C is for Creativity

Consume Less, Create More

It was Mary Lou Cook who said, “creativity is experimenting, growing, taking risks, breaking rules, making mistakes and having fun”. Whatever creativity means to you, it is at the heart of everything we do and the source of all great ideas! So without further ado, here’s our favourite creative brands!

Jennie Maizels

A graduate of Central St.Martins School of Art, illustrator Jennie Maizels, started her career by creating a life-size Paper Mache replica of Alice in Wonderland’s Tea Party (wow, we’d like to have seen that!), followed shortly by designing and making Harvey Nichols window displays for London Fashion Week. Since then she has gone on to illustrate 20 beautiful and ebulliently creative pop up books including ‘The Great Grammar Book’, nominated for Children’s Book of the Year 1999, and ‘The Global Garden’ which won the Aventis Prize 2006.  Her range of products now includes mugs, stationery, and iron-on patches ideal for customising anything from clothes to pencil cases. She also runs The Sketchbook Club, guiding budding artists through the creation of their own stunning masterpieces using her tried and tested ‘cheats’ and tricks! Complete with easy-to-follow walk through videos, Jennie shares her knowledge of different materials as well as teaching new techniques and skills. And the best bit, it’s suitable for any age or ability. Jennie is also currently working towards the Club being a social enterprise helping those who are going through a hard time, aiding their recovery or just benefiting people’s general wellbeing. We love love love! https://www.jenniemaizels.com

Art Play London

At Art Play London there are no right or wrong answers! This brilliant space is a place for children to let their imaginations run wild, freely expressing themselves through the medium of art and unleashing their inner creativity. The stimulating and fun environment provides inspiration via music, themes, conversation and materials. Classes are free flow with different stations and a variety of resources which children can use in whichever way their heart desires (no one to tell you not to mix the pink paint with the green!). There are literally no limits to what you can create. It’s very much about the process and having as much fun as possible, rather than the end result! Check out the centres website for regular events including yoga classes. www.artplaylondon.co.uk 

Cotton Twist

Set up from her kitchen table by Anne-Clare, after she tired of the plastic tat her children were constantly bringing home in party bags, Cotton Twist specialises in simple, good old fashioned and inherently satisfying craft kits. It is clear to see that Anne-Clare lovingly pours her creative energies into each and every one of her products and she never seems to cease dreaming up new ideas! Designed to spark creativity in a fun and imaginative way, we love the fact the kits draw upon a palette of raw materials such as lolly sticks and twine. The range includes party bags, stocking fillers, personalised tins and cake toppers plus much much more. And our favourite product - the new Save our Oceans Craft Kit. www.cottontwist.co.uk

The Imagine Children’s Festival

Who doesn’t love the Southbank? It’s a place just brimming with creativity and ideas and the annual Imagine Children’s Festival epitomises everything that the popular venue stands for.  Now in it’s 19th year, the Festival, which is the largest of its kind in the UK, is held every February Half Term, and celebrates the power of imagination, helping children to flourish and believe in themselves. The 12 days are jam-packed full of international performances, music, dance, literature, comedy, creativity, parties and hands-on, immersive activities (half of which are free!), all dedicated to kids aged 0-11 and their families experiencing and enjoying all kinds of art and culture while inspiring the next generation of artists, writers, comedians and performers. We particularly love the Kids Takeover which gives children the chance to work closely with the Southbank Centre team to plan the festival, from contributing to the line-up to selling programmes, making tannoy announcements to ensuring the shows start on time! Watch this space for details on next year’s festival: https://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whats-on/festivals-series/imagine-childrens-festival

The Big Draw

Launched in 2000, the world’s biggest drawing festival provides opportunities for each and every person who wants to draw! It is designed to demonstrate the social, economic and health benefits that drawing can bring, promoting visual literacy and the universal language of drawing as a tool for learning, expression and invention. Officially hosted in October events, exhibitions, workshops and competitions run throughout the year all over the world.  The campaign has encouraged over four million people back to the drawing board. It has notched up two world records – for the longest drawing in the world (one kilometre) and the greatest number of people drawing simultaneously (over 7,000). The first Big Draw Festival attracted 180 partner organisations with the number rising to over 1,000 since then and over 400,000 people participating each year. What began as a one day celebration of drawing in the UK, is now an annual month-long festival of drawing across the world. If that’s not inspirational we don’t know what is! https://thebigdraw.org/

Fun Crafts Kids

A favourite of ours, Fun Crafts Kids is a blog devoted to sustainable creative crafts curated by crafter extraordinaire, Maggy of Red Ted Art and Incredibusy founder, Ali Clifford who is passionate about living responsibly. We particularly love the recycling section - waste not, want not! And amongst others, there’s also educational and parenting crafts, DIY gifts plus ideas for us grown ups too! You are never too old to craft! Use the #FunCraftsKids to share your own efforts and if you’re lucky they’ll repost on their Instagram account www.instagram.com/funcraftkids. See more at www.funcraftkids.com

And if you’re looking for more inspiration then have a read of our top 10 creative blogs recommendations here :)