Seafood in Schools at Baldragon Academy.

To gain more research and aid my design I decided to contact ‘Seafood Scotland’. As my project is to design a fish and chip shop of the future that will aim to educate its customers I wanted to see how other organisations educate people. I first heard about Seafood Scotland’s ‘Seafood in Schools’ on the radio, it’s a programme that is run in different schools all over Scotland to teach children about fish.

I e-mailed Seafood Scotland for some help and not only did they send me a giant package full of information on the subject but they also invited me along to one of their ‘Seafood in Schools’ events at a local high school.

Today I went along to Baldragon Academy to the Seafood in Schools event. It was a great experience and all the staff were very welcoming. In the morning I helped out on the fresh fish counter where Ian Murray from the Anstruther Fisheries Museum talked to the kids about the types of fish available in Scotland; starting with the familiar haddock and cod, to monkfish, lobster, scallops and many more. As he was telling them about the fish it was displayed in front of them and they were encouraged to touch and ask questions. At first many of the pupils were a little unsure especially when the langoustine began to creep around the counter but by the end of the session they were very excited and were more comfortable touching and being around fresh fish.

In the afternoon I went over to the ‘Come Dine with Me’ section to watch the kids learn about the health benefits of oily fish and try some. Again many were reluctant at first but after describing the tastes to them and relating it to foods they were used to all the kids tried the fish. A few were pleasantly surprised and I’m sure more likely to eat it again. After asking pupils why they didn’t eat fish the main responses were that it was smelly and the look put them off. Today really was a great day as it allowed children to see, touch and taste new types of fish and will definitely be something they will remember and no doubt influence their decisions about fish in the future.

Today has given me some food for thought. How can I incorporate education into my design? It has also convinced me that a fresh fish counter should be part of the new style fish and chip shop, to not only create excitement with the customers but also get them interested and let them see what they’re eating.

Thanks to Seafood Scotland, Maria, Cat, Ian and the others at Baldragon who I met today, I had a great time!

Looking for Inspiration.

On Monday I went to the library in search of some books to give me inspiration to aid my design process.

The feedback from the round table has me thinking about the theatre of food, how people interact in a restaurant and how the preparation of the food can be part of the design.

I found 3 books in the library that sounded quite useful; 'Eat Out! Restaurant Design & Food Experiences', ' New Restaurant Design' and 'Successful Restaurant Design'. 'Eat Out!' is packed full of unique and interesting restaurant interior designs from all around the world, I recommend it if your looking for ideas!

The Round Table.

This Monday we had the pleasure of presenting our work to four design professionals from different backgrounds and hear their advice and thoughts about our projects. I was particularly excited to meet Jim Hamilton who works for my favourite design company Graven Images. The night before I was extremely nervous but the day went smoothly and I was pleased with the way I presented my project.

The work I presented was a smaller version of the work I produced for the Christmas show with a few changes, one of which being the project name and logo. Below I'll post the boards I used and the description I gave along with them.

1. My project is based on fish & chips. Fish & chips can save the planet! The main inspiration for my project came from my family my dad owns a fish and chip shop and I've worked there for the past ten years. Over the years I've noticed changes and more recently I've noticed that people are falling out of love with fish and chips.

People's perceptions of fish and chips needs to change, fish and chips is thought to be dull and boring as it's not changed with the times finding new ways to present it and get people interested could help us celebrate fish and chips again. 

Health is a big issue linked to fish and chips. Fish and chips is seen as the unhealthiest take away option and the battered Mars bar has turned it into a bit of a joke. More people are becoming health conscious as 65% of adults in Scotland are overweight. The chip shop can help this problem and peoples' eating habits by offering healthier options such as baked fish. 

Fish and chip babies are babies born in Africa into extreme poverty they are wrapped in newspaper this is where they get their nickname. This is just an example of a global issue that I'd like to inform customers about and get them involved in.

Fishing sustainability is probably the biggest issue linked with fish and chips. Watching Hugh's Fish Fight recently Hugh identified the chip shop as the biggest problem behind British fish culture. As the chip shop only offers two types of fish Cod or Haddock it has made the British public reluctant to try anything new which has resulted in Cod and Haddock being safeguarded. The fish and chip shop could offer a variety of under utilised species to get people eating a variety of fish. 

At the bottom of the page are a few of my regular customer the people at the heart of the business and the people I need to affect.

2. The site chosen is the fish market in Pittenweem; it is one of the few remaining active fish markets in the U.K. Not only is the site picturesque, ideal for eating fish and chips at the sea front but there is also a daily catch of langoustine, lobster and crab landed here which could be used in the shop to diversify the menu. I've identified other sites for potential expansion which are also active fish markets.

3. I've added an extension to the existing fish market for extra space. This will be a gold scaly building that will slightly over lap the existing building. The gold is to represent the ultimate prize, fish and chips. While the overlapping represents the power fish and chips can have.

Along the bottom of the page are a few inspirational images of existing fish and chip shops and sea side cafes. I particularly like the design in 'Kershiber & Malt' is a fresh, modern fun take on the fish and chip shop. 

4. Lastly I want to split the market into five sections; headquarters for staff offices, the fish market for the daily goings on of the fisherman, a fish counter, a restaurant and the takeaway. In the centre of the page is a collage of inspirational images that will influence my design. I want the interior to have an industrial design linking with the fish markets roots, the interior will also incorporate the issues discussed earlier. Hopefully this new take on the fish and chip shop will educate customers, get them involved with issues to save the planet and in turn the chip shop will save itself and preserve a part of British culture.

I found the day valuable and it was great to hear advice from four completely different people. There are a few things now that I may have to reconsider, for example the gold extension was not to everyone’s taste and the reasons for choosing my site might need to be more persuasive. From their suggestions I now want to start looking into the theatre of food/dining, restaurant designs and overall dining experiences. I also feel I need to start moving on with drawing up floor plans and designing, the more I do now the more feedback and advice I can get from my tutor so I better get cracking! 

In Construction. Xmas Show.

Before the Christmas holidays my class put on an exhibition to show our work and progress. Not only was it helpful to get some feedback about our work so far but it was also a good trial for our degree show in May and how we might use the space to display our work.

Within the space which is located on level 5 of the Matthew Building in Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art we had a mix of hanging banners and wall displays to present each students individual work.

I decided to use the banners and hang my sheets. As it is work in progress and still about 4 months until the degree show I have a lot of changes to make.

     

I found the feedback useful and it really made me think about how to present my information to people who know nothing about my project, this is something I need to improve upon. One of the main points discussed was the name of my project and logo. I have since decided to change it, I've tried a few different styles linking with the golden fish supper and gold bars, I have come up with a new design. Instead of naming my project ‘Chip Inn’ which I felt was bordering on “cheesy” I have decided to name my project after my family business, ‘Murray’s’ which also shows my strong connections with the subject.

Design Inspiration.

I’ve been looking for inspiration and examples of existing fish & chip shops, restaurants or sea side cafes. I have previously posted about ‘Kerbisher & Malt’ this is just another blog post to share some of the design ideas I like. It has given me an idea of what I am looking for and what I want in a site so hopefully that will help.   

West Beach Café. Asif Khan. – Indoor/Outdoor.

I like the way the front of the building can open up on a warm sunny day connecting the interior with the sea. The guests will be able to smell the seaside, enjoy the sea air and the views.

East Beach Café. Thomas Heatherwick. – Seaside inspiration.

The exterior of this building just looks like a beach and I love that this is where the inspiration has come from. The shape and colour has a real impact on the landscape. To me it looks like a rock on the beach or the marks on the sad just where the waves hit the shore – it makes me think seaside. The interior looks cooling and bright, it reminds me of the inside of a cave or the inside of a shell.

The Smokehouse. Pringle Richards Sharratt. – Re working a warehouse.

The smokehouse has brought together three different areas; a takeaway, a café, and a guest house. I like that the different areas have been combined to work as one and link together with the same theme. I really enjoy the industrial look of the building and the floor to ceiling windows.  

Interim Presentation.

A few weeks ago I had my interim presentation where I discussed my research, findings and ideas about my project up to that date. We were to present this to our year group and the tutors of our department so they could then critique us and offer advice.

I put a lot of thought into how I would visually display my work. I wanted to try something different as I have now become used to creating presentation sheets on my computer and printing them off. This time I decided to use the wall beside my desk in the studio to create a physical mind map. In the centre I placed an image of the celebratory gold fish & chips with the issues I was going to discuss stemming from this. I cut out newspaper letters on the laser cutter for the sub headings and displayed images, drawings and other work around this. I wanted it to look playful and make the viewer want to look closely and know more about the subject.

Over all it went well. I was really pleased with the feedback and peoples reaction to my project.

Below are a few images of my presentation. 

Research: Let’s Celebrate!

Celebration is an area I think fish & chips is strongly connected to and should definitely be part of my final design. I want it to be FUN! As I think it is after all, all about it; fun, trips to the seaside, nostalgia and treat days. It makes us stand out it’s one of the things that makes our country British we should celebrate this. Winston Churchill referred to them as, “the great companions” and apparently they helped us win World War 1.

Street food is a popular craze at the moment so let’s celebrate fish & chips by having a great British street party. Let’s bring back the fun and celebration aspect of it and show people it’s not dull and boring like they have come to believe.

All the issues I have mentioned in previous blog posts including this one all link back to fish & chips and can be solved. Fish & Chips is at the centre of it all, it’s what can connect the information about these issues to the general public to make them aware and bring about change. The chip shop can be the central hub the HQ. Fish & Chips can save the planet! Yep.

I’d really like to hear people’s opinions about fish & chips and my topic so if you’re reading this and have something to say please leave a comment I’d love to hear from you! 

Research: Health Issues.

65% of adults in Scotland are overweight and heart disease is the countries biggest killer. This makes people more conscious about what they’re eating – as they should be- but fast food shops like the local chippy have been blamed. Fish &Chips has a lot of stigma attached to it, it’s seen as unhealthy even although it is one of the healthier take away options and the battered mars bar has become a bit of a joke.

We need to change the environment that we live in to make healthier choices easier and more accessible to everyone. Surely the fish & chip shop can adapt and help this situation. People are looking for fast food; we can give them this and even offer healthy options like baked fish whilst still keeping the traditional meals for people who want to treat themselves now and again.

What else can be done? I recently came across a great example of fish & chip shops encouraging a healthier lifestyle. Last month in Bristol a bike race was held called; ‘Fixed & Chips’. Cyclists had to visit each chip shop on the map before crossing the finish line they got extra points if they stopped and bought a sausage supper on the way. The overall winner’s prize would be a bike. I thought this was a fun way to incorporate being healthy with the fish & chip business, it shows that you can live a healthier life and have the best of both – do your exercise and treat yourself once in awhile. Competitions like this could be held every couple of months and get the community involved.

I also found some work by Andreas Neophytou, creative director at ‘Spring Creative’ in London. He created an identity design for ‘Jones’Fish & Chips’ which was run by his parents. He designed different logos for the business and focused on the health issues that surround fish and chips for some poster designs. I really love the way he portrays the information in a unique way showing the customer the fat content and calories of fish & chips compared to other fast foods. Of course fish & chips is the lowest which probably comes to a surprise to most people. “Know exactly what you’re eating!” “Fish…Chips…Batter” is the slogan he used which is really relevant especially now as this is something that is becoming a growing concern for most people.  I really like this project especially because it is so similar to my situation and what I am trying to achieve but he has tackled the subject from a Graphic designer’s perspective. I hope to achieve something equally as brilliant by using Interior design.

Research: Fish & Chip Babies.

‘Fish & Chip Babies’ was something I had never heard about before starting this project. ‘Fish & Chip Babies’ is the name give to babies born in Malawi in Africa. They are born into extreme poverty and some are already infected by the HIV virus. As the hospitals don’t have any clothes or blankets to cover them with they wrap them in newspaper to keep them warm therefore giving them the nickname ‘Fish & Chip Babies’.  People her in the U.K. have been knitting brightly coloured jumpers and hats to send over to Africa to help the cause.

I couldn’t find any official website for this cause just a few church blogs with information and knitting patterns. Maybe the fish & chip shop I propose to design could be some kind of ambassador raising awareness for ‘Fish & Chip Babies’ connecting and informing people in the U.K. The chip shop could have a wool share or drop off area and knitting patterns could be used to wrap up a fish supper for customers to take home. Jumpers can be handed in and sent off from the chip shop. People could even have the chance to work with the business to go out to Africa and offer some kind of aid. The chip shop would act as the hub for the help campaign….

Research: Customer Contact.

After having a chat with this fish supplier I decided to talk to some of the customers at the fish & chip shop. Customers are after all at the heart of every business so I felt this was important.

I decided to keep the questions short and sweet and ask them while they were waiting for their order. I wanted to find out what their favourite fish was to see if it matched Hugh’s opinion that Brits only like haddock or cod. I also wanted to know what they thought of fish & chips and the fish & chip shop experience, any word that came to mind. I brought with me a black card cut out of a haddock for them to write their answers on and cooked some battered plaice for them to sample. I thought some free food would be a nice thank you for them completing the questions and it would also let me judge some of their responses to a new type of fish.

I found that the majority of the customers I asked preferred haddock, next in line were cod and salmon, only a couple chose different types of fish such as halibut or mackerel. Getting people to try a piece of plaice proved difficult I’m not sure this was because they thought they wouldn’t like it or if they felt to uncomfortable to take a free sample.

I have also drawn up four personas of my regular Wednesday night customers. They all have their rituals and all get the exact same order every week. 

This make me think that it may prove difficult to get people to change their habits and try a new type of fish. So maybe it’s not these customers I should target maybe it will be the more adventurous younger generation who are a bit bored of their local chippy, these may be the customers that will want a shark supper? 

Project Research: Interview with the Fish Supplier.

A few weeks ago now I went to Arbroath to speak to the fish merchant who supplies the fish to my fish & chip shop. I wanted to ask him a few questions about sustainability within fishing and how he feels about fishing quotas. I had a few questions prepared to get the ball rolling but was hoping to have more of a conversation with him and find out some information that would be of relevance that I hadn’t thought of. Luckily it turned out that way!

I started by asking him about the t.v. programme ‘Hugh’s Fish Fight’ and what his opinions were on sustainability. Although he agreed with fishing quotas and the monitoring system in place as it has put a stop to selling ‘Black Fish’, he had a different opinion on what would help sustain the haddock stocks. In his opinion sustainability can be helped if we stopped catching fish when they are spawning. When fish are spawning they become thin and tasteless, the fish should not be caught at this time as they are weak, they need to become strong again before they are caught. Easter is when the haddock that he buys will be spawning therefore Easter is when our shop should stop selling haddock if it were to follow the rule of not catching fish when spawning to help sustainability. This would not go down well with customers as traditionally Easter is a busy time for the fish & chip shop. I wondered if perhaps the chip shop and his fish business could work together and sell a different type of fish to help the cause however he didn’t agree. 95% of the fish he sells is haddock, he said it is very difficult to get people in this area to buy another type of fish. I asked if he could suggest another type of fish we could try to sell instead but he didn’t think this was a good idea. It seems people are set in their ways and it will be a difficult task to change this but I think eventually it could be done. People today are more open to trying new foods, maybe if they knew about the variety of fish and knew what it tasted like they would not be as scared to buy it. Most kids don’t like fish but they will eat it from a fish & chip shop as it’s dressed up differently, maybe adults would be the same if you offered them some halibut served up in a different way they might bite…

In my opinion I feel the key to helping the sustainability issue is to educate and encourage people into buying a variety of fish not just the one type. This meeting was very helpful as it has backed up a few of the areas I have been researching already.

                                                        

Research: ‘Hugh’s Fish Fight’

I have been looking into issues that are connected with fish & chips. The next few blog posts will be about some of the research I have been doing into these areas to see how they might affect my project, design and give me inspiration.

It was suggested that I watch ‘Hugh’s Fish Fight’ to give me some inspiration for my project. I hadn’t watched this series before but I had heard about it. Before watching I didn’t realise how crazy the discarding problem that fisherman face is.

In the U.K. haddock and cod is rare due to overfishing, we eat more than our stocks are able to produce therefore it now needs to be safeguarded. Fishing quotas have been given to fishermen so they are not allowed to land over a certain amount of fish. If they catch more than their quota while at sea they have to throw it back dead! It seems strange to me as this isn’t helping sustainability because if the fish are already dead it’s just getting wasted, as Hugh would say it’s “madness!”

Hugh mentioned that the “Chippy is a real problem at the heart of British fish culture.” Basically the fish & chip shop is the main reason people only eat these two types of fish, haddock and cod. The chip shop made it available, appealing and easily accessible to the customer so it became something they were used to and comfortable with. Maybe if they offered other types of fish people would get used to it too and not be scared of trying something new, but is it too late? Well we need to create this market for under utilised species to save haddock and cod. Since the chip shop seems to be at the heart of the problem maybe this is where we should start. Surely if it was made available to them we could make the public love another type of fish as much as they love cod and haddock. I think people are just scared of the unknown.

In Hugh’s programme he got the chippys selling mackerel baps in an attempt to make it the new cod and chips. I think if we keep trying it could happen!

Posh Chips.

The other week I was on my favourite design website weheart.co.uk and came across their post about ‘Kerbisher & Malt’ a gourmet fish and chip shop in Ealing.  This was exactly the type of inspiration I’d been waiting for.  

Selling freshly prepared fish suppers and chip butties, this quality food should be served up in quality surroundings. Alexander Waterworth interiors have designed the perfect venue. I love the design of Kerbisher & Malt’s restaurant it seems to merge the past and the future together to create a modern, fun and colourful space. I like that it looks modern and clean with out being clinical, the white tiles are offset by the chunky wood tables and the warm lighting from the hanging bulbs. There’s still something old fashioned about the interior that reminds me of a traditional London “caff” maybe that’s what makes it so easy to fall in love with. The wire frames around the lights, the menu written on the wall and the bold colourful text on the clean windows all add to making this a young, fun, modern chippy.

This fish and chip shop design and image would definitely attract a more varied group of people to get eating fish and chips. The new fish and chip shop is coming.

I can’t wait for my next trip to London this is at the top of my list of places to see! 

Design in Action Presentation.

On Monday interiors students of Duncan of Jordanstone got together with jewellery students and textile students for a work in progress discussion. We were all put into mixed groups and each had five minutes to talk about our chosen subject and what we are planning to do this year. It was really interesting seeing what students in other courses were up to and being able to hear some of the ideas from people in my class as we’re all sometimes too busy to chat about our projects.

For this presentation I created a collage of images and text that describe my chosen subject fish & chips.

At the top of the collage is an image of me at work in the take away on a Wednesday night. Connected to this are my "usual suspects" the customers who come in at the same time every week. These images then turn into sketches as these characters will lead me in my research, after all customers are at the heart of a business. I've also included some facts about fish and chips. The map at the bottom right shows all the chip shops in Dundee. The map of the U.K. in the centre shows where it all began. Apparently fish & chip shops were started in London by Jewish immigrant Joseph Malin in 1860 as Italians were passing through they saw the idea and took it up to Scotland where they opened shops. Although there are a few different stories this one connects with me as my family is partly Italian. The map also show different regional variations of chip shop food for example in Northern Ireland 'Pasties' are popular and in Scotland you can buy the famous deep fried Mars bar. 

I  made a model to sum up my subject. I wanted the model to show the celebration of fish & chips. When I thought about celebration I couldn’t seem to get balloons out of my head so this had to be incorporated. I attached these balloons to gold fish & chips. The gold fish & chips were to represent celebration- the fish & chips are the ultimate reward. It also reminded me of the Olympics this year and how everyone gathered together and was proud to be British celebrating our country. I did want to make a plaster model of the fish & chips to spray paint gold but in such a short space of time (I only had a couple of days) I was told this wasn’t possible so I just spray painted some real fish & chips. I might get in touch with someone at the uni to see about making the model more permanent as I might need it at a later date. I also got my lovely sister to model as seen in the picture below. 

What's next...? More research, conducting interviews, sketching and trying to build on my ideas....

4th Year: Getting Back into the Swing!

Third week back at uni and the days are flying by! After a few introductory lectures we got back down to business and have started working on our final year project.

Over the summer we were given the task to decide on what subject we wanted to choose for our final year project. I initially thought I would continue on from my third year projects and do something similar, focusing on children and playful design perhaps re-designing a primary school. Although this did interest me I felt I wasn’t excited enough by it to spend my last chance at uni working on this.

I have finally settled on an idea and although it may change slightly in the coming weeks for now I have decided that I am going to re-design a fish and chip shop. Fish and chips is something I know very well as my parents have a shop that I work in often. During the summer I was working there almost every day and could clearly see the problems that this business faces. Although the British public still love fish and chips they’re not as enthusiastic about it as they once were. As many fast food restaurants have changed with the times fish and chip shops have remained the same and are seen as dull and boring. Also more and more people are becoming concerned about health issues such as heart disease and obesity so wanting to avoid foods they see as unhealthy. I feel that fish and chips are a part of British culture and I think it would be sad for it to die out. So my aim for this year is to figure out how to save fish and chips and find out what its future will be.

I’m still not exactly sure what it is I will create at the end of the year but I do know I want to have a strong message behind it, incorporate branding into it in some way so I can learn more about the subject, and do an interior design…oh and have fun of course! 

p.s. I'm also keeping a board on Pinterest with some interesting stuff I find that is relevant to my project if you want to check it out! https://pinterest.com/soniaangus/fast-food/

Recycling Centre Treasures.

I’m a huge fan of the 60s style furniture and 60s furniture that has been re-vamped. Recently I’ve been looking at images online and designs of different types of old furniture being re-loved and given a modern twist.

I really want to do this particularly with a chair. I’m going to keep visiting the recycling centre until I find the right one to take home.

Here are a few designs I like and will be taking inspiration from:

Zoe Murphy.

Zoe Murphy is a British designer making her mark on used furniture. She’s updating “retro with retro” you can read more about her in an interview on WeHeart.co.uk. I love the way the original is merged with the new and not spoiled. The new and old work well and compliment each other making it seem as though it has always been that way. The detail inside the drawers is also fab!

Charlotte Love.

These chairs are maybe my favourite they look so simple to re-create and are really beautiful. Charlotte Love an interior stylist (amongst other things) has styled this pretty, pastel coloured photo shoot and included these chairs.

101 Woonideeen.

This table and chair was featured in an issue of Dutch magazine '101 Woonideeen'. The table top design has been made using a Spirograph. You can find out how to make it yourself here. I really like the sharp shots of neon on the side of the table leg and rim of the table top, it makes the piece really playful and fun without being over powering. 

Obsessed with Pinterest.

I currently love Pinterest!

For those that don’t know Pinterest is a “content sharing service” users can share images, videos and websites online by pinning them to their pin boards for others to see. I use it for fun when I pin images of clothes or products that I like but I also think it’s a helpful tool for work as well. I have boards dedicated to design so for example if I see a restaurant interior that I like I will pin it to my board and the content will be saved for future reference. Sometimes it’s difficult to keep track of all the inspiration you find on the web and constantly saving it on your computer can slow it down, it’s a prefect place to keep it organised and accessible. For my next project at uni I’m going to set up a board for my research so I can quickly pin my work for reference.

If anyone wants to follow me you can find me on Pinterest here.