Inspirational holidays

It's been a great and hugely inspiring summer for me, with revisiting Bulgaria one of the highlights. I first went there just after the Berlin wall fell 20yrs ago with a friend, Elsa. I remember we were starving in a buffet-less train, so got off at random the next station called Kazenluk. Everyone was extremely friendly, so we soon got talking and were invited to stay the night. We did, and then stayed the rest of our holiday in Kazenluk. We've kept in touch with our good Bulgarian friends ever since, and went back this year.

Bulgaria has a long  history as it was the first European country to be settled by humans 1.6 million years ago, the Thracians were a fantastically cultured civilisation who pre-dated the Greeks, and it's had a varied and interesting history ever since.

Sofia is an enjoyable modern city, if a bit grafiti-plagued :

although some of the grafiti is rather fun :    

Our first stop was the Museum of Soviet Era Art where many of the old Soviet statues now live.

I enjoyed comparing the statues that used to be in the city center, with what's there now  :

The National Archological Museam held some real treasures  :

Bulgaria has great secenary and countryside.

Some interesting customs, such as publising when someone sadly passes away.

I wondered if armed-robbers would go elsewhwere once they saw this sign outside a bank?

It was great to be back with our old friends in Kazenluk. The town is famous for it's roses, and also the very sophisticated many artists associated with the town.

Our new Yarn Break Detector

Modern textile machinery is so fast these days, that if a yarn breaks or a bobbin runs out, you can quickly have loads of faulty fabric on your hands.

Since the 50's, New House have manufactured yarn break detectors (or 'stop-motions' as they are known in the trade) that detect broken yarns, stop the machine and can quickly save all this wasted fabric.

Ten years ago we developed a new model, NHT-10 which is a sealed unit, impervious to the dust, gunk and starch you often get in a textile mill, and works with an infra red beam down the centre. It's also possible to control the dropper tension, so it can easily handle a wide range of stiff or fine yarns, or high and low tensions without problems.

It all began with a concept drawing  :

After many revisions the final product became :

It's a true UK-Made product with the moulds made in Yorkshire, the curcuit boards in Leicestershire, extrusions in Worcester and final assembly at New House's Herefordshire HQ.

Due to the downturn and the world's textile industry contracting, we had to shelve the project for a while. However with the UK economy now growing again, we are happy to revive NHT-10 and launch our new yarn-break detector.

We had a recent scare when we heard that the Yorkshire company who held our mouldnings had closed, but the good people who took over quickly found them again. 

These are some of our tools, all in good clean working order and ready to GO!

 

Double spouted tea pots

I like a tall skinny latte just like the next chap, but the time it takes to make can be a real pain if you are in a hurry. The guy behind the counter bangs and knocks away removing old grounds, the machine hisses, milk is steamed, and the queue just keeps getting longer and longer. 

I came across this giant double-spouted tea pot at Canons Ashby House the other day, which made me think that things must have been better and a lot faster years ago :

 

Used  by a railway company, each time a train packed with thirsty passengers would arrive, the 'char ladies' would be ready with row after row of mugs all lined up. I imagine these ladies would not have put up with the long-winded messing around of modern baristas, as armed to the teeth with these double-spouted tea pots, they'd bring tea and cheer to hundreds of passengers, probably in much the same time as it takes for my one skinny latte to be made.

Back to my old Uni

I studied Textile Chemistry at Leeds, and needing to do some desk research into the properties of a polymer I wanted to use in a new product, I returned the other day. Being an 'old boy' the cheerful librarians were happy to let me still use all the libraries, and even borrow books if I wished. 

The main landmark building, the Parkinson building is just the same as it was, but a few new buildings threw me, so I got lost wandering around.

Leeds was once a huge centre for the wool industry, so the Textile Department stands right in the middle of the university. It came first, and the university came after :

I couldn't resist having a poke around, and the smell in the corridors hadn't changed. Some of the labs have now been turned into design studios, and a lot of the textile machinery had gone, but they still had the same space where they used to extrude fibres :

It was enjoyable walking around and seeing the clever students creating new knitted designs on V-bed machines or screen-printing in the print room.  I learnt to print in this room too, and still have a few of my prints hidden away in a drawer.

I'm sure the levitating lady wasn't there when I was a student. However as a nice touch she's floating over a garden planted with plants people used to extract dyestuffs from, such as madder, foxgloves, marigolds, etc :

My desk research only took an hour or two, while wandering round my old Uni and seeing how it's changed took much longer...

Child safety, roller blinds, and New House

Like everyone in the blind industry, we've been shocked each time we've heard of some poor child being hurt or strangled by a roller blind side chain. A few years back no one could have imagined that this could ever have happened, so I'm pleased at how fast our trade has responded, worked with governments, the EU, and safety bodies like RoSPA to create new regulations and new safety standards that ensure blinds will be much safer in the future.

New House has never been fans of blind cord loops (which have caused the blind fatalities), and have always prefered the traditional spring mechanisms with a well designed blind pull.

Yet New House has certainly played it's part, and the information website make it safe was styled by me :

If you have a blind side chain, one of the best ways of making it safe is to fix it to the wall with a cleat or 'cord tidy'. You'll still be able to pull your blind up and down easily enough, but by having no loose cord loops, no toddler can get entangled.

At New House we have designed a number of cord tidy's:

We have added 'Halo', which is a solid carved-from-aluminium, strong and solid device, and made in Gloucestershire.

Yesterday we launched it at the BBSA child safety conference in Coventry and had a great response.

  

Halo is not on our website yet as we're awaiting photos - but it soon will be!

Congratulations to Nathan Filer for winning the Costa Prize, and to Charlotte Farmer (who's handwriting is on the cover)

As a big-time reader I always keep a close eye on the literary awards, and this year are especially happy that Nathan Filer's first novel 'The shock of the Fall' won the Costa Prize.

 

At New House, we are also very pleased as our clever illustrator, Charlotte Farmer wrote the words for the front cover and contributed towards making the book such a powerful read.

Maybe you can judge a book by the cover - especially if Charlotte has had a hand in the design!

The BBC  made a short film about the making of the cover, and Charlotte appears towards the end. Please click on the image  to watch....

Paris, New Year and le Musee du quai Branly

When my good old French friends invited me for New Year, there could only be one answer. So on New Year's Eve I found myself walking along the Seine with my old chum Thierry, who runs an exceptionally innovative engineering business near Limoges.

I've always loved African indigenous art. Once called 'primitive art' as it's materials are basic, yet Picasso was a big collector and it had a huge influence on him, as well as European modernism and design worldwide. Because of this we went to the Musee du qui Branly which has one of the Worlds greatest collections of ethnological art.

Located just a few 100m from the Eiffel Tower, the site was originally selected for one of Francois Mitterand's grand projects. However it was Jacques Chirac who took an interest in the project, and the museum opened in 2006.

Musee du quai Branly divide their collections into four geographic regions, Asia, Oceania, Americas and Africa and I took a few photos in each :

The last looked like an effigy of Homer Simpson.

Every great city needs an iconic building, and Paris has the greatest of them all, the Eiffel Tower. It seems strange today that people hated it when first built and wanted it demolished. It only stands because the money ran out after the 1889 Paris World Fair, yet no visitor like me can avoid taking pictures. Here are a few of mine :