A Year of Celebrations

A big birthday for Core

With the Olympics and the Jubilee in 2012 we’re not short of reasons to celebrate this year. Core Creative has one more reason, come November it will be our 10th Birthday. From humble beginnings (yes 1 mac in a bedroom!) to where we are now has gone unbelievably quickly and its been a roller coaster ride along the way. Come November we will be celebrating in our own unique way and no doubt will be sharing the celebrations with all who have been involved in making Core Creative what it is today.

Pick Me Up 2012

Returns for a third year

Pick Me Up, the UK’s first contemporary graphic art fair, returns for the third time. Building on the success of its first two years, Pick Me Up will feature a dynamic line-up of graphic art collectives, galleries and a host of established artists, as well as providing a platform for emerging artists. A range of limited edition, affordable graphic art and illustration will be for sale. The fair will showcase the newest, coolest and most exciting talent in the graphic art world and will offer visitors the chance to meet the artists and get involved. New features to 2012 include Daily Specials, a dedicated residency space hosted by specially selected ‘Heroes & Legends’ of graphics and illustration who will each host a day of workshops, a Children’s Illustration Weekend, Cartoons & Comics Weekend and Portfolio Surgery with The Enquiry Desk run by illustrator Zara Wood (aka Woody).

The show runs from 22 March – 1 April 2012. 
Daily 11.00-20.00
. Embankment Galleries, South Wing
, Somerset House.

Favourite Things

The work of John Stezaker

During a trip to the Whitechapel Gallery late last year I stumbled across the work of John Stezaker. As an ardent lover of Surrealism these images immediately appealed to me in particular Part IV shown here which has become one of my ‘favourite things’.

The Saatchi Gallery describes his work; ‘In his collages, Stezaker appropriates images found in books, magazines, and postcards and uses them as ‘readymades’. Through his elegant juxtapositions, Stezaker adopts the content and contexts of the original images to convey his own witty and poignant meanings. Stezaker’s portraits celebrate the grotesque, rendering the romance with modernism equally compelling and perverse.

A new angle on design

Chris Osment joins Core Creative

Core Creative is pleased to announce the appointment of Chris Osment, founder of Kill Studio as Senior Designer. Chris, who worked for Core prior to forming his own studio, has spent his time carving a reputation for breathtaking contemporary design and illustration. Chris says of his new appointment:

“When I was offered the Senior position at Core, I was very excited about coming on board. I knew it would open up new avenues for my creativity and allow me to push my skills and further my development as a designer. Since setting up my own design business Killstudio, my style has certainly developed a lot as I’ve continually tried to push my illustrative methods through various projects and concepts.

I’ve always had a strong background link with illustration, using both image and concept to portray messages. I certainly feel my illustrative approach to projects will be a new addition to Core and benefit hugely, giving a new angle on approaching work.

With a busy and creative studio, there’s nothing more refreshing than bouncing ideas off of your creative peers and that’s something I’m certainly looking forward to at Core. The passion for creating original and eye catching work is something that’s written in to the work ethic of the employees at Core Creative and is what get’s them their fantastic reputation. As a designer who wouldn’t want to be part of that?

In my past design experience I’ve been lucky enough to work with great international clients such as Penguin Books and Volkwagen to name a few. I’ve also worked in many sectors ranging from the music industry, sport and leisure to corporate and educational. I hope that I can bring this experience to the studio and instill some of my knowledge and skills to the team at Core. I’m really pleased with the current direction of my creativity.

Joining Core Creative as their Senior Designer will only add to my progress and experience and I relish the new opportunity. I look forward to getting stuck in to some great new projects and sharing my skills with the studio. Although now employed by Core Creative, Killstudio will still continue to operate and I’ll always be looking to push the boundaries and explore new areas within design.”

D&AD New Blood

Let's see some personality...

This summer Core Creative once again attended the D&AD New Blood show in London to soak up the new talent emerging on the scene. As usual the standard was exceptionally high and personally I always find the illustration work outstanding, with a really diverse range of styles all at an exceptionally high standard. That said, I can’t help thinking the brief for this show needs to change in some way to make the pitch far more engaging, after all these are creative people and we don’t employ them just on what they can produce but who they are, let’s see some of that.

Join Core today

Calling all talent!

Looking for a fresh challenge only 40 minutes from the beach? We’re keen to expand our team with some hardcore Mac lads (or lasses!). You’ll have several years experience in producing high quality graphic design for all forms of marketing material and have a proven track record of producing great results on time. An obsessive knowledge of the CS suite is a must and you’ll be happy putting the hours in and keeping the clients happy. If you have a craving for fish and chips mail us your CV and portfolio today.

Tracey Emin

at the Hayward Gallery

In June Core Creative took another well earned trip to London with several events on our tick list. One of the most rewarding was the Tracey Emin Show ‘Love Is What You Want’. Personally it was a first to visit a Emin exhibition and we were all amazed by the impact of her work. The exhibition features painting, drawing, photography, textiles, video and sculpture, in works that are by turns tough, romantic, desperate, angry, funny and full of longing. Seldom-seen early works and recent large-scale installations are shown together with a new series of outdoor sculptures created especially for the Hayward Gallery.

Juxtaposing

Engaging art at Tate St Ives

This show responds very directly and playfully to the unique architecture and location of the galleries at Tate St Ives, drawing the building itself and our summer audiences into the experience. Perhaps the most spectacular installation is Martin Creed’s Work No.210 Half the air  in a given space, which see’s the huge, curved, glass fronted gallery filled with thousands of white balloons. Visitors are able to enter the gallery to play with the balloons and to physically experience the space in an entirely new way.

Also included is Measuring the Universe 2007, by Roman Ondák. Ondák’s work emerges over the course of the exhibition from an empty white gallery space. Each visitor to the gallery is asked to stand against the wall, their height is then measured and a mark made, named and dated using a pencil. These marks build up to form a dense black band running around the gallery walls, forming a dynamic, changing constellation of individual lives and an expansive, poetic portrait of a place, period, and the people who fleetingly occupy it.

March Madness Part 1

Core hit the shows

March 2011 saw a flurry of activity on the Core calendar. Over two weekends the team crammed in six outstanding shows and events. At Core Creative we positively encourage trips to as many creative events as possible.

The first half of March saw us at Grafik Warfare Corroded Surfaces, an exhibition of leading street artists in Portobello. Then it was over to the Old Truman Brewery for the much anticipated visit to Queens 40th Anniversary Exhibition which was amazing, if a little sad. Then just time to cram in another trip to the Tate Modern (a must on every visit!) before dragging our weary selves back to Waterloo, a weeks rest then back again for round two!

New Adventures

Tom spreads his wings

Core Creative says goodbye to Tom who has finally spread his wings and flown to a new pasture, Bath to be more precise. Tom was with Core for over a year in which time he developed a strong eye for typography and clean layouts. The team wish him luck in his new adventure and we shall remember him for his ‘Happy Accident’, pictured here (originally a pie-chart which happily ended up like this!).