Custard Factory & Digbeth Tour

The Custard Factory situated in Digbeth. Known for being the "creative quarter" for the arts and media professionals. The Custard Factory is home to independent boutiques, retail offices, galleries and cafe's. We took a tour of what The Custard Factory and Digbeth has to offer. 

One of the independant boutiques we went in was called The Vintage Salon. This little place really caught my eye. Not only did it offer 50s inspired hair do's but you could get the full experience with make-over's and photoshoots. The decor of the place was amazing will 50's inspired items dotted around the place. It honestly felt like we had stepped into another era. 

Provide was another independent boutique that we visited. The store sold it's own collection of designs which varied from snapbacks, hoodies and tee's. The store also had various inspirational magazines which are hard to get hold of in Birmingham. They stock around thirty magazines and additional books which are seen to be inspirational. 

As Digbeth was gearing up for their first 'Digbeth's First Friday' event, there was exhibitions been set up exclusively for the event. We got a chance to have a sneak peek at some of the art which was to be featured.

The next stop on the Digbeth tour was the Eastside Project. The current exhibition on at Eastside is named "the 25 paintings" by Bill Drummond. He's been working on pieces around the city such as handing out cakes, making beds and knitting squares.

Fazeley Studios was the next place we ventured to on the tour. On the outside the place had an almost warehouse feel to it, but beyond the large lilac doors was a huge surprise. The first room was very open and light with tall ceiling and almost reminded me of a church. The studios hold a lot of events and weddings but is also home to 35 offices. The studios also has it's own courtyard and cafe where the general public can come in and enjoy the studios.

The last place we visited was the Grand Union Gallery and studios in Minerva Works. The current exhibition showing at the gallery was Maia Conran: Here is the Yard. We had a introduction of the piece by Cheryl who works at the gallery. The piece was very minimalistic but through sound and video came alive. An sculptural sound installation echoed through the room every couple of minutes. The sound was recorded from a yard gate opening and closing and represented the industrial work which happens in the area. A video instalment was shown on the wall in a hypnotic sequence which was took from curtains blowing in the wind and edited on an adobe programme. 

After looking around the gallery, we went down to the studios and heard about how the place runs, more about digbeth and the eastside and future developments and also about Baz, a think-tank amongst the art world. 

Library of Birmingham

The Library of Birmingham is a piece of art! On the outside is an impressive structure which contrasts with the ordinary buildings surrounding the library. The Library only opened last year and on a little trip, I got to see what was on offer. 

The library isn't just about the books, they have two rooftop terraces with amazing views over the city and it's a great area to just chill in the sunshine. At the very top of the library is a Shakespeare memorial room which houses an impressive collection of Shakespeare originals with over 42,000 books in the room.

The books on offer cover lot's of different topics and there is a Fashion section, which I personally think isn't that great especially as 90% of the collection is reference only and has to remain on-site. I'd like to see more high fashion collection books, as there is not much more than you would find in Waterstones.

I think the Library is a lovely space and great to go to chill out and do some work. I would like to visit more often and look closer at the Marketing section which we visited and also see what is in the fiction section.