Artist Ibukun Baldwin has been commissioned to develop a large scale curtain that will be used to divide the new Dining Room space, making a flexible enclosed area for visiting school groups and young people as well as a quiet space for the general public.
Working with a group of young people from Rochdale Youth Service at Matthew Moss Youth Centre to develop the design, they have been exploring food packaging from Touchstones’ museum collection and the Co-operative Heritage Trust at the Pioneers Museum.
Taking inspiration from the historical packaging, Ibukun showed the group how to print on fabric. Everyone created their own stencils and pattern designs for tote bags and t-shirts. The following meetings have seen them create collages from images of food packaging as well as old exhibition catalogues from Touchstones’ past programmes, and develop ideas of food fruits – favourite foods that could grow on imaginary trees.