Are they Teenage Mutant Ninja or Hero Turtles?  

Back in my day (ooo er), they were always Heroes rather than Ninjas… apparently because the UK government believed ‘ninjas’ had violent connotations and ‘heroes’ were more positive role models for British kids.

I digress.  But should you happen to walk past a particularly bright and beautiful orange van around Manchester, it may very well be Michelangelo, named for the orange masked pizza-loving Teenage Mutant (Whatever) Turtle himself. 

Michelangelo The Van belongs to designer Holly Ramsay.  He’s her pride and joy and also features in some of her designs for label The Neighbourhood Threat.  

She’s done collaborations with Nescafe and Lucy and Yak and now runs the Krafthaus store in Sale, selling her own products and locally sourced gifts and homeware.

Recently we got together for a photoshoot at her store.  I photographed Holly with her colleague Liz, at work in her studio at the back of Krafthaus.  

It rained mostly, but the sun came out for approx 3% of the total time of our shoot so we immediately darted outside for photos.  Without any prompting, Holly leapt fearlessly onto Michelangelo’s back, riding him like a Mad Max character surrounded by the wild metropolis of Sale M33*. 

*jokes.  Sale is no wild metropolis, more a leafy Manchester suburb.

I asked Holly a few questions to find out more about her work as an artist.

How did you get into designing?

I’ve been making and selling stuff since I was 16 (maybe younger) and it’s all evolved from there! The Neighbourhood Threat started on Depop and Asos Marketplace as a vintage clothes boutique whilst I was at college. 

The homewares side was born when I whipped up some cushions using old tea towels I found in a charity shop in Cheadle. As my tea towel stash was running out and they were getting more expensive to source, I got into designing my own fabrics! 

What are your creative specialisms?

I think an important thing about Neighbourhood Threat is that me and Liz are still able to make so many of the products that we sell as a brand. The things we can’t make, like the bone china and wool blankets, are all sourced as locally as possible and I always make the effort to visit the manufacturers and work as closely as I can with them. 

I think being able to trace back where all our things come from is quite special to us as a brand. I’ll always have a crack at doing it myself first though, before we started working with Duchess China I used to print all the mugs myself! 

Do you have any other creative interests?

I wish I had more time to practice upholstery. I know the basics but think it’s such a cool skill to have and it would mean I could kit out the back of my van to look mint!

Name an interesting fact about yourself.

My middle name is Vegas! 

What are your influences (can be from the worlds of music/film/books/fashion/art)?

I love the styles from the 70s and mid-century modern design! Everyday things looked so much better and stylish back then. A huge inspiration will always be David Bowie, we’re called The Neighbourhood Threat after his cover of the tune by Iggy Pop! He’s always been in my life for as long as I can remember and will always be a huge source of inspiration.

How would you describe your style in 3 words?

Retro funky groovy

Do you ever struggle with creative block?  What do you do if/when that happens?

Creative block is so annoying because it always seems to happen when I’ve got to design something specific to meet a brief! A visit to Bygone Times is good to refresh the brain.

Look out for Holly’s latest collaboration with fashionwear Lucy & Yak, available exclusively on their app from today (12th June, 2023).