Picks of the month: the best design events to catch (indoors) in April
The country and its creatives may be in lockdown, but that’s not to say there’s nothing to be done in April – beyond browsing online galleries, here are our top picks of design-related activities for the month ahead.
Watch: BBC Arts’ Culture in Quarantine
As the country settles into a life led indoors, BBC Arts has commissioned a host of new programmes to fill the line up of its new Culture in Quarantine virtual festival.
So far, the roster includes a virtual book festival, access to some the country’s now-shuttered exhibitions (like Tate Britain’s Aubrey Beardsley showcase), and a number of theatrical shows from the likes of the Royal Shakespeare Company and Margaret Atwood.
The pieces will appear across the BBC online and on broadcast and radio, and all content produced for the festival is “rooted in the experience of national lockdown”.
Info: Programming for Culture in Quarantine will be revealed over the next few weeks.
Read: Interiors: The Greatest Rooms of the Century
As many adjust to spending more time at home than ever before, home improvements can be tempting.
For designers looking for inspiration for their interior makeovers, Interiors: The Greatest Rooms of the Century provides ample creative stimulus.
Spanning 400 rooms, 25 countries and more than 100 years, the hardback book offers examples from fashion designers, artists and film stars, alongside the work of interior designers and architects. This latest edition has been finished in an orange velvet.
Info: Interiors: The Greatest Rooms of the Century is available from 1 April and is published by Phaidon. Price is £59.95.
Learn: Supercharge Learning & Playing at Home, by Tech Will Save Us
Across the country, there are thousands of households that overnight became school environments because of the government’s school shut down. Many designers have, characteristically, approached the task of becoming full-time teachers with creativity.
For those who still feel a little daunted by the task, Tech Will Save Us has produced a guide for parents, advising them on how they make the most of and have fun with their children during the pandemic.
From “old school” lesson ideas, to at-home science experiments and tips on keeping kids motivated, the guide offers parents creatively-led ideas for children of all ages, ultimately trying to show self-isolating families how to “not sweat the small stuff and go with the flow”.
Info: Supercharge Learning & Playing at Home is free to download, and can be accessed here.
Listen: Creative Pep Talk
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One of the most obvious side effects of life in lockdown is a lack of contact with other creatives. For designers who are used to the environment of a studio or co-working space, suddenly having to do it all from home can mean a real lapse in motivation and inspiration.
For the last four years, American illustrator Andy J Pizza has been working to support and uplift the world’s creatives through his podcast, Creative Pep Talk.
Through monologues and interviews, he addresses feelings that plenty will be feeling in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic – from tackling feelings of hopelessness, to finding inspiration while cooped up at home.
Info: Creative Pep Talk episodes are published weekly, and can be accessed from all podcast streaming services.
Play: Hue: A Color Adventure
Back in 2016, indie games studio Fiddlesticks released Hue to consoles and PC. The puzzle game hooked audiences with its colourful primary- and secondary-coloured 2D visuals, which act as the mechanics of the game.
Designers stuck at home with without a console will be pleased to know then that the game will be coming to mobile this month, giving them a chance to play as protagonist Hue in his fight to save his mother.
Info: Hue: A Color Adventure will be coming to the App Store and Google Play on 23 April.
BUCK is amazing