Small scale dreams coming to the small screen
It had to happen sooner or later… the latest member of the ‘My Cool…’ family band makes its debut on Tuesday 23 October at 8pm on Channel 4.
Since creating the ‘My Cool…’ source books, the prospect of televising the stories behind the ‘spaces’ on the page has never been far from my mind. The devotion and creativity present in the vans, campers and ‘sheds’ we sourced, styled and featured in the books, longed for a visual medium which could fully describe the reinvention of a retro space.
When George Clarke of Channel 4’s ‘Amazing Spaces’ came calling with a proposal to make the ‘My Cool…’ principles – the any taste on any budget transformation of a retro space – the basis for a series, it was an opportunity overdue.
Like George, the pleasures of the simple life lived well and in style, are at the heart of my creative work. Over six episodes we rescue, revive and re-style an unloved 1970s caravan, creating as we go, a modern travelling family holiday home. It was George’s nostalgia for summers spent with siblings in the Lake District that informed the styling brief, and this plays out in the interior scheme. References to landscape, seasons and holidaying in all-weathers are made plain in this van for all-ages.
The Channel 4 project almost mirrors my own ‘My Cool…’ experience. In 2002 a humble 1970s van, left to quietly expire in a Surrey woodland, caught my attention. Over time it provided me a place to create my own small-scale dream, and a space to exercise my creative expression. Taking on the role as Creative Consultant for the series has been just another mile in the ‘My Cool…’ journey, and marks for me the beginning of new prospects for the brand and my work.
Watch: 8pm, every Tuesday, 23 September to 27 November, Channel 4
‘George Clarke’s Amazing Spaces’ is a Plum Pictures production
Twitter: @MrGeorgeClarke #amazingspaces
You can watch the trailer here