Science City York Case Study

www.scy.co.uk

Science City York are currently celebrating 11 years of promoting Innovation

and Creativity and throughout those years we find certain peoples names

cropping up more than others, two names that have become synonymous with

creativity and collaboration in the region are Mat Lazenby and Gary Brown.

LazenbyBrown, a York-based design

business founded by Mat Lazenby and

Gary Brown, has quickly developed a

reputation for innovative, creativity and

effective design solutions with clients

including: York St John University,

Business Link, Theakstons

Brewery, Customer First, Harrowells

Solicitors, Humberside Police and many

more.

In addition to their work in the design

field, LazenbyBrown deliver talks and

workshops in schools, universities and

colleges. Their mission is to see creativity

given equal status to numeracy and

literacy within the National Curriculum.

This interest in education was formalised

when LazenbyBrown were selected to

Left, Gary Brown. Right, Mat Lazenby Photograph by Jim Poyner

become Creative Fellows of York St John

University. This project, funded by CETL,

saw the design duo working for over six

Creative Duo Bridge the Gap

Between the Arts and Education

Science City York Case Study

www.scy.co.uk

months with fine art students on a project

entitled 'Public Service Announcement'.

Since then they have both been

commissioned by Creative Partnerships,

England‟s flagship creative learning

programme, to work in schools in Hull

and Goole researching and developing

creativity in the curriculum.

How do they achieve the balance between

the experimental, exploratory education

work and their more commercial design

practice? "For us there isn't any tension

between the two,” explains Mat. “

The company has been instrumental in a

host of creative initiatives in and around

York, from SightSonic – the city‟s

international digital art festival, to

Creative York‟s and IT & Digital York‟s

monthly „MP3 Soundclash‟ event. Whilst

Science City York may have made it

happen, it was Mat‟s idea to provide the

informal, yet much needed, platform for

members of the creative industries to

network and share ideas. “The MP3

Soundclash is a really simple idea but it

provides a much needed informal platform

for members of the creative industries to

network, share ideas and just find new

ways of working together” says Mat.

Details of all the LazenbyBrown projects

can be accessed on their newly re-

launched website

www.lazenbybrown.com, you can also

follow their news on Twitter by following

@LazenbyBrown.

“As designers we see a lot

of similarity between

creativity in education and

creativity in business and

we find working in both

environments has a really

positive effect on our

creative thinking as a

whole.”