Tony's Blog

I saw a BBC programme before Christmas about making the town of Slough happy. I think it was inspirational. It presented a simple manifesto put forward by three 'lifestyle' researchers/workers

The point about this for any cynics reading this (you know who you are) is that many of the suggestions in the manifesto are real ways you could change your life and affect other people. One, which I practice regularly is to do an unlooked for act of kindness to someone you don't know. It could be as simple as letting that car out of a junction in front of you or buying someone's coffee in a queue. But why not? The cliche of Blitz mentality creating conversation in complete strangers is something to aspire to in every day life.

So remember, next time you're buying a sandwich don't just order, hand over the money and leave - talk to the person serving you. That's the happy-clappy bit over with.

The manifesto can be found here

The public/private diary aspect of blogs is intriguing. I don't write this with a strong idea of anyone reading what's written. This is balanced by the knoweldge that people are reading it as a statistical inevitability.

However, to have confirmation that a given individual has read (even if not commmented on) the 'Tony Blog' is exciting. To discover that it's an old friend is even more fun.

Via Angela I discovered that Linda Willars has already found and read the Tony Blog. Linda is one of Angela's friends and we share children of the same age - (by the way - well done Joanne for your featuring on the De Montfort University site with your spoons design).

As a personal illustration of the cultural influence of online access to information it's interesting. But in the centuries to come will the 'digital archaeologists' be able to glean something from this fragment which says more about 2006 than the more, high profile, 'brand'-related omnipresences online? I wonder...

Being new to this Blog thing you can get carried away with you own thoughts - in my case this is quite scary.

However, there was another important thank you - to Perry, Liane and Dan at Art Meets Matter for working so hard leading up to Christmas, and (although to many people waiting for orders it may not have seemed so at times) processed orders as fast as humanly possible! There, I 've said it.

Chris has implemented the Quote of the Day feature which will only feature Arty quotes. My favourite which just about sums up how I think about the art/work divide is by William Blake - "I must create a system or be enslaved by another mans; I will not reason and compare: my business is to create."

I think it's safe to say that Steven Appleby and I are working on a Department Store for the Land of Steven Appleby. Its claim to fame will be 'the most unusual retailer in the world'. The January Sales Queue feature is looking particularly promising as is the rather sinister Basement of Lost Objects - Things that got made but didn't work as expected, things that couldn't be made at all but seem to exist anyway. The Cosmetic Counter may do more for your face than expected. Watch this space for more news...

I was so pleased and not a little surprised by the response we had to the Factum cardboard furniture launch at 100% Design. It's a weird show. Loads of big money and expensive stands sitting alongside real innovation from newcomers and small start-ups.

What I liked most was the variety of personal comments about the chairs. It's almost like people were waiting for an excuse to like cardboard! I also think that it proved that functional design is allowed to be decorative AND have good eco-credentials. As you may already know - we're not embarrassed to play with surface as well as form...

Since the show we have so much press for the Chintz chair that when the phone rings for a loan request it's inevitably for that one. 2006 is definitely the year of cardboard.

I recently started work with a young product designer called David Stannard.

The reason for this is quite simple - there is no technology available to clone me. Not that David is a 'tony clone' but working realising the day-to-day ideas for Art Meets Matter inevitably means that some things have to be postponed. These have often been in areas that I've never worked before like furniture or lighting. However, all that has now changed and we're close to finishing a beautiful Perspex bookshelf. The launch for this might need to be delayed as I think we've also invented a lovely chair form.

I'm chuffed* with how things are working out and I hope David is too.

* This is a word my Dad used to use. I always knew that it meant he felt a warm, genuine excitement about the matter in question...

For recently creating the look and feel of the art meets website and for being Joe, of course. I'm hoping he's going to teach me Flash soon.

You know who you are...and why you deserve more thanks than anyone. This is starting to seem a bit like an episode of Friends...

xxx

Chris is involved in the technical implementation of the Art Meets website. Obviously, he has a financial interest in this but he still deserves a big thank you for helping us re-launch the site with a fully functional shop to a short timescale and just in time for Christmas.

Just in case I've not said it before - thanks.

PS. Please don't offer Chris loads of work (even if he deserves it) because we need him to carry on doing good stuff for us...