The next interview for The Balloon Market Blog has appeared! Never before have you seen the facts about one of our team members all in one convenient place… unless you’ve read the previous posts, but that’s beside the point! You’re here now, so we’ll continue…

Coming to us straight from the warehouse, our next guest is a committed member of the BM team who’s up for picking, packing and various other helpful tasks… that’s right, it’s Aiden! From artistry to animation, there’s plenty of awesome things to learn about Aiden in this week’s interview, so let’s get on with it…

On the Meet the Team page, you’ve listed a fun fact about yourself. Tell us more about that!

I believe that fact was about my illustration degree! I’m very passionate about art, as I’ve loved drawing since I was a kid; I was constantly getting in trouble in school for doodling in my school books. As I continued on with it, I decided to pursue a degree at Solent University! I enjoy doing portraits and character work the most, and I also like to dabble in animation from time to time. For one of my Uni projects, I actually made little flipbooks of characters that I’d created.

What do you enjoy most about working at Balloon Market?

I like everyone here! Everyone is a character and they’re always great to talk to; they’ve got lots of stories and jokes to tell. I also quite like packing orders, it’s quite satisfying when an order fits perfectly in a box like a game of Tetris.

Do you have a favourite product that we stock?

I’m a fan of the POSCA pens because they’re great for artwork. They’re all paint-based so they give designs a nice, unique texture; they also work on almost any material! But when it comes to balloons, I have to go for the frog head foil. He’s just a classic.

What’s the best joke you’ve heard recently?

I don’t know about ‘best’ joke, but a joke that really tickled me recently was courtesy of our Warehouse Manager: Andy!

I popped into Specsavers the other day. You know who I bumped into?

Everybody!

What’s the No.1 thing on your bucket list?

A general one would be to travel more. I’ve only been abroad once, but I’d quite like to see different countries and cultures: France and Italy are iconic locations, Scandinavia would be just gorgeous, and Japan is up there too! Would be phenomenally expensive to do, though.

What’s your favourite kind of food? Is there a favourite restaurant you like to go to?

I’m actually going to choose breakfast food! In particular, it has to be a full english breakfast. As a go-to restaurant for me currently, it would be a place in the middle of the New Forest, down in Lyndhurst. It’s called The Forage; it’s got a nice atmosphere and vibe, as well as fantastic food.

If you could become a master at playing any instrument, which one would you pick and why?

I’d think I’d go for a keyboard. It can be so many things: you could go from a grand piano to a funky synth! Plus, some people can actually loop the music they play to make a full track on the fly. I think that’s incredibly impressive and I’d love to give it a go myself!

Is there something that most people like that you don’t like?

Even though I love a full english… I hate baked beans. It’s a very controversial take, apparently. I just can’t understand how people like eating them: they’re so popular and they’re SO gross! They have an awful texture and the taste isn’t good either. They’re unsavable.

Do you have any good recommendations?

I’m a huge fan of animation, as I’ve already mentioned. So I’ll recommend Futurama, as that’s a great sci-fi sitcom to watch. I’ll also mention Spirited Away because it’s just a beautifully animated film overall.

Do you have a question for the readers?

‘What is your favourite animated film?’

Cheers for this week’s chat, Aiden! As a child, most of my entertainment intake was animated movies: Disney, DreamWorks, Aardman, all animation all the time. Not only that, but I consistently rewatched them over and over again, so most of them are ingrained into my brain in one way or another. I’m pretty sure I could quote the first Shrek film near word for word. However, my all-time favourite has to be The Incredibles; still holds up for me even today.

Let us know your answers to this week’s question below! See you all next time!

James
Blogologist