Belfast, Belfast Belfast. I’ve only been here a couple of days but combined with a trip here just a few weeks previous, I’ve really enjoyed my time here in the city. I’m writing this blog post from my very fancy Malmaison hotel, which is worthy of a blog post in itself. Gorgeous setting, beautiful rooms, fantastic attention to detail and amazing room service! I’ll definitely be staying in another Mal hotel again. The next Travelodge is going to be, quite frankly, shit in comparison!

I came here because my old friend Andy McMillan, the curator behind Build conference & The Manual suggested me for a talk to the guys NI Design Alliance & CCSkills, so with Build conference and The Standardistas playing host to the event “An evening with… Gavin Strange” came to be. And what an evening it was, I had an absolute blast last night, I really enjoyed putting my slides together so was really excited to share them with everyone. I could not have asked for a better turnout, really honoured that people gave up their Thursday night and it meant I got to speak to a tonne of interesting people, who inspired me with the tales of what they’re getting up to here in Belfast, a very inspiring place.

It’s meant I’ve had the chance to hang out with Andy for a couple of days and pick his brains on the ideas, thoughts and plans behind Build, because combined with Jez Burrows stunning design work, it represents the web design community so well and has re-ignited my love for the world of interactive design. Speaking with Andy has genuinely inspired me to try harder, to make more physical offline things and to get more involved in my community back in Bristol, I’d like to spend more time with the Digital creatives of my city, so a big thanks to Andy, Jez & Build for doing that.

Being given so much awesome swag has in no way swayed my decision (well, ok, maybe a little bit) but its the fact that so much attention is paid to the details that I’m inspired. So I’m going home to Bristol with a head full of ideas, heart full of determination and a belly full of food.

Thank you to Andy, The Standardistas, Sarah and everyone who made it possible for me to be here for the past 2 days, I’ve genuinely loved my time here. Thanks for reading and thank you for coming along to hear me waffle last night.

You can see a brilliant bunch of photographs from last nights talk by Simon Mills right here. The image at the top of this blog is one of Simons photo’s, so a big thanks to him for those snaps!

Look out for a video of the talk appearing online in a few weeks time and also for a screening of my bike film BÖIKZMÖIND being organised by The Standardistas!

- Gav