TV presenter and award winning designer and manufacturer of upcycled products Max McMurdo is heading to the Festival of Thrift.
Max has recently been seen on shows including Channel 4’s ‘Shed of the Year’, ‘Gok’s Fill Your House For Free’ and a special episode of ‘George Clarke’s Amazing Spaces’ which followed Max selling his house and building a house boat. Max will be selling and signing his new book ‘Upcycling’ from the Gumtree bus at the Festival at Kirkleatham Museum and grounds near Redcar on Saturday 17 and Sunday 18 September.
He said: “I am very excited about returning to visit the Festival of Thrift. It’s such a unique event and helps people find the fun in learning how to reuse, recycle and upcycle, saving both money and benefiting the environment, which is everything I am passionate about.
“With a bit of time and effort scrap items can be transformed into great designs that will last longer and look better than any high street chipboard nonsense and I will be giving tips and advice at the Festival about how to go about making fabulous eco-friendly items.”
Max’s appearance on the Gumtree bus is one of countless highlights at the hugely popular, fun-filled, free, family-friendly event which is now its fourth year.
Stella Hall, Festival Director, says that the Festival has invited a huge range of artists who share their skills along with an interest in upcycling, recycling and the environment to show that creativity is not limited to experts.
“Max has shown brilliantly that eco-friendly products do not have to be dull and worthy they can be contemporary, stylish and desirable as well as taking the environment into consideration.
“It’s wonderful that he will be at the event to share his passion and inspiration for beautiful items of waste that can be refashioned and upcycled into highly desirable objects.”
The packed Festival programme has been carefully designed to entertain and amaze visitors in equal measure with the range of activity on offer. There are over 140 things to see and do throughout the weekend and lots for children including den building, campfire cooking, storytelling and chocolate making.
Stella added: “The event shows that we can all be experts, share knowledge and stories and build a creative community. Everyone can make, learn and go away with something new to pass on; be it skills, knowledge, stories, thrifty purchases or even new friends. Artists and craftspeople like Max are at the heart of it.
The programme includes Redcar, the Town is the Menu, a huge community meal in the walled gardens, jam and chutney making at Jamallot or Jamalittle – if you are little – and campervan dining. There’s also the chance to tell what you know to the cameras at Between Us, We Know Everything…, get expert knowledge in person from the People’s Encyclopedia and take a stroll to find out about another’s life in Mile in my Shoes.
Visitors can bring along broken things to the Fix it Café, choose a tune from DJukebox’s converted portaloo and enjoy a range of live music, take a journey gazing up to the woodland canopy on Track and join forces to take part in a super-sized team version of Massive Battleships.
At the centre of the site in the historic stable buildings, rarely open to the public, Navigator North has commissioned five emerging artists from Teesside, working with lead artist Steve Messam, to create stunning new artworks celebrating the region using recycled materials whilst OxGlam will present a catwalk show with upcycled outfits inspired by Kirkleatham Museum and a Day at Redcar Races.
In addition to lots of free drop in activities, there is a wide range of reasonably-priced workshops are on offer throughout the weekend for both young and old to learn a variety of new skills including blacksmithing, bacon curing and fish smoking to gardening for children and making thrifty kitchen cupboard beauty products.
For further details visit: www.festivalofthrift.co.uk
Diary date listing and event details
Event: Festival of Thrift
Date: Saturday 17 & Sunday 18 September 2016
Place: Kirkleatham Museum and Grounds, Redcar, North East TS10 5NW
Time: 10am – 5pm
Cost: Free event. Parking £5 per car. £2 per motorcycle.
Details: www.festivalofthrift.co.uk , Twitter @Thriftfest , Facebook @festivalofthrift