beds, for both the Jamaica and USA Olympic teams.

The company - an active member of the Interiors & Lifestyle Futures community  - will be providing specially-embroidered bean bags for both the Jamaica track and field team and USA athletics team’s training camps in Birmingham. 

Matt Roberts pictured, January 2012, on the Interiors & Lifestyle Futures' stand the UK  Interiors Show

Visit Bean2Bed

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Adrian Burns is part of a team supporting  the West Midlands community of interiors & lifestyle companies. Find out more at www.ilfutures.co.uk

Obsession - because it's worth it*

The human instinct to collect is a natural one – an expression of individuality and yes of obsession. The big stuff, the famous pieces, the historical and the archaeological, get housed in galleries and museums to be admired by professionals, enthusiasts and tourists ducking the rain.

But, who gives voice to the personal collectors – of artificial grass, say, or Japanese guitars? Well, Helen and Graham Powell’s Obsessionistas is doing just that. The company, one of our recent ILF members, may only be a few months old but it has amassed a staggering online repository of design archives, collectors and their collections. It has also garnered serious attention from broadsheets, tabloids and glossy mags. 

Obsessionistas also hosts exhibitions of various collections – recently at the Milan Fair in April while y ou can catch them next at the Design Expo in June at Birmingham’s Mailbox.

If you have your own obsessive collection, Helen and Graham would love to hear from you.

On a personal note, talking of wonderful collections, if you are ever up in the North West, make sure you visit the Pencil Museum 

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Adrian Burns is part of a team supporting  the West Midlands community of interiors & lifestyle companies. Find out more at www.ilfutures.co.uk

*I know that's Klein not L'Oréal!

Design brief 101

You've thought of a new product or service and are keen to get it out there. But, remember most products fail due to poor market research. 


Of course, you'll create a design brief but, if it is going to work,  you must begin with four essential steps.

• a clear statement of the design opportunity, communicated with passion
• a definition of your target market (age, income level, gender, social group & geographic location)
• a run down of who your competition is 
• a concise profile of your ideal customer

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Adrian Burns is part of a team supporting  the West Midlands community of interiors & lifestyle companies. Find out more at www.ilfutures.co.uk

Right here, write now - four+ tips for effective press releases

At a recent Visioning workshop,  a designer-maker asked about writing press releases. This blog isn’t the place for a lengthy how-to. A quick search on the Internet will give you lots of detailed advice (How to Write A Press Release for example )

 But, for a quick start here are my four basic tips*

• Make sure you know exactly what story you want to tell. It is surprisingly easy to fall into the trap of loading your news with irrelevant details.
• Aim for no more than 14 words in your opening sentence and tell everything concisely in your first paragraph – that’s all the editor may use. Make sure it answers these questions: Who, what, where when and how
• Check your spelling and grammar thoroughly – remember word processing spelling & grammar tools don’t think. They are weigh too dumb. See what I mean.
• Top it off with a clear and attention-grabbing headline but watch out for unintended meanings -  such as ‘Red Tape Holds Up New Bridge’

*This is the secret tip that’s rarely revealed. Forget the rules, type your story as it comes. Effective press releases aren’t written. Like all the best copy, they are rewritten. That's when, you won’t go far wrong with the tips above.

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Adrian Burns is part of a team supporting  the West Midlands community of interiors & lifestyle companies. Find out more at www.ilfutures.co.uk

100% design talent

Great write up about talented designers Plant & Moss in the promo material for this September's 100% Design.

 James Plant  and James Moss are part of the Interiors & Lifestyle Futures community and took part in the ILFutures-backed stand at the Interiors Show in January as well as our Celebration Exhibition at the School of Jewellery in March (see also our picture blog below).

If you are planning to go to 100% Design, make sure to call in on Plant &  Moss.

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Adrian Burns is part of a team supporting  the West Midlands community of interiors & lifestyle companies. Find out more at www.ilfutures.co.uk

Pictures at an Exhibition

While Interiors & Lifestyle Futures plans its next outing as part of the Design Expo in June at the Mailbox, here's a short set of images from our third birthday celebration exhibition.

Click here to run images

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Adrian Burns is part of a team supporting  the West Midlands community of interiors & lifestyle companies. Find out more at www.ilfutures.co.uk

Buzzing debut for Brum Made Me team

 Hailstorms and streets awash with rain did nothing to deter a throng from attending the debut of the Birmingham Made Me store on Tuesday evening. If anything, the buzz inside the Mailbox's newest retail venue was so great it threatened an electrical storm all of its own.

As executive dean of Birmingham Institute of Art and Design, Chris O'Neil said this venture by talented entrepreneurs, with strong support from the University's employability team, is an opening salvo in the forthcoming IDEA Birmingham Design Expo, which doesn't just rival anything London has to offer, it trounces it.

Interiors & Lifestyle Futures is delighted so many of its member companies are part of the Birmingham Made Me store. Go see all the companies* soon and often at the Mailbox. Bring your friends and your wallets!

A hot bed of West Midlands-based design talent, photo Ronald Gunawan

*Angela Burman Fine Arts, Bangers & Mash, Bonnie Lush Hair, Coco's Closet, Creative Lab, Grabkowska Applied Arts, HCF Boutique, Penelope Jordan,  Sara Page Design, Sit On My Face and Tiny Chair,


Adrian Burns is part of a team supporting  the West Midlands community of interiors & lifestyle companies. Find out more at www.ilfutures.co.uk

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Collaboration brings new selling opportunities

Made in the Jewellery Quarter was the first collaborative group formed  with the help of  Interiors & Lifestyle Futures. Its four members are all based, naturally, in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter. The key to success was finding a joint need – new selling opportunities.

Find out more about the collaboration of Alabaster & Wilson, Capricorn Coatings, David Louis.com and LJ Millington in this case study.

Adrian Burns is part of a team supporting  the West Midlands community of interiors & lifestyle companies. Find out more at www.ilfutures.co.uk

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