Managed to snatch a few minutes between baby feeds to watch this short film about the talented printmaker and collage artist Mark Hearld. Wonderful to see his inspiring designs and collectables.
Category Archives: Art
South African Township Barbershops & Salons
We’ve admired Simon Weller’s photography for a long time and we love his book South African Township Barbershops & Salons. 
As the cultural and social hubs of South Africas townships, barbershops and salons serve not only as places to get your hair styled but as places to gather, gossip and come together as a community. They also happen to showcase sharp and snappy vernacular designs: renditions of the haircuts on offer as well as typographic demonstrations of each shops name, and now they are being featured on skateboard decks from Familia.
The Independent
Finding a new place for the map by Samuel Muston in last Thursday’s Independent made interesting reading for map enthusiasts – whether you love them for their looks or are one of the few of us who still use them to get from A to B! It was great to see our Africa Type Map alongside some other beautiful map artworks.
Rob Hann
Our friend and photographer Rob Hann has discovered some truly unique photographic opportunities during his many road trips across the States. One recent excursion saw him travelling from Tucson to Tucumcari covering 57,000 miles through 7 states in 2 weeks! His photographs are rich in colour and a feast for the eyes – we love this caravan he came across at El Cosmico trailer park in remote Marfa, Texas.
New York City and Africa Type Maps
After a huge number of requests we are delighted to announce the launch of our New York City and Africa Type Maps. We have printed them in sheer slate and duck egg blue and as our other Type Maps, they measure 50 x 70 cm so fit nicely in standard frames. We are donating 50% of this years profits from the Africa Map to the Somalian relief fund.
Jean Sleesmith Lino Prints
With under 100 days to go – we found a little Christmas gift inspiration with Jean Sleesmith’s beautiful lino prints….
Rachel Clark
So refreshing to see these hand drawn sketches. Rachel Clark has graphite and pastels in her blood, she draws and documents her daily life, as her blog can confirm. I like the way she talks about the environment where she has made the sketches, so it more than just a display of her beautiful compositions.
The man digging his allotment in the images below is my brother Simon, who has been friends with Rachel since school days. Hopefully I’ll have some yellow courgettes from his Brighton patch to pick up when I’m back home this weekend. I can swap you some pumpkins Si, we’ve got hundreds!
Henry Moore at Hatfield House
We went to Hatfield House purely for the Henry Moore exhibition a few weeks back. I’m never quite sure of sculpture etiquette especially in this outside setting, if I’d made them I’d want them to be touched and I hope Henry wouldn’t have minded us having a feel.
Hatfield House is an ace day out, only a short train ride from London and the entrance is opposite the platform. Lots of pluses, for a start the café is fantastic, great cakes and setting. Wilf and Arlo loved the adventure playground and farm – we splashed out on a pony ride which was ‘a dream come true’ for them. And of course the House & Gardens (the main attraction for most people!) are historically interesting (childhood home of Elizabeth I) and very beautiful too.
Emily Warren
We’ve been enjoying the work of Emily Warren since seeing her christmas gift wrap (in red ink below) for Wickle. Love the fun, whimsical approach that she applies to her illustrations and sculptures very inspiring.
Art is Child’s play
Only a few days left to view this wonderful piece of TV on i-player. Alan Yentob considers the influence of play with some of Britain’s leading artists. I don’t watch much telly, but this is a real gem.
As adults we can loose the carefree approach we had as children and become self conscious about the work we create and what we do in general. Picasso summed it up when he said ‘It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child’ and he is right. How do we stay in touch with that blissful, intuitive place where we doodled and played?
Gavin and Tracey share their thoughts on the subject.
