Ignite your senses...
Say hello to experiencing art, food, fitness and technology in innovative ways
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Open Senses
19th - 21st May
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Open Senses is a highly interactive, groundbreaking experience of sensory exploration.
Setting up shop everywhere from the V&A and National Gallery to our local Rich Mix and the Truman Brewery itself, this unique festival takes over London to allow people to live, breathe, touch and smell art as never before.
Brewery highlights include Movement Alphabet, which debuted at the Tate Modern earlier this year. Multi-disciplinary performer Jan Lee and sound and code artist Tim Murray-Browne have teamed up to invite the viewer into a participatory experience where every movement of the body, big and small, is monitored to create its own unique and beautiful portrait. The artistic collective Elephants and Volcanoes also join us to immerse visitors to the brewery in their multi-sensorial experience inspired by the element water.
Resident haunt for creatives Juju’s Bar & Stage is also getting in on the action with We Are Now - a multi sensory, late night party mixing entrancing music, dance and performance.
To find out more about any of the above visit the event website here - it promises to be a feast for the (Open) Senses!
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Sandbox
Our latest pop-up on Dray Walk
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Get creative, broaden your horizons and play with the latest tech at Sandbox HQ - what’s better, don’t expect to open your wallet. As Nate (our store guide) explains to us as we mess about with Amazon Echo on the shop floor, the clever concept behind Sandbox is to provide a space for consumers to engage with cutting-edge tech from HTC, Samsung, Google and more in a non-pressure, no-sales environment. It’s simple and it’s refreshing, in all sorts of new ways. Once people realise there’s no pressure to buy, they’re encouraged to not only experiment with the tech more, but open up conversations about what it could do for them.
We asked Nate what the best out-of-this-world experience he could offer, and of course got hooked up with VR. A favourite at the Brewery, VR played a big part in Food Inc. last year: a technology-based restaurant combining 3-D printing and other multi-sensory gadgets with the experience of enjoying your food.
Playing with the technology was very different to how one would imagine. Not only was there the standard Fruit Ninja (this time in 3D) but the opportunity to push our creativity by painting strokes into the solar system and off into the unknown. Aside from being "just plain fun," however, Nate pointed out the possibilities of utilizing sensory technology in ways to educate and inspire: from transporting a class of children to see the country they are studying in geography to seeing your favourite concert live.
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Chroma Yoga
New friends in the neighbourhood
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We talk to Nina Ryner, founder of Chroma Yoga - a new yoga studio in Shoreditch that's looking to provide a wellness experience with a difference.
Tell us about what inspired you to combine sound, light and yoga and where your story began…
ChromaYoga was born out of a mixture of frustrations I have with the current fitness and wellness industry as well as London in general. I felt like the studios I was going to weren't speaking to me – they were either too commercial and cheesy or too stuck in the 90’s. I was enjoying how yoga made me feel but I was really dissatisfied with the environment with which it was being held in.
My background is in art direction, fashion, film and events, so I’m a very visual person, always pursuing new ideas. Once I had the concept worked out, I worked closely with yoga teacher, Clara Baker, artist, Asakala, and sound designer Tim Goalen to develop the idea to encompass a range of multi-sensory experiences which approach yoga and wellness in a new and exciting way not yet seen before.
Describe your company in three words.
Unique, innovative, colourful.
Having just opened your innovative experiment in wellness to the world, how are people receiving Chroma and what has feedback been like so far?
For a concept and approach to yoga that is completely new - the feedback has been great. I think people are really enjoying trying something totally unique and feeling the effect that each class has. Everyone comments on how the light appears to change as your eyes adjust to the colour and that it's quite an organic, trippy experience!
How do you like working in East London, and what are your favourite spots to hang out?
I've lived and worked in East London for the past 10 years so have witnessed the huge change it's gone through. A lot of my favourite places to go have now disappeared but there's a really good coffee shop called Origin a few doors down from ChromaYoga on Charlotte Road. Food wise, I like Keu, On the Bab and Homeslice on Old Street. For art I go to Hales Gallery on Bethnal Green Road and then the Pride of Spitalfields just off Brick Lane will forever be my favourite pub.
What is your favourite colour class you offer, and why?
It's really hard to choose just one as they all have different purposes and benefits. I'm usually pretty tired from working all the time so a Blue class is a great way to perk up instead of drinking coffee all day. I personally really enjoy fast, strengthening yoga classes so Red is always a good class to make sure I stay strong. Yellow is such a nice warm colour to bathe in - it feels like the sun - and it always improves my mood. Orange classes are so much fun as you really learn so much - it's such a great way of improving your regular practise. Then a Pink class is just the most relaxing environment I've ever been in, really amazing for stressful days. So yeah, can I say all of them?
It must be exciting to utilize ancient healing practices in a field that is at the forefront of technology! Are there other people you know of who are pushing wellness in new directions?
There's a brand called Care/of who provide tailor made supplements.. I really like their whole look and I think the way they use current research into supplements and health is really clever and interesting.
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The Brick Lane Theatre Festival
Coming to Truman 23rd May – 2nd July
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We're super excited to announce the birth of the Brick Lane Theatre Festival, brought to you by JuJu’s Bar & Stage and curated by The Old Red Lion, one of London's oldest and most loved fringe theatre venues.
The line-up will focus on the themes of irreverence and eclecticism – a melting pot of new writing partnered with comedy, cabaret, ensemble, solo performance and slam poetry. Throw in a Jewish-style deli and renovated bar and this pop-up is ready for a party.
The Brick Lane Theatre Festival is also teaming up with Missing People, the charity that offers a life-line to the 250,000 people that go missing every year in the UK, and their families that are left behind.
More details to come soon, until then, make sure you follow @BrickLaneTF for any updates.
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The Frog
Exquisite sensory creations by Adam Handling
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Since Masterchef champion Adam Handling's award-winning restaurant The Frog set up shop in Ely's Yard, their reasonably-priced tasting menus have been intriguing, delighting and surprising the taste-buds of East London foodies and beyond.
Adam relishes in the fact that it has taken time to refine his craft. All the dishes presented reflected this: they are immaculate and experimental in both their presentation and flavour combinations. This is because it's imperative The Frog stays true to their mission: providing diners with not a meal, but a whole sensory experience.
If you're looking to explore a world of nitro freezing, along with various powders, foams, gels (and their infamous music), Handling's haunt is open every Tuesday to Saturday, and you can find out more or book online here.
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