On the brink put together a mix for us of the favourite songs that go into fuelling their creative endeavours. These are tunes to create incredible furniture, illustrations and photographic campaigns to, well they are if you're a talented member of On The Brink but you can sit and listen to them on the train too like we are.
Read moreHey Ransford, how's your week going so far? So far i'm having a really good week thank you. With it currently being half-term it means I get a chance to get some rest and spend more time with my family! We saw you were leading a hike over the weekend just gone, how did it go? What was it all about? The INTRSPCT Collective hike was an amazing experience and it went much better than I envisioned. The purpose of the Hike was to raise money for the charity CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably) who are leading a movement against suicide. Tell us a bit more about INTRSPCT Collective as a whole? Our ultimate goal here at INTRSPCT is to reduce the high rates of suicide and depression within the male community. We endeavour to create a culture of care for men in a world where we may seek belonging in the wrong places and things. We do this through weekly runs and hikes which allows us to build community and connection with one another as we look to change the narrative of what it means to be a man in todays society. We must fight to create and maintain a community of care and vulnerability amongst ourselves and other men around us. It saves lives. Vulnerability amongst men is an anomaly and mostly uncomfortable. However, contrary to what most men are taught to believe, there's strength in vulnerability. Why do you think community walking or running groups are so prevalent at the moment and why did you feel like it was the right time to start yours? The mental, physical and social benefits of running and walking (especially in a group) are indubitable. I think more people are not just becoming more aware of these benefits but are yearning to get those around them involved as well. Being able to share how good something is with those around you only adds to the joy of it. I started INTRSPCT Collective to create a community of care for men in Manchester to know that contrary to what some are taught to believe, there's stength in vulnerability & weakness. I wanted to create a safe space for men like myself to know that they have the freedom and the space to be themselves. To be challenged. To grow. To learn. To build. To be rooted in community. People often open up more to each other when walking side by side, what is your take on the link between movement and mental health? As a P.E teacher, most of my days are spent teaching pupils about how great movement is, not just for our physical wellbeing but also our mental and social wellbeing. Community movement, whether that be running, walking, cycling, fitness classes etc are great ways to remove barriers when it comes to building deeply rooted relationships and connections. The fact that a run or a hike with others can make us feel so much better physically & mentally makes me believe that we were created to move, and move freely with like minded people through community. Check them out on Instagram @intrspct.collective, hike photos by Ransford
Read moreEverything from Fleet Foxes to Massive Attack, Yard Store put together a playlist of their in-store favourites to get you through the week.
Read moreWaiting for a break in the rain, we did a quick dash from Ancoats to Pollen bakery's new permanent site at Kampus where we had a chat with Connor about what's on the menu, their 28 day sourdough and the other projects on the rise at Manchesters most visually pleasing bakery. You can also spy on the pastry chefs making your bakes which is a huge added bonus if you like a side of people watching with your coffee. Connor styled out one of our tees (we think he has a second career as a model in the making) and also put together a really nice easy-listening playlist with some of his co-workers, ideal for slow Sunday mornings, we'll be sharing that soon too. Are you a tea or a coffee person and what's the best thing on the Pollen bakery menu? Most definitely a coffee person! Best thing on the Pollen Kampus menu at the moment has to be the Isle of White Tomatoes on Toasted 28 Hour Sour. What does a good morning look like for you? I’m very much an early morning person, having an active dog it makes mornings much more interesting and a good morning would be a nice pourover coffee followed by a big walk, maybe pick up a pastry or two from the many wonderful bakeries near where I live in New Islington, Manchester. I do love getting out to the Peak District as regular as I can and that would definitely be a perfect morning for me. Please explain, what is 28 hour sourdough?? Our 28 Hour Sour is the name we’ve give our everyday sourdough. It takes 28 hours from mixing the levain to baking each loaf. This applies to all our loaves as we cold ferment the loaves in the fridge and take out in the morning to bake. Are Pollen working on anything new and exciting at the moment Pollen are currently looking to set up a new website where folks nationwide can order our sourdough to arrive next day. We are also planning some Christmas bits. It may seem early but Christmas is a huge period for a bakery and we need everything to be planned and confirmed. Including design of the packaging of the items we’ve decided on. Tell us a bit about the Pollen community and the vibes at Pollen Kampus Pollen Kampus is a great place to work with such a caring and hard working team. It feels like a real family vibe throughout all sections whether it’s the pastry, kitchen or front of house team, it just feels like a big family and that just makes it such a warm place for customers to enter whether they are regulars with us or it’s their first time visiting the Kampus site. We have two sites, Pollen Ancoats being the original location and last year Pollen Kampus opened its doors.
Read moreThough our autumn drop is very much on the horizon, behind the scenes we're spinning other plates too. One such item of rotating crockery has 'Spring/Summer 2024' written on it, and for the first time since we started taking Hikerdelic seriously, it is a range that doesn't have a version of our Conway Jacket at its heart. In its place, we developed a different style of jacket, more technical, and named it the Nuway, an evolution of the Conway. With this break in play comes an opportunity for us to reflect on a jacket that has become something of an icon for Hikerdelic, and also set up the six versions we have lined up for this season too. The Conway was first developed with military in mind. Though the lineage of smocks extends back several centuries and takes in farming as well as fashion, the iteration we're most connected to is the version worn in the middle part of the 20th century and beyond. Traditionally built to act as a roomy outer layer and made from tightly woven cottons, the smock found widespread use in the harsh, cold conditions endured by the Allies during World War 2 in particular. Though the British Army pioneered a lot of classic military styles, the Scandinavians were naturally better prepared for extreme low temperatures and they employed the smock as part of this. Much of our research and development for our own smock centred on the 1950s to the 1970s, when conflict had largely ended. The legacy of the practical clothing of the 1940s plus an active population looking for adventure meant the rise in outdoor exploration. Synthetic fabrics were developed and outerwear such as the smock evolved. But not before the status of the smock and its origins found new appreciators via the procession of post-war cinema, such as 1965's Heroes of Telemark (above). Cottage industries grew into clothing and equipment brands, some of which dominate the outdoor clothing landscape today. But that golden era of 'gear' was the key inspiration behind our Conway Jacket. The patch logo on the sleeve together with strategically placed pockets and drawcords on the hem and hood made for something that paid homage to the outerwear innovations of post-war Scandinavia, but in a way that made sense for the modern day. Once a design was finalised, it required a name, and as a brand finding its feet on a local scale, a local hero provided inspiration. James Conway was from the same streets where the early seeds of Hikerdelic were sown, a short walk from Stockport's famous viaduct. His humble origins felt fitting with our brand, but it was his celebrated role during WW2 that provided us with further inspiration. As part of Operation Frankton, Conway and his comrades went behind enemy lines in December 1942. In a bid to sabotage German ships by attaching limpet mines to them, Conway and 9 others paddled five collapsible canoes close to the enemy vessels under the cover of darkness. It was to be a huge propaganda victory, but one which would cost most of the Marines - including Conway - their lives. Their story was the basis of a popular film released in 1956, called The Cockleshell Heroes. Today Conway's achievements are celebrated with a statue in the centre of his hometown, where he fittingly appears to be wearing a fetching piece of outerwear. The first two versions of the Conway Jacket were released as part of our Autumn/Winter 2020 range, and came in navy blue and yellow. Since then, there have been a total of 24 versions to have found their way into the world. We thought it was a good time to list the 18 to have been released so far, in one place for the first time. Six more will emerge in the coming weeks, more of which later. AW2060/40 fabricNavyYellow SS2157/43 polyester/nylonOff WhiteLight GreenLight Blue SS21 Limited EditionPurple (web only)Orange (web only) AW21CorduroySandOlive AW21 Limited EditionBlack (web only)Royal Blue (Working Class Heroes only) SS22RedStone AW22100% CottonPink Light Green SS23Ripstop NylonOrangeForest GreenSky Blue
Read moreWhere does the name Cloudwater come from? The name Cloudwater is derived from the Japanese word unsui, which literally translates as ‘cloud water’. Its origins are from Zen Buddhism and is used to describe wandering novice monks seeking further training and deeper knowledge, emphasising the continuous process of improvement and development that defines our work. Also, cloud water is rain, and we’re based in Manchester! What does a good day in the life of a Barrel project lead look like? Surrounded by barrels, perhaps not leaky ones though. A good day is when everything is going as planned, which isn't necessarily always the case when you're working with a live product such as beer. I use lots of different adjuncts (brewers speak for ingredients that aren’t malt, hops, and yeast) in the BA beers and sometimes you have a good, clear idea that you think will work exactly how you expect but it doesn't always follow a straight line from ingredient to glass. It's a process which means I am always looking for new and different flavour combinations to compliment the base beer without straying too far from the essence of the Cloudwater Barrel Project. A good day is sometimes also just transferring the beer from barrel to bottle, without it covering my face! Can you describe yourself as if you were a beer? A young lambic. Simple and boring still, needing more time to develop in complexity and depth in flavour. Tell us a bit about your Barrel project line? Barrel ageing has been at the heart of what we do at Cloudwater since the brewery’s inception in 2014. We made a modest start with a handful of wine barrels and in 2016 we took delivery of three 5000L foudres, which you can see from the mezzanine of our taproom. In regards to the process of Barrel Ageing we have two distinct lines of beer; the clean beer line is more about how the flavour of the beer, mainly imperial stout, interacts with the flavour from the first used spirit or wine barrel. The wild and sour beer line is a bit more complicated. It’s about how different bacteria and wild yeasts ferment the beer in the barrel, interact with ingredients, and even biotransform one flavour profile into another. This can cause great uncertainties but also one of the beauties of the barrel program. Are you working on anything new and sensational at the moment? Our Christmas release! Each year we launch 12 Christmas Barrel Aged beers, and I am really excited for the imperial stout because we extended the ageing period, and it’s going to make a huge difference! Also, I am working on a collaborative experimental brew with a South Korean brewery. We used Korean rice wine yeast for that beer, and it’s still evolving in the barrel.
Read moreOur introductory series of interviews now sets its sights on Sophie Scott. A skater-girl, Lake District native and feline fanatic, Sophie is more than simply our head of design, she's also the body. That's a bad metaphor for the fact she is the all-seeing eye for all things design and development, from bringing the early ideation stage into something with a semblance of order, to ensuring the finished product you see on this website is as close to our vision as possible. Like many creative people, she is not a morning person and she is more than capable of a cutting remark. Bear that in mind when reading some of her answers. Who are you? Soph. What do you do? I’m Head of Design - essentially the designer, product developer and production manager rolled into one.Where are you from originally? Ulverston, South Lakes massive. What does a normal day look like to you? I wake up at 5am and hit the gym for a good 3 hours then leisurely stroll to the train station, making sure I arrive at work early doors. Throughout the day, it’s important to keep my head down and not distract anyone to avoid any procrastination. Then I head home and get an early night, ready for the sun to rise again. This routine is sure to keep your creativity alive. Where is your favourite place in the outdoors? I’ve recently moved to Todmorden and I’m just gonna throw it out there and say the whole town is my new favourite place as it feels like home away from home…and it’s got bare lit countryside n that.If you could have a superpower, what would it be? Diplomacy… Favourite Hikerdelic item? At the moment the worker pants! The fit is great for men and women which I’ve never really found when buying men’s pants before (and I’m pretty short!)When did you first hear about Hikerdelic? I think I came across it on Instagram around 2018/19 then spent about 6 months plucking up the courage to DM’d and ask for a job! Tell us a joke. The price of my commute. What is the third to last picture on your camera roll? Show us. Do you want anyone to follow you on social media? If so, where can you be located? @sophski
Read moreA mix of new tunes from the people who know tunes best over at Eastern Bloc Records
Read moreWhat do you love most about the Eastern Bloc community? A true love of music, it's nice to be able to geek out and really connect over something we all hold so dear. Also, now that we are running events the crowd is always super accepting and honest, a real safe space where all walks of life can come to enjoy good music. Three decades in, is there anything EB hasn't done that you want to be doing? There's always ideas flying about, with the recent addition of some new staff members let's see what comes out of it. What in-store events should we be looking out for in the coming months? August is looking stacked in terms of the events, if I had to pull a couple of highlights I'd say Hyper Violet crew on the 11th of August for a high-energy night of House music via Kwassa files co-founder Roeg and resident Luke Daniels with Sam The Bastard completing the line up, taking you to the weird and wonderful areas of dance music. Secondly on the 25th of August Break even, a local deep techno collective, will be providing deep & hypnotic grooves via resident Yockley and support coming from a b2b of local collectives 01366 & Mycelium with DJ's twelveseven and Onkel What's one album everyone should listen to irrespective of what tastes they have? This would probably change on a day-to-day basis but here's the current buzz Ben : Barker - Utility Jim : 4hero - Two Pages Silas : Super cat - Don Dada
Read moreWhat does a good morning look like in Ajoto hq? It might be a bit cliche but when the suns out over Manchester there are few better places to be. We can take Chippy, the studio dog, for a long walk and spend a morning packing orders and chatting about the trips we want to take the places we're looking forward to visiting next. Throw in a good cup of tea or coffee and we are all set. Like us you're tucked away in an old mill in Ancoats, what does the area you work in mean to you? Ancoats is an fascinating area, there is this deep industrial history juxtaposed with a constant feeling change and movement. I remember the area as kid coming into Manchester in the 90’s and it was a forgotten no-mans land with the remnants of the the cardroom estate and crumbling warehouses and mills that had seen better days. It's only when I moved the AJOTO studio here 2014 that I witnessed the speed of change and the whole area transform. Growing up in the North West and now working in Ancoats, the industrial heritage, diversity of people and the changing landscape all end up filtering into our work. The everyday tools we make such as the Pen are primarily functional pieces of industrial craft, where advanced manufacturing meets traditional knowledge. Then there are the stories behind how we make our products, as we openly celebrate the people, places and processes involved. It's the balance of aknowledging and valuing elements of the past, but then embracing new and better ways of making and working. What inspired the discovery collection of pens and how did you develop the design? As far back as I can remember I’ve been fascinated with space exploration and technology. There is a unique aesthetic quality that I really connect that comes from having to craft one-off or small batch technology products but using super high tech machinery and materials. As or the discovery collection, I used to follow a blog called ISO50 created by a graphic designer come musician called Scott Hansen aka Tycho. He posted lots of nostalgic sci-fi, NASA and space imagery alongside music links, one of the articles he posted was about satellites and some of the NASA programs. One evening this inadvertently started a chain reaction that ended up with me reading about the NASA Discovery Program into the early hours of the morning. One of the programs, called Startdust, was the first to bring back samples of a comet to earth and included microscopic interstellar dust particles dating from the very origins of the solar system. The last engine burn of the Startdust was in March 2011 around the time we started AJOTO and I wanted to to create a range of Pens that paid homage to this. To do this worked on a way to coat the Pens with this special kiln harden ceramic that created these droplet effects, to represent the idea of space dust particles being collect on the Pen. The names of each piece reference the names of the spacecraft and the comets. What new products are you working on? We saw lots of colourful paracord! Yes, we’ve been working on a range of notebooks and notebook covers for a while now. We are in the process of launching them very soon. The paracords are part of the closure system we created for the notebook covers. They are interchangeable as we really like the idea of people customising them to make them their own. The boxes or cord are from some of our research into the options availbile, which currently seem endless. It’s a fun task though. The notebooks are all printed and bound in the UK and will be produced in editions that each celebrate a unique paper from some of the best paper mills. It’s been a long time coming. We recently launched our Sterling Silver Pens that aren all precision machined from solid bars of silver. Making this edition had a few tense moments but they are really special and feel incredible to use and hold. We are really proud of how they turned out. We have also been working on a small range of ceramic pieces with a pottery in Arita, Japan that we hope to launch soon but the production is taking longer than expected. What's the most interesting bespoke request you've had? Thats a hard one to answer as we’ve made a wide range of bespoke and custom pieces since we began making Pens and worked on projects with large international companies down to individuals. Ironically, it wasn’t something on our radar when we began AJOTO but it has become important aspect of our work. The most interesting bespoke pieces are usually when we get approached to collaborate with like minded individuals and brands. The focus is generally more artistic than simply adding a brand mark and we have fun creating exclusive small editions. The simplicity of the Pen design makes it the perfect canvas to explore materials, processes and also engraving. Chris wears the original logo in navy (here) and Marta wears the Material Worth tee in off white (here)
Read moreHailing from Glasgow but now a Stockport native, Darren draws - whether it's a five second phone doodle or a full-scale chaotic and colourful painting he makes marks to represent the snippets of life that inspire him and talked with us about being responsive as an artist as well as Stockports beautiful juxtapositions. What's a good start to the day for you? A good start of the day for me consists of a good selection of music to set me up for the day. Then a strong coffee that fuels me to creatively play around in the studio, whether that be carefree doodling in my space, messing around with ideas or catching up with fellow studio members. Tell us about your phone drawings and how they help in your overall creative process?My phone drawings are a natural evolution of my sketchbook and an important part of my creative process. It lets me instantly record a creative response whether that be a self-reflective one or one that is inspired by my surroundings. I would consider the drawings as an important creative output that captures an instant moment in time. Creating a piece of artwork that I consider more than just a sketch.Are you working on anything new?At this moment in time, I am working on a new series of phone drawings for a large-scale installation that I have titled ‘A Passive Place’. I am also working on a series of paintings that have evolved from my phone drawings, with the intention to explore and create a more chaotic colourful visual language. I have been working with pencil for a while now and as a painter it is really rewarding to return to a medium that brings an element of resistance and chance to my practice. What is it about the architecture in Stockport / Manchester that draws you in?Stockport for its retention and pride in its architectural history and glorious redbrick. I also love the many layers to the town structurally and how people navigate and spend time in each space. Manchester for its bizarre juxtaposition of old and new and how this clashing of structure creates a constant flux of energy when wandering its streets. What do you love most about the community around you?What I love most about the community around me is that it never fails to inspire me. Stockport is an amazing place full of great characters and brilliant conversations. It’s never mundane weather chat, people have a laugh and aren’t afraid to talk about big subjects and most importantly don’t take themselves too seriously. It’s a place where people make things happen and feed back into the community. Darren wears the Core logo in black, shop here
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