104 Heaton Road

In 2009 I co-founded (with Seth Ridley of Kino Creative) 104 Heaton Road, a co-working space in my home city of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. The space comprised eight desks for rent (All inclusive! Easy terms!), a letterpress and screen print workshop, meeting and gallery space.

Run on a social enterprise basis, the deskspaces were quickly filled with small creative businesses and 104 became the centre of a small, tight-knit community of commercial creative activity. Residents included designers, animators, journalists, a media startup, futurists, translators, printmakers, event producers, copywriters, artists.

I created and oversaw the brand identity and strategy for the space, influenced by the way 826 NYC used its shop front (a not-for-profit language education organisation masquerading as a superhero supply store) to interact with, rather than just advertise to, its surrounding community. Their deep and serious commitment to the ridiculous is something I very much admire and I developed 104's communication style to be at once serious and playful. (And slightly bolshy.)

Upon deciding to make the move to London my partnership in the business was passed to Jo Feeley of Trend Bible. Seth and Jo continued the project until 2013, at which point both of their businesses had grown to the point where co-working was no longer viable. The creative precedent was set, though, and 104 Heaton Road is now home to a local graphic design agency.