Birmingham – The City of 1,000 Creatives

Oct 7

4 min read

My love affair with Birmingham’s arts scene started back in 1997, when I landed myself a receptionist job at The Custard Factory.

Large yellow, wooden letter C in Digbeth Sans font

At the time, the Custard Factory had been open for about four years and was right in the middle of its hedonistic heyday.

The pool, pretentiously referred to as ‘The Lake’', still had water in it. The Med Bar was the place to be, and Bennie and Lucan Grey still owned it..

The Custard Factory was defining Digbeth.

It was a great time to work in such a pivitol place.. I was there for about 18 months and ended up with the grand title of Head Receptionist. I sorted and distributed the post, organised the rota, pressed 'the green button' a million times a day to let tenants and vistors up to the studios and dealt with the endless random requests that receptionists get!

One of my favourite places was the roof, where I would eat my lunch. I also loved walking through the bowels of Devonshire House, now Zellig. You could walk for what seemed like miles through dimly lit corridors filled with old pipes and machinery and then, completely unexpectedly, come across a brilliantly lit photography studio.

ArtsFest '99

When I left the Custard Factory, I stayed in the arts scene and in 1999 applied for the role of Admin. Assistant for ArtsFest ’99, run by Birmingham Arts Marketing.

The first Birminghm ArtsFest was in 1997 and the idea was to take ‘the arts’ out of their usual, sometimes intimidating, spaces and put them somewhere else. Outdoor stages, parks, squares, pubs - unexpected corners of the city.

In 1999, there were a handful of us working from an office in one of the units in the Arcadian. We were all in our twenties and working incredibly hard to make the festival happen. Every Friday, we rewarded ourselves with curly fries from The Green Room.

By 2012, ArtsFest had become the biggest free arts festival in the UK.

A Creative Wilderness

In September 2000 I started my Masters in Personnel Management and Business Administration at Aston University..

For the next 20 years I worked in HR and Marketing and the options for the kind of creativity I loved were few and far between.

In July 2019 things changed. I had been quietly inspired by the creative, self-employed mums I met on the school run. They seemed to have worked out that you could make a living doing something you actually enjoyed.

Then I had some time off work with anxiety and depression, which gave me time to think about what I need to make my life work for me and my family.

Copper Knobs Interiors was born.

Seven years later, I am grateful every day that I get to spend my days painting furniture, decorating rooms, talking about colour and helping people sort out their homes and creating spaces when they can relax and unwind.

Empty modern living room with teal built-ins, herringbone wood floor, recessed lights, and a burgundy sofa under soft lighting

Full Circle

Over the past few weekends we have been wandering around Birmingham Open Studios, chatting to artists and creatives about what they do.

Birmingham Open Studios is a brilliant opportunity to visit artists and makers in their studios, homes, galleries and other creative spaces across the city.

Framed black-and-white photo of barred building windows on a beige wall, with pink flowers blurred in the foreground.

Visiting Daniel Lopez’s studio was a highlight this year - I have been 'lurking' in his socials for the past few years but have never got to his studio at the Jubilee Centre. It was fascinating to talk to him about Birmingham and his incredible artwork. and techniques. His black and white image of the Custard Factory windows, and all it conjured up for me, inspired this post.

And as I wandered round, I suddenly realised that some of the people whose post I used to hand out nearly 30 years ago are still doing their creative thing.

Sara Priesler now has a shop in Stirchley.
Richard Battye currently has an exhibition at Nook Gallery.
The Framers have moved to Stirchley.
Adam Regan (of Med Bar fame) is still involved in music and venues including the Hare and Hounds (Kings Heath)
Craftspace are still doing amazing work.
Round Midnight Theatre Company are now Round Midnight Creative Arts

...and I know there are more.

30 years on

Arts spaces in Birmingham (despite the odds) are still a vital part of the city and I love visiting Nook Gallery, Seventh Circle Gallery and Birmingham Open Studios. I've discovered loads of new artists over the last few years and look forward to finding more.

During Open Studios, I took a friend to Seventh Circle and chatted to lots of people on my way round.

When we came out, she asked me:

“Do you know all of those people?”

“Kind of,” I said.

She then asked how.

I explained that I just talk to them. Which, if you've ever met me, probably won't surprise you. Any of my customers will know that I have a capacity for talk and quiet in equal measure – thankfully I have also honed the skill of talking and painting at the same time!