'Pretend People' And 'Forged Artworks' At Trade Fair
30 September 2010
Airheads Ltd's figures in the crowd at a Notingham Rugby match. The Nottingham company will be at the Open for Business 2010 event.
We have helped dozens of businesses get established over the years through our entrepreneurial programmes.
”Maggie Morley, of the University's Centre for Entrepreneurial Management.
Ratcliffe Power Station by James Cousins Photography, an exhibitor at the Open for Business 2010 event.
Inflatable plastic 'crowds' and a female blacksmith's artworks are among the 40 new businesses set to attend a University of Derby trade exhibition.
Open for Business 2010 will include some of the many East Midlands' companies run by University graduates and students, and people affected by redundancy, who've attended entrepreneur programmes such as Enterprise Inc and Start Up & Go, at the University's Centre for Entrepreneurial Management. It gives mentoring and financial support, and provides business skills training.
The free to attend trade fair will be at the University's Enterprise Centre, at 37 Bridge Street, Derby, on Wednesday October 6 from 2pm to 6pm. It will be open to the general public, other businesses and suppliers. The exhibition follows the success of the first Open for Business event in 2008.
Naomi Woodier-Harris, a sessional lecturer and PhD student at Derby, has gone from helping University students and graduates set up businesses - through the forerunner of its Enterprise Inc programme - to establishing her own company.
Airheads Ltd, based in Nottingham, provides three-dimensional inflatable 'extras' for large crowd scenes for film and TV productions, sports and promotional events. The plastic figures are the same size and shape as an adult head and torso, and dressed, so that from a distance they can look like a person seated in a public gallery or stadium area.
Naomi, company Managing Director, said: "The idea for the business came up in conversation with my brother-in-law, Lee Harris, who worked for BBC television at the time. He explained how these inflatable extras had to be hired from abroad, at some expense, and it occurred to us that we could become the first UK company to offer this service.
"We get a lot of TV requests and our stand-ins were recently used onscreen in the BBC sci-fi series Paradox. They've also been used for low budget films, at Alton Towers theme park and by Nottingham Rugby Club. Often a crowd scene will be shot using 80% 'airheads' and 20% real extras."
In contrast to Airheads' use of modern technology to create something temporary, fellow Open for Business 2010 exhibitor and blacksmith Hayley Powell demonstrates how traditional crafts can create long lasting and beautiful products.
She graduated from the University's BSc (Hons) Design Technology degree course this summer (2010) and established her company, Forever Forged, with the help of its Enterprise Inc programme. She uses traditional blacksmithing and modern manufacturing techniques to turn high quality ironwork into unique doorknobs and handles, household goods, and objects for the garden such as sculptures and obelisks.
Hayley, 21, of Parwich, Derbyshire, said: "I was always interested in rural crafts and did some workshops before I began my degree. While I studied at Derby I did a work placement with another female blacksmith called Charis Jones, from Staffordshire, and I knew it was what I wanted to do when I finished my course.
"The works I produce are all one-off. It's important to me that I'm helping keep alive a traditional rural craft."
Other businesses exhibiting at the Open for Business 2010 trade fair include:
- Derby and Leicester new media, arts and culture magazine From Dusk to Dawn
- street art and clothing, and design company Subism (winner of the Derby Creative Industries Network Awards' 'Best Creative Team/Individual' category in September)
- specialist Volkswagen Group service and repair garage Absolute VAG of Mansfield
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Velocity Sounds of Derby; provider of lighting, sound and audio-visual equipment for events
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James Cousins Photography of Lichfield, Staffordshire; specialist in images for industrial and commercial sites
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Derby School of Taekwon-Do; martial arts training for children, adults and corporate clients.
Maggie Morley, of the University's Centre for Entrepreneurial Management has organised Open for Business 2010.
She said: "We have helped dozens of businesses get established over the years through our entrepreneurial programmes. Open for Business 2010 is a celebration of that and a chance for potential suppliers, and customers, to come and see the incredible range of new business talent now contributing to the local economy."
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For further information about Open for Business 2010 see www.derby.ac.uk/openforbusiness or contact Gill Barnes at the Centre for Entrepreneurial Management on 01332 597843 or email: g.barnes@derby.ac.uk.
For further information also contact Press and PR Officer Sean Kirby on 01332 591891 or 07876 476103, or email s.kirby@derby.ac.uk.
