MANCHESTER
beams through the glass roof, catching the window display of a jewellery studio and spilling a gem box of rainbowed light onto the terracotta-tiled floor. The same colour palette adorns the
shopfront opposite Bhaggie’s, belonging to Nicole Broad, aka The Fruit Moth — a fashion designer whose vibrant, upcycled vintage designs have won her a collaboration with high-street giants Uniqlo. Nicole’s native Manchester has always inspired her work, beginning with the floral bucket hats that were her early trademark. “People here are so confident in what they wear,” she says. Nicole also thinks it’s an unbeatable place
to be creative. “It’s one of the best cities for an artist or designer. It’s a big city but feels like a tiny community,” she says. Like all of the units in the Craft and Design Centre, Nicole’s space is both workshop and shop, with everyone welcome to walk in, watch her at work, and chat to her about her designs. “Being able to go into a studio and see someone making something — that absolutely adds value,” she says. Nicole is a relative newcomer to the centre,
having started her business during the lockdowns of the pandemic. I want to get a feel for how the scene and the city have changed over the years, so I head downstairs to meet the longest-serving resident, ceramicist Lee Page Hanson, who’s been working here for 24 years. “I used to work from a studio in Ancoats, an
old industrial area of cotton mills not far from here,” says Lee. “Back then, in the 1990s, it was pretty rough and ready; I’d get out of the studio and onto the safety of a bus as soon as possible. It couldn’t be more different now — those old cotton mills are bars, art galleries and luxury apartments.”
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“There are loads of classes around
Manchester now, too. I often see people in their 20s and 30s doing pottery classes and the like, instead of just going out drinking or sitting around watching TV.” The table in Lee’s studio bears the
earthbound signs of work and craft: rows of brushes and knives, and decades’ worth of dry streaked clay and paint. All around us, the walls are hung with the end result: vases and bowls ornamented with colourful geometric patterns, and ceramic tiles depicting vibrantly painted toucans and sparrows. “We see plenty of famous faces too,” Lee
adds. “Lemn Sissay [poet, broadcaster and Pinter Prize-winning playwright] came in the other day and bought a fridge magnet.” This is typical of Manchester, a place at once glittery and down-to-earth, gritty and creative; a big city with the intimacy of a small town, where everyone knows everyone and half of them are reaching for the stars. I experienced an unexpected brush with celebrity myself that very morning, when Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr wandered across my field of vision as I admired a statue of suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst in St Peter’s Square.
NEW BEGINNINGS The creativity and craftsmanship of Manchester’s designers and makers infuse all parts of the city’s life. Leaving the Craft and Design Centre behind, I explore the surrounding Northern Quarter, long known as Manchester’s most alternative neighbourhood. Vibrant murals light up every square and street corner. The outer walls of Affleck’s, a legendary indoor fashion and music market, are adorned with mosaics by artist Mark Kennedy depicting local icons as diverse as Joy Division’s Unknown Pleasures album
“Manchester kids have the best record collections” Tony Wilson, co-founder of Manchester’s Factory Records label
Clockwise from top left: The Manchester Craft and Design Centre in the Northern Quarter; Nicole Broad runs The Fruit Moth at the centre; early 20th-century grandeur at The Midland Hotel; floral bucket hats at The Fruit Moth Previous pages: The Kimpton Clocktower Hotel is a late 19th-century landmark amid city centre high-rises
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