A vision for the High Street
Stepping Stone 4 adds layers to the High Street. Like the other visions, we wanted to use CoLab Dudley’s principles ‘use nature as a guidebook’ and ‘create conditions for curiosity and experimentation’. The main way we proposed to do this was adding a green canopy to provide shelter, create a hybrid indoor outdoor space welcoming to families and a more communal open space, and support ecosystems.
The fourth Stepping Stone project focused on the design of 2-in-1 flower pot seating for the exterior of the community kitchen. The design also integrates a canopy for growing herbs to also use in the kitchen. Through a collaboration with another Time Rebel collecting reusable waste, we thought about how this could be integrated into the materiality of this concept. The product analysis of this design is that it has a detachable seat to cater for a variety of arrangements. The flower pot can be raised to create a seating area, and lowered to be become a flower pot on the High Street.
Golden Touch.docx
Golden Touch
It’s my wedding anniversary
Ari is cutting my hair
“To make you look younger”
He says
We guess each other’s age
A trick he’s pretty good at
We talk about daughters
Sons
Families
How he goes back every year
When he can
To northern Iran
But really his family’s here now
Round the houses in Brum
From a young age
Now his home is Dudley
Four years in the shop
Cutting
Blending
Trimming
The heat from the hair dryer
Beats the sweepings to the floor and
I escape for twenty minutes
In the stories
In the swift hands
The mirrors
Posters from a bygone age
Product on the shelves
The smell of wax and leather
Scissors sweep over the comb and
I learn that the skills are hard taught
From the first time with the razor
To the years later
Efficient
Precise
Art in my eyes
Soon his brother will join him
From Manchester
Where he’s currently learning
To catch up
The future is all about the family and
I hope the shop is still here
For when his son
Picks up the scissors
For the first time
Thanks for the haircut Ari
It took years off me
Bake 'n' Butty.docx
Bake ‘n’ Butty
Fairy lights all year round
Three clocks working triple time
More seating at the rear and
Above the sound of something frying in a pan
Laughter
The scrape of cutlery on finished plates
Stacked and cleared
Two cappuccinos
Two toasted teacakes
Footsteps on the lino floor
The hum of radio from somewhere
The clash of a saucepan lid
Tea, milk, two sugars
The tapping of a spoon on a plastic bowl
Fishfinger sandwich to take away
Do you need a receipt?
It won’t be long, alright?
Chips sizzling in the deep fat
Steam escaping the coffee machine
There’s your knife and fork
Musical buttons singing from the till
No sugar, I’m sweet enough
A message left on the answering machine
Phone rings
How can I help you?
Mobile notification
Chatter
Printing
There’s your change
I’ll bring your coffee over
Sausage, egg and chips
Large breakfast, no beans
Two lattes
Milk delivery
Grated cheese in a bag
Butter balanced in the crock of an arm
Is there enough money in the till?
Bacon and egg sandwich to go
Cappuccino
Cheers love
It was lovely, thank you
All this is seen and heard as
I am joined at my table
To talk through
Covid
Cars
Past lives
Old homes
Acceptance
Cooking
Gender
Pubs
Health and
Putting the world back together
My tea is done
I pop my mug back on the counter
All this for the prices of a cuppa I think
Stepping out past the flashing fairy lights
Men standing on grass - connecting with extra space on High Street - relaxing / watching the traffic
By using the courtyard space as allotments, it will create a social hub for the local people and connect it to local businesses and stores.
Caffe Min.docx
Caffe Min
Breakfast
Lunch
Meal deal
Everything you would expect
Fresh from the takeaway menu
Ham baguette
With a little bit of mayonnaise
Jacket potato
Hot cup of coffee
Bacon sarnie
Brown sauce
Not red
Tikka mint mayo panini
Something you might not expect
Sunglasses!
I sit on a long bench
Listening to Tainted Love
Over the radio
Reading one of the many signs
About coffee and good vibes
Jayne and Mustafa
Serve the steady flow of regulars
Some sit outside most of the day
Watching
Chatting
Taking it all in
There’s always a spot for them
As others come and go
Mustafa hopes that more regulars
Will return
From offices
When they can
The future seems uncertain
Until normality returns
Since West Brom
27 years ago
Jayne and Mustafa
Have been working together
She says she “has a thick skin to have put up with him for so long”
He says “she’s the second woman in his life”
Cheerful banter
From a lifetime of serving
Cooking
Cleaning
Managing
This is their third café in Dudley
23 years and still going
Opposite the Full Moon
Tables and chairs on the pavement
Watching the comings and goings
I end up chatting to Kath
Over a cup of tea
As she gets a sausage baguette
For the lady she volunteers with
Kath comes every Friday
For breakfast with her friends and
I see how this all takes shape
Regular
Reliable
Dependable
I say goodbye
Head back up the town
As Magic FM fades in the distance
I think I’ll probably pop in again
For a cup of tea
"Dudley's Edwardian Market Place pictured around 1905."
"Dudley High Street in the early 1900s."
The first Stepping Stone project looks into designing multifunctional furniture for Dudley High Street to provide opportunities for a regenerative community, focusing on how the high street can be occupied with resilience. Initially, the stalls act as market stalls to provide opportunities for enterprises and small businesses to begin thriving and encouraging the High Street to become a place of inclusivity.
However, the stalls can extend out into outdoor seating arrangements, which can become an extension of the community kitchen and during events can become a part of the whole atmosphere.
By extending the furniture, they can connect together and become a large spread where people can sit together and enjoy company. It creates a lowered centre space so children can sit together, or paint on the surfaces. We decided to focus on furniture because we felt the importance of it can go unrecognised. We felt through the design of this market stall, many memories can be created and attached to these items, and become valuable assets within the community.
Woman waiting