We’re happily clinging on to a new year optimism (gone with the end of January, we know the rules!), even though our attention is divided at the moment between beginnings and endings…
Our biggest ending: Daniel is stepping back from the Aram Gallery. Reluctantly it must be said; the numbers say it all: 8 years and 30 exhibitions, 210 unique exhibitors, close to 10,000 visitors in the gallery and in the past year alone over 120,000 visitors online. For a small gallery looking at new and experimental design it’s fair to say it punches way above it’s weight, and will continue to do so. Just without him. All together now – awwww. And press release here if you want to know more.
Good for us of course, as the new year brings more From Now On consultancy work and new clients (don’t want to jinx with mentions but more here soon). We’ve also closed a stage of work with William Grant & Sons; we’ve been deeply involved in developing a creative strategy and masterplan for not one but two of their distillery sites, and it must be said have loved every minute of it.
On the subject of masters and plans (smooth eh) we’re now booking in masters for a soft launch of our online masterclass programme. Yes, Parliament of Owls is now in (crude admittedly) beta. As we finalise the prototype through the springtime we’ll be running sessions on that very subject, with creative practitioners taking us through their own experiences of prototyping, trialling, testing and launching (note I didn’t include the subject of failing there – we’re not intending to – though it’s definitely a fun subject for another time:). So far confirmed we have Jane Ni Dhulchaointigh from Sugru on building her student project into an internationally selling product. And Asa Bruno, director and project architect for Ron Arad’s Design Museum Holon. More to follow and as ever if you’re interested in taking part mail us on hi(at)parliamentofowls.tv. While we’ll post more updates on this here eventually, you can also start to follow us on Facebook and Twitter for more immediate news (and invitations)…. Wish us luck!