Photograph of mockups of the four perfume bottles with labels attached
Photograph of Floating in Space label, an illustration of an imaginary peach tree with fruit and flowers
Photograph of the Down to Us label, featuring flames, berries and a volcano
Photograph of These are the Good Days label, featuring a pastoral scene with river, fish and a bus
Photograph of Floating in Space label, with a sunburst, clouds and blossom
Photo of the four Blaze of Glory list pads, each with an illustration at the top
The tiny vial labels, circular with illustrations in the middle
An early sketch visual of labels on bottles
A concept visual showing sketch mockups of labels
Lydia's hand doing label illustrations on iPad
A screen grab of label artwork in progress

Blaze of Glory

Illustration and design for 4160 Tuesdays…

A brief. Conventionally, it’s a written thing, perhaps with a screen meeting to find out more.

For 4160 Tuesdays’ Blaze of Glory Collection, “the aromas we might encounter in an imaginary hell, earth, heaven and limbo, fantasy flowers, fruit and trees”, my brief has been a visit to artisan perfumer Sarah McCartney’s studio to hear the story behind the collection, learn about each perfume’s ingredients and smell the perfumes in development.

The look is early 20th century stained glass. So along with online research, I’ve got my eye in at museums, churches and an ‘order an object’ session at V&A East Storehouse. I stopped short of signing up for a stained glass course – but only just…

From our lists of ingredients and iconography for each perfume, I’ve created visual elements and borders that would be adaptable for bespoke illustrations fitting proportions and sizes that would change and expand during the course of the project.

Design has included concept development, layouts, hand lettering, tests on curved surfaces and mockups for photography. There has been artwork for 17 bottle, vial and box labels and four to-do lists.

And we’ve had a complex production spec: a small print run, with a special finish, durable enough for packaging while being hand-writeable in fountain pen.

The project has spanned several months from concept to delivery for launch, with breaks for the pre-order phase, Sarah’s book – and the twist of a longer than expected proofing process.

Oh – did I get to smell the finished perfumes? Well, one: Down to Us, at the one-day writers’ festival 26 Wordstock, where I co-presented an activity of imagination and guesswork. I had last met it when it was Hell 13. The one I’ve worn is Earth, an early test of These are the Good Days. It’s been my companion in my Tower Gallery artist residency Reading the Building, working in and on materials related to building crafts.

Find out more about the collection in the 4160 Tuesdays shop.

Product photography © Sarah McCartney