Project Object Blackpool

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 Bonker*s Clutterbucks had a wonderful start to the project on Tuesday when we got to meet our lovely group of project “apprentices”. Great to have a mix of ages and diverse talents and we really look forward to hearing memories of Blackpool from some of our maturer apprentices, along the way.

 We introduced ourselves and what we have done in the  past 18 months to the group and our hopes and plans for the project along with a choice of templates. The idea is for our participants to come up with a 3D card modelling kit or diorama which is inspired by imagery from the Blackpool archives, which is easy to construct and manufacture and would make an ideal Blackpool souvenir. We were overwhelmed by the sense of enthusiasm and number of ideas.

Tony Sharkey, local history librarian, gave a great talk in the second half and showed us some amazing iconic images which captured the scale, popularity, glitz, glamour and eccentricity of Blackpool. Many thanks to the photographers of the day for capturing the wonderful images!

 We ended the week with a wonderful visit to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park with the project organisers and participants and explored the park, sculptures, and fabulous shop. We had an enlightening talk about the products in the shop by Jo Rodger,  Head of Visitor Services who talked us through their merchandise and strategies.

 We were also set an ingenious task to quickly design a product inspired by the sculptures and think about it’s use, appropriate markets, price and end users. In ten minutes, we six virtual strangers together created the coolest curvaceous rabbit- bird feeder ever!  Very refreshing to tap into other people’s way of thinking and to work at such speed.

 We have met some wonderful and inspiring people from Blackpool this week and look forward to working on prototypes for the kit next week.