you may have spotted over on twitter that i’ll be running the color run in london this sunday, as part of a fabulous team of design bloggers sponsored by dulux raising money for a charity very dear to our hearts; out of the dark.
along with will taylor, katie treggiden, pippa jameson, zoe brewer, joanna ham and caroline davies, i will be pulling on my neon nike trainers and fluoro running shorts and setting out along a 5k course skirting wembley stadium, stopping every kilometre to get doused in a vibrant array of powdered paint colours to prove i’ve gone the distance. it all sounds like an incredible amount of fun (and trust me, it is – i ran last year), but there’s a serious side to it too, as we aim to raise £1,500 to support all the good work of our chosen charity.
out of the dark is a charitable social enterprise that recycles, restores and revamps salvaged furniture as a means to train, educate and employ young people from disadvantaged backgrounds. as design bloggers who cherish the beautiful things in life, each one of us running believes this is a fantastic cause for which to be raising funds. to be taken under the wings of jay & jade at the out of the dark workshops is literally life changing for these people, offering them a chance to not only train in the art of upholstery and furniture renovation, but also to learn life skills and most importantly, be proud of themselves.
based in high wycombe – once the furniture-making capital of england – it made sense to focus the enterprise on furniture, but rather than creating from new designs from scratch, out of the dark decided to rescue and restore pieces destined for landfill. “around 99 per cent of the furniture in our warehouse would otherwise be sent to landfill,” says jay. “but with a few days’ work, a piece can be saved for 100 years, rather than sent to rot.”
as part of this design industry, we feel strongly that we need to support those who enhance that world in such a passionate way. out of the dark need our financial help to continue what they’re doing, and that is why we are all dusting down our trainers and allowing our (no doubt very hot and sweaty!) paint-covered selves to be filmed running 5 kilometers around our national stadium in aid of this fantastic charity.
there are many ways you can get involved and support out of the dark yourselves; you can volunteer or do work experience, offer to share your craft skills or business expertise, or simply donate some old furniture or homeware items. you can also support the design bloggers team running this weekend by making a donation here; big or small, every penny helps get us closer to our target and is hugely appreciated by all involved.
be sure to follow along on sunday by supporting the team members over on twitter & instagram; we’ll do our best to post the funniest and most colourful shots around!
