Festivals. Sculptures. Weirdness.

These are a few of my favourite things.

So, when a design and festival production project based in a hidden sculpture garden, going by the name of  ‘Curious Yellow’ came up, as you can probably imagine, I was pretty darn keen.

The early meetings with founder and DJ Dan and production manager Carly (who I met at Standon calling last year, and who actually ended up living with me for a short while within the weeks leading up to the event) were the beginnings of something very special.

Building on 5 years of event history to create a new brand, website and marketing strategy was a tantalising starting point. The new logo and theme of ‘Quizzes, Mysteries, Shadows and Riddles’ eventually emerged, complimenting the ‘no line up’ and ‘secret location’ cryptic information vibe. A  graphic style, (coined ‘Cypher’) was finally nailed, helping to maintain a sense of mystery, while awareness grew via digital and print campaigns (Lingo crew fully involved obvs, with, amongst other skills, Vicki bossing the email and Robert mastering the ‘reveal’ code).

The event went off. I mean, it was incredible. For 3 days straight, all I heard was brilliant music, laughter, and people saying how amazing it was. It is now well and truly part of my heart, and in my blood (or, rather, after falling off Dan’s bike while hooning down the lane, my knee-graze blood is in the event. That sounds gross. Let me rephrase that). You know how people say ‘blood, sweat and tears’ have gone in to something – I really mean it. Except, mostly, the tears so far have been tears of joy. Actual flow-down-my-cheeks, happy face-ache, heart-swelling joy-tears.

So, just as the final event kit (including the time portal post box, and twenty-something white tonne bin bags) is packed away, our attention turns to Curious Yellow 2018, and find myself joining Curious Dan as a partner in the event.

‘Chuffed’, I think describes how I feel best.

With a side-serving of gobsmacked… and …. ready. Ready to work with Dan to grow and develop the event even further.

I’ve just written and posted a long ‘Thank you’ blog post on Curious Yellow site as there are SO many thank yous to do… and the official photos and videos are on their way soon – but for now, here’s my ‘insider’ view, including some set up and shots of production. As always I wish I’d taken more.

But more will come, I’m sure, as this already feels excitedly more like a beginning than an end…