SERVICES
We provide a full spectrum of business services including strategy, consultancy, mentoring, automation, brand development and design.
We have produced solutions for fashion houses, film, galleries, tech and sports giants through to tv channels and national museums.
Experience
Over the last 25 years, the founders of Institute, have worked on thousands of projects that includes work for the following brands:
Adidas, Barclays, BBC, Bench, The Body Shop, Boots, The British Museum, The Carphone Warehouse, Cartoon Network, Cath Kidston, Clarins, Conde Naste, Daks, The Design Museum, Diesel, Disney Stores, EMI, Esquire Sport Magazine, Exposure, Fate Face, Fred Perry, Givenchy, Gieves & Hawkes, Godiva, Habitat, Halifax, Haribo, Harrods, House of Fraser, Hedkayse, HMV, The Independent, Kookai, Levis, Marks & Spencer, MGA, National Gallery, Procter and Gamble, Royal Court Theatre, Selfridges, Schuh, Sony, Superdry, TATE Enterprises, Ted Baker, Three Mobile, Tower Records, TKMaxx, UNIQLO, United International Pictures, Virgin, Vodaphone and Zoological Society of London.
We bring this experience of the design and delivery of a diversity of projects to Institute.
Business Development
We provide mentoring in business practice and development. We cover the progression of practice, the nuts and bolts of running a business through to brand strategy and development. We provide consultancy and think-tank style services for creative businesses, organisations and initiatives. We cover strategy, identity frameworks and business development. We are used to thinking outside the box and asking the right questions that result in the right frameworks for success.
Consultancy
We provide mentoring in business practice and development. We cover the progression of practice, the nuts and bolts of running a business through to brand strategy and development. We provide consultancy and think-tank style services for creative businesses, organisations and initiatives. We cover strategy, identity frameworks and business development. We are used to thinking outside the box and asking the right questions that result in the right frameworks for success. We often work locally and provide additional support with our co-working studio facilities at Institute in Loughborough UK.
We tend to focus on SMEs, as they are the collective powerhouse of the UK Economy and often do not receive the support they require. An external support structure characterised by objective analysis and targeted support is often a key mechanism for the success for businesses of all shapes and sizes.
Our business consultancy is run by Steve Barradell. Steve is an approved business mentor for Enterprise Nation on the Help to Grow initiative.
Enterprise Nation exists to shortcut the route to trusted business support. Founded by Emma Jones CBE in 2005, Enterprise Nation has grown to a community of over 120,000 people. They support people to start and grow their own successful businesses and represent their views to the government and media: www.enterprisenation.com.
Steve is also a member of The Association of Business Mentors: www.associationofbusinessmentors.org and a Creative Business Mentor on the EMC2 Create Growth Programme: www.eastmidlandscreategrowth.co.uk
Our recent work includes the running of an incubator Course for Phoenix Arts (the REAL Initiative). We supported 25 Digital Artists and Documentary Film Makers in getting them business ready, providing them with strategic advice, support and mentoring and to create a platform for growth. We are about to start a short series of courses for East Midlands Creative Consortium: Conversations with a Machine
We have extensive experience in Branding , Business Planning , E-commerce, Communication, Freelancing, B2B Marketing, Data & Analysis, Problem solving, Strategy - both business and creative, Sales.
The Benefits of Mentoring
Gaining new perspectives
Since mentors, by definition, have more experience than their mentees, they look at the world with a different perspective. As each decision is considered, the mentor will bring an informed opinion to bear as it is likely that they have seen the pros and cons of this situation before.
Improved leadership abilities
A mentor often performs many leadership duties, such as inspiring their mentees, providing guidance, and even solving taxing problems. They may also give constructive feedback to their mentees. Developing these skills will help you become a better leader in the future.
Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs tend to like ‘going alone’. Business owners will often state that If I had their time again, they would have worked with several mentors to learn valuable lessons from each. From not making certain business decisions to fostering certain partnerships, a mentor can help guide you through your entrepreneurial journey.
Networks and contacts
Your mentor has already acquired a variety of valuable contacts that could be out of reach to you. Your mentor can facilitate access and open doors, giving you the opportunity to develop your business and grow your network. Networking opportunities are often the key to business growth.
Confidence building
Confidence grows through the mentoring process. You will have a guide for the ups and downs of business and develop the ability to succeed.
The Benefits of Consultancy
You need an outside / objective opinion
Sometimes it’s difficult to solve your own problems because you’re just too involved. You might just be so close to the problem that you’re missing an obvious solution. When there are tough decisions to be made, sometimes it’s easier to leave it to an expert who isn’t personally involved or emotionally invested.
Business consultants are experts in their field. They’ve helped numerous other companies to work through similar issues and they know what’s worked in the past. This experience means that they can bring new and innovative ideas that you might not have thought of yourself.
When you hire a business consultant, you’ll get a new perspective on whatever problems you’re facing, from an outsider’s point of view.
You lack time or resources
No matter how important the problem is, sometimes you just don’t have the time to dedicate to solving it. You’ve still got your day-to-day business to focus on and finding the time to resolve your challenges just feels impossible.
You could hire a new employee to give you the time to focus on the issue at hand, but you know it’ll only be temporary and training a new employee can be time-consuming.
Hiring a business consultant is a great way to outsource your problems to a professional. They’re used to moving around different companies, which means they’ll get to know your business quickly with minimal training required. And most importantly – you can continue with your day-to-day operations so your business doesn’t suffer either.
You have a tactical project you are struggling to complete our to resource or expertise.
Design
We help creatives, brands and organisations to develop their ideas and to design solutions that communicate these ideas to their chosen audiences.
We believe in the maxim, Form follows function. The solutions that we produce should look, feel and essentially, be, the answer to your problem. Each problem requires a unique solution that emerges out of the design process. By going through the discovery stage to define the core problems to solve, we are then free to develop a solution that solves these unique problems and is fit for your purpose. This is a formula for success. It encourages clarity in the way we think about the project objectives. That aids communication with each other. This clarity allows us to get from A to B in an understandable way but allows us the freedom to produce dynamic solutions.
Projects Portfolio
Marketing the Eisberg Brand
Art, design and technology for the years biggest cycling events.
Jess Roberts, GBR, Team Breeze, Tour series winner, GBR, receiving her Graffio Arts print.
Graffio Arts collaborated with 22 Create and Eisberg Wines to bring art, design and augmented reality to the years biggest cycling events.
A YEAR OF CYCLING
We were approached by 22 Create to help out on a year long campaign for their client Eisberg Wines. Eisberg Wine is the UK’s number 1 alcohol free wine, offering an alternative beverage to those who are the designated driver, counting calories, or abstaining for health reasons.
Eisberg’s involvement as a sponsor in British cycling that year would see them bring cycling, art and technology together in new, innovative ways, to engage their audience more than ever before.
DEVELOPING THE CAMPAIGN
The goal for Eisberg’s campaign was to take their ‘liquid on lips’ experience for consumers a step further, and actually deliver product into home via interactive advertising.
Together we investigated the different stages of consumer activation. We engaged with pub and bar consumers, with social media audiences through to those actually attending the cycling events.
Beer mats and flyers were designed with augmented reality layers that showed previews of races and brand messaging. Three styles of social media campaign were developed and launched.
ILLUSTRATION AND AUGMENTATION
We designed and produced a series of augmented, illustrated art prints. For each of the six cycling events that Eisberg were involved with that year, a unique piece of work would be available for the public to order, display in their homes and access exclusive content including special offers on product and cycling footage. By downloading an AR app, owners of the prints could simply scan their artwork and the content was delivered straight to their screens.
When the prints first become available they featured an introductory video. When the race was finished the video changed to celebrate the outcome.
These prints were made available free of charge and were an enormous success.
ART AND AUGMENTATION
We worked with the master of cycling art, Eliza Southward to produce a limited run of her The Chase fine art prints that are were presented to tour winners throughout the season. A second print was made available to purchase by consumers.
Make it stand out
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Make it stand out
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Make it stand out
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Make it stand out
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Make it stand out
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Using Emergent Media to Tell Street Stories
We helped Arch Creative to develop an augmented reality solution for Street Stories art trail. Coming to a city near you soon…
We have been working with local agency Arch Creative to bring AR to a new vacant units project. Street Stories is designed to improve the appearance of empty shops in the city centre and turn them into points of interest.
Media technology and project support: Graffio Arts. Project conception and design: Arch Creative
THE PROJECT
BID Leicester supported local agency Arch Creative to deliver a new vacant units project, designed to improve the appearance of empty shops in the city centre and turn them into points of interest.
Working with ten local artists spanning a range of styles and mediums, Street Stories celebrates the innovative achievements of pioneering people from Leicester, and also explores some powerful themes including human rights, the environment, consumerism and identity.
BRINGING THE STORY TO STREET STORIES
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We worked with Arch to bring augmented reality technology to the project. We also provided a framework solution that enables Street Stories to go to other towns and cities, all within one, new app.
THE STREET STORIES TRAIL IS LIVE IN LEICESTER
You can follow the trail of artworks around the city and bring them to life with multi-sensory animations triggered by our free smartphone app. Download the Graffio AR App now and discover Leicester’s Street Stories. Please be careful and respect other users and pedestrians while using the app.
Make it stand out
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Make it stand out
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Would you like to bring Street Stories to your town or city? The project is now available in a variety of packages. Get in touch here.
LINKS
A Creative Strategy for a Pioneering Tech Brand
Hedkayse asked us to help them get creative across a range of technically impressive products.
Design and coordination: Graffio Arts.
Hedkayse asked if we could help them develop the creative side of their technologically sophisticated products.
THE HEDKAYSE BRAND
Hedkayse products are the toughest and safest cycle helmets on the market today. They are entirely manufactured in the UK and fit any head size. Hedkayse is soft, fits in a bag and can handle the robust life that a cycle helmet has.
Conventional helmets are made from polystyrene (EPS). In a large impact, polystyrene deforms to provide what’s known as sacrificial protection. This is why you have to be careful not to drop a polystyrene helmet in everyday use, and it’s why manufacturers recommend that you replace your helmet after a knock.
Hedkayse | ONE is their first cycle helmet. It’s lined with high their performance Enkayse™ materialand able to withstand multiple impacts, retain its integrity and perform to European safety standards over and over again.
They are now Head Quartered at Loughborough University and manufacturing the safest cycling helmet the world has ever seen right here in the UK.
CREATIVE COLLABORATION: HEDKAYSE COLLABS
We helped develop strategy for the creative side of collaboration. We developed two approaches. The first was to be able to produce a custom designed range of helmet designs. These collections could be themed by colour, subject or season. The second approach was to be able to select a creative to produce custom helmets based on their creative practice.
The benefit of this is that we could select from a broader range of creatives including artists and the brand could benefit from insights into the artist and their practice.
CUSTOMISATION: HEDKAYSE UNIQUE
Hedkayse were keen to collaborate with different partners to explore different ways to add value and provide more consumer choice. In their words 'Pairing style with performance'.
Headkayse UNIQUE allows visitors to their website to use their own, custom design on their helmets. With years of experience in this area within the world of e-commerce we were able to offer advice on the system and customer communication.
If you are interested in artist associations with your brand then get in touch.
Delivering Culture in Uncertain Times
An Arts Council funded initiative to deliver art to your living room.
Concept, design and production: Graffio Arts. Artists: Miriam Bean, Alison Carpenter-Hughes, Thierry Miquel, Josh Semans. Producer: Ben Fredricks. Funding: Arts Council England.
ART IN UNCERTAIN TIMES
If you lived with in the town of Loughborough during the Covid -19 lockdown, you may have been one of 15,000 local residencies that received an augmented reality exhibition through your letterbox from The Culture Delivery Service. You’re welcome.
Building on a successful track record of using augmented reality (AR) art to engage new audiences, Graffio Arts have now developed the CDS. The Cultural Delivery Service saw the postal delivery of AR-enabled artist’s prints and artefacts to over 15,000 households in and around Loughborough in 2021.
The artworks were created by four outstanding Leicestershire based artists, who each took a unique approach to the use of AR to add an animated digital element to their work, allowing them to develop their practice and take their creativity to an audience in a new and inclusive way.
Make it stand out
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Make it stand out
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
THE GOALS OF THE CDS
Through the Cultural Delivery Service, we are aiming to tackle some of the barriers that can prevent audiences and artists from engaging with contemporary art by giving artists commissions and training and having their work delivered directly to people's homes. This was a progressive, consumer-friendly model ensuring that audiences still received high-quality culture in innovative ways, regardless of the current global pandemic while being restricted to their homes.
The CDS continues to be available for creatives and arts organisations that would like to test new models of engagement and the meaningful productisation of work.
HOW IT WORKED
A print arrived through the door. The free prints included instructions to download a free smartphone app, which enabled them to view an AR experience of the chosen Artist’s work via their device when pointed at the print.
We then offered the chance to go the next step. We created a website with an online store where the public could purchase an AR-enabled product from each artist, providing a richer experience for the audience and supporting the artists with a new income stream at that critical time.
Make it stand out
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Make it stand out
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
INCLUSIVITY AND NEW AUDIENCES
The CDS provided us with the opportunity to pilot a new way of engaging audiences and reach potential future creatives.
We posted free AR artist’s prints to 17,484 households in the LE11 1, 2 and 3 postcodes, which are located in and around Loughborough. This adds up to a total audience base of over 30,000 people. The aim of the project was to reach everyone living in those areas, irrespective of their social, cultural or economic context.
If we seek to be more inclusive we need to broaden the range of quality creatives available to produce work when we launch projects. To be at the quality level required they probably have to have been through art college. How viable is the choice to go to art college for a variety of people at that age? Who makes it through and why? We will likely continue to have a shallow pool of creatives available that do not fully represent society if we don’t take steps to engage with younger audiences. We must show those considering future creative paths (in many different forms) that they are valuable and that their voices are required.
If a handful of young people that would not usually visit a gallery, engaged with this project, then that’s a start.
Make it stand out
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Make it stand out
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
TAKING ADVANTAGE OF EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES
It’s important for creatives to be aware of and be able to take advantage of new technology. These things continue to develop and could have potential implications for their practice, their audiences and broader cultural significance.
When embarking on these kinds of projects we talk through the technology with the associated creatives to ensure that they can make it work for them. By the end of the project, we hope that this new technology is now seen as a viable option for them in the future, should they wish to incorporate it into their practice. It is also provided free of charge.
Make it stand out
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Make it stand out
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Make it stand out
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Make it stand out
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
CDS 001: THE FIRST PROJECT
The first cultural delivery was from four outstanding local creatives. We selected artists with a powerful but varied practice who produce work that is usually best displayed within a gallery context. How would their work translate into delivered products? The challenge was on.
CREATING PRODUCTS
We worked with each artist to produce a mail out print and to develop a product. We used augmented reality to bridge the gap between a gallery and home experience of their art. Each piece had a strict time limit and budget but we worked closely with them and they took each challenge in their stride
MIRIAM BEAN + JOSH SEMANS
This is not work that you might imagine would translate into an offering to be mass produced That's exactly why we chose Miriam to work with as we launch the CDS. Our ambition is to get art that would usually be seen in a controlled gallery context, essentially into a box to take the work to a wider audience. Miriam introduced us to and collaborated with, Josh Semans.
We have been impressed by Miriam's work for quite a while. We collaborated briefly on AREXTRA and were looking forward to the chance to work on something larger in scope.
Miriam is one of those artists that have found their focus quite young with a deep, structured practice that builds with clear, powerful projects. Miriam works with sound and tonal visual motifs.
There is complexity in the sound and process and causal relationships are constantly at play but the visual grounding is always so clear and striking that the work seems almost primal.
One of only a few worldwide, Josh Semans is an ondes Martenot player based in the north-west of England. Committed to bringing this enchanting musical instrument to people in new and different ways, Josh works on many fields with composers across the globe; writing and recording material for albums, soundtracks, installations, and a variety of other applications and mediums. His connection to his instrument runs deep, resulting in nuanced and sensitive performances.
As well as working frequently with others, Josh has recently established himself as a proficient solo artist. Amongst various collaborations and features, 2020 saw the exclusive premiere of his first single, Trust on BBC Radio 3, closely followed by the release of ...And the Birds Will Sing at Sunrise.
MIRIAM: FACEBOOK INSTAGRAM SOUNDCLOUD VIMEO
JOSH: SPOTIFY TWITTER FACEBOOK INSTAGRAM EMAIL
ALISON CARPENTER-HUGHES
We've know Alison for a while and featured her work in a Gallery Without Walls project. At the time we discussed potential collaboration and were impressed with how good Alison was at idea generation. Alisons work often involves sewing and moves from delicate, figurative work to incredibly detailed, painterly pieces.
The hand made nature of the work encourages you to touch it but this is often not desirable in a gallery context. There is a contradiction here that we felt could be ripe to explore. This project will allow people to touch and interact with a piece of Alison's art. Alison is working on a piece that deals with endangered British birds. She's currently drawing, sewing and thinking about augmented reality...
WEBSITE FACEBOOK INSTAGRAM LINKEDIN
THIERRY MIQUEL
Thierry is another artist that we've known for quite a while. Thierry works with paint, found objects, wood and anything he can get his hands on. Thierry's work often contains deliberately crude, humorous and sometime oblique references born out of his life experiences.
There is often a focus on object within Thierry's practice. Even when Thierry works with paint on canvas it is clear that the surface is not meant to convey an image but very much a tactile battleground for his creative explorations.
The conceptual and tactile nature of Thierry's work combined with the fact that he's also a furniture maker and knows how to put things together meant that Thierry was an ideal choice for a project seeking to mass produce an artefact.
These figures have come out of a response to the current times and the uncertainty we have all been living through. The Bone Idols aim to provide the owner with hope, they represent a talisman of our times whilst we live through a Pandemic.
Bone Idols are been produced in a flat pack, easy assembled design. The owner will be immediately able to engage with the different tactile materials of the object. This is utilitarian art which aims to bring together a community of ‘Bone Idols' through the letterbox.
Make it stand out
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Make it stand out
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Make it stand out
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Make it stand out
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
If you are interested in taking advantage of the CDS as an organiser or as an artist then get in touch and let’s see what what culture we can deliver to people in their own homes!
![AR EXTRA [Street Version]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/625d32a04441a7004fe09dd2/1674024943038-Y9FJ9AMEAYCPL6RTLR7H/HERO-banner-AR-EXTRA-main-3.jpg)
AR EXTRA [Street Version]
It may look like a guerrilla poster bombing campaign but this one had permission…
It may look like a guerrilla poster bombing campaign but this one had permission. AREXTRA launched under our ARCITY initiative as a vehicle to bring more exposure to more creatives across Loughborough.
THE PROJECT
ARCITY was created as an umbrella for our augmented reality projects around the city. A Window to Reality was the first project. AREXTRA launched soon after as a an additional vehicle for the augmented artworks. We received permission to take advantage of the windows of disused spaces across Loughborough in a ground-breaking AR land-grab.
An open call was sent out to creatives interested in engaging with AR and once the work started flooding in we selected and developed a range of work for the project. This meant that we could include a wider variety and representation of creatives than the initial project had scope for.
We designed and printed heavy-duty vinyl posters with artwork and information about the project. Those passing by the windows could point their phone at a QR code and quickly download the Graffio AR app. Once the app was installed they could point their phone at the artwork on the poster and see the designed-in layers of extra reality emerge.
We all know what posters are for- they are usually inexpensive to produce and meant to impart a message. It was interesting to subvert this medium into a thing that required more than a double-take-it turned the shop windows into a walk-by augmented reality gallery.
Gallery Without Walls 04
Selected creatives from Design Season become part of the GWW umbrella and have their work displayed across venues within the city.
Gallery Without Walls project 4 launched as part of Leicester’s Design Season at LCB Hub. To increase exposure to the event the launch coincided with LCB’s Last Friday Street Food Night to a huge audience.
Following on the excellent open-call graphic design and illustration exhibition LOOP we collaborated with the organisers to bring the benefits of GWW to Design Season.
We selected a hand-full of the best creatives from the group that exhibited in the LOOP open-call exhibition. We got more information and more work from them and then matched them with venues throughout the city. We then printed, framed and installed their work across participating venues. We included GWW and personal information cards for the general public to buy their work or contact them in person.
After all the installations we had some cocktails and great street food and the launch night went down a storm. Thank you for the cooperation of all those involved and we hope that the extra exposure for the creatives involved helps on the road to their future careers.
GALLERY WITHOUT WALLS
Gallery Without Walls is a platform for the distribution of artworks across multiple traditional or untraditional spaces around Leicester. We curate exhibitions, collaborate on events and experiment with new ways of displaying art within the city. Our aim is to increase exposure to the arts for the benefit of creatives, venues and the wider community.
ORGANISING CULTURAL EVENTS
If you have an idea for an event and you’re not sure how to move forward or you’d like to collaborate with Institute, then get in touch here.
Gallery Without Walls 03
A single digital artwork distributed across multiple locations…
27, Gallery Without Walls project three launched at the LCB Depot in Leicester. Featuring the work of Dr Sean Clark, 27 took the GWW brief one step further by distributing one artwork across multiple locations.
Project 03: "27" by award-winning Leicester digital artist, Dr Sean Clark, was premiered at the LCB Depot in Leicester.
The exhibition itself is the completion of a work cycle that started with two works that were part of the Resonance exhibition with Esther Rolinson in Leicester the previous December, then became part of the East Meets West exhibition in Guangzhou, China in April and is now a stand-alone exhibition in its own right.
27 is based around self-organising visual systems. The main building blocks of the piece are groups of three connected grids that grow together by exchanging colours and sorting them according to pre-defined rules. After the grids have been running for a while, Sean captured an image and then combined the images to form larger images. These larger images were then arranged according to additional rules.
The result is a system of patterns-within-patterns where the "parts" make "wholes" that then become parts in larger wholes and so on. In the case of this exhibition, nine locations around Leicester each had three images, which were each composed of three connected grids, which were each composed of 25 colours.
DYNAMIC PATTERNS
Sean’s work is concerned with dynamic patterns or systems of organisation and is inspired by natural processes such as flow and connectedness. His images are generated by computer programs and can run "live" on screens, or exhibited as prints. His first exhibition was in 2000 and since then he has shown work around the world - including in the USA, China, UK & Europe and Australia.
ONE ARTWORK / MULTIPLE LOCATIONS
27 is a single artwork distributed across multiple locations. There are three framed images at each location, each image is composed of a three by three grid of patterns and each pattern is generated by a computer program.
THE LAUNCH
The GWW hub is the LCB Depot, Leicester, and was a great place for the opening night of Project 3. The event was packed with people, amazing street food was served and in the words of Graffio’s new designer, the place was ‘…full of creative souls.’ Perfect.
VENUES
The artwork was distributed across six locations within the City: LCB Depot, The Adult Education Centre, Phoenix, Manhattan 34, Peter’s Pizzeria and The Exchange.
GALLERY WITHOUT WALLS
Gallery Without Walls is a platform for the distribution of artworks across multiple traditional or untraditional spaces around Leicester. We curate exhibitions, collaborate on events and experiment with new ways of displaying art within the city. Our aim is to increase exposure to the arts for the benefit of creatives, venues and the wider community.