Displays

Contemporary British designer Helen Middleton uses industrial waste material to create stylish, playful designs. Through waste-led design, Helen’s products have little or no environmental impact. She works with businesses to reuse their waste and offer them an alternative to landfill. Helen’s products encourage sustainable living through creative design. She believes artworks should not only be superficially beautiful, but should embody a message. Helen believes art and design should engage and empower us to make a difference in our world. A portion of Helen’s sales is donated to Silver Line, a charity helpline to alleviate loneliness and isolation among older people. For her 50 Windows display Helen has included Comtemorary Smudge lampshades handmade from industrial ink tubes. The ink stripes inside the tubes make each lampshade unique, and waster metal around the base, painted in chalkboard paint, adds a customisable twist. Cut from industrial waste metal, the Le Crayon lampshades feature a hand-coloured edge inspired by pencil sharpening. The original Manchester- inspired artwork is hand-painted or drawn on industrial waste metal and then printed on cotton rag paper. Helen says: "I work with businesses and re-purpose their printing sheets and ink tubes into contemporary, affordable objects. I am making waster the core part of my process, encouraging businesses o reuse their industrial waste whilst promoting an alternative to landfills for a sustainable living."  To find out more visit helenmiddletonstudio

Richard Shields claims to be undertaking a residency in his own life. Shields invokes personal experiences affecting a wider cross section of society. The struggle for success, embracing failure, permo anxiety, Googling your ill health, dancing with debt, and identity all feature in Shields work. A relationship with the viewer is built through familiarity in objects and the site specific. These concerns inform painting, drawing and sculpture, encompassing realism and abstraction. Shields recent 'Technical Drawings' are based on his experiences as an art handler and meme culture. Each work presents images associated with art technicians, accompanied by anecdotal texts. Reflecting on his work the artist says: "Drawing and objects have always been at the centre of my work. My experiences are played out for the viewer through a shared understanding, a halfway point where flamiriaity invites you in, the something changes. Oscar Wilde said "To become a spectator of one's own life is to escape the suffering of life". My work often satirises moments that leave us beleaguered but bring us together in settled dust." To find out more about the artist and his practice visit richardshieldsartworks.org

May Wild Studio is the creative practice of Rebecca May and Michael Wild. Designers, Makers & Educators based in Manchester. They design handmade artworks, their work also comprises of exhibitions, commissions, workshops and installations. Combining new design technologies with traditional craft making, their core values center around storytelling, collaboration and material innovation in the handcrafted.Their work strives to engage people through its tactile qualities and narrative theme.Themes of light and dark, creating beauty and humour from the obscure and everyday run through their work, you could say these themes are connected to and inspired by the city they live in, Manchester. The window for this project is entitled 'Coo - A Tribute to the City Pigeon'. Coo- an artwork with its story originating from Manchester and its city pigeons. The challenge to create and object of beauty from a creature considered ugly and pest. "Coo is a celebration of our cities, sometimes run odnw, sometimes glorious, a pest but also a creative of value. They are a story of finding beauty and humour in the everyday, in the forgotten, in our common city pigeon and its good-luck golden droppings." To find out more or order your very own Coo or PuPu visit maywildstudio.com

Rachel Ho has a passion for creating conceptual porcelain work that evokes mystery and beauty. Her work is mostly wheel based but she also uses other techniques such as paper clay. Her ceramic art expresses and explores aspects of our human condition. Rachel received a first class honours in Fine and Applied Art at the University of Ulster in Belfast. She graduated from the Craft Council of Ireland pottery course in Co. Kilkenny. Rachel has further developed her skills by working for potters in Ireland and New Zealand. Her work has recently been exhibited in Manchester, Macclesfield, Stoke-on-Trent and London. Rachel lives in Macclesfield with her husband and two young children.The 50 Windows display is the artists take on the community of Manchester, showing the wonderful diversity and spirit of the city. To find out more visit rachelho2020.wixsite.com/rachelhoceramics

Since the beginning of Covid 19 pandemic and the lockdown, CDM UK have been working with the local disadvantaged vulnerable women to help them cope with its impact, by offering online textile workshops, teaching them how to make reusable, washable, durable and breathable cotton masks and scrub bags. These were then supplied to local hospitals, doctors and nurses, local places of worship and to people within the local community who cannot afford to buy masks. CDM UK also encouraged these women to use their creative skills to make textile based art work to reflect how they felt about Covid 19. CDM's display for 50 Windows, entitled 'Covid 19 Pandemic & Local Women's Rsponse' is a recreation of their studio workspace and its colourful creations. "Our installation includes various designs of face masks, scrub bags and other art work related to Covid 19 to showcase local disadvantaged vulnerable women's work. It is a 'window' into the impact of the various forms of abuse, who suffer from a rage of physical and mental health issues, coped with the lockdown through the use of their creative skills." To find out more about CDM and their recent high profile award win visit creativedesignmanufacture.com