Katie Sykes is a costume, prop and set designer whose name is a regular fixture in the credits of the best theatre productions in Bristol.
A regular feature in the creative team of director Sally Cookson, she designed the Olivier award-nominated Cinderella at the Tobacco Factory in 2011 and was most recently costume and prop designer for The Boy Who Cried Wolf at the Old Vic.
Over the last few weeks, Katie has been searching for weathered buoys, boat fenders and pieces of driftwood as the designer on The Last Voyage of Sinbad the Sailor, which opens at the Tobacco Factory Theatre on Wednesday.
Here are Katie’s top-five Bristol favourites:
Footbridges
“When you live in south Bristol as I do it’s unusual for me not to cross a footbridge at least once a day. They are all different in shape and colour from the yellow banana bridge (below) to the sculptural Pero’s Bridge. However, it’s the views you get from them that I particularly love especially when it is high tide on a sunny evening.”
Children’s Scrapstore
“Anybody involved in anything creative and arty in Bristol uses the invaluable resource that is the Children’s Scrapstore in St Werburgh’s. It is a depot of unwanted industrial and commercial materials which range from cardboard sheets to foam rubber blocks and all sorts of things in between. I use it on virtually every project I work on and it has the added bonus of being above the Better Food Company so I can grab a loaf as well whilst I’m there.”
St Nick’s Market food stalls
“I love food and probably spend more money than I should on lunches. St Nick’s Market’s food stalls offer good value, tasty food from all over the world. Yes.”
Bristol & Bath Railway Path
“I cycle around Bristol as much as I can and therefore I am including the Bristol & Bath Railway Path as one of my favourites . In Fishponds there is a huge warehouse of costumes called Bristol Costume Services which I often visit for work so the fact that I can cycle all the way there virtually traffic-free never ceases to please me.”
Riverside Garden Centre
“In about March a sort of fever grips me and I am drawn irresistibly to the calm oasis that is the Riverside Garden Centre. I have a seasonal passion for gardening which starts in spring and subsides by August but during that time I am happy for hours picking out perennials, seed packets and shrubs.”
