Workshop with Myvillages Saturday 18 January, 3 – 5pm

We want to come up with a product that speaks of the values of ESP, encapsulates the essence of Digbeth and draws attention to the attributes of Birmingham. Join Myvillages for a workshop on the ideas and methodologies behind collective product development. This event is the first stage of a potential project in which ESP develops a product for the Honest Shop in Coniston.

Myvillages was founded by artists Kathrin Bohm, Wapke Feenstra and Antje Schiffers who share an interest in the rural as a space for and of cultural production. International Village Shop is a shop with many shops where goods from rural communities are made and traded. Some shops are temporary, others permanent. They take on the shape of market stalls, honesty boxes, trading tables, cupboards and fold-out boxes. Most shops can be found in villages, but versions of it also open in urban art spaces.

The goods in the shop are a mix of existing local products alongside ‘New Village Goods’ which have been made especially for the International Village Shop and travel between places. These travelling products range from Horsemilk Soap (Friesland/NL) to Frogbutterspoons (Upper Frankonia, Ger), Caravan Pots (Ballykinlar, Northern Ireland) to Ittinger Ei (Kartause Ittingen, CH) and Ohner Linen (Ohne, Ger).