If you're familiar with the work of Edward Bawden and Eric Ravilious you probably will know of the Brick House in Great Bardfield in Essex. This was their home, along with their wives, Charlotte and Tirzah, for a few years in the 1930s.
The illustrator and printmaker, Alice Pattullo, has recently created an ingenious and characterful fold-out replica of the house for Design For Today. With rooms filled with the objects you would expect to find from cats and patterned wallpapers to Bawden's printing press and cast iron bench, there's a wealth of detail. There's even a sheet of cut out extras including the two artists themselves looking rather like Gilbert and George.
Alice Pattullo is an illustrator and printmaker working in East London. Her work can be found at the V&A, The Higgins, John Soames Museum, Cecil Sharp House and in the pages of design and illustration magazines, Alice is inspired by the folk traditions of England and influenced by the mid-century printmaking of artists such as Edward Bawden and John Piper.
Design For Today was founded by Joe Pearson, an established collector and writer on mid-century lithography. As one of the country’s experts in his field Joe has given talks at several institutions such as the Double Crown Club, St Brides Printing Library, The House of Illustration and the University of East Anglia.
Find out more and purchase a copy of Brick House from Design For Today’s website.
Earlier in the year we were visited by our friends from Country Living, along with our photographer and friend Cristian Barnett.
Some of Cristian's photographs appeared in the April issue of Country Living but several more are published in Country Living Modern Rustic which is available from magazine stands now.
Cristian also made this short film about the making of my wallpaper, Nature Table.
I was delighted to be asked by Country Living magazine to create a mug to celebrate their 30th anniversary.
This limited edition mug has been handmade and hand decorated by Burleigh at Middleport Pottery in Stoke-on-Trent.
The mug features on the cover of the magazine's April 2015 issue and inside you'll find a feature on our home and studio in the Scottish Highlands, photographed by Cristian Barnett who I've had the pleasure of working with before on two short films, including this one looking at the making of my Nature Table wallpaper.
You can find out more about the Country Living mug from their General Store.
On Friday night we popped along to The Scottish Gallery for the opening of Architecture of the Enlightenment, their latest exhibition of works by Ed Kluz which explores the unique topography and architecture of Edinburgh’s New Town.
Built during the late 18th and early 19th centuries as a counterpart to the overcrowded and squalid living conditions of the medieval city which clustered around the castle, the New town expressed the highest values of the Enlightenment age. An ordered grid system of streets and public squares, punctuated by grand circuses and crescents emulating the cities of classical antiquity.
The exhibition features a series of new paper collage & mixed media works.
Ed Kluz is an artist, illustrator and printmaker. His work explores contemporary perceptions of the past through the reimagining of historic landscapes, buildings and objects. The spirit of early Romanticism, the Picturesque movement and antiquarian topographical engravings underpin his approach to image making. He has a particular interest in the eccentric, uncanny and overlooked – follies, lost country houses and ruins provide a constant source of inspiration.
Find out more about Architecture of the Enlightenment which runs until 24th December 2014 at The Scottish Gallery, 16 Dundas Street, Edinburgh EH3 6HZ. The catalogue for the exhibition is available as a PDF.
Ed has to date produced two fabrics for St Jude's, with further designs due in 2015.
You might also enjoy this short film that we made about Ed's work, filmed and edited by Alun Callender.
Our friend Tommy Perman has recently collaborated with 59 Productions on their commission for Sydney Opera House's VIVID festival. Tommy explains:
"A couple of months ago I received an email with the subject: 'Illustrator Task (From Hell?)' from my old friend Leo (co-founder of 59 Productions). The task was to produce a technical drawing detailing all of the tiles of the sails on the Sydney Opera House. 59 would use this drawing as part of their pre-production process for an impressive commission they'd won to light up the famous landmark with colourful visuals for the annual VIVID festival.
I replied to Leo saying "this doesn't look too arduous". I'm used to drawing intensely detailed images but I perhaps underestimated just how many tiles there are on the roof of the Sydney Opera House! But like the brave soul that I am, I plotted on, hunched over a hot graphics tablet for many hours longer than is medically advisable. To retain some sanity while drawing I decided to colour in each tile as I went – I told 59 to just disregard these colours though as all they needed was the position of the tiles. After days at the screen I finished the drawing and sent it off, happy that I'd played a small part in such a cool project.
I have a fairly busy life at the moment and I'd pretty much forgotten all about this job until the other Friday evening, my friend Mark (also of 59 Productions) posted a link to a Daily Mail slideshow of the opening night of the VIVID festival. I was flicking through the images thinking "these are stunning, it's ace that I was involved..." I'd almost reached the end of the slideshow and was wondering how great it'd be to see some of my own work on such a large canvas. And then I came across a photo of the Opera House illuminated with my brightly coloured drawing. I don't think I've felt that kind of jaw-dropping awe since my girlfriend told me she was pregnant!
Apparently 59 loved the colours in my drawing and decided it would become part of the final piece. I'm truly honoured to have my work shown in such a high profile way."
Tommy Perman is an artist, designer and musician based in Edinburgh. A founding member of the artist collective/experimental pop band FOUND, Tommy now concentrates on his own work as artist, illustrator and graphic designer.
Tommy and Rob St. John feature in the second issue of our Random Spectacular journal, with a contribution exploring their recent Water Of Life project.
Our friend and collaborator Christopher Brown has been busy over at Wild At Heart's Pimlico store, hand painting a number of iconic Chelsea characters in their windows.
These images are also available as a series of hand coloured prints and a little folded leaflet.
I'm not sure how long the display will be on show - perhaps give Wild At Heart a quick call before travelling.
Contact details for their Pimlico store can be found online.
And you can find a selection of Chris' limited edition linocut prints over at St Jude's.
Saturday 10th May 2014 sees the opening unveiling of the restored mural at Greenside School in West London.
The school earns the star on its Grade II* listing for Gorden Cullen’s mural, painted in 1952.
Erno Goldfinger designed the school and commission Cullen to paint the mural which features a range of subjects including Dover Castle, the de Havilland Comet and the Britannia 7000 locomotive.
Having been covered up for years, the Friends of Greenside Mural raised funds to restore the mural and hope to continue with restoration of the original terrazzo floor in the foyer.
The unveiling event will include a fair featuring a number of publishers, illustrators, print specialists and related exhibitors.
The event takes place on Saturday 10th May from 11am until 5pm at Greenside School, Westville Road, London W12 9PT. For further details about the project, visit the Greenside Mural Facebook page.