Welcome to Tamsyn, who’s just joined us as a Junior Designer. She’s recently graduated from University College Falmouth and we’re really excited about all that she’s going to bring to Nixon. And a farewell to Chris, our latest placement student, also from UCF.

Thanks UCF for producing such brilliant design heads!

I first swam in the Jubilee Pool in Penzance one misty summer’s day in the late 80′s. I’ve been a fan ever since and whilst the temperature of the water can be bracing to say the least, I still believe that it remains one of the most elegant places to swim anywhere in the UK. The building itself is a rare survivor from the 1930′s, a time when mention of a heated indoor pool would be considered a distant technological breakthrough. Penzance was one of many seaside resorts that invested in these modernist marvels known as lidos and they attracted visitors in their droves.

I’ve been chair of the Friends of Jubilee Pool now for more years than I care to remember, and last year came up with the idea of hiding the unsightly hoarding covering a derelict part of the pool with this image of the pool opening in May 1935. Amazingly I scanned this photo from an old postcard, enlarging it from A6 to over 60 feet long. I was delighted with the results, so much so that I’ve just put it up again with the help of Toby and my neighbour Rick. Thanks to both of them and Jaime from 2020 Displays for producing the final image. Visit the pool this summer and see it for yourself- there’s also some stunning flags by local artist Lucy Birbeck which are worth the trip to Penzance alone. www.jubileepool.co.uk

I travelled up on the sleeper to London yesterday for a presentation at The Dept of Transport. It’s a great way to travel up from Penzance and after a surprisingly good night’s sleep (must have been the nightcap!) the train slipped into Paddington bright and early.

After a visit to Portcullis House to catch up with our local MP Andrew George we had a few hours free over lunch prior to the DfT meeting.  Luckily Tate Britain is on the doorstep so seemed the obvious choice.

I can think of few better ways to while away a few hours than strolling through this magnificent building, but was particularly blown away with the incongruous sight of a Harrier Jump Jet suspended from the roof of the Duveen galleries. The work by artist Fiona Banner is accompanied by another, a Jaguar Fighter in the adjoining gallery space.

Devoid of it’s war paint and stripped to its aluminium body and then highly polished, the fighter was balanced upside down on its tail. It looked much like a discarded toy, albeit a large one. Do try and get the chance to visit before January when the show closes!

Martin

I thought this photo was a good metaphor for the above question- and neatly leads to another one too- Can you afford not to invest in your brand?

I asked my son George to take a snap of this long suffering but patient hound as we passed his owner’s car on the A30, to be honest we couldn’t believe what we were looking at!

Perhaps the couple in question had been thinking about buying an estate car but then thought to heck with it and opted for a sportier model, but forgot all about Fido here- or perhaps the dog in the boot is a new edition to the family? Who knows.

Businesses and organisations across the world face the same dilemma with their brands. With our clients often the very first thing we ask is whether their brand reflects their currents status and the expertise they offer. After all the original values you held when you first started out may well have become outdated and your branding can easily become long in the tooth as a result.

If you need to upgrade your brand to fit the size you are now, then we can usually help. If you’re not sure email us we’ll send you some useful tips for free!

We took an hour or so off on Friday and headed out to celebrate Falmouth Week, an annual celebration of sail which involves hundreds of boats in regattas and racing throughout the week. The waters around Falmouth proved to be somewhat choppy, so we headed up river and spent a very pleasant couple of hours enjoying this beautiful part of Cornwall and marvelling at the sights on the way, not least the incongruous views of the large ships in mothballs as you pass beyond King Harry Ferry.

This is what Sharp’s joint Managing Director had to say: ”We set ourselves the objective of finding a top class design company in Cornwall. By restricting our search just to Cornwall the worry was that we would need to compromise. With Nixon there is no compromise, I am sure that we have found one of the UK’s best design companies on our doorstep in Cornwall.”

Oh, and here’s an insight into behind the scenes at the brewery: