Photographer Tom Oldham has had an incredibly busy schedule of late, including shooting The Fly magazine's Top 10 artists for 2010, and will also be shooting members at the Picture Me event at The Future Gallery on the 23rd of this month.

Two of our members, sculptor Nick Hornby and founder of Terra Plana shoes, Galahad Clark (pictured above), were featured in the London Evening Standard's 'Who to watch in 2010'.  Nick also has a piece in the Spitalfields Sculpture Prize Public vote, so please take a minute to vote for him! [Read More]

Long gone the time when sustainability meant poor design, cheap or even hippy looking products... CVTF500 members have been leading the way proving this assumption wrong for a quite a while now...

Isabella Macpherson's Arts Co and Elvis & Kresse, working in the areas of art and design and the environment respectively, have joined force to create Elvis & Kresse Arts. The handbag and accessories company with ongoing collections created with award-winning artists and designers who have accepted to create beauty from waste showed their products at Sotheby's last week before officially launching at esthetica London Fashion Week this month. [Read More]

Last week, members, journalists, art aficionadas and celebrities came together at The Future Gallery to celebrate the opening of the Courvoisier Jolly Darkness exhibition by CVTF500 members Kate Garner and Marchella De Angelis. [Read More]

This week, Arts/Film producer and founder of the Canary Wharf Film Festival (www.cwff.org.uk), Olivia Bellas shares her top tips on handling the uncertainties surrounding launching your own start-up…

1. BE CURIOUS

Producing varied projects usually means you have fingers in many pies and happy to explore what's new and who's interesting.  All the creative ideas will start flowing before you know it.

2. TEST IT OUT

I generally find myself working on projects I've never done before so it's difficult to predict the outcome. [Read More]

In view of Rajeeb’s recent win at the O2 X Entrepreneur Awards, we couldn’t think of anyone better to offer up some advice for small businesses and start-ups…

“If you have your own business, don’t underestimate the power of social networking tools such as Twitter as a means of promoting yourself and your work. Most of our promotion for Enternships.com has been via word of mouth and recommendations posted on sites like Twitter. [Read More]

Is your home missing something? If it’s looking well, a bit ‘blank’ and lifeless, then it could be that the perfect piece of art is all that’s needed. But while some people are already art boffins and billionaires, others are venturing into the art world for the first time – and it can be an intimidating place for newcomers.

New CVTF500 member, Will Ramsay no doubt empathised with that plight when, after serving five years in the army, he decided to launch his own business that brought art to everyone. Setting up in Parson’s Green, London in 1996 (a world away from the usual Mayfair location for galleries), Will founded his own Art Warehouse (www.wills-art.com) or, in his words, ‘The Oddbins of the Art World’. The mission was simple: to make buying art more accessible and more affordable, (his pieces are all under £3,000) for more people.

To say that the world was crying out for such a concept would be an understatement. [Read More]

As memories of Christmas and New Year fade, January in England can be a dreary month. Yet CVTF500 member and self-confessed “maverick designer`’, Marchella De Angelis has come up with something that promises to be a must-do date in the diary: her new collaborative exhibition, ‘The Jolly Darkness’.

This new exhibition is a culmination – and continuation – of the work that Marchella has done this year with acclaimed photographer, Kate Garner. And if that name is ringing bells for reasons unrelated to art then yes, you’re right in thinking this is the same Kate Garner that first rose to fame as a member of ‘80s pop band, Hasi Fantayzee! [Read More]

One of the many perks of being a member of the CVTF500 network is the £1,000 of Future Bank funding that is up for grabs each month. Funding is awarded for initiatives that are innovative, experimental, ethically-aware and demonstrate collaboration between members. So who better to win the latest backing than a duo aiming to revolutionise the way you shop forever…

Tamsin le Jeune and Cyndi Rhoades have come together to create The Ethical Fashion Manifesto. As the founder of the Ethical Fashion Forum (www.ethicalfashionforum.com) and fair trade fashion label, Juste, Cyndi has plenty in common with Tamsin who has been who founded Worn Again (www.wornagain.co.uk), Anti-Apathy (www.antiapathy.org) and the RE:Fashion Awards (www.refashionawards.org). United in their commitment to furthering the cause of sustainability in fashion, the two have now created a manifesto setting out a 10-year plan for some of the UK’s largest retailers and fashion influencers. After an initial event to launch it, the manifesto aims to change the lives of millions –and set a precedent for other industries.

Many businesses have been so absorbed with surviving the recession that anticipating its end has understandably not been a priority. In her latest business bulletin, CVTF500 judge and editor-in-chief London Lifestyle for Bauer Media, Fiona McIntosh anticipates better times ahead and begins to map out how businesses will move forward when ‘recession’ ceases to be the buzzword on everybody’s lips. [Read More]