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Since we last reported on Designs of the Time Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly ahead of the Dott programme think-tank in March (DW 25 March), the Dott team has been busy.

Part of the Dott Cornwall initiative is the branding project From Cornwall with Love, which has been headed by senior design producers Something From Us. It aims to explore how to promote Cornish produce on a global market through co-discovery and co-design to stimulate economic and creative growth in the region.

Something From Us directors Mark Irlam and Tom Tobia have been traversing Cornwall to talk to people on the ground to assess the current market and discover the best ways to put Cornish produce in the spotlight.

Irlam and Tobia’s latest feat was to assemble a fact-finding dinner with half the guests in London and half some 370km away in Falmouth. The aim was to unite Cornish designers, producers, local government and the local tourist board with buyers and interested parties in London to discuss the problems and opportunities faced when getting Cornish produce outside of the region.

Through the wonders of technology, guests at yacht-makers Rustler Yachts in Falmouth and the oldest salmon smokery in the country, H Forman and Sons next to the Olympic Village in London’s Stratford, could talk at length about Cornwall’s strengths – food, community and quality produce – and weakness: transport links and lack of key people promoting products from Cornwall.

While Irlam and Tobia frantically scribbled things down, guests in both venues tucked into a four-course meal made of entirely Cornish produce including fish from The Cornish Seafood Company and Yarg cheese.

As the Cornish Polgoon wine flowed, so did the ideas, including introducing a stronger Cornish presence at national trade events, commissioning Cornish produce ambassadors and creating better websites and online communities to market Cornish produce.

If only co-discovery was always this tasty.