Theo

Listening to: Grown Ups – Well Water



This afternoon, Nic from Healthy Yummies gave me a shout to let me know the Logo and Lorry signage i designed for her some time ago had made its painty way on to her new catering truck named Theo.
There will be some decent professionally taken photos posted up here soon.

 

 

BRITAIN IN PICTURES - BOOK SERIES

Listening to : The Whitest Boy Alive – 1517



While at the aforementioned antiques market i discovered a series of books from the 1940's called 'Britain in pictures'. I was imediatly drawn in by the cover illustrations...

From Shelf appeal:

'The Britain in Pictures series of books was published in the late 1930s and 1940s by Collins. It was edited by the then literary editor of the Spectator,Walter James Turner.

The overall aim of the series was to tell a social history of Britain, perhaps spurred on by the war and a subsequent re-appropriation of nationalism in all its forms. Although the series ran with the subtitle ‘The British People in Pictures’, the books were as much about writing as pictures. The roll call of authors reads like a veritable who’s-who of the literary, political and arts worlds of the period. From John Piper on British Romantic Artists, Cecil Beaton onEnglish Photographers and Edith Sitwell on English Women to Graham Greene on British Dramatists and John Betjeman on English Cities and Small Towns.

A uniformly designed set of over 100 books, they look great as a collection.'

After a little research i found that there are 132 in the series - listed HERE. I cant find many images online unfortunately, hense the rather awful ones here, but each has a wonderfully simple but delicate illustration on the cover. The type varies from title to title, but they all feel like a solid collection. I need to start this collection!!

There is nothing wrong with judging a book by its cover if the covers look like this.

Antique times

listening to: Future Islands – Balance



This Morning i was up at 5 to head down to Sunbury for the antiques market. I found some lovely bits of type but could only sneak a few pretty poor quality shots when the stall owners weren't looking.

 

 

They dont all make it

Listening to: Kakkmaddafakka – Restless



Here is piece of work that didnt make the cut - A t shirt for the fantastic Trekstock - supporting young people with cancer, as part of their band collaberation series - this time with Wild beasts.
Im sure an incarnation of it will pop up at some point in the future.

Listening to: Pulled apart by horses - V.E.N.O.M



So this is kind of old news but a book with our old Calavera skull illustration has been out a while. But i only just found this picture on my phone.
Its wonderfully designed by PRALINE and put together with some other great artists.

You can still pick this print up in the GENERAL STORE here.

Changing Education Paradigms

Simpley described, wonderfully exicuted and so much sense talked. This captivated me! found via Holly's always brilliant blog.

Rob Lynch jumper

The artwork i produced for Rob Lynch's debut EP popped up on a couple of jumpers.

Halloween in NY

New york

Listening to : North Highlands

Firstly a massive thank you to the various people who looked after me and drank beers /  coffees / root beers with me while i was exploring New york for the first time last week. I had an incredible time wandering around.

here are a few interesting bits of type i discovered on my adventures...there are more on my Instagram.



 

BIG CARTEL FEATURE

Listening to: The Get Up Kids – Ten Minutes

Here is a feature that the wonderful chaps at Big cartel did on us! its a little wordy - i got carried away a bit - enjoy.

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Featured Store Friday: Telegramme Studio



BC: What is Telegramme studio, what’s behind the name and how did you get started?

TS: Telegramme is a creative studio built on a love of craft, communication & collaboration. Along side commercial illustration and art direction, Telegramme produces and sells screen printed gig posters/prints/products from their ever growing ‘General store’.

Telegramme was a collaboration that snowballed in to a fully functional studio. Working via the postal service with Christopher in Bristol and Bobby based in Cornwall, they developed a creative partnership thanks to a mutual love of music, art and the receiving of post.



Now solely run by Bobby in East London, Telegramme studio is an ongoing series of collaborations, INSPIRED BY MUSIC, PEOPLE, UNIQUE IDEAS AND BEAUTIFUL THINGS, his energy is directed into Illustration/design and art direction working with a host of wonderful clients from Habitat to Random House as well as producing work for various bands and record labels.

BC: How does your typical collaboration process work?

TS: There is no ‘typical’ collaboration. Each project is different. I am trying to develop the role of an illustrator in the creative process, rather than simply being commissioned for an illustration to slot in to x,y or z, i like to work WITH the client to develop ideas and what the brief is trying to achieve. With what format the outcome might be! This, I think, comes from my design background. Sometimes the client might think they need X, but it’s important to question why.

With the pictorial guide to east London, I worked closely with Herb Lester Associates to develop the concept/theme and outcome. They approached me saying they wanted a way to incorporate the locations of their excellent East London map into a ‘souvenir’ of sorts. I suggested the reference of vintage shop ‘cameos’ and it went from there. It’s great to have clients that listen to and trust you. Collaboration can be through discussion rather than traditionally through physically working on the project together.



In a more practical way, I always work closely with our screen printing guru Loren, who runs Loligo. I trust her suggestions of ink, paper stock and other ideas she has with printing. It’s great to listen to an expert—she knows her printing and we can geek out about paper samples for hours. Last week she reminded me about some glow in the dark inK we had lying around the studio…INSPIRATION!

BC: How does living in/being from London influence your aesthetic?

TS: I am heavily influenced by the diverse range of typography littering the east end where I live and work. there are so many brilliant hand-painted signs for everything from barber shops to carwashes. I’ve been making a record of all the bits I find whilst zooming around on my bike, on my soon to be relaunched blog. London brings with it such a varied and diverse range of influences in both subject and aesthetic, it’s impossible to say there is a london ‘style’ and I’m glad for that. Even within our studio space there are 11 illustrators all producing the most amazingly different things.



BC: What’s one thing you keep in mind when designing for screenprinting?

TS: I try to be kind to myself when printing, giving everything plenty of trap so that the registration is somewhat forgiving. I think this has all become instinct so I barely think about now. I must be telling myself ‘how the hell would I print that?’ over and over in my head and hoping I’m not saying it out loud in the studio.

I guess the screen printing process has always been a part of my practice and It has hugely influence the way I construct my work. Whether it’s an illustration for a magazine or for a screenprinted poster, I build work in the same way, using minimal colors and making the most of overlays. This was originally due to trying to keep costs and effort down in the printing process but its somehow become part of my everyday image making. I dont mind it sticking around though.



BC: What’s next for Telegramme?

TS: Its an exciting time… I’m starting some new projects that are really pushing Telegramme in a more collaborative product based direction. I’m going to be working with other artists to produce ranges of products that will be for sale in the general store. It’s all new and a real learning process but, by god, as a job it aint bad at all.

Next month I’ll be launching a new portfolio website and giving the general store a little bit of an update. It’s been almost a year that my main portfolio site and blog has been down and I can’t wait to show people some of the new things I’ve been working on.



In terms of personal work, I’ll be continuing to develop new handpainted, wooden signs influenced by east london’s typographic history with hopefully an exhibition around Easter. Of course there will be new gig posters and prints appearing regularly in the general store - hopefully working with some pretty awesome bands.

BC: What made you choose Big Cartel for your online store?

TS: I’ve always liked the attitude of Big Cartel, it offers creatives a new way to DIY! Telegramme comes from a DIY background and it’s great to be able to design print and sell something yourself without having to go through bigger commercial channels - it puts the power in the hands of people who are MAKING! this can only be a good thing—DIY forever! And of course all the other reasons it’s rad: Great value. simple customization. Solid platform. Creative community. Trusted.