#gourmandizinglondon

[camberwallpo-blog]

Post Office project covered by IBM's People For Smarter Cities

How Citizens Revived a Pillar of the Community

http://www.people4smartercities.com/series/how-citizens-revived-pillar-community?

[camberwallpo-blog]

Day 4 - 3rd July 2014

The cleaning work has created much excitement. Matthew and I go and visit Camberwell SuperStores to get a selection of paints fro the interiors of the wall. We meet Nilesh there who does a stellar job in advising us on pre-mixed and specially mixed shades.

Also Nilesh is surprised to hear that we are picking up the paints to help redo the Post Office. As a local community business man and someone who uses the PO, he shares his insight about what its like to be serving the local Camberwell community and empathises with the staff at Camberwell PO. He said- 

Being a local shop on the high street here, you get to see a lot. Everyday is different. Also we have a really diverse community. Its very difficult to change this neighbourhood, but you shouldn't stop trying. 

Hearing stories from Nilesh from everything about how he deals with shop-lifters to what kinds of things Camberwell SuperStores sells, made us realise just how daunting it must be for independent local shops to survive on the high street. Especially in neighbourhoods which are not deemed to be a high street or a town-centre, its a real challenge to get customers into a store.

Image courtsey: Changify Shoreditch 2012 

Inspite of that stores like Camberwell SuperStores play an important role not just in the local economy but also in the local community. Mr. Vara who runs the store, gave us names for local tradesmen who can help in painting the Post Office. Also Nilesh gave us a discount on the paints as he saw the work we were doing. It would be difficult to replicate this kind of individual service in a chain store. All of this helps in fostering resilience for local shops that makes one decide not to shop at faceless B&Q but more at one's local hardware store. Armed with some sample paints, Matthew headed back to the post office to put up a series of swatches on the walls to get PO employees and customers to decide which colour they's like their walls to be in. 

Clara pointing out to the shade closest to current interiors. 

The shades tend to look different under the tube-lighting. We tested both.

[camberwallpo-blog]

Day 3 - Part 2 : 1st July 2014

Matthew who called the act of cleaning up the post office ' Civic based performance" which if one considers trends like Tactical Urbanism can end up having the opposite effect on a neighbourhood sometimes, inspite of good intentions. This was not the plan with the Post Office. Gourmandizing wanted to spend time here getting to understand what exactly was going on there, the psyche of the place, appreciating the dynamics so that the final artwork was a living documentation of what they heard, saw and perceived based on their regular interactions with folks coming to the PO. 

Engaging in #CivicBasedPerformance with @gourmandizing #changifying #camberwell Postoffice pic.twitter.com/F3Sr9ge3kd

— Design4SocialChange (@D4SC) July 1, 2014

We were conscious we had to win trust of the PO visitors, the employees and local community who visited it daily and see we where there to help improve the current bleak space and environment. By making small changes like removing the gum from the floor, cleaning the balustrades and chairs, removing coffee stains from the teller glass that an irate customer had thrown, we wanted to give back some respect to the institution of the place first and foremost. As artists in residence at Camberwell Post Office, there were many incidents Matthew and Clara were observing daily, which gave them empathy and insight on what they as artists could do to help improve the atmosphere. 

“...in order to do something big, to think globally and act globally, one starts with something small and one starts where it counts. Practice, then, is about making the ordinary special and the special more widely accessible— expanding the boundaries of understanding and  possibility with vision and common sense. " - Nabeel Hamdi, Author, Small Change: About the Art of Practice and the Limits of Planning in Cities

The floor was covered in chewing gum which had darkened over time adding to the general squalor and apathy for the place

By cleaning it up, we focussed on small changes to raise awareness and attention to the space and help bring back some dignity to the Post Office. 

Here's Clara  intern at Gourmandizing cleaning the balustrades and giving it a nice rub-down to get rid of years of grime. 

It now looks clean and is gleaming. Small change but an important one when customers realise what were are doing. They are quizzical and start asking us questions. 

Same with the chairs. Matthew and Clara cleaned this up and tried to ensure that customers could see them tidying up, so they get in the habit of using the bin to put litter in - instead of dropping it on the floor. 

All in a day's work. The Gourmandizing guys have got into the swing of things. Day 3 comes to an end

[camberwallpo-blog]

Day 1: 23rd June 2014

We visited the Post Office. Matthew and Clara from Gourmandizing London looked at both the interiors and exteriors to take stock of the work of making #Camberwall into a giant mural externally and internally working with the Post Office brand colours.