Cool Caerdydd with a touch of Culture.

There are a few things going on in Cardiff this week that I'm pretty excited about. The first is the Wales One World Film Festival which kicked off in Chapter on Sunday evening with the incredible Turksib - a 1929 documentary of the building of the Turkestan-Siberia railway, some 1442 kilometres long. This might not instantly sound like an engaging piece of cinema but what bought this old film to life was the stunning accompanying live performance from Bronnt Industries Kapital which really helped connect the audience with the film.

However, WOW is not all documentaries. There is a varied and exciting programme of world cinema, each of which look fantastic. WOW runs this weekend in Chapter and at various other venues beyond.

Second thing: The Ethical Chef. I've been meaning to check out one of the Ethical Chef Supperclubs for about a year now and this Sunday am very excited to finally be getting around to doing so at Thé Pot with some friends. I love the fact that Ethical Chef, Deri Read, is combining his beliefs, passion and love of food with these delightful evenings. I'll blog more about this following full and contented stomach!

Finally. I Want to Bake Free. I've been closely following their activities since a friend introduced me to their delicious honeycomb at Chapter a few months ago. Their dream has been to open a traditional tearoom in Cardiff. They recently secured fantastic premises, the beautiful West Lodge building, which is next to the entrance to Bute Park and a stone's throw from the castle. They have now announced the Pettigrew Tearooms will open on 30th March. Hurrah!

So why, prey tell, are Patches & Co writing all this stuff? We're not an events blog after all. Well, it's pretty simple really. If we want Cardiff to be a hub of creativity, individuality and avoid us all becoming a faceless plethora of mindless zombies with Everystore featuring on every corner and Everyfilm the only film featuring in the local multiplex -we must get out there and support those special somethings. We all mean to but quite often don't quite get around to it.

So, go see a Mongolian film this weekend, or whatever else takes your fancy; Eat some delicious vegetarian fayre for a bargain price and feel good about it; Ditch the mochachochahorror and get a pot of tea and slice of cake and if you have any time left for a spot of shopping Patches & Co will be here waiting too.

Enjoy!

More owls? And a small plea....

Patches & Co recently attended our first market stalls. The first was at the Riverfront Theatre in Newport for Sessions Open Mic & Boutique night. It was a great evening to attend as it also coincided with the Ffresh film festival so was buzzing with film fanatics and film students.
We then attended the Jacobs Market 'Be Kind Rewind' organised vintage-craft fair. Complete with tea and cakes for 60p a go (yay for the vintage prices!) and Lindyhop dance sessions!
One of the benefits of the stalls has been to see what the good- old-fashioned way of selling is like. It has been fun! Also it has been really nice to meet other traders and get some inside tips on what they find effective and what other events are around. We would like to do more.
I've now sold out of owl cushions! I'm actually thinking of not buying anymore.Well that's not true-I will be selling more but BETTER ones! I really want Patches & Co to be a platform for selling products with principles. So ideally I would like to exclusively sell items that are handmade in the UK or from ethical and fair trade producers. I always intended to move in this direction and now that I am building more direct contacts with designers it seems like the ideal time.I'd really appreciate some feedback on this so please get in touch or comment on here.
Looking forward to stocking more things from Finest Imaginary soon too.
Oh, and more beauties are on their way!!
If you make great owl cushions or anything you think would look good on my site and you'd like to do business with me and the pup please get in touch!

Before I go one final small plea to friends! I need your support! I can't do all of this without a few more sales. So if you would like to support a small business who is trying to do something interesting and with sound principles please buy something from my site! Prices range from just £3-£18. So they won't break the bank but they will put a smile on someones face :)
Thank you!
Xxx