People

From portraits to abstraction

22 September 2021

This week we chat with our current social media cover artist, Miguel Sopena. Miguel is an artist and photographer originally from Valencia, Spain, who works out of Turf’s artist studios. He trained as a...
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Location, location, location

12 August 2021

This week we catch up with our recent social media header artist Jason Chow. Jason is a self taught illustrator who runs Prints Jason. During the second lockdown he had lots of spare time...
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The infinite possibilities of theatre

5 August 2021

This week we catch up with Jamal Chong who is artistic director of Croydon-based theatre company Misprint. You may remember Jamal’s name from his days as artistic director and venue manager at Theatre Utopia...
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Shaniqua’s Voices of Croydon

30 July 2021

This week we catch up with Croydon’s first Poet Laureate, Shaniqua Benjamin, ahead of her online exhibition launching at the Museum of Croydon on Monday (2 August). The exhibition called ‘Voices of Croydon’ is...
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Pioneering Purley

15 July 2021

I have recently been seeking out blue plaques and creating my own running trails connecting them together (see here and here). I’ve been doing this in various locations but at the request of some...
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From Croydon to Calais

17 June 2021

This week we caught up with the lovely Joanna Scanlan to talk about her new film as well as all things Croydon. And yes I do mean the Joanna Scanlan who you’ll probably know...
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London’s taste of Barbados

10 June 2021

Croydon you are spoiling us with the extremely scrumptious taste bud teasers available at the one, the only, Big Mike’s Calypso Kitchen. Bringing flavours of the Caribbean to Croydon’s Boxpark, Big Mike’s is refreshingly...
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Addiscombe blue green run

20 May 2021

Welcome to the second in our series of blue plaque runs. Ok this one isn’t 100% blue plaque as it features a green plaque too, but it’s an optional stop, so if you want...
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Painting the town with music

13 May 2021

Last autumn Centrale & Whitgift put out a call for local artists and collectives to submit ideas to be included in an art trail stretching across their shopping centres with the theme of ‘Croydon...
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A life from two sides

29 April 2021

Now that my days lack a train commute and I have an energetic three-year-old to tire me out, I don’t have time to read as much as I used to. However when I heard...
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Norwood’s blue plaque run

8 April 2021

Lockdown has sucked hasn’t it, but I have tried to look at the positives throughout, like not having to commute, getting chores done during the week rather than taking up my whole weekend, and...
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Croydon’s Skye

1 April 2021

What better way to kick off a (fingers crossed) sunny but also (according to my weather app) snowy Easter weekend, than by hearing about a Croydon illustrator who creates some very joyful and Spring-like...
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Croydon’s original mural artist

25 March 2021

Whilst I was reading about architect Jane Drew, who we featured last month, I happened upon a friend of hers and fellow Croydon-born creative, Barbara Mildred Jones. Despite being a rather influential post-war artist,...
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Croydon’s Chandigarh architect

18 February 2021

Whilst I was enjoying a trip down a Google rabbit warren (as I often do) when I was researching modernist architecture for my chat with Keith van Loen last week, I happened upon a...
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Modernist angles and blue skies

11 February 2021

Last month I met architecture photographer Keith van Loen through the Peckham-based (but currently online) monthly creative meet-up, Rye Here Rye Now. We got chatting and it turns out Keith is a fellow fan...
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Slaying in her lane

4 February 2021

This week we had the privilege to chat with multi-award-winning journalist and bestselling author Yomi Adegoke, who also just so happens to be a Croydon resident. She has a quite frankly formidable CV having...
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Evie and Isla’s adventures

21 January 2021

New author and local resident Danielle Clarke has been very productive in the last 6 months – she has created a series of children’s books called ‘What Makes Our Family Special’ to celebrate different cultures,...
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Frida and Friends

7 January 2021

For our first creative chat of 2021 we speak to local maker Rosie Naismith, who I discovered last summer when I purchased one of her awesome Frida Kahlo fabric face masks. Better known by...
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21 for 21

1 January 2021

Well it’s 2021 folks, and we wish you all a happy and healthy new year. I imagine everyone is relieved to see the back of 2020 and we have our fingers crossed for better...
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