Cornwall has always had a rich seam of artistic talent, craftsmanship, creativity and wholesome food and drink, which has long been associated with quality. With an increasing emphasis on eating locally produced food as a way to reduce our impact on the environment and on the need to support British businesses and our economy, local produce and products are more important than ever.
So Dott Cornwall, a year long series of projects which is bringing together local communities and world-class designers to work on projects that improve everyday life for people in Cornwall, is designing innovative new ways to promote Cornwall through its produce and products.
It has tasked designers from agency Something from Us with connecting with producers and craftsmen in Cornwall to understand Cornish products USPs and to help promote them throughout the UK and internationally.
By taking over stalls at farmers' markets, setting up shop at local festival Lostfest, and by designing spectacular engagement platforms, the From Cornwall With Love team has identified issues and challenges facing Cornish producers. They are now co-designing potential ways to promote Cornish produce.
Design methods: Symbol or spectacle?
Something from Us has already set up a fact-finding dinner for Cornish producers and buyers and retailers from London. They asked a group of guests to a virtual dinner where half were in a boat makers yard in Falmouth and the other half were in a smoked salmon factory in London. They were connected by a projection of the dinner from the other end of the country and through the wonders of technology were able to talk and eat as though they were all sat around the same dinner table.
From Cornwall with Love mirrored dinner
"It allowed us to ask how Cornish products are perceived by buyers outside Cornwall, and to see what they should be in the future," says Tom Tobia from Something from Us.
Mark Irlam from Something from us says: "The spectacle attracted people to come who hadn't been round a table together before."
The Salmon Factory in London is now producing a From Cornwall with Love hamper containing all Cornish produce, and this is selling all round the world.
See the From Cornwall with Love flickr stream
Find out more about Something from Us on its website
Find out more about Dott Cornwall and its other projects
