Meet a selection of our creative crowd
PHOTOGRAPHY
Marta Kochanek & Barbara Gibson Co-founders of Gibson Kochanek Studio
You’ve just celebrated your first year of business. How have the past 12 months been?
How would you describe your style of photography?
We opened our studio in Vyse Street in April 2014 and the space has allowed us to create a comfortable environment for our clients, while giving us the opportunity to concentrate on the brief. It’s been a busy year; we’ve enjoyed making new contacts and seeing the studio’s profile grow. We couldn’t have done it without all the supportive people we have met in Birmingham.
We are self-taught photographers, fast becoming known for our creative portraiture and documentation of our urban surroundings. We choose industrial and abandoned locations and apply a cinematic touch to our photography. We aim to create an eye-catching style that plays with light between subjects and we think this differentiates our work from others.
Do you have a favourite photograph from your portfolio? Why did you choose the Jewellery Quarter?
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showcases Gibson Kochanek’s unique style through the portraits in this creative feature.
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©Gibson Kochanek Studio
Birmingham is wonderfully diverse, with an incredible manufacturing and industrial heritage. The city is vibrant and forward thinking, with a young, creative population and we find it inspiring to photograph and document it. We love the Jewellery Quarter. There are lots of creative people living and working here and we wanted to be part of that.
It would be too difficult to pick just one. Working with people is always fascinating and every client brings something special and different to a shoot. We enjoy capturing the obvious characteristics of an individual, but if a photograph captures something new about the person – a hidden, quieter trait if you like – then our job becomes very special.
P U B L I C R E L AT I O N S
Paul Phedon Managing director of Gung Ho
Tell us a bit about the company:
Why do businesses need PR?
The company was launched 14 years ago under the name S&X and the team at the time launched The Mailbox, Selfridges, Louis Vuitton, and Urban Outfitters in the city, to name just a few. I joined the business in 2005, which also marked a new direction for the business. Today, we specialise in the consumer sport and lifestyle sector and our clients include New Balance, Speedo, The Fort and Motionhouse. We rebranded as Gung Ho in 2013. While the core competency of the business is PR, we are now providing full service communications.
Congratulations on your recent contract win with Garmin. What attracts these big clients to work with Gung Ho?
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How has your role evolved to meet clients’ changing needs? We’re developing much more content for clients in the form of story-telling, experiential activity and videos and this feeds both PR and social media. We’re also identifying who the most effective influencers for our clients are online and then engaging with them. We spend lots of time looking at consumer insights, too, because this helps us to develop our ideas. We believe the most effective campaigns are those based on human truths.
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©Gibson Kochanek Studio
I think it’s down to three things: our expertise in sport and lifestyle, our creative approach and our focus on results. Contrary to popular belief, Gung Ho actually means ‘work together’ and it’s this collaborative approach that is at the core of our successful, long and prosperous client relationships.
PR can be instrumental in everything from launching a new product in the market, raising awareness and profile, driving traffic in-store or online and, of course, managing and enhancing reputation. PR is also one of the most cost-effective ways to deliver stories and brand messages in the appropriate environment.
ARCHITECT
David Mahony PCPT Architects
Give us a brief history of the company: PCPT was set up as a partnership more than 50 years ago. Throughout that time we have established an excellent reputation with a long track record of success, all demonstrated by numerous awards gained over the years. Our expertise is across the board – anything that requires a high level of design. Locally, we specialise in the refurbishment of listed buildings.
We’re also doing a lot of work in Coventry. Charter House, a 14th century monastery has just been awarded a £5 million Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) grant and other HLF grants have been awarded to Drapers Hall, an £8m music and performance centre we are completing for Coventry University and Alan Edward Higgs charity. This sort of work is a joy.
What’s your favourite iconic building and why? What projects are you working on in the region?
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©Gibson Kochanek Studio
One of our specialities is working with Trusts and community groups to deliver projects, particular in heritage areas. Authorities are increasingly less able to invest and seem to have less time to understand what the people who visit, or live and work in, a place actually find important. For the Jewellery Quarter, PCPT was able to submit the successful first round Townscape Heritage bid, which might see as much as £10 million invested in the area.
My favourite structure in the Jewellery Quarter is the huge skew railway arch over the canal on Livery Street. This length of track was built by the Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway (OWWR), a shell company for Great Western Railway (GWR). GWR’s design means Isambard Kingdom Brunel, and the big spans by Snow Hill, march on into a huge tunnel that our offices sit atop.
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D E S I G N & D I G I TA L A G E N C Y
James Glover & Andrew Bowyer Creative director and digital director of Fluid
Tell us a bit about the company: Fluid is a creative agency that works with entertainment brands in film, music and gaming, such as SEGA, Sony Music and Warner Bros. We also help brands in other sectors to deliver highly visual, rich experiences. We have been operational 20 years: 10 years in JQ and 10 years before that in Digbeth. The JQ feels like a natural home and we have just bought the unit next door to our current base on Tenby St to house our newest venture, Fluid Digital.
What’s the latest news from your business?
You work with some big clients. What attracts them to work with Fluid? We have the right elements in place: we have built a standout client list; we have rare in-house talent; and we have always delivered inspiring work that meets the brief. Our team is deliberately built from fans of the brands we work on. We have all been promoters, musicians, artists, film-nerds or gamers at some point (and many of us are still!). We also have solid relationships with long-standing clients, so business is always moving.
What are the latest trends in design/digital?
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Clients are starting to appreciate the relationship between entertainment brands across sectors. The transmission between music, film, and gaming can be harnessed to huge effect. We’re increasingly injecting flair in to website content while the designs focus on elegance and robustness. Our entertainment brand clients are pushing us towards technologies that enable rich experiences, such as touch screen interfaces and virtual reality.
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©Gibson Kochanek Studio
We launched Fluid Digital just over a year ago. Andrew Bowyer heads it and he’s leading the business into areas we weren’t previously working in, such as beacons and touch screen kiosks. At the end of last year, Nick Brandum joined us as comms manager and he is focused on unearthing new opportunities.
DESIGNER MAKERS
Craig & Rebecca Struthers Owners of watchmakers Struthers London
Rebecca, congratulations on being named one of Retail Jeweller magazine’s top 30 stars of the watch and jewellery industry, under the age of 30. How did you get into watchmaking? Craig and I met at the School of Jewellery, where I started as a jeweller and silversmith in 2003, before joining Craig on the horology course in 2005. We’ve both always had a love of engineering, design and working with our hands. Discovering watchmaking was a perfect way to combine the subjects we love.
You have a shop in London but a workshop in the Jewellery Quarter. How does this work for your business?
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We’ve just launched the second watch in our series with Morgan Motor Company, which we run alongside our bespoke projects. The watches we design and make for Morgan are the only pieces we make multiples of at the moment, and even then we hand build every one to order, so they’re all unique. The majority of our work comes from clients wanting a unique watch built to their specifications. Our clients love knowing they are the only person in the world wearing their watch.
Where does the inspiration for your watches come from? We trained as vintage and antique watch restorers, so we take a lot of inspiration from traditional craftsmanship. Rebecca started out as a jeweller, so fine jewellery has a heavy influence on our work, too. There’s a quality and soul to handmade objects that are often lost in modern mass production. Seeing the way it used to be inspires where we strive to be.
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©Gibson Kochanek Studio
London has always played an intrinsic role in Birmingham’s luxury manufacturing sector by providing the centre for retail. We’re opening our first showroom in South Kensington in May, which is the perfect place to access our market, but, when it comes to accessing the skills you need to make fine jewellery, watches and silver you still can’t beat Birmingham.
What projects are you working on?
ARCHITECTS
3DReid 3dreid.com Abacus Architects abacusarchitects.co.uk ADP adp-architecture.com Align Architecture Ltd align-architecture.co.uk Archi-tekt archi-tekt.co.uk Axis Design Architects axisdesignarchitects.com B + G Architects bandgarchitects.com BHP Design bhp-design.co.uk Bignell Shacklady Ewing bignellshackladyewing.com BPN Architects bryantpriestnewman.com Brophy Riaz & Partners brp.uk.net Cadz cadz.org.uk Chetwoods Architects chetwoods.com Darlington Stephen 11 Key Hill Drive Daniel Hurd Associates danielhurdassociates.com David Plant Architecture daparchitecture.co.uk David Wilson Partnership Limited davidwilsonpartnership.co.uk Design Space 2 Room 408F, The Big Peg Glancy Nicholls glancynicholls.com I M B Architects Branston Course, Branston Street K3 Consulting 30, St Paul’s Square Khoury Architects khouryarchitects.co.uk PCPT Architects pcptarchitects.co.uk Pinnegar Hayward Design p-h-d.co.uk
St Paul’s Associates stpaulsassociates.co.uk
Morse-Brown Design morsebrowndesign.co.uk
Troyka Associates troyka-associates.com
Plan b Creative planb-creative.co.uk
Weedon Architects weedonpartnership.co.uk
Quench quenchdesign.co.uk Sixth Story sixthstory.co.uk
DESIGN & D I G I TA L A G E N C I E S
Soda sodadesign.co.uk
383 Project 383project.com
Strategy Plus strategy-plus.net
5874 Design 5874.co.uk
Studiografik studiografik.co.uk
Align&Pull alignandpull.com
Substrakt substrakt.co.uk
Barques barques.co.uk
Supercool supercooldesign.co.uk
BHD Creative bhdcreative.co.uk
Switch weareswitch.com
Big Cat Group bigcatgroup.co.uk
TYTO Creative tytocreative.co.uk
The Blue Cube thebluecube.com
WM Creative wmcreative.com
Bootcamp Media Ltd bootcampmedia.co.uk
Wow Internet wowinternet.co.uk
Clevercherry clevercherry.com
Z3/Studio designbyz3.com
Dotcom Development dotcomdevelopment.com DESIGNER MAKERS
Fluid fluidesign.co.uk
Alice Gow Designs alicegowdesigns.com
Homer Creative homercreative.com
Anna de Ville deville.fsnet.co.uk
IE Design iedesign.co.uk
Artfull Expression artfullexpression.co.uk
iomedia iomedia.co.uk
Becca Williams beccawilliams.co.uk
Jones and Palmer jonesandpalmer.co.uk Kimberley-Jane Design graphicdesign-birmingham.co.uk Levells levellsdesign.com
Bickerton Jewellery bickertonjewellery.com Centrepiece centrepiece-jewellery.com
Life lifeagency.co.uk
Charlotte Lowe charlottelowe.co.uk
Made Media mademedia.co.uk
Creative Watch Co. creativewatch.co.uk
MetApps metapps.co.uk
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BEO London beo.london
Estelle Jewellery estellejewellery.com
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Fei Liu feiliu.co.uk
FURNITURE DESIGNERS
Fera Jewellery ferajewellery.com
Lee Allen Photography leeallenphotography.com
Glassdomain glassdomain.co.uk
Frilly Industries frillyindustries.com
The Little Gem Wedding Company 199 Warstone Lane
JDD jddfurniture.com
Gladman & Norman gladman-norman.co.uk
Magical Dream Studios 8 Warstone Lane
Twin Design twin-design.co.uk
Gosia Weber Handmade bagshandmade.co.uk
Jack Spicer Adams jackspiceradams.com
Mesmerize Makeover mesmerizemakeover.co.uk
Highly Strung Designs highlystrungdesigns.co.uk
INTERIOR ARCHITECTS & DESIGNERS
Nick Parsons Photography nickparsonsphotography.co.uk
Helen Lea helenleajewellery.co.uk
Hi Design hi-design.biz
Oakes Studios oakesstudios.com
Jack Row jackrow.com Pens
John Evans Interior Architecture and Design Ltd johnevansdesign.com
Ross Jukes rossjukesphoto.com
JAD juliadavenportjewellery.com
Monteith Scott monteithscott.co.uk
Kevin Grey kevingrey.co.uk Silversmith
The Space Studio thespacestudio.com
Livto livto.co.uk Magnus & Bella magnusandbella.co.uk Michele White michelewhite.com Struthers London struthers-london.co.uk Watchmakers Tina Francis Tapestry tina-francis-tapestry.co.uk The Quarterworkshop thequarterworkshop.com
I L L U S T R AT O R S & ARTISTS
Alex Hughes Cartoons alexhughescartoons.co.uk GM Glass Design glass-monkey.co.uk Sandblast engraving
TipTop Photography tiptop-photography.com TMA Studio tmastudio.co.uk
Spencer Swinden spencerswinden.com
PR AGENCIES
Studio Able weareable.uk.com
Barques PR barques.co.uk/pr
PHOTOGRAPHERS
Alan Sharman Agency alansharmanagency.com Modelling agency
Fleet Street Communications fsc.uk.com Get You Seen getyouseen.com Gung Ho gunghoco.com
Aspire Studios aspiremakeover.com
Kinetic kineticpr.co.uk
Barrow Photography barrow-photography.com
Rewired PR rewiredpr.com
Cherry Pop Pictures 17F Vyse Street
Simon Harper Room 734, The Big Peg
Garazi Photography garazi.co.uk
Spottydog Communications spottydogcommunications.com
Gary Price Photography garypricephoto.co.uk
Vitis PR vitispr.com
Gibson Kochanek Studio gibsonkochanek.com
RBSA Gallery rbsa.org.uk
Graeme Braidwood Photography graemebraidwood.com
Visionary Glass visionaryglass.co.uk Glass art
Ian Winstanley ianwinstanley.net
URBAN DESIGNERS
Define wearedefine.com Fira fira-la.com
For a comprehensive list of creative companies based in the Jewellery Quarter, visit www.jewelleryquarter.net/creative QUARTERlife
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