Holden Tea Room

A pop up fully serviced tea room, In Manchester School of Art's historic and beautiful Holden Gallery. follow us here and on twitter @holdentearoom for dainty portions of culture and and tea related content.
opens 30th January for two weeks only

Joseph Hartley, has opened a little temporary outlet on the 1st Floor of Chatham as his first edition of cake stands sold out in an hour last week. Joseph who is from the Three Dimensional Design course collaborated with us designing the stands for Afternoon Tea, and has made a new batch to order. Have a look at the previous post which shows the stands in more detail, http://holdentearoom.tumblr.com/post/17287062239/here-at-the-holden-tea-room-we-are-very-lucky-to 

contact Joseph on josephjameshartley@gmail.com to get hold of this talented young designers work.

please excuse the quick snaps from a wonky phone.

There is much much more to the incredible (ok we rate ourselves) Interactve Arts Degree than this exquisite Tea Room that we have set up for your pleasure. We couldn’t imagine a more diverse course, a more supportive set of tutors and collaboration ready students. Another fantastic Interactive Arts adventure is ‘Evolve’ at Manchester’s Antwerp Mansions. The Interactive Arts ‘Creative Transit’ collective have led on the curation of this group show and the Preview Night on the 25th February is more than just a free wine social as Creative Transit bring live acts and djs, and therefore promises to be a right little knees up. click on the image to be taken to their website and check out their FB page for up to date information on participating artist and performances. http://www.facebook.com/events/278810065515669/

There is much much more to the incredible (ok we rate ourselves) Interactve Arts Degree than this exquisite Tea Room that we have set up for your pleasure. We couldn’t imagine a more diverse course, a more supportive set of tutors and collaboration ready students.

Another fantastic Interactive Arts adventure is ‘Evolve’ at Manchester’s Antwerp Mansions. The Interactive Arts ‘Creative Transit’ collective have led on the curation of this group show and the Preview Night on the 25th February is more than just a free wine social as Creative Transit bring live acts and djs, and therefore promises to be a right little knees up.

click on the image to be taken to their website and check out their FB page for up to date information on participating artist and performances.

http://www.facebook.com/events/278810065515669/

We have our head in the clouds with this fie star review from Yelp.co.uk please click on the image to be taken to the review.

We have our head in the clouds with this fie star review from Yelp.co.uk

please click on the image to be taken to the review.

We are thrilled to be featured on the Cultural Shenanigans blog! Thank you very much for the lovely mention.  click on the image to be taken to the feature where Holden Tea Room sits politely with  Tales of Whatever at the Castle Hotel Curious Pursuits at The Portico Library The Manchester Histories Festival and Lost is Found at The Cornerhouse Thanks Cultural Shenanigans! 

We are thrilled to be featured on the Cultural Shenanigans blog! Thank you very much for the lovely mention. 

click on the image to be taken to the feature where Holden Tea Room sits politely with 

Tales of Whatever at the Castle Hotel

Curious Pursuits at The Portico Library

The Manchester Histories Festival

and Lost is Found at The Cornerhouse

Thanks Cultural Shenanigans! 

Here at the Holden Tea Room, we are very lucky to include the work of Joseph Hartley, Joseph is a third year studying on the neighboring Three Dimensional Design Degree and has been fully engaged with the Tea Room concept from the beginning, collaborating with us to create our very own line of cake stands. Joseph has kindly given us a few words about the development of the pieces, do check out his degree show this June, we guarantee it will knock your socks off.

My name is Joseph Hartley and I am a designer currently studying at MMU. My cake stands, made from clear Perspex, are a response to the Interactive Arts student’s fantastic tea room. The stand allows the plates to be removed so they can be washed easily. It also gives the option of being able to use the plates in a conventional way, on the table, but lets face it, who’d be conventional when you could stack plates filled with sweet and savoury foods! The reason behind it being transparent is so it does’t inflict to much on the twenties style of the tea room, it’s almost as if they are stealth contemporaries, trying not to be noticed but full filling an essential job. If you have any questions feel free to get in touch, my email address is josephjameshartley@gmail.com

We are thrilled to have Naomi Kashiwagi down in the Tea Room playing the gramophone today. Naomi is an artist using obsolete technologies to makes something new and has been working with creating new sounds from gramophones and typewriters. Please click on the image and have a look at her really interesting work. 

We are thrilled to have Naomi Kashiwagi down in the Tea Room playing the gramophone today. Naomi is an artist using obsolete technologies to makes something new and has been working with creating new sounds from gramophones and typewriters.

Please click on the image and have a look at her really interesting work. 

check out Roger Bygotts blog for some nice shots of the lovely evening viewing of the Salon Hang. click on the image for more lovely photos.

check out Roger Bygotts blog for some nice shots of the lovely evening viewing of the Salon Hang. click on the image for more lovely photos.

A closer look at some of the sweet offerings in the Tea Room today, from the Classic Victoria Sponge to Runa Begums Peanut butter and jam cake. sublime. 

Remember this Friday is the final day of trading.

Third Year Interactive Arts Student Adam Renshaw, is responsible for designing and building the physical environment of the Tea Room, including the central Bird aviery. Here is some of the detail in the wooden panels that grace the entrance.

Photographs also by third year Interactive Arts student, Phil Simpson