A Horse Walks Into A Bar at Castlefield Gallery

Ultimate Holding Company will be part of Castlefield's A Horse Walks Into A Bar show, which opens at 6pm tomorrow evening (17th June, 2010). We've submitted a couple of the gorgeous Anatomy Projects portraits of Ambassadors from extInked, the original drawings of the 100 endangered species, the almanac of all our research and the applications to become an ambassador. The exhibition follows our Ambassadors' Reunion, which we held at the gallery last Saturday (the 12th of June), and our work will be shown alongside artists like Dan Staincliffe, Maddi Nicholson, Richard Billingham and Turner Prize-winner Mark Wallinger.

All Day I Dream About suffering.

Ultimate holding company have responded to last weekend's Manchester Adidas street party (at Granada's Coronation Street studio) with the special release of this commemorative Stove Pipe Top Hat.

Released to mark the return of clothes factory worker's exploitation to the city which gave birth to it, the hat is this season's must have fashion accessory - here as a timely reminder that modern manufacturing process has not eradicated the poor-house, merely exported it abroad.

Keith Taylor MEP website live

We've just built a website for the new Green Party MEP Keith Taylor in record time. The design and build was all done in a week and we're quite proud and excited about the work, check the new site out here.

Keith is very passionate about the issues close to his heart, which includes social justice, peace and human rights, and economic development. Read more about him and follow the process of his latest work on his website. We look forward to continuing our work with Keith as he settles into his new role.

Lastly, congratulations to Caroline Lucas for winning the first Green MP seat in Brighton. We wish her all the best in this new position!

Music Plus Evaluation

We've just had a very productive meeting with Naomi Kashiwagi and thought we would share our notes. We'll be working with Naomi and some of Manchester's cultural venues over the next six months to help them evaluate the success of the new Music Plus event. We are all a bit excited about the project's potential so we will keep you updated on the progress we make.

Just The Ticket

Just The Ticket was a series of courses run by the Workers' Education Authority. WEA aims to engage people from isolated communities and enable them to realise their full potential through learning. The Just the Ticket courses ranged from 2 to 120 hours, covering a wide variety of topics, from history to needle-craft and took place in both Liverpool and Manchester.

Friday 26th of March saw an awards ceremony and workshop sessions held at The Whitworth Art Gallery, to celebrate the achievements of the participants. We were there to host commemorative plate making workshops, for the learners and the staff involved with Just the Ticket and to commend the success of the project.

We are now currently working on a book for the dedicated learners as a memory of the project.

For more information on the courses and venues, see the Just the Ticket website www.weacreative.org.uk or for more about the WEA visit www.wea.org.uk.

Photography by Gill Moore, www.gillmoorephotography.co.uk.

Appeal - Western Capercaillie

Although the tattooing element of extInked is now finished, the project is far from over with many of the ambassadors launching fundamental follow-up awareness raising projects. The ambassador for the Wetsren Capercaillie, Nick Dixon, is starting a grassroots group to support the RSPB affiliated 'Friends of the Western Capercaillie'.

As the minimum joining fee for the group is a £25o, which is too expensive for the average individual, Nick is looking for 125 people to donate £2 per year each to start. Members will receive a periodic newsletter from 'Friends of the Western Capercaillie', giving information about the conservation progress made to keep this Scottish species alive.

For further information, or to join the group, please contact us at mail@uhc.org.uk.

'EXAM' marks 10 years since the repeal of homophobic Section 28.

On Sunday 23rd May 2010 artists from Ultimate Holding Company premiere their new large-scale project 'EXAM' - with 100's of volunteers and months of research into queer political and cultural history.

The piece, blending visual art, education and immersive performance is the brainchild of 27 year old Manchester artist Joseph Richardson. It will premiere for one day only and commemorates 10 years since the repeal of laws banning the teaching of same sex relationships in schools.

Exam has been commissioned as part of this year's Queer Up North Festival, Manchester's international queer festival of live performance and art.

We are staying tight-lipped about the finer details of this intriguing immersive project. To find out more you need to book a free place, come along and take part. The event is open to everyone and will be free to attend, but advance booking is essential for participating candidates as places are limited to 100.

To book email exam@queerupnorth.com or visit the Queer Up North Website.

You may learn and be challenged; be engaged or be changed. One thing is certain - you will be tested…

For more information about EXAM or how you can get involved please visit the website or call Kate Houlton on 0161 238 8523.

Spring is Sprung

With spring in the air, we've been down to our allotment in Wythenshawe to see how the new season is going to look down there. We're restructuring the plan for the allotment a little bit to try and make the whole thing a tiny bit more productive, and we're putting a new path in, it's all pretty exciting!

Portfolio updates

Check out the latest updates to the Collective Encounters page in our design portfolio.

Eco Certifications

Here at Ultimate Holding Company we're always challenging ourselves to explore every angle of ethical print production. Schemes, certifications and processes change rapidly so its important to keep on top. So having put the work in we thought we'd share a selection of some of the commonly used certifications we have come across recently. We'll also be following up this post with with an introductory glossary of some environmental sound print processes too.

EMAS – This stands for the Eco-Management and Audit Scheme, an initiative designed to improve companies’ environmental performance. EMAS sets the highest environmental standards of all the environmental management schemes (EMS).

IS0 14001 – This is an internationally recognised scheme. It provides a framework for environmental awareness, monitoring and continual improvement.

Green Dragon – This scheme is for Welsh companies that wish to improve their environmental performance but don’t have the resources for ISO14001. There are five levels, each one contributing towards the achievement of international and European environmental standards

Greenmark – This was developed by the London Environment Centre (LEC), part of London Metropolitan University and is more appropriate for smaller companies who lack the resources for IS0 14001

FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) Chain of Custody – If a printer holds the FSC Chain of Custody and the paper being used in a project is FSC certified, the end product can be labelled as FSC certified. This certificate is about the fibre tracking process only and ensures that there is no contamination between FSC and non-FSC material. It is not about environmental standards maintained within the factory.

'Carbon neutral' schemes – Please be aware that so-called ‘carbon neutral’ status is not a good indication of environmental performance. There is currently no regulation in this area and so it can simply be bought through offsetting schemes.

If you found this post of interest you may also be interested in our design newsletter, you can view it here or if your confident you'll like it sign up here! Dont worry, it's not shameless self promotion, its more of a place for us to share our knowledge of the things we find important. Socially engaged and environmentally friendly design to be precise ;)