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Saville interview, as it happens
####July’s Loop was an extra-special evening, featuring Four23's Creative Director Warren Bramley in conversation with one of the most influential designers of an era, Peter Saville.#### His career has seen him work with Joy Division, Bryan Ferry, Kate Moss, and more recently he’s collaborated with Paul Smith, Habitat and Microsoft. He left Manchester for London shortly after completing some of his seminal work for Factory Records, but returned to the city as its Creative Director in 2004, where he developed the ‘Original, Modern’ concept. After addressing 100 invited guests at the official launch of the CREATIVE Times website, Saville settled in to give a packed Loop audience a unique insight into his personal journey. During the interview, Saville spoke in-depth about his early days, his career through the 80s and 90s, and the work he’s currently involved in - which includes selling his aura, apparently! On his formative years growing up on the periphery of the city, he explained: “My relationship with an industrial city and also my personal aesthetics, in some ways, were formed and influenced by how and where I grew up, but I didn’t know it at the time.” Recalling why he was “earmarked as a failure” at university Saville offered: “I was rebelling against a school of thought that thought an appropriate logotype for a restaurant might be a bite out of a plate…I couldn’t bear that stuff!” And, on the important question of why he de-camped to London after achieving critical acclaim for his work on Unknown Pleasures, he explained, “I lounged around for six months. Then, my father turned up at my flat and said, ‘if you don’t get a f**king job, I’m getting a f**king job for you’. He would have got me a job in his sanitary-ware factory in Stoke! So, the next day, I got on the train to London…it was the only place I could work.” To access full audio and video from the interview, and to find out why Saville feels that working with marketeers “is a bit like working for drug dealers” go to: W: [www.creativetimes.co.uk/multimedia](http://www.creativetimes.co.uk/multimedia) For more information on The Loop, head over to: W: [www.cids.co.uk/events/the-loop](www.cids.co.uk/events/the-loop)more
Double Webby for Crimeface
Still in their first year of trading, a young interactive media company have scooped no less than two awards at a prestigious international competition. Bellyfeel secured two gongs at the 2008 Webby Awards for their project, Crimeface - an interactive mix of film, literature, music and gaming. Presented by The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, The Webby Awards is the leading international awards honouring excellence on the net. Described as “a glimpse of the future for onscreen fiction” by Pocket-Lint.co.uk, Crimeface has already enjoyed multi-platform success. It has been screened at a number of international film festivals and is also being serialised on Vodafone 3G. Whilst telling the story of a murder, it allows the user to delve deeper into the plot, learn more about the characters, read police files and even get a glossary of police jargon. Producer/Director, Krishna Stott was confident that Crimeface had a winning formula: “I saw that another interactive movie had been short-listed last year – I knew that Crimeface was superior so I took the plunge and paid the $100 entry fee.” On his success at the awards, Krishna said: “It’s great to get some recognition for all the hard work we put into making Crimeface. I hope that winning will make it more straightforward to fund and produce our next projects.” Bellyfeel, who have recently moved into an office in Manchester city centre, have several new interactive movies in development. They’re also working with the BBC on some new IP-TV concepts. W: [www.crimeface.net](http://www.crimeface.net) W: [www.bellyfeel.co.uk](http://www.bellyfeel.co.uk) more
Tsang Kin-Wah wraps Chinese Arts Centre in love to mark the centre's new shop, tea house and resource area
Tsang Kin-Wah’s beautiful I Love U text pattern wallpapers the bathrooms at Chinese Arts Centre as part of his UK solo exhibition What are you looking at? Taking this stunning work out of the interior space, we have commissioned Tsang to create a special adaptation of the pattern to cover the outside of the building. The delicate floral motif made up of cheeky phrases in English and Chinese wraps around the large windows that form the outside of the Centre, transforming the building into a bold new art work to be viewed from the street. The commission is being installed to mark the arrival of Chinese Arts Centre’s new shop, tea house and resource area as well as offering free wireless. The redesigned space in the front of the centre features new ranges of artist designed jewellery, leather items, soft furnishings and craft items and full range of glass Chinese teaware. In amongst the design items and specialist teas is our new resource area where you can relax with a cup of Chinese tea and browse books, magazines, journals and videos selected by the artists and curators to contextualise and provide further insight into the work currently showing at the centre.more
City Life goes online
As the Manchester Evening News (MEN) prepares to revitalise the City Life brand with a new website, CREATIVE Times caught up with Product Manager, Matt Davies, for his insight on re-creating the legendary publication. For the best part of three decades City Life was the bible for budding urbanites in Manchester, so, when the magazine folded in December 2005 there was much talk in the city about ‘what next?’ for ‘what’s on’. Its closure undoubtedly left a gaping hole in the market for a regular listings publication. “CityLife.co.uk will plug this gap,” ensured Matt, “There’s a lot going on in the city, but so far this hasn’t been reflected in the media available.” Since the original magazine ceased production, City Life has lived on as a supplement within each Friday’s edition of the MEN. The new website will look to plug the gaps between, as Matt explained: “By it’s nature [the supplement] works within a print production cycle, necessitating the addition of bespoke content to meet the audience demands of a website offering a guide to going out seven days a week.” Multimedia content will be on the menu for the website, via its sister TV station Channel M. The channel is already home to City Life Social, the only programme in the city regularly showcasing new music and entertainment; which, as Matt explained, “…share a similar focus to the site and can also contribute great content to it, for example The Ting Tings were filmed pre-fame.” As ever, City Life will continue to feature new talent in the arts, music and comedy, as well showcasing the writers and photographers working directly on the website. In addition, the new site will give users the chance to promote their own events and venues. As Matt concludes: “You can’t underestimate the importance of having platforms in the city which allow new bands, artists or even restaurants and bars to gain exposure and find an audience.” Citylife.co.uk will be coming to a monitor near you in the Autumn. W: [www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk](http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk) more
Mapping Mission
####Manchester Beacon have teamed up with Just-b Productions, the company responsible for the b.TWEEN forum, in offering a £25,000 commission that aims to connect people, places and knowledge across Manchester and Salford.#### The project, Mapping Creativity, will provide a unique opportunity for local independent digital companies to collaborate and deliver an interactive project, using Web 2.0 technologies to forge links between two or more disconnected communities. The full brief can be downloaded from the b.TWEEN website, where you’ll be able to upload your ideas whilst commenting on other people’s suggestions. The best four teams will receive £1,000 to develop their concepts further, before pitching their final projects at a public session within Manchester Science Festival. Mapping Creativity is the latest in a line of ‘ideas development’ projects that the Just-b team have put together. During their b.TWEEN 2008 conference, over £20,000 in commissions were awarded – including a commercial project with Littlewoods Direct. The deadline for entries is 12 September. To get involved, head over to: W: [www.just-b.com/btween/mapping-creativity](http://www.just-b.com/btween/mapping-creativity) more
