creative experiments Archives

Montage of detail of work on canvas showing paint, stencil and beading, and details of the two watercolour sketches, of aquilegia and bluebells

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11th June, 2026 by Lydia Thornley

I have three small pieces of experimental work going into the Summer Salon at Three Colt Gallery in Limehouse. Time and tide, from a sketch along the Thames Path, plays with water and shadow in biro, acrylic wash, stencil and beading on canvas; the other two, sketched live in my … Read More

creative experiments | Podcasts

Pie chart

11th November, 2025 by Lydia Thornley

Pie. Appropriately for Autumn, it’s the topic of the latest episode of Studio Snack, a podcast in collaboration with Narcis Sauleda. Which brings me to pie charts, this month’s creative experiment. As a designer, I’ve done a lot of these. There are all sorts of ways to make them look … Read More

Detail of Lydia's textile piece using the visual language of textile proofs to describe the colour and pattern of green spaces

creative experiments | Exhibitions | Personal projects

Sampling green spaces

27th August, 2025 by Lydia Thornley

I enjoy the paraphernalia of printers’ proofs. Outside the test of the thing we’re producing are colour bars, information meaningful only to people who know how to get the best out of the job. They’re lovely things in their own right and so are strike offs – textile proofs. I’ve … Read More

A rose made from the day's newspsper, a flat graphic rose, kites made from the spaces between hearts and tracing a heart cookie cutter

Behind the scenes | creative experiments | Podcasts

A bouquet of experiments

26th February, 2025 by Lydia Thornley

In the Valentine’s month episode of Studio Snack, a food podcast about design with creative collaborator Narcis Sauleda, we’ve delved into the story of a local heart-shaped sweet, looked at some symbol history, chatted with Leticia Credidio in Barcelona about being taught by the designer who created the iconic ‘I … Read More

creative experiments | Podcasts

Studio Snack soundbites

31st January, 2025 by Lydia Thornley

“Should we have a Studio Snack jingle?”, we asked ourselves as we discussed the new season of our Studio Snack podcast. Thus started a year-long visual sound experiment. And because I have an unusual skillset and an unstoppably-curious mind, I’m on a voyage of discovery… here, me experimenting on Soundbow, … Read More

Fruit and nuts, as a line sketch and with colour added, and a photograph of a rock bun with a simplified, blocky version that looks like a rock.

creative experiments | Podcasts

Less is more

31st January, 2025 by Lydia Thornley

January has been a month of resolutions – so in this month’s Studio Snack podcast episode, we look at less. In snacks, and in design, where minimalism has made careers. Our creative experiment has been to simplify an image of a Winter snack. I talk about sketching some fruit and … Read More

creative experiments | Podcasts

The Studio Snack wreath of leftovers

19th December, 2024 by Lydia Thornley

We make Studio Snack for fun – so in each recording there are bits where we get the giggles, say the right words in the wrong order and where we are, frankly, winging it. In our 2024 finale Studio Snack’s seasonal leftovers we bring you our favourites. There are visual … Read More

An apple next to an apple wrapped in a recipe, next to it another example of an recipe wrapped apple and below, patterns made by pressing an acorn top into air dried clay, showing the trick of the light that makes it hard to tell if the pattern is sunk in to the clay or sitting on the top if it

Behind the scenes | creative experiments | Podcasts

What we can learn from squirrels

14th October, 2024 by Lydia Thornley

As creatures stash their food supplies for Winter, in the latest episode of Studio Snack, a collaborative podcast with Narcis Sauleda, we chat about inconvenience food. We explore apocalypse storecupboards, space food, preserving, what we can learn from squirrels… and as always, there are creative experiments. I start with a … Read More