The Festival took place from 24 to 26 September 2021
Since 2018, we have been delivering a series of exciting arts and culture projects through our Great Place Scheme, celebrating the culture and heritage of Old Oak and Park Royal with opportunities for community members to engage with and influence the projects.
To celebrate and wrap up the scheme, a number of these projects were showcased during London Design Festival on the weekend of 24 to 26 September, alongside a series of our very popular guided walks of the area and the chance to discover a number of projects supported by our Small Grants Scheme.
In addition, we were pleased to be supporting the first ever Park Royal Design District a cluster of activities and events taking place during London Design Festival to shine a light on the community of artists and makers in Park Royal.
What was on over the weekend?
Find below a list of all the activities that were available over the course of the weekend:
London’s Kitchen
- A limited-edition collection of 6 products inspired by Park Royal’s industrial heritage; for sale exclusively from www.londonskitchen.com. To launch the Park Royal Editions, London’s Kitchen presents a curated programme of newly commissioned short films and podcasts, recorded from locations across Park Royal. Proceeds from sales will be donated to local Mutual Aid Groups. Watch online from 6pm, Sat 18 Sept, www.londonskitchen.com
- Park Royal Conversations – short film series
- Rigid Heddle Loom weaving demonstration by Raisa Kabir with Tashmar Smith
- The Art of Baklawa Making at Dina Foods
- In production at DYN-Metal
- An interview with Leroy Simpson of Harlesden Mutual Aid.
- Park Royal Conversations – podcast series:
- May Rosenthal Sloan in conversation with Zarina Muhammad
- Joy Bonfield-Colombara in conversation with Wilda Haddad
- Michael Marriott in conversation with Ben Kelly.
Absolute Beginners
- the FACTORY SHOP was open for guests to see (and buy) what our Absolute Beginners have been making over the last 6 months. A4 paper, tyre sandals, and clay cups are all made by hand, off-grid, and locally recycled materials
- commissioned as part of the Great Place Scheme, Absolute Beginners is a project by artist and writer, Tom James; creating projects and publications that aim to change the way we think about the structures, places and ideas around us. His work spans live, durational installations, participative workshops and self-published fanzines.
Work-Leisure
- recipient of our Major Art Commission, Bahbak Hashemi-Nezhad’s Work-Leisure is a unique opportunity to delve into the things made by workers for their own amusement across industries in Park Royal - one of the largest Industrial Estates in Europe & home to more than 1,700 businesses & 40,000 employees
- Bahbak's design studio produces work spanning domestic and public realm. Drawing on fields such as anthropology, aesthetics and play theory, his work explores the adaptive role of the designer within urbanisation.
These events were powered by Echo - a local skill sharing community celebrating and sharing the talents of Park Royal's creative makers.
Echo x ALOOKINTO Zine Launch and Mixer
Echo & ALOOKINTO hosted a launch and discussion with a panel of young creatives, exploring how we can collectively build a more diverse and inclusive creative sector. Panellists shared their stories of starting their own companies, creating more socially aware spaces and championing community-led business.
Demo and Talk - Pip Hackett Millinery
There was the opportunity to' Meet the Make'r Pip Hackett , to view her latest collection of Millinery inspired by the 1940’s Canary Girls. She also demonstrated how to make a 1940’s WW2 Land Girl turban-style hat.
Bring your own denim Workshop By.Wuzzy
This workshop gave guests the opportunity to make denim masterpieces with sustainable fashion entrepreneur Wuzzy. This “bring your own denim” 1hr making workshop allowed visitors to have their own denim pieces reworked at By.Wuzzy. You can even leave your jeans to be completely reworked at By.Wuzzy into a bespoke garment
Workshop tour – Koalaa Prosthetics
Workshop Tour of Koalaa Prosthetics. If you were anything like the team at Koalaa then you may have had a picture in your head about what prosthetics could do and what they look like. The reality today is very different. Koalla Prosthetics gave a behind-the-scenes look at what prosthetic limbs are like today, and how Koalaa is designing them completely differently for tomorrow.