Elmwood's creative manifesto 'Every China Shop Needs A Bull' wins Bronze at Fresh 2018 Best of British Awards.
Elmwood’s creative manifesto ‘Every China Shop Needs A Bull’ has won Bronze at this year’s Fresh Best of British Awards. Fresh celebrates truly the best of British, keeping the creative flag flying and ensuring that the UK retains its central global stage as the worldwide centre for astounding ideas and jaw dropping innovation.
Our creative manifesto: Every China Shop Needs a Bull
It started out as a small act of revenge. For many years, Elmwood’s Nick had suffered as a writer in design. Briefs would often go like this: ‘We’ve worked out the design, now we need some nice words to go with it.’ Turning the tables on the design team, Nick presented them with a series of headlines and invited them to create poster designs around these.
Together, the headlines stand as a celebration of the creative life, with all its triumphs and frustrations. Over time, the project gathered momentum and became a statement about creativity at Elmwood. All built around a central theme expressed by one of the headlines – Every china shop needs a bull.
But what does it mean?
By Every China Shop Needs a Bull, we mean that okay, is not okay. The average, the safe, the familiar – it never makes a difference. If we really want to create change, if we want people to share, to participate and advocate, then we need to be bold. We need to be brave. Be prepared to break the norms. Every china shop needs a bull.
The bull is not afraid to ask the difficult questions, to provoke, to ask if there’s a better way. The bull is prepared to stand when others stay sitting. The bull’s originality sings in the silence. It challenges, engages, surprises and excites. Above all, the bull gets people talking.
Because in the end, if you want to create real impact, you can’t tread too carefully.