The creativity of Park Royal and the people and businesses who are based there will be open this weekend (23 September 2022 – 25 September 2022) for anyone interested in how the area is growing as a key part of London’s creative sector.
The Park Royal Design District (PRDD), sponsored by OPDC, City & Docklands and Imperial College London, is home to more than 250 studios and over the weekend, 47 will be open to visitors along with nine exhibitions taking place and other ongoing events. is part of the London Design Festival 2022.
Visitors will get a rare opportunity to see studios and artists at work and be able to learn more about the creativity that comes from Park Royal.
The event has been organised by Grace Williams of Loom Projects Limited.
Ms Williams said it’s an opportunity like no other where the public can see what goes on behind the usually closed doors: “Park Royal Design District is a buzzing community of innovation and creativity and we are really excited to be part of London Design Festival so that the public can see the incredible work that normally goes on behind closed doors.”
Ms Williams added: “We have curated a programme of exhibitions, open studios, screenings, tours, workshops and events to bring it all to life and we are expecting a wide variety of people from press to design lovers to the general public. There really is something for everyone here and all are welcome.”
Among the highlights are:
Material-led Design and Sustainability Talk With Bill Amberg, Helena Elston and Blast Studios
The Material-led Design and Sustainability talk is an opportunity to meet local makers and creators of PRD who specifically work with natural and recycled materials. Speakers Bill Amberg, Helena Elston and Blast Studios will be delving into bio design, sustainability and material driven design, concentrating on their work with natural products. The audience will be invited to see samples of the finished designs, and there is be a Q&A panel discussion at the end of the talk.
23 September 2022, 12:30pm at Excelsior Project Space
Walking tours of Park Royal
Local culture and history enthusiast Joanna Dudzinska invites the public to join her on a fascinating journey through Old Park Royal, uncovering its rich industrial heritage, popping into local business, sampling foods from around the world, and meeting some of the people that make the little-known area of Park Royal so
unique.
24 September 2022, 11am starting at North Acton Station Square
25 September 2022, 11am starting at Grand Junction Arms Pub, Harlesden
Mycelium Presentation and Interactive Demonstration
As a sustainable textile developer, material researcher and story-teller, Helena Elston interconnects narrative, ecology and regeneration. Helena recently graduated with an MA in Textile Design from The Royal College of Art, where she gained sustainable material knowledge. She continues to create mycelial textiles and garments made to decompose safely back into the Earth.
Join Helena Elston for a presentation on mycelium and her unique process of decomposing textiles using fungi. This will be an interactive demonstration showing how to inoculate textiles with mycelium. Participants will learn about the benefits of mycelium in the fashion industry, and get a take home sample to grow your own mycelium. Workshop attendance is free but booking is required.
25 September 2022, 11am – 1pm at Standard Studios
Suzette Clough: Visual Meditation with Artist and Psychotherapist
During this workshop you will explore the gently liberating practice of visual meditation. Visual Meditation is inspired by the ancient practice of Visio Divina which, when translated literally, means divine seeing. This kind of ‘seeing’ happens when we can soften and open our gaze and gently breathe with what we are gazing at. We notice this happens when we walk in nature and our breathing syncs with the movement of the wind in tree branches or clouds moving in the sky. Visual Meditation is a way of accessing this deep well of
interconnection with all of nature through letting go of prescribed modes of looking and rather, allowing our body to enter into its own experience. You will be experimenting with a set of Visual Medicine cards especially created by Suzette for this practice.
25 September 2022, 11am-12.30pm at The Old Sub Station Makers, 131 Acton Lane, London, NW10 8UR
RE-MADE IN PARK ROYAL
This exhibition is a celebration of Park Royal’s circular economy, featuring work by local artists and makers who have sourced their materials from the area’s industrial waste and discarded items. PRDD’s vision is to be a leader in sustainable and circular design. The proximity of artists and designers, alongside incredibly diverse and plentiful waste streams, provides a unique opportunity to forge new partnerships between the creative and industrial sectors on a big scale. Drop in and discover how innovative local makers including absolute Beginners, Aaron Pereira, Rafael el Baz, Blast Studio and Helena Elston have made products from discarded coffee cups, tyres, shredded paper, leather offcuts, marble, burlap and even flower waste.
23 September 2022 – 25 September 2022, EX2 Project Space, 41-43 Standard Road, NW10 6H
Spirit of Park Royal
Garden Studios will be decorating their studio complex with a series of black and white photos of Park Royal’s community. They worked with an inspirational artisit Nacho Rivera, who captured portraiture of their neighbours, collaborators and staff that together creates the cohesiveness and sense of community they aspire to.
23 September 2022 – 10am-4pm at Garden Studios, 46 Steele Rd, NW10 7AS
Further information and tickets for all workshops will be available from on the PRDD website
