Nottingham!

I'm involved in the most amazing project going on in Nottingham. It's called 'The Building' and it will be a showcase for all that is quality in the creative scene in this city. It is the brainchild of Sarah Davenport whose vision and innovation should be an inspiration to anyone who wants to see Nottingham move up from 4th position in the table of the UK's most creative cities (already an achievement). The city is putting together a bid to be nominated as 'World Design Capital' in 2012 – the current holder is Turin, Italy, and the following baton-holder will be Seoul. And then we're next. Last night we went to an event hosted by the City Council at which we were asked, as ambassadors of Nottingham, to contribute in any way we can towards making the city's WDC bid successful. It was a glittering affair with some of Nottingham's leading design talent present. We were given inspiring talks from two of the city's most ardent protagonists of the WDC bid - Simon Green (Director of Sustainable Development) and Councillor Malcolm Wood who, amongst his many interests and duties, serves on the Eurocities Cultural Committee. The place was buzzing with excitement (sorry for the cliché) and everyone wanted to get involved. Sarah's plans for 'The Building' will be an integral part of Nottingham's message to the world of design – it will help to put us on the map.

The theme for the bid should be 'Communication'. Design can be the babel fish in the multi-lingual galaxy of creativity; a tool through which innovation and inspiration can speak to everyone in the community. Artists, writers, film-makers and musicians all need design to help attract attention and through the power of collaboration, so comes the power of communication. So, whatever genre we work in, we can all support this bid and we can all help Nottingham to become internationally famous. We already have green tights and Brian Clough (not in the same icon, of course) but there is so much more recognition to be achieved. Let's do it, shall we?

And talking of film-makers (and again, Nottingham already has Shane Meadows & Samantha Morton – two of the finest talents in the film industry), I am soon to appear in a feature film currently being shot in this very city by writer and director Tim Cunningham. Tim hopes to take the film to Cannes next year and who knows what international recognition that will bring? Yay! You heard it here first.