Talking Passions: Simone Kidner

It’s time to connect with another Bristol talent and this week it comes in the form of Simone Kidner, founder of PAPER & Co-LAB. Once in a while we come across someone on Talking Passions who’s performing extraordinary feats within the community, someone who just always seems to go the extra mile and inspire others to do the same, and Simone is doing just that. I popped down to her latest project, the networking & co-working space Redbrick House recently for a chat about how it all began.

Adam Chisman (TP). “As a young girl what did you want to be when you grew up and how did you get to where you are now?”

Simone Kidner (SK). “I’m not really sure what I wanted to be. I know that my Dad wanted me to be an accountant and my Mum wanted me to be an artist, and I kind of shot somewhere in the middle and decided to study architecture. It was a strange way to start an arts organization by studying architecture for six years but it gave me a really good idea for concept design and how to design space, so that’s really helped me out and got me to where I am now. So when I left uni I won the entrepreneur award for a publication called PAPER, which is essentially a platform for creatives. I was frustrated by my own lack of being able to get out in the world and show people the work that I’d done over the last six years and I wanted to support other creative people to showcase their work. So PAPER started as a publication back in 2012, and that developed into pop-up spaces, where I realized what artists really need is a platform to sell their work, so that developed into a shop which is now called Co-lab, and PAPER has now transformed into a CIC (Community Interest Company). I’m now the founder of that organization and the CEO.” 

TP. “It’s amazing isn’t it, how it all takes shape. Now I know that, as the founder of PAPER, you specialize in promoting and nurturing artists in the Bristol community. Can you tell me a bit about the ethos behind Paper, as well as what you can offer someone looking to pursue a career in the arts?”

SK. “PAPER’s social mission is to support young people to gain the skills, knowledge and experience they need to access to creative sector. Our ethos is to support anybody who wants to be creative and wants to make a living out of it. A lot of what we do is teach enterprise to creatives to start their own businesses and make an income from doing what they love. We’re really passionate about people making a career out of something that they really care about. I feel that’s something that I’ve done and I really want to be able to pass that on to other people, and to really support people with ideas and get them to where they need to be. I find that really exciting.”

TP. “Fantastic. It’s such an exciting hotpot when you get lots of creatives together eh, you just don’t know what’s gonna come out of it. So Redbrick House, where we are today, is your latest venture, and I know that you used your background in architecture to design and plan the build yourself. I’m positive it must have been a lot of hard work and late nights, but what’s it like to see your idea come to life?”

SK. “For somebody that studied architecture for six years, and did a lot of drawing but didn’t go into the profession of being an architect, it’s amazing to actually walk around the space that you designed. And what’s even more rewarding is showing people the space, touring people around and seeing their faces light up with the different spaces that we’ve created. Knowing that I’ve created something that people will enjoy and that will be useful to them, and will hopefully create a community of people that can learn from each other. Yeah, it’s just been very rewarding and I’m very proud.” 

TP. “Yes, and you should be! You’ve also got an amazing exhibition on here at the moment too, featuring some local artists. Can you tell me a bit about it?”

SK. “Yeah, it’s very exciting. We’ve got an exhibition called Emergence on which is kind of a bit about us emerging onto the scene as Redbrick House, but also supporting our existing members in showcasing the work that they’ve done. We already work with a lot of different people, from artists to photographers and film-makers, and we’ve tried to showcase some of the work that’s there, including your own wonderful work in conjunction with Khali. So that’s been really beautiful to see that and people have had a great reaction to it, so thanks for being involved with it.”

TP. “No worries, and thank you. Now I know that you’ve been incredibly busy with Redbrick House recently as it’s a project very close to your heart, but when you do get time to focus on your own artwork and projects what do you spend it on?”

SK. “I like to think of myself as a creative so I draw and I paint, and I’ve learnt welding recently and just generally like to make things and create stuff. I don’t have much staying power. I like learning new skills, creating something and then moving onto the next thing. I’ve got a mug at home that a good friend of mine bought me that says ‘get excited and make things’, and I feel like that’s what I do, I just get excited  by things. I’m like, ‘ooh, I can make that, I could do that’.. laughs.. and I think that’s what keeps me happy really, creating things I can show people and that people can get involved with.”

TP. “What was the last thing you created for you?”

SK. “For myself? Well it’s not really for myself but something I was quite proud of. Outside the cafe at PAPER there’s some railings that go around the side, and I designed and built the metal railings so that they’re unique and quite special I think. That was quite an achievement because I’d never really welded anything before. Laughs. And I’m just looking at starting to write a song which I’ve never done before, but I’ve just recently been inspired to learn things like that. It’s quite exciting but I’ve got no idea what I’m doing so it’s always fun.”

TP. “No bad can come of it I’m sure. Now you’ve already touched on this as you’re quite a passionate person but what is it about everything you do that makes you love it so much?”

SK. “I was thinking about this and thinking that it’s the freedom, the freedom in that I run a business that I care about, and that I get to decide when I work and how I work. I work really hard, but it’s about working really hard for something that I care about. The freedom of being able to do what I want and being able to work with the people I want to work with. That’s what makes life enjoyable I think..”

TP. “And seeing everyone flourish as well must be pretty amazing..”

SK. “Absolutely. The people that I work with are amazing and watching those people’s journeys as they develop, and get ideas and get inspired. And watching people who have been going for quite a few years now come back and support other people is also wonderful, because we’re really creating a kind of circle of knowledge that comes back and people mentor other people. I think that really works and I think that’s really exciting, to be able to create that culture.” 

TP. “That’s awesome. Well finally, what do you have in store for us over the next few months? Mostly this place I’d imagine.” 

SK. Laughs. “Yeah, mostly this place. We’ll be at Upfest promoting Redbrick, and we’ve got another Redbrick Roundups coming up on Wednesday, September 28. So that’s an evening where entrepreneurs, freelancers, can come in to Redbrick and learn from each other, meet some of our members, gain some skills and network. If people want to come to that it’s really exciting. One project that we’ve got that’s sort of in the pipeline is that we’re talking to the council about an independent ‘Box Park’ based in the space outside our shop, outside PAPER. It will be a building that we design out of old shipping containers, and we’ll rent out little spaces to people to have their own shop front on a short contract so that we can really promote independent shopping in the center of town. Kind of like a first stepping stone for people to be able to run their own space.”

If you’d like to get in touch with Simone you can reach her or through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or the PAPER website at paperarts.org.uk

Words: Adam Chisman (Talking Passions)

Pictures: Joe Clarke Photography & Talking Passions

Here’s a feature on Bristol24/7 called Talking Passions. It’s a Bristol-based interview series that hopes to inspire your creative side by interviewing passionate individuals in Bristol’s arts and music scenes. The driving force behind the series is a belief that within each of us is a creative soul with untold capabilities. It’s not always easy to follow your dreams, to believe in yourself and try to make it work, and it should be celebrated!

Started by local journalist Adam Chisman, and with links to various Collectives in the city including Liquifyah, The Coconut Collective, as well as Irish online magazine Ceol Caint, Talking Passions comes in two weekly parts, with brand new written interviews on talkingpassions.com and Bristol24/7 and audio interviews on BCFM’s The Bristol Music Show and Soundcloud.

Be sure to check out Talking Passions on Facebook and Twitter @PassionsTalking to keep up to date with the latest interviews, and email [email protected] or use the hashtag #talkingpassions if you’d like to know more or recommend someone for a future interview. You can also become a patron and sponsor Talking Passions at www.patreon.com/talkingpassions