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Our Favourites x Colours of Sheffield

We have teamed up with ColoursofSheffield for a very special edition of Our Favourites.

It all started over a coffee, as most things at our Practice do. We had come across ColoursofSheffield on Instagram a few weeks earlier, and the timing couldn’t have been more perfect. We had been thinking about doing a special colour edition of Notes From a Small Practice for a while, and as soon as we saw the Colours of Sheffield Instagram feed, we knew the two would work perfectly together. Fast forward a couple of weeks and we’re sitting in Upshot with Mary, the creative brains behind it.

The challenge

After chatting with Mary, we decided to set the team a photo challenge. Everyone was given a Pantone postcard at random, and their mission would be to match it to something. The only prerequisite being that it had to be in Sheffield.

But, not to be left out, we included Mary in the challenge too!

When I received my colour this was the immediate thought I had as the subject, although it took me a while to get the time to go and photograph it. I’m not a particular fan of the building, either from a distance or how it treats the street, but the colour is striking. [Paul]

I was off the bike for a few days at the start of September and really enjoyed the walk into work. It takes a bit longer but it’s nice to have the time to enjoy the city and look at it from a different perspective. I had planned to take a photo of a different flower brightening up a derelict site but I took a slightly different route home and spied this instead. [Alan]

I walked past it every day, and then a few days after the photo was taken, it had been covered with a new piece.  Sheffield greens are more natural, gentle and varied than this Pantone swatch so a match was hard to find. [Jess]

I love the name of this colour – but having scoped out a few potential locations I found it difficult to find something that was exactly the right mix of orange and red. In the end, I happened across this mural just around the corner from the PTA office whilst on my way to a meeting. I popped back one lunchtime in the sunshine and managed to get some lucky timing with the woman and her red handbag passing by! It’s a mural called “Biomembrane” by Florence Blanchard – an interpretation of a biological membrane as seen under an electron microscope. Part of Festival of the Mind 2016. [Claire]

I’m a bit disappointed that the final product doesn’t reflect how much I enjoyed the challenge – and it most definitely was a challenge! Scouring Sheffield for colour is an interesting way to navigate through and learn about the city. Just don’t take photos of people’s backpacks. It’s weird. [Liam]

I snapped this on my run to work. I love to get a run in before work, especially if I know it’s going to be a stressful day. To me, this colour feels like happiness. [Fera]

And now for Mary’s photo…

When doing Colours of Sheffield photos I normally find the thing I want to photograph and then match a colour. This was a whole new challenge which I actually found so interesting. I spent quite a bit of time researching greens in Sheffield and asking friends about what they thought it would match with. When I saw the Kid Acne exhibition was on at Park Hill, I noticed one of the greens was really similar to my card and made plans to visit and I’m so glad I did. The exhibition was amazing and I managed to match this beauty! [Mary – Colours of Sheffield]

Mary’s favourite…

I’m so impressed with the variety and skill of everybody’s photos and it’s such a great feeling to know that the team all had a go. I definitely struggled to choose my favourite and although the green street art photo was such a perfect match, I have chosen the blue building photo as I love the variety of blues in the photo, with the blue sky and the different shades of blue in the building. I also liked the idea of angling the card to line up with the side of the building. Great work all round and it was a pleasure to set the team this colourful challenge!

A huge thanks to Mary for teaming up with us this month. Follow ColoursofSheffield on Instagram for your regular dose of colour inspiration.