Inspired by Everyday Beauty

 Bomber Jacket by Jigsaw | Cashmere Jumper by ASKET | Chinos by Whistles | Hat by Percival | Sneakers by Common Projects | Socks by AnonymousIsm | Persol Sunglasses c/o SunglassesShop

Photography by Jordan Bunker

I've become totally obsessed with "everyday beauty". I'm not too sure if anyone else uses the term in the context that I'm thinking of, but basically, it's the intriguing colour combinations, shapes, textures and design details that tend to go unnoticed in everyday life. They haven't been designed by accident, but most of the time we walk past them without a second glance.

Paving stones that look like a school of swimming fish from above, the way the sun hits grey corrugated metal at 2pm, tower blocks that are lined up like a football team or something as mundane as a red sign that has faded to pink by the sun. I haven't quite mastered capturing these moments with my camera, but lately Yasumi's Instagram account sums it up perfectly.

Onour recent trip to Nottingham we weren't purposely looking for these little blips in the day, but the grounds of Nottingham Contemporary was full of intriguing angles and subtle nods to the city's once-thriving industry.

For this outfit I stuck to my current uniform of greys + navy; wearing this coated cotton bomber jacket by Jigsaw (similar here), soft cashmere jumper by Stockholm-based ASKET and these AnonymousIsm indigo-dyed socks which I picked up in Tokyo, with my straight-fit khaki chinos by Whistles and tortoiseshell Persol sunglasses. 

Next time on your commute to work or walk through town take some time to look out for everyday beauty. What have you spotted lately?

Thanks for reading,

Mat.

Store Visit | Universal Works, Nottingham

Universal Works - Nottingham, Rough Trade

With a few of my favourite contempoary menswear brands being based in Nottingham we couldn't visit the city without paying one a visit. Universal Works have become a familiar name on Buckets & Spades over the last few years – super wearable designs, consistency and an unpretentious approach to promoting themselves has created a much deserved loyal following.

It's been great to see UW become more recognised as each collection is released, and for the brand's latest expansion, David Keyte + co have set up shop right in the middle of their home city. Located in the Rough Trade building (along with a shiny new Aesop store, and cafe bar), this small but perfectly designed space houses the best of their latest collection. Japanese + British-inspired workwear offerings of casual and smart jackets sit alongside waterproof outerwear, British-made denim, simple shirts and jersey, the best fitting trousers you're likely to find and enough socks to sink a ship.

The store may be small, but when a place has got everything you need then, adding any more "sizzle" is just showing off. Opening a standalone store outside of London does come with its risks, but it just goes to show how much menswear has progressed in the past five years.

Universal Works, 5 Broad Street, Nottingham, NG1 3AJ. See more of our Store Visits here.

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City Guide | 24 Hours in Nottingham

It’s true that a little local knowledge definitely goes a long way. When we set off to Nottingham a couple of weeks back, we’d done a bit of research, asked a few folks where we should go and what we should do; but, at the end of the first day we were feeling a bit down.

Partly, it was because of the weather (after a sunny start, it rained almost non-stop). Partly, it was because we were struggling with the controls on an old version of FIFA, back at our Airbnb. But, mainly, it was because we hadn’t seen much of the city that really captivated us. Don’t get me wrong, we’d been to a couple of good shops and bars; we just hadn’t seen anything out of the ordinary or anything particularly noteworthy.

Realm & Empire – a British brand, with roots in the Midlands, that we’ve known and loved for a long while now – had read through our other city guides and thought we could do something similar in Nottingham. This was a project for our friends and we really didn’t want to let them down!

Thankfully, on that first day, we also spoke to the right people. The guys at Waste Studio, a creative agency with one epic toy collection, and the folks at Ideas on Paper, a really cool magazine shop, stuffed full of every magazine you’ll ever want to read, pointed us in the right direction.

It turns out, Nottingham is a pretty cool place and, not only that, it’s small enough to visit more-or-less everything on foot. Win-win!

Campbell Cole '16 Simple Collection

Nottingham's Campbell Cole once again serves up some minimal leather accessories for their new Spring Summer '16 Simple Collection. Never straying too far from their staple shapes, rather refining and tweaking from season-to-season, the British-made Simple Collection features a key wrap, card holder, coin pouch and bi-fold wallet. 

A couple of intriguing new features have been added; a paracord lanyard and zip puller, as well as that sweet honeycomb vegetable tanned leather and polka-dot print. Find out more about Campbell Cole with our Conversation series.

Campbell Cole's Simple Collection is available here.

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A Conversation with Campbell Cole | Nottingham Market Event

We sat down with Ian of British leather accessories brand, Campbell Cole, to discuss the Nottingham Market, which takes place 4th-6th December. This new project, hosted by Campbell Cole, sees a collective of the finest Midland-based companies all trading under one roof. The aim is to help encourage us to support local businesses for the run-up to Christmas. There's some great brands involved, and we can't wait to head down to Nottingham to show our support.

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Mat - So first off, tell us about your links to Nottingham, and why you chose the city to host the market. 

Ian - Felicity and I have been living and working in Nottingham for a few years now. I originally moved to Nottingham to work for Speedo as a product designer. Felicity studied Fashion Design at Nottingham Trent and stayed in the city to work as a men’s shirt designer.

When we started Campbell Cole, we decided to stay in the Midlands – partly as a couple of our factories are close by, but mainly because Nottingham is an affordable place to live… we couldn’t possibly have given Campbell Cole the time, energy and love that we have had we moved to London. Nottingham has become our home.

Over the last 2 to 3 years, it feels as though Nottingham has really started to buzz – people are making things and independent businesses are popping up. There is a thriving community of like-minded creatives getting on with improving the city. Small Food Bakery is a great example and personal favourite – based at Primary Studio, they are a craft bakery producing small batches of high quality product using locally sourced, seasonal products.

Nottingham Market will be an opportunity to show off the best of what the city has to offer. 

Twin-Tone Lampshades by Lane

I'm feeling a little stressed out today due to a few plans being changed, some creeping deadlines and having to get a bunch of stuff sorted before we heading down to London again next week. So today's post is with the intention to cheer me up as much as sharing something colourful with you lot.

These Twin-Tone coloured lampshades by Nottingham based design store Lane are made entirerly from from one material, a heavyweight corrigated paper, which has been boned together to create two seemless layers. Every piece of these lampshades has been consurtcued in the UK and are 100% recycleable + biodegradable. Ahh, I feel better now!

Currently available in seven colours, for more details click here.

Thanks for visiting,

Mat

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Universal Works Fair Isle Knit

We're hitting that time of year again when it's time to consider whipping out the knitwear again. It's increasingly chilly in the mornings but I'm not quite ready for a full on winter coat yet, I'm currently down with a few layers in the way of a jacket, jumper and plain t shirt. This year I'm looking to bring  more patterns into my AW wardrobe and this piece by Universal Works fits the bill perfectly. 

The UW knit features a traditional all over Fair Isle pattern in grey, red and brown, ribbed neck and hems and is constructed from a fine wool blend. The jumper itself differs from the standard Fair Isle knits however, the irregular pattern placement on the sleeves is a lovely touch and somewhat of a signature of UW.

North East based retailer Psyche is one of the UK's biggest independent clothing stores, covering 35,000sq ft and currently stocking over 150s brands. Their brand list includes, Barbour, Brooklyn We Go Hard, Ma Strum, Lacoste Live, Levi's, Nudie*, Oliver Spencer and Ralph Lauren and Paul Smith. Plus they're currently offering free delivery and returns.

Universal Works Fair Isle Knit available at Psyche. 

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Sunday: 2 Pictures

The Pleasure Beach at 11:14pm

Power Plant near Nottingham

I only took two decent photos last week as I didn't really have much spare time. It's quite weird that you don't really take much notice of things on your door step. I have lived at the seaside all my life and been to the Pleasure Beach tones of times but the place is so damn interesting, especially at night time. Plus it brings so much money into my home town, the area is on the rise. The whole seafront has been regenerated and now I hear that contractors are planning on restoring the Victoria entertainment theatre, the Winter Gardens.

The other image is cold and ugly but I can't help like harsh buildings and architecture, do you know what I mean? I took that when I was on a uni trip to see the Trend Briefing by The Future Laboratory, which was amazing. We were presented with new and emerging social/media/technology trends and happenings for the next 10 years, it was pretty epic.