Weird year: new insights… Well, 2020… over here, the entire pattern of studio life was thrown into disarray. But I was brought up by parents who had to adapt countless times, decades before pivoting was a thing. So in the silence of the first lockdown, I started rearranging things. New … Read More
A flâneuse with a sketchbook… I am never without a sketchbook. Most walks turn into sketchwalks as I spot interesting stories or places on my way. So signing up for the St Joseph’s Hospice Great East End Walk, I hand-bound a sketchbook, filled it with the walk’s landmarks and a … Read More
The value of wandering… All of my creative practice is driven by a curious mind. So every trip, every meeting, every errand presents opportunities to learn and explore along the way, whether on travels as a pre-Covid flâneuse or now, locally. Marvellously-useful though online research is, I know what I’m … Read More
Why personal projects matter… I’m a big fan of making my own work as well as work for clients. Why? Well, think of it as an R&D playground. At the start of the London lockdown, working from home, I decided to report from my garden in place of my daily … Read More
Social-distancing in London, we find ourselves in an elaborate dance of avoidance. We zigzag along roads, weave our way through parks and add courtly pauses to let others pass. As supermarkets, parks departments and local authorities try to choreograph the general public, the evolving visual language reminds me of old dance … Read More
We’re seeing a lot more of each other’s interiors these days. So though I’ve found out how to blue-screen my background for Zoom workshops, I decided that the pictures in my studio at home should be more – well – expressive. And curating this set has been surprisingly illuminating. Clockwise from … Read More
Type. On a comedy stage… I’ve been talking about lost letters from the English alphabet at Nerd Nite London, a monthly night of short talks for charity at the Backyard Comedy Club in East London. It’s been my third Nerd (more about the other two here), an opportunity to research … Read More
Discoveries in bookbinding… “Do you notice anything?”, my friend Carolyn said as she handed me a gift of a secondhand book. I flipped through its beautiful two-colour illustrations and elegant typography… and then felt a fold on the outer edge – and it wasn’t intentional. The foreedge of the book was … Read More
I love being a flâneuse in a foreign city. And ahead of a live sketching commission, I had a perfect excuse to explore the creative and cultural life of Berlin. Highlights were the Buchstabenmuseum, a museum of rescued signage, the Museum of Things, which looks at the Deutsche Werkbund and … Read More
