A British Design Classic!

This year has been the year of the Union Jack, or Union Flag as it is officially known. It's everywhere from cushions to malt loaf, chapsticks to peoples faces. The Queen's Jubilee and the London 2012 Olympics have fuelled the wave of National pride across the country and what better way to show it than with the good old Union Jack. It's instantly recognisable and involves the whole of the British Isles - so why not plaster it over everything possible and grab a bit of Britishness for your product.

During the Second World War it was a potent symbol of a nations fight for survival. Later it moved into popular culture and became a fashion icon for the swinging sixties - Pete Townshend's Union Flag blazer typified this new attitude. "He went to Saville Row to get it done, but all the tailors said it would be sacrilege so he had to go to the East End instead," says Paolo Hewitt, co-author of The A to Z of Mod, "It wasn't being disrespectful, but saying that the new era was upon us and it was time to lighten the load of symbols like the target and the Union Jack."

The image also appealed to the early punk movement in the 1970s, during which a whole new crowd was donning the Union Jack. Even Vivienne Westwood, widely regarded as the mother of Punk fashions, incorporated the flag into many classic collections. Then there was Brit Pop, and the ahem... Spice Girls.

But interestingly, now the Union Flag can be seen on every street corner in China, thanks to both the fashion world's ongoing love affair with the Union Jack, and the London Olympic Games. The combination of red, blue and white together with the crisscrossing of the patron saints' totems makes the flag both simple and aesthetically pleasing, easily lending itself to trends of fashion.

"Nearly all of my T-shirts have the Union Flag on them," Jiang Junyi, a high school student in Fujua Province, China, told the Global Times. As a fanatical devotee of the flag since 2010, she has bought lots of Union Flag products. "I love the red, blue and white colours together. The first time I saw the flag on clothing, I fell in love with it."

So it seems now there is a fresh resurgence in the cult of the Union Jack with the world looking at us in detail. After the success of the 2012 Olympic Games and the groundswell of patriotic fever expect to see plenty more of the Union Jack on just about everything possible.

Frazer Morgan

The Great Taste Awards

Britain’s speciality food and drink sector is alive and thriving if the number of products entered into this year’s Great Taste Awards is anything to go on. The country’s largest speciality food and drink awards scheme, organised by the Guild of Fine Food - The Great Taste scheme has become known for launching little-known artisan producers into the big time of the fine food world, whilst occasionally discovering the odd mainstream surprise. The number of products entered has risen by a fifth, with nearly 7,200 foods, ranging from olive oils to farmhouse ciders, put forward for judging.

The Great Taste Awards is the biggest independent benchmarking scheme for local, regional and speciality foods in Britain. Over 350 professional foodies are brought together each year to take part in 45 days of judging, deciding which foods deserve one-star, two-star or the ultimate three-star awards. Judges this year included Masterchef winner and restaurateur Mat Follas, restaurant critic and Masterchef judge Charles Campion, food writers Lucas Hollweg  and Xanthe Clay and over 300 food buyers from leading food halls, delicatessens including Harrods, Selfridges and Fortnum & Mason.

Now why would I be telling you all this? Well it’s just for shameless bragging rights really. For a second year in a row my wife's Jam & chutney business has won gold stars for her products. This year saw a gold star awarded for her Raspberry Jam, which now sits alongside gold stars for her Very Berry Jam & Bedfordshire Rhubarb. Her products are available at farmers markets throughout Herts, Beds & Bucks and also local farms shops and delicatessens.

www.greattasteawards.co.uk
www.humbershomemade.co.uk

Steve Humber

Morgan's Old Fashioned

Here's how to stir up an 'Old Fashioned'. The manliest drink to order, what grandma used to drink between shifts at the tank factory. Traditionally made with American Bourbon whiskey, sugar, ice, water, bitters, orange peel and cherry. You'll like this drink if you're into rap music, pointy shoes or breathing oxygen.

Fact: It's called on Old Fashioned because it's served in an old fashioned glass.

Get these things: 

• Whiskey (American Bourbon) or whatever you can find

• Sugar (I'm using maple syrup)

• Ice

• Bitters

• Orange 

If you don't keep a stock of poison and oranges, improvise and use whatever you can find - you'll probably get lucky and make your old fashioned even more awesome by using weird ingredients. I've replaced the sugar with maple syrup and the water with not water (more whiskey). The orange peel is important, it adds a delicate zesty aroma.

The better the whiskey - the less stuff you need to add. I've got a nice expensive one so I'm going to keep it minimal and let the whiskey do the talking.

Do this with the things:

• Muddle together ice and a mouse face sized amount of bitters and maple syrup in an old fashioned glass.

• Peel an orange from top to bottom and slice thin. For style points you can put your peel in a bowl of ice water which fixes your posing peel into a screw.

• Pour in whiskey, stir lots, stick in your orange peel and serve.

When you're done, you should smoke that cigar you've been saving for a special occasion and leave everything out because you'll be making yourself another one.

Morgan Musselle

CREATIVE CHARACTERS

We’ve been getting creative again. Check out the latest  typeface we’ve designed and published. It’s not something that’s going to sit too well in any annual report…but the world is saturated with predictable fonts! It was deliberately designed to be fairly ambiguous at first glance, so there’s a bit of a playful game that ensues between the reader and the characters. We love this visual interplay - there’s something quite fresh and nice about having to work a bit to unlock a message. It’s much more rewarding when you see it. Anyway, take a look, It’s called ‘eat with your eyes’ – tuck in…

Steve Oakey

D.I.Y Pizza Oven - The EWYE Way!

What’s not to like about pizza?

The problem is, large pizza chains don’t cut the mustard as far as fantastic pizza goes.
Never shy of a challenge, we thought we’d have a go… We’re not just creative here with our stupendous graphics, we’re pretty handy at other inventive solutions too.

Check out our home made pizza oven conjured up from a BBQ, flat metal griddle, four bricks and a paving slab.

Damn it gets hot in there!

So with the oven heating up, on to the ingredients…

Fresh made pizza dough, good quality olive oil, Italian passata, buffalo mozzarella, just ground black pepper, sea salt, various Italian cured meats and chillis represent just some of our fave choices.

Roll the dough thin and add the ingredients just how you like, I don’t need to tell you how. Try finishing the edge of the pizza with some olive oil, it’ll crisp up beautifully. Oh yeah, remember less is more when adding ingredients to ensure the pizza cooks through quickly.

Now the tricky bit, getting it from the board into the oven. It took us a few attempts but we got there. Phew!

We had a few disasters with the first ones we tried as the oven was far too hot and burnt the base, so cool your jets and hang in there, it’ll get to the perfect temperature after a while.

Just keep trying and you’ll end up with one of these… Yum!

Now the fun begins, start experimenting with different flavor combinations. Try it, you’ll love it!

Jason Beeby