My housemates and I took a spontaneous trip to Manchester today. We ate and drank in quirky bars, wandered around galleries and did a spot of shopping. Manchester is full of great vintage shops, vinyl exchanges, independent traders and cool junk in general: I came back with a bag full of goodies!
The best shop for design related books is Magma. I'm visiting Barcelona in March so invested in a quirky little guide.
I also got a copy of Nylon, which is a fashion magazine from New York with an indie bent.
A Bauhaus poster (what a goth) from the menagerie of independent shops that is Afflecks Palace:
This a poster I stole from Night & Day Bar. My side salad was a bit bare so I figured this was ok.
There is a great little second hand bookstall in the centre, where I found bought some Evelyn Waugh books and a few typographic treasures. Inexplicably, Blogger has saturated these images, hence the weird blueness. I will try to re-load the pictures tomorrow.
Note to self: research poster designer Abram Games.
A manual on how to build an electric clock (parts not included).
A Bauhaus poster (what a goth) from the menagerie of independent shops that is Afflecks Palace:
This a poster I stole from Night & Day Bar. My side salad was a bit bare so I figured this was ok.
There is a great little second hand bookstall in the centre, where I found bought some Evelyn Waugh books and a few typographic treasures. Inexplicably, Blogger has saturated these images, hence the weird blueness. I will try to re-load the pictures tomorrow.
Note to self: research poster designer Abram Games.
A manual on how to build an electric clock (parts not included).
We went to Manchester Art gallery and looked at the 'Art Treasures' exhibition they are holding currently. This collection of traditional fine art wasn't particularly relevant to my practice but I am open to anything. I also learnt a lot about the importance of the crowd scene in Victorian painting, which was quite interesting. I am becoming quite interested in this era of British history, and a number of books in my 'to-read' pile are set in the period.
Elsewhere in the gallery, an artist called Jo Roberts had an exhibition of minutiae journey maps. The subject (football) wasn't to my taste, but I liked the fine details so much I was prompted to go and buy some 0.1 fineliners.
Her maps remind me of another book I stopped myself from buying in Magma, a book containing obscure maps. So obscure I cannot even find it on the internet.
Attached to the Art Gallery is the craft centre. They had a wonderful display entitled 'Collections', which would have been very appropriate for the last brief. Through an extensive array of spoons, it was revealed to me that tables were not set with cutlery until the 1600s, so that every man had to carry his own silverware from meal to meal. It really is these nuggets of information that inspire me.
In the contemporary scene, the Richard Goodall Gallery was an inspirational visit. The collection of rock&roll posters is amazing! I particularly like the ones for the White Stripes:
The last gallery we visited was Cornerhouse, but there was nothing there that took my fancy. I quite wanted to watch the Black Narcissus though.
I also wished we'd made a visit to the Whitworth gallery to see some 20s/30s decor but we ran out of time. There was a Walter Crane illustration exhibition on that I missed aswell.
At the end of the day we went for drinks in Trof Bar, where we were certain we spotted street artist Matt Sewell. Manchester has quite a big graf scene, and Sewell's work can be seen around the city.
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