A model maker whoruns a curiosities shop in Chorlton with his partner is about to see his work go on tour with Grayson Perry’s Art Club.
Stewart Hucheon first came to Manchester fifteen years ago to work on tv show Bob the Builder, staying there for years, on and off, until the show was eventually digitised.
A children’s animator by trade, he assisted as a prop maker for years: creating all the little details that bring the show to life to build out the world of Bob’s many adventures.
But now, he channels his model-making passion into creating incredible displays for his and his partner David Dodson’s shop window at The Curious Fox, something which has led the business to gain notoriety amongst South Manchester locals.
Inside the shop, you’ll find a host of wonderful products – including a secret Christmas room filled with matryoshka nesting doll baubles, mini Beefeaters, sparkling dragonflies and many other delights.
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Elsewhere in the gift and homeware store, the walls are lined with Alice In Wonderland-inspired artwork, a stag’s head, giant clocks, with hot air balloons hanging from the ceiling and a section of beautiful pop-up 3D cards, Lowry and Klimt mugs, and much more.
Over the years at The Curious Fox, Stewart has created a number of different themed window displays – all more magical than the last according to his neighbours.
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Many of these appear around Christmas time, and are unveiled with a shabang as local Chorltonites gather together with glasses of champagne infront of the store for the big reveal.
In previous years he’s created a Snow Queen window depicting the iconic character in a frozen white forest, a Nutcracker theme with lots of ballerinas and the ballet’s little-known Mother Ginger character, who appeared on stilts, with a dress opening like curtains and children running out of it.
He told The Manc: “There’s a character inThe Nutcracker, not very well known but it’s in the show, and she’s called Mother Ginger, and, she’s usually, it’s not like a pantomime thing, with an enormous skirt, and she’s like on stilts.
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“Then this dress opens like curtains and all these children run out of the dress, so I tried to do that with a big figure and her dress was like a theatre and I had Harlequin and Columbine spinning in her dress and all the other things. That was my favourite window I’ve ever done.”
This year, the plan was to create a huge Manchester or Salford-themed window full of 1960s women who Stewart describes, in his amusing way, as being “all a bit miserable looking”.
He told The Manc: “They were to be part of a big window, which I am still doing, and I thought well I’m going to use them and I’m going to put them in and we’ll have a Mother’s Day window, so we just had all the women in the window.
“Oh and people just went nuts for it, and somebody said: ‘Oh you should put that in Grayson Perry’s art club’, which I hadn’t thought about at all because I didn’t know it was coming back on, and I thought well I haven’t got nothing to lose, I haven’t especially made them for this so there’s no stress involed, it’s done, if they pick it they pick it
He continued: “I think they get about 30,000 entries Grayson Perry’s art club. Anyway I put it in, and they were on the phone straight away.
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“Well, the closing date was like a Wednesday at five o’clock and on that Wednesday at quarter past five they were on the phone, so as soon as the closing thing had finished they were straight on the phone.”
The pieces, which will go on a tour of the UK starting on 1 December, were even given a special mention by Grayson Perry himself on his TV show with the host saying that they were one of his absolute favourite submissions.
Stewart told The Manc: “They were all very positive and wanting to know more.
“Well, they didn’t tell you if it was going to be on, unless you’ve been like done the video call with Grayson Perry then they don’t tell you that you’re going to be on, so we were watching it and the programme was nearly finished.
“There was minutes left and we thought ‘well we’re not on, nevermind,’ and then he said ‘Every week I pick my top three’, and there was me, I was one of his top three and he loved it yeah.
He continued: “They were going to be this year’s Christmas window, cause that’s what I was making. The whole idea this year’s Christmas window was going to be a whole Manchester street, in the winter, sort of 1960s, corner shop that you could see all the products in the corner shop.
“But the whole idea was like an animation set, because that’s what I know, and there’s going to be a big car and postboxes and postmen on bikes and you could see in the houses a little bit and it would be lit up at night, so you could see in the living rooms and stuff like that, and they would have, there would be layers to it, but they’ve gone now.”
As a result, this year’s Christmas window is being put on hold as Stewart doesn’t have the figures – but watch this space, because once they return we’ll be right down to follow up and let you know where you can go and see them.
In the mean time, you can visit The Curious Fox shop on Beech Road in Chorlton Tuesday to Sunday between the hours of 11am and 5pm.
Feature image – Supplied
Manchester
Manchester’s AO Arena scoop up Take That as Keane’s Co-op Live gig is cancelled in ongoing venue saga
Daisy Jackson
Manchester’s existing arena, the AO Arena, has stepped in to host more concerts that have been postponed by Co-op Live, with yet another act being cancelled too.
First it was A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie, announced earlier today and now, in perhaps the most damning twist of fate for the brand-new venue, Take That’s five-night run that was set for the Co-op Live this May has now been moved to the AO Arena.
Their two June dates at the new arena are said to be unaffected.
The Co-op Live‘s official opening has been hit with several delays, with events like Peter Kay’s double bill, Olivia Rodrigo and The Black Keys all already postponed over the last week or so.
Issuing a statement after rescuing multiple Take That shows, AO Arena general manager Jen Mitchell, said: “It wouldn’t be a Take That tour without a stop-off in Manchester, so it’s great to welcome the band and their fans back to AO Arena for five nights, in the heart of this wonderful city.”
The venue has naturally welcomed the sudden flood of extra names being added to its already strong lineup for 2024, doing its best to minimise inconvenience for gig-goers who have made travel arrangements, booked hotels etc.
As for the group themselves, they also responded to their tens of thousands of fans expecting to see them from this weekend onwards.
Confessing that they’ve had to make “the difficult decision” to switch venues and although “it’s not one [they’ve taken lightly], they wanted to give fans as much notice as possible”, adding: “We thank you for your understanding and we’ll see you all soon”.
Meanwhile, Noughties favourites Keane have sadly had to shelve their Manchester show for the foreseeable following the venue’s continuing “technical issues”.
Announcing the news on their social pages on Thursday evening, they admitted that they were “absolutely gutted” but that the decision was “entirely out of the control”.
Notably, the huge new venue by the Etihad Stadium had to turn away fans who were already queueing for A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie on Monday 1 May, after part of an air conditioning unit fell from the ceiling onto a (thankfully) empty arena floor.
Question marks had already been hanging over whether some upcoming gigs would be able to go ahead and now it seems that they will be taking place – just not at the Co-op Live…
Manchester’s decades-old AO Arena, the largest indoor venue in the UK (until the Co-op Live opens), will be welcoming Keane to its stage instead.
With so many people having been pitting the two venues against one another over the last weeks and months, let’s just say it’s quite clear who’s come out looking better at the minute…
One of Manchester’s newest arts venues to host brand-new comedy festival this summer
Emily Sergeant
A brand-new comedy festival is set to take over one of the city centre’s newest arts venues this summer.
That’s right… some of the UK’s best comedy names are coming to Manchester.
That’s because renowned production company, A Lovely Time, has put together an absolutely jam-packed lineup of television names, internet sensations, and hotly-tipped newcomers, for a weekend full of comedy shows in the heart of the city centre at the exciting new arts venue Fairfield Social Club – which is tucked away down at the Green Quarter.
The exciting new festival, which is called A Lovely Weekend, will kick off on Friday 7 June with a gala show hosted by the company’s very-own Amy Gledhill, who comedy fans may recognise from appearances on BBC‘s Would I Lie To You, and more.
Then, across the rest of the three-day long weekend lineup, you can expect to catch comedy sets and work-in-progress performances from the likes of Edinburgh Comedy Award nominees Phil Ellis (Icklewick FM on BBC Radio 4), and Olga Koch (Live at The Apollo on BBC One), Paddy Young, who recently won the BBC New Comedy Award, Chris Cantrill (Avoidance on BBC One), and Blackpool’s-finest Tom Lawrinson.
Internet sensations such as Stevie Martin and Abi Clarke are also on the lineup, as well as hotly-tipped Edinburgh debutante, Hannah Platt, and Geordie sketch supergroup, Metroland.
You can even catch something a little bit different from Poppy Hillstead too, who’s set to transfer her popular podcast to the stage.
Split across two venues over three days, A Lovely Weekend is all looking set to be the largest undertaking from comedy production super-duo, A Lovely Time, which was created by promoter John Stansfield and comedian Chris Cantrill, and, as mentioned, it will take over the newly-opened Fairfield Social Club – a venue which has already hosted brilliant shows from the likes of Josie Long, Three Bean Salad, Ashley Gavin, and Nick Helm since opening back in March.
“We’re so excited to be bringing A Lovely Weekend to Manchester,” commented founder, John Stansfield.
“The city is long overdue a proper comedy festival, and across the three days at Fairfield Social Club, we’ve programmed some of our absolute favourites to ensure a lovely time for all.”
Tickets to A Lovely Weekend have just gone on sale yesterday (Wednesday 1 November), and are already selling fast – with both day and full weekend passes available from £20, and individual show tickets up for grabs from £6 each too.