#creativeedinburgh

Creative Edinburgh Awards 2020

After a year of comfy trousers and isolation, we had the absolute joy of getting our gladrags on to celebrate the fresh ideas and truly inspiring creative work done right here in our hometown of Edinburgh. 

The Creative Edinburgh Award ceremony is a big deal but, as you can imagine, this year was a little different. Instead of boogying down on the dancefloor together, we piled into a Zoom room. Zoom dress-up was the order of the day – snazzy shirts, lipstick and earrings up top, comfies down below – and we had the chance to sit on our own cosy sofas and make our own favourite drinks. There was wine, there was G&Ts, and even the odd Aperol Spritz.

We were obviously excited to find out whether we'd be getting a prize – having been nominated for The City Award – but, more importantly (we kept reminding ourselves), to get a rundown of some of the fabulous local creatives and collectives being celebrated.

We didn't win in our category. Not going to lie, it would've been a triumphant send off for the team members who have recently moved onto other creative pastures, having dedicated so much time and passion to CreativeMornings/Edinburgh, and of course a brilliant way for the team remaining to start with a bang! However, it was a fantastic opportunity to get together one last time, break out the bubbly and feel truly humbled and inspired by the creative brilliance going on around us.

We just want to take this opportunity to highlight the entries that got us revved up to reach further. That's what CreativeMornings is all about, after all...

Kat's pick – The Flock (The Start-up Award Winner)

The Flock does an amazing job of rolling style and ethics into one kick-ass package – an online space to find interviews and insightful articles on style, culture and entertainment, curated for 'smart, enquiring women who want to lead a good life'. They believe that good media shouldn't have to rely on advertising – i.e. spots sold to the highest bidder – and instead keep themselves free from the sway of advertising revenue in order to promote what's good, not who has the biggest budget:

"I launched The Flock because, after 18 years working in the media, I wanted to do things differently, to genuinely engage with modern, smart, ethically-minded women about the decisions which impact upon their lives... the stories and people that we feature always have one thing in common – their work aims to lead us towards a kinder climate for all." – Jennifer Crichten, Founder of Flock

Empowering women? Check. Saying Flock off to capitalist ideals? Check. Sexy typography, authentic journalism and lush photography? Check, check, check! Truly a winner.

Molly's pick – Fold (The Start-Up Award Nominee)

Now, we didn't want to just write about the winners.

We're obsessed with stationery, as I'm sure a lot of you CM/edites are too... Fold make stand-out, one-of-a-kind luxury paper goods for weddings, events and individuals. And my goodness, they have good taste. From the paper (did you say G.F.Smith?) to the colour palettes, cuts, folds and foiling, they have everything to make a paper craft-obsessed creative weak at the knees:

"...we marry contemporary design with thoughtfully crafted materials to deliver print collateral with provenance and originality. We believe that both process and outcome should be tangible, enlightening and always beautiful." – Hannah and Sarah, founders of Fold.

You can go the whole hog and get a consultation and custom-crafted invites for your event (bookmarked in the imaginary 'wedding' folder as we speak...) or pick yourself up a gorgeous notebook or set of cards. You can even get involved in the process through their workshops (perfect for the 'control freak' creative type!). Plus, what a cool name. Truly winners in our eyes.

Rebecca's pick – The Leith Collective (The Commercial Award Nominee)

We love the ethos of The Leith Collective. Their championing of creativity and community really rings true with what CreativeMornings is all about too.

Based in Ocean Terminal, The Leith Collective is a creative retail space showcasing the work of over 100 artists. They are huge advocates of re-use, recycle, re-claim and re-sell, seeking out artists and makers who create unique pieces from items that would otherwise end up in landfill.

People are truly at the heart of the Collective. Not only do their profits go towards supporting their community, their members also offer free workshops to local schools and charities, host clothes swaps and operate as a donation point for local food banks. They support the mental health and wellbeing of their members, giving them opportunities to gain workplace experience and develop their businesses, no matter what their situation in life is. Rebecca has loved watching them grow, and is especially inspired by how they're space at Ocean Terminal has developed over the past year.

Congratulations to The Leith Collective for their incredible work and their nomination at this year’s Creative Edinburgh Awards!

Clare's pick – SPLINTR (The Commercial Award Winner)

From super fluoro flowers shops, to your favourite reading nook or coffee spot, SPLINTR have made a name for themselves in Edinburgh for fitting out shops, cafes and offices across the city:

"Our ethos is grounded in a passion for uncomplicated, thoughtful and contemporary design. With a background in product design and architecture, our design team ensure a space is not only beautiful, but truly functional too.

"We pride ourselves on our involvement throughout every process of a project... This keeps things simple, efficient and economical for our clients." – SPLINTR

We feel they should win prizes galore for their innovation and craftsmanship alone, but the award they won at the CE Awards 2020 was actually for their Safe Server. Many businesses have had to pivot and reassess due to COVID and Splintr's solution was simple, beautifully built and adaptable. Utilising their classic, on-brand low-cost materials they produced a solution that was easy to implement and simple to brand up. They know their audience, they know their brand, and they did a fabulous job adapting to the current situation and helping their community of business owners.

Genius is often grounded in simplicity – well deserving of the win!

Isobel's pick – CinemaAttic (The 2020 Award Nominee)

Looking to add some Spanish flavour to your cinema-going? Then CinemaAttic is here to help.

Established in 2008, CinemaAttic have been showcasing the very best and brightest emerging filmmakers from Spain, Portugal and Latin America for over a decade. Their partnerships with venues like the Edinburgh Filmhouse and the National Galleries have helped raise the profile of Spanish cinema in Scotland.

With six film and arts festivals behind them and even more in the pipeline, CinemaAttic have established themselves as an incredible platform for entertainment, learning and innovative industry development.

"The crisis of Covid-19 and the following lockdown found CinemaAttic at a truly pivotal moment in the film collective’s history: we were about to celebrate our 10th anniversary as advocates of Ibero-American independent cinema in Scotland, with a number of events in the making to commemorate the occasion and our small team growing and evolving.

While many festivals and film exhibitors were paralysed by the unknown with the introduction of lockdown, we took ownership of the situation and re-oriented our entire programme of the 10th anniversary celebrations to a digital format." – CinemaAttic

Why not escape to the Mediterranean this week with CinemaAttics Catalan Film Festival? Opening on Thursday 19th November, the festival features the best new films from Spain and Catalonia, classic cinema, shorts, Q&As and panel conversations. And don't worry if your Spanish isn't up to scratch – everything will be subtitled in English!

Matt's pick – Lyra (The 2020 Award Winner)

Of course, the year being what it has been, Creative Edinburgh created a whole category in homage to the struggles we've all been feeling. The 2020 Award was created to recognise a project that went above and beyond to deliver despite the setbacks of the year.

The deserving winners were Lyra, an arts organisation based in Greater Craigmillar (Edinburgh) that makes art and creative projects for children and young people. They believe that watching plays and attending theatre workshops can help build confidence, develop social skills and create a sense of worth and belonging:

"We work in creative partnership with our children and young people, and our approach aims to raise aspirations through world-class provision, improve confidence by developing new skills and increase self-esteem by nurturing creative expression."

A truly noble cause and we have to say – their workshops look so fun! If only we weren't a little too old ourselves...