Archives for posts with tag: Hostel Project

Shine On.

July 21, 10 //

Woah, a lot has happened. And I didn’t have a camera for most of it! In a nutshell, I’ve pretty much tied up The Fort project, turned ginger (no kidding), did three 12 hour shifts in a week, baked a cake, went camping for the first time, and literally just got back from a weeks holiday in Malta. Like I said, I didn’t have a camera for most of it. My only decent camera was my Sony Ericsson mobile phone, but I decided it was a good idea to drop it from 8ft. I wasn’t even drunk! This isn’t good because my phone is the only thing on my person which tells me what day and time I am on. So I had to literally go out during my lunch break at work the next to buy a new one, which is, to be quite frank, a monstrosity.

Anyways! While I was on holiday, The Fort had an official launch party at Karen’s bar and restaurant, with press and everything! I was pretty bummed out about not being able to attend, but on my return I got some great news from Karen; The Fort has launched its own website, www.thefortyork.co.uk, and it also got a nice little mention on The Drum, which is a cool, creative resources website! How awesome, eh. I can’t believe that it’s done! Well, I’ll have to make sure that it’s not the last we see of it. Maybe an overnight stay in York has to be planned in the future..

And because I hate a pictureless post, here’s some holiday snaps:

Checking-Out.

June 15, 10 //

Work has been crazy this month! And I’m only halfway through the madness, eesh. Still, working on The Fort project has been a nice retreat from the chaos. I went back down to York last week, quite excitedly, considering last time I had to leave before the vinyl installation was finished. I got a text from Karen later on that night, saying how great it was looking when it was all done. When I arrived at the hostel, I wasn’t disappointed. The rest of the hostel was pretty much still being constructed, and the other rooms were untouched, but when I rounded the corner to my room, I was floored. The vinyl looked ace, two metres high and spanning seven metres across the room, flowing from one wall to another. The furniture had also arrived, the bed with crisp linen on, and Karen had sourced some great pieces to go around the room. We were lacking skirting boards, and the en-suite was still being tiled, but I wanted to move in there and then!

I spent the afternoon tidying up the vinyl installation with a craft knife and taking pictures. There were extra pieces of vinyl that had to be cut out, a natural error of the vinyl printer. It was time consuming, but it felt gratifying to be perfecting my own work. As I was finishing up, I felt both insanely proud and sad that that was really it, I was pretty much done. What an amazing journey. Hopefully it won’t be long before I (or you!) can check-in for a night or two.

What do you guys think?

In Colour.

May 28, 10 //

Wow. What a day Sunday was. I arrived at the hostel (now known as The Fort) and found that Karen has done a fab job on the room since the last time I was there. The walls had been smoothed over, plastered and painted. The colour has turned out fantastic! Good old Hawaiian Blue 3.. You can see that the entrance wall and ceiling has been painted white, I thought this would stop the feeling of being boxed in. It’s definitely given the room character already, very fresh and airy. Apologies for the rubbish photos, currently making do with my poorly mobile phone.

In the end, I decided to work with photographer, Tom Rhodes in supplying and printing the vinyl. It was a restless wait for Tom and the materials to arrive. When they did, I was both excited and nervous at how big the prints turned out. I guess I just didn’t prepare myself for the actual scale of the project until my own illustrations were laid out before me, the smallest one dwarfing my sandals. Piece by piece, the artwork went up in panels and started to form the concept that started on paper. It was actually quite emotional!

We got about halfway when I had to leave to catch my train. I was devastated, it was leaving my baby behind, but was pretty confident in Karen and Tom in getting the job finished without me. Besides, when I left, the room looked amazing. You’ll have to wait until I next go back down to see how it turned out!

Getting Dirty.

May 22, 10 //

So I went back to York a couple of weeks ago to meet Karen again. It was time to make some big decisions, and in the end, it was extremely productive and rather fun. I’m not going to lie, I’m a sucker for decorating and I’ve never had the opportunity to really do it (after a life of living in rented, damp, mouldy, student type flats), so I was loving the fact I could peruse for blinds, radiators, and wall paints, and they were actually going to be bought and put in a room I was designing! I’ll not reveal too much about what we decided on for the room, but I’ll let you see what we’re working with.

You can see the paint samples I put on the wall! It’s nerdy, but I was so excited! It wasn’t just because of the decorating thing, but it’s just this whole project. I’ll suddenly remember that I’m working for a real client, who’s given me free reign to choose what I want and how to do it as I please. It’s pretty exhilarating.

And did I mention that Karen owns a bar and restaurant below the hostel? While she ran some errands, the staff gave me as much coffee as I could hold (lots), and made me the most glorious lunch. In all seriousness, I do admire Karen for everything she’s achieved and wanting to achieve. It’s a pretty gutsy move to let 5 or 6 youngsters hold the fate of your hard earned money, your home, your new business.

Since then I’ve been busy still trying to figure out how the hell I was going to supply the vinyl for my artwork. I got in touch with some people and been bartering time and money, and hopefully everything’s in place. It better be, because I’m heading back down tomorrow morning. Hopefully there will be walls and they should be painted. I’ll then spend a few hours getting my hands dirty. And I can not wait.

No Excuses.

May 3, 10 //

First of all..

Sketchblog is being put on hiatus. It has become clear to me now that trying to up an image every Thursday is going to be difficult. I was a bit naive in thinking I could carry on doing what I did, after 60+ hours of my week is taken up by my new job. And in all honesty, I haven’t really been making the time. In fact, I still don’t have a work desk and half my stuff is still packed away in boxes. Like I said though, there’s no excuses. Realistically, it could be another month or two before things resume to normal.

In other news.. I did take a trip down to York a couple of weeks ago. I had the opportunity to meet the client, Karen Waugh, who owns the hostel, as well as the other designers involved in the project, who were very lovely indeed. We were given a tour of the building and also got to choose our rooms to decorate, which was great. Although some rooms only had three walls, the flooring had holes, and there was no ceiling, it was very exciting to stand in a space, which we, the designer, were basically given free reign. Since then I’ve been working on how to get my idea from screen to the walls, and I’m thinking I’ve got less than two weeks to get everything sorted and ready to be installed. I have every intention of being as involved as I can be in the process of making decisions and most definitely want to get my hands dirty, however as a heads up, I have some pre-commitments with work that may clash with the opening of the hostel, expected in late May. But already, I’ve selected colour samples for the walls and have a supplier in mind to reproduce the artwork for wall application, and I’ll be doing what I can to get involved first-hand in York because this project has awesome potential and I want to document the whole project. Expect a photographic post showing the before and after mayhem once the hostel has been opened to the public.

At least this all means it won’t be long before you hear from me again, eh!

In Motion.

March 17, 10 //

Just an update; I’ve finally moved into my flat! I’ve also been mega busy settling into work, but I have booked off time to fly back home to pick up the rest of my things, printer included! Hopefully then I’ll get Sketchblog back up and running by mid-April, however I will have to reconsider the concept. Because I’m working full-time, much of my week will be focused on my job, which is not what my blog is about. I might just sketch anything or in the style of something that inspires me during the week.

I do have some design-related news. First up, my hostel concept got chosen! Here’s the catch-up if you missed out. I’ve been told to expect some follow-up instructions in the next month or so from the client on how to actually implement my idea, which is pretty exciting! I think I’ll also be given the opportunity to go down to York myself to oversee some of the work. I can not wait to see it being pieced together, it’s gunna be absolutely amazing!

Another awesome piece of news is that a couple of my illustrations were chosen by a consultancy company to use on their website, and as a result, I got paid an incentive. A small incentive, but an incentive nonetheless; My first paid job! I took this as an opportunity to design my very own invoice. I remember reading somewhere that the invoice is usually the last piece of contact the client receives, and generally not the kind that they enjoy. This stuck with me, so why not make it pretty to look at!

Using District Thin, grey and pink, I matched my invoice with the identity of my portfolio. Like the re-design of my portfolio, I enjoyed creating the layout for this too. I think I’ll have to conjure up some layout projects for myself in the near future.. Until then, I’ll try to keep up with posting. Although getting this job has been awesome and part of my new year’s resolve, design ignites a part of my mind and heart that no other can. So be it a little sketch, a project update, or even a creative book review, design will continue to be apart of me, and my new, working life in Newcastle.

Sketchblog // 04.02.2010 & 11.02.2010

February 12, 10 //

Things have been pretty slow around here this month, but let me assure you there’s been all sorts of crazy going on behind the scenes. I’ve flew four times in two weeks, the first to chaperone my sister to a uni interview and the second for an interview for myself, and now I’m scheduled for another flight of the chaperoning variety later this month. That’s SIX flights in one month. I didn’t think I could fly any more than I already did when I was living in Newcastle! So that’s been a big part of why activity’s been jilted around here and subsequently, was the obvious subject choice for February’s first Sketchblog!!

As mentioned, last week I had an interview; All will be revealed, if there is a positive outcome, of course! I also spent some time putting on the finishing touches on the Hostel project. I vectorised my aquatic chums and played around with some patterns, and I was rather pleased with the result. So much so, I made it into a rather fetching desktop wallpaper! And into this week’s Sketchblog.

I’ve also been redesigning my CV and updating my portfolio, creating a fresh, new look for 2010, but that too will be revealed at a later date. Sunday, maybe?

So how has February begun for you?

Hostel Project.

January 24, 10 //

After getting an email from CP headquarters a couple of days ago saying they were going to have a meeting on Monday with the client to talk through the concepts for the Hostel brief, I’ve been busy pulling together my sketches and preparing my design document. They’re still rough around the edges (thanks to Mr. Appalling Scanner), but here they are in all their glory. So with a few minutes left of the day to spare, I wanted to show you guys too.

I decided to go for a deep sea theme. As well as uniting all the caricatures, soothing marine tones and lush, soft furnishings would complete the relaxing atmosphere with an edge. So during the week, I’m gunna get my little guys tidied up and vectorised. Then expect the brood to expand!

Hostel Concepts.

January 18, 10 //

Hey all. I hope you guys had a good weekend and aren’t too overcome with the Monday blues. Apologies for postponing yesterday’s post til now, yours truly had to help out with the family business last night! Anyhow, as promised, I said I’d show you guys my concepts for a project I’ve been working on. The brief is to create a memorable and unique experience for the visitor of a new Hostel. And that’s it. No restrictions, as of yet. I pieced some ideas together, based on areas of personal interest, and came up with three concepts.

The first concept is based on vector, graffiti-like character illustrations. Dotted all over the room, they would keep the visitor company, as well as amused. The rest of the room would generally be kept neutral in terms of colour, with modern furnishings.

The second concept was inspired by the lovely scribbles of Miss Johanna Basford. I want to create a monochromatic, botanical wonderland, keeping the furnishings strictly black and white, and mod, this would have such a striking impact.

The third concept is all about richness and indulgence. Creating patterns is something I’ve always wanted to try my hand at, and this is the perfect opportunity. It could either be used to dominate the room or sparingly, to make a focal point. The furnishings would be a mix of traditional and contemporary to make up super-opulent surroundings.

I’ve sent these off to the managing director of CP for review. I can’t wait to see which one he chooses. Which one would you choose?

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