The Meat Conference 2014

The Meat Conference is a brand new conference based in Aberdeen, which is about the side project and having so much love for what you do that you find time outside of your day to day to pursue it. All of the speakers have side projects in one form or another and were a great mix of designers, makers and doers.

I won a ticket to the conference in April, but I would have happily paid full price for the day as the line-up was so good.

The first speaker of the day was Gavin Strange; a designer who is overflowing with energy and eagerness, who takes every opportunity that’s presented to him to use his skills or learn new ones.

Gavin’s talk kicked off the day with an energetic buzz and even though I think this is the third time I’ve seen him speak, his excitement for making things is always really encouraging. He showed us what taking your free time and filling it with the things you love can achieve, which in his case is a lot.

Second up was Lauren Currie, a service designer eager to see change in the way the services throughout Scotland are run.

I wasn’t aware of service design before, but it seems really interesting after Lauren’s talk and her enthusiasm for her work is really inspiring. Lauren has a real passion for connecting with people and helping to achieve goals doing the things they love doing.

After Lauren Currie, Alan Wardle spoke to us about putting the hours in for your passions and how success is 90% hard work, 10% contacts and 10% sheer luck. I own a few AnyForty t-shirts, so it was fun to see Alan talk about the journey of the brand so far.

Alan’s once side project, AnyForty, isn’t just another streetwear brand born from a graduate’s half arsed attempt at avoiding a real job. He’s passionate about the work of talented artists and works hard to keep his brand going, even in tougher financial times.

After lunch, Radim Malinic told us about his crazy career journey from musician, to DJ, to designer. He spoke of his successes and failures along the way and told how it’s important to plan well and collaborate effectively.

Although we’d like to succeed all of the time, it’s comforting to hear about some failures and nice to know you’re not alone in being imperfect.

Naomi Atkinson’s talk was a mix of cool projects she’s scored through her huge following on Instagram, a few projects that failed to take off and an introduction to her legacy, Whosit & Whatsit.

The final talks of the day were the ones I was really excited about. I’m a big fan of James White’s work and I love Aaron Draplin’s Field Notes.

I had the pleasure of seeing James speak at OFFF13 where I fell in love with his neon colours and 80’s style. At OFFF he didn’t talk as much about his work before the bright colours and rainbows like he did at The Meat Conference. For me this was really reassuring as so many people talk about their style and I’m struggle to find my own.

It took James White 10 years to find a style that felt right, and he’s still changing and adapting his work to try new things all the time.

The highlight of the day was definitely Aaron Draplin. I’d not heard much about him before this event, but there seemed to be a buzz around him as others had watched his talks online and were excited to see him live.

Aaron’s talk was an excellent finish to the day. It was a brilliant mix of humour, life lessons and great design work.

Aaron is such an inspiring guy with humble roots and a genuine love for good design, who isn’t afraid of the hard sell or working hard. His love for his family and work is wonderful and it was great hearing about his brand and what he really loves about what he does.

As The Meat Conference was only a small event it was easy to grab the speakers for a chat after their talks. They were all really approachable too and it was nice to be able to ask a few questions and thank them for speaking.

I look forward to seeing the line-up for next year as I’m definitely thinking about attending again!