Creative inferno at fire station

Oct 24 2007 By David Whetstone, The Journal

THE B-side of Ian Dury And The Blockheads’ 1978 classic, Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick, features a song called There Ain’t Half Been Some Clever Bastards.

Even if you haven’t heard the engaging ditty (which itself is a very clever piece of wordplay) much over those intervening 29 years, it’ll bubble to the surface of your consciousness at Launch, the third annual design exhibition now running at the Pilgrim Street fire station in Newcastle.

Examples of contemporary design work from a clutch of gifted minds and creative companies range from clever through to very clever and on to B-side simplicity and brilliance.

Launch is the brainchild of Dan Ziglam and Elliot Brook, who studied at Northumbria University’s design school then formed product design firm Deadgood. On graduating, the pair became frustrated by the lack of opportunities for North-East designers desperate to bring their new products and ideas to prominence in the region – London and New York recognise and welcome that sort of talent more readily.

So, two years ago, they conjured up the maverick annual exhibition where three-dimensional design – and clever designers – can be exposed to the commercial world.

There Ain’t Half ... Furniture designer David Irwin combines humour with style to create the simplest solutions to everyday dining problems. A dog bowl fixed to the back of a chair, for example, one with a back that is repeated with a gap between, allowing diners’ coats to hang without being crushed, and a dining chair with one outwardly-splayed leg which gives elbow-room to adjoining sitters.

Jon Aspinall has lumped building site, hapless apprentice and tea-break together to come up with an ingenious – but cleverly simple – set of mugs that link together. An elegantly-formed “nut” fits neatly into a corresponding recess; you click together, add tea, milk and sugar, grasp the outer handles, and deliver safely to grateful brickie. Don’t miss his “half” teaspoons, either.

Christine Misiak sources unwanted tea sets and reclaims, resurfaces and restyles them for today. The Deadgood boys present a brilliant bar/kitchen stool, the simplest bookshelf ever and their popular UK mirror.

Dan Battaglia’s Anvil range of seating is a delight, as are Dan Civico’s sculptural neon light works. And Richard Liddle takes domestic plastic waste and turns it into furniture – what’s more, it’s comfortable. He is also presenting daily public recycling demonstrations.

At one point on Rhythm Stick, Davey Payne plays two saxophones at once. That’s clever, but cleverness is not only thriving at Newcastle fire station, it’s a creative inferno.

Launch is at the Fire Station, Pilgrim Street, Newcastle, until October 28 (Wednesday and Friday 10am-6pm; Thursday until 8pm; Sunday 11am-5pm).