Sunday Inspiration | Lucienne Day

I've always has a real soft spot for art that was produced in the 1950s, particularly the textile and surface pattern designs of the era. More specifically the Astro 50s look which was the inspiration behind my 2016 range of Christmas cards. With that in mind, this weeks instalment of the Sunday Inspirations blog will be focusing on a woman who is probably one of 20th century Britain's most influential designers and whose work, for me at least, really embodies the cheerful energy and optimism of Britain in the years after the Second World War. That woman is Désirée Lucienne Lisbeth Dulcie Day OBE RDI FCSD or better known as Lucienne Day.

Born in Coulsdon, Surrey, England, and raised in nearby Croydon, Day was half-Belgian; the daughter of an English mother (Dulcie Conradi) and a Belgian father (Felix Conradi). At the age of 17, Lucienne enrolled at Croydon School of Art, where she developed her interest in printed textiles. She went on to specialise in this field at the Royal College of Art, where she studied from 1937-40. During her second year she was sent on a two-month placement to the firm Sanderson, where she worked in the company's large wallpaper studio.

During the early period of her career, Day's textiles were characterised by energetic rhythms and a spidery, almost doodle-like graphic style. Although apparently spontaneous, her designs display a considerable amount technical skill, particularly with their colourways and repeats. As well as pure abstracts, she often created stylised organic patterns incorporating motifs such as skeletal leaves, spindly stems, feathery seed heads and butterflies. Her early textile designs were inspired by her love of modern art, particularly the abstract paintings of Swiss-German artist Paul Klee, which when compared to Day's works, it's quite clear to see the inspiration.

Calyx | Produced in a variety of different colourways, Calyx was considered the breakthrough design for Day's career

Calyx | Probably my favourite colourway that Calyz was produced in. The contrast between the yellow and the grey is stunning

Calyx | Even though there are many colourways, each one is expertly composed, with all colours working impeccably well together

One of her most well known textile designs, Calyx (pictured above), was originally shown at the Festival of Britain in 1951, and is considered her breakthrough design. Day collaborated with Heal’s (the British furniture and furnishing store chain) to create Calyx; a stylised floral design mixing muted and earthy colours, that represented a radical new aesthetic in pattern design. Lucienne said later in an interview that Heals’ then fabrics director, Tom Worthington, was unsure of the pattern, and “would produce it for me but only pay me half the fee of 20 guineas because he was certain he wouldn’t sell a yard”. She went on to produce around 70 patterns for the brand over 20 years, and Calyx still remains in production today.

 Later in the decade, responding to new artistic trends such as abstract expressionism and the architectural fashion for floor-to-ceiling picture windows, Lucienne’s designs for Heal’s became more overtly painterly and much larger in scale. 

Although abstraction was the dominant idiom in her work, Day also perpetuated the English tradition of patterns based on plant forms, often incorporating stylised motifs derived from nature, such as leaves, flowers, twigs and seedpods. After dabbling in painterly, textural abstraction during the early 1960s, she experimented with more hard-edged, multi-layered geometric designs composed of primarily of squares, circles, diamonds and stripes during the mid to late 1960s. Stylised florals and arboreal designs remained recurrent motifs until the mid 1970s.

Perpetua | For British Celanese, 1953

Herb Anthony | For Heal's, 1956

With a career spanning over six decades, Day had worked with countless big-name brands including the likes of Liberty, John Lewis, Cole & Son and Rosenthal, designing fabrics, wallpapers, carpets, homeware and ceramics. To each, she brought her unique flair for colour, line, form and composition, creating a recognisable style that feels fresh decades later. In an interview with It's Nice That, her daughter Paula stated that her work is ‘timeless’ in much the same way as that of William Morris' has become a veritable classic.

"I wanted the work I was doing to be seen by people and to be used by people. They had been starved of interesting things for their homes in the war years, either textiles or furniture."

It just so happens to be Lucienne Day's centenary this year, of which John Lewis are celebrating with a new collection of her prints. For me though, I wanted to look at the work of a prolific surface patter designer because it's an area that I want to consider as a new application for my own work.
While I enjoy screen printing for paper prints, I'd quite like to get into turning lettering work into more pattern-based prints for textiles and t-shirts. I have this vision in my mind of what it would be like to have my lettering used as a repeat pattern on the fabric of a smart shirt (this thought came about after seeing a gorgeous dress my friend Naomi has). The question now is, how do I go about this?

Well, it's been done before, I know that much. One of my career inspirations is Martina Flor; she's got a wide range of applications for her work including metal pins and bags, but she's recently been experimenting with repeat patterns...
 

Dreamer | Courtesy of Martina Flor's Instagram

Caps | Courtesy of Martina Flor's Instagram

While both pattern experiments are gorgeous, I feel like I'd much rather have the "Caps" design as a print on a piece of fabric or item of clothing, whereas the "Dreamer" would be too busy (I've got this design on a small pin badge and it's gorgeous on its own), but much better suited to something like wallpaper or a screen print. I feel that the recent work I've been doing with Spencerian scripts could fit quite well with a pattern style similar to that of the "Caps" piece, with intertwining letterforms and flourishes creating sub patterns similar to the details of Lucienne Day's works.

There's plenty of scope here for experimentation on my part, which means the next couple of weeks are going to be filled with sketching and test printing. Like I need an excuse to spend time at PrintHaus anyway!

Identity Crisis

With the whole "new year, new me" cliche flying around, I'd been debating whether it was time that I refreshed my freelance identity as I felt it wasn't really reflecting who I am as an artist. After a spell of indecision, I started sketching out a few thoughts running through my head and wrote down a few things that I felt summed up where I was in terms of my current skill level.

Don't get me wrong, I loved how my original logotype looked but it started to look a little dated to me. I created the original way back in 2015, not long before I moved to Cardiff, and a part of me didn't want to rework it because I felt like it had become a part of who I am.
Like I say, the main reason for updating it was to ensure that I was representing my current skill level. If you look at the the two of them side by side you can clearly see a HUGE difference in both style and skill. I've got a bit of a thing for Spencerian-style scripts, and that's been reflected a lot in my most recent works (of which there haven't been a lot of, sorry...) because I love the contrast of sharp points and silky curves, so this was obviously something that I felt needed to be included...

Left: Original logotype from 2015 | Right: Reworked lettering for 2017

Not that I'm blowing my own trumpet here, but there's a dramatic improvement in the way I shape my letterforms, but also more confidence in their form. I think Spencerian is probably my strongest lettering style because it's one I love so dearly. I've also tried to incorporate a more rhythmic visceral appeal, something I've always admired in modern calligraphy, with the slightly varied heights and undulating descenders.
One thing I especially like about the new-look lettering is that there's less dependence on superfluous flourishes. I want the focus to be on the letterforms and the composition, not the things that surround them. Cutting down the flourishes to just the one of the end of "Stee" works to balance out the overall shape of the logo, and the simple underscore adds a little depth because there aren't any descenders in "Chromatic".

This confidence and rhythm is something I'm really aiming to embody in my work this year.

For the first time in too long, I'm going to be back at Printhaus this weekend, so I'm going to have a play with some printed editions of the new logo and create a colourful version for use somewhere, maybe Twitter.

Sunday Inspiration | Mike Perry

I enjoyed what I studied during my undergraduate degree, but I felt like I'd left with no idea where I was or who I was as an artist. It drove me mad for months. When someone asks why I chose to study lettering for my MA, I tell them about the initial struggle I had when I was surrounded by students that knew exactly what they wanted to do, those that wanted to take their practice to new places or those that wanted to shift it into a completely different area.

Filled with doubt about my future, I headed home at the end of an induction session at the Parkside campus of Birmingham City University. Sitting in front of my then limited collection of books, I spotted something I fell in love with when I was studying at college: Hand Job: a Catalogue of Type by Mike Perry. A collection of various artists and designers from the Western Hemisphere (mostly from the U.S) that either dabbled with, or specialised in hand drawn lettering. As I started flicking through the pages (of what I now refer to as my Bible) and grinning to myself, I realised that typography was always something that I should have pursued right from the very beginning. The next day, I took the book on to campus and thrust it in front of my tutor Clive and said "that's what I want to be". The rest is, as they say, history.
The book itself only features snippets of Perry's work on the beautifully illustrated covers, as well as in the accompanying preface and contents pages. So for this week's installment of Sunday Inspiration, I'd like to introduce you to the work of artist, illustrator, serial doodler and my hero Mike Perry.

Mike Perry | Portrait by Matt Rubin for The Great Discontent, 2015

Born in Kansas in July 1981, Michael Christopher Perry is an artist, designer and print maker based in Brooklyn, New York. He's worked with a number of institutions, the likes of editorial and commercial clients such as Apple, The New York Times, Dwell, Microsoft, Urban Outfitters, Nike and most recently the opening credits to the American sitcom Broad City.

“I want to show people that the world is a beautiful, powerful place where you can be yourself and make whatever you want.”
 

Perry's work revolves around the philosophical concept of existentialism; the connection between an individual and the universe, and how we are all interconnected. Much of his work, if not all of it, focuses on his own personal metaphysics and the relationship between his imagination and reality. For me, this is most notably portrayed in his more sculptural work, some of which feature ladders that seem to disappear into the ground, or pass through the floor, into an adjacent wall. Interestingly they also only ever seem to go “up” (which I like to think is a notion of positivity), depicting this transition from one realm into the next.

I've always admired his work, but it's difficult to describe; there's a simplicity and seeming naivety to his letter-based work that I love. A kind of cosmic "otherworldly" feel to it which, while being light-years away from the stuff I produce, is every bit as skilful.
You can really feel the passion he has for his work when you look at it. The incredible use of highly saturated colours through everything he does is what really appealed to me way back when I discovered his work. I remember looking over his work and at first thinking "that's so simple" and "how has he managed that?!" and then looking into it and seeing that there's far more to it than my jealousy for his commercial success.

When it comes to typography as a whole, we recognise that it mirrors qualities from history and the physical world (for example the Humanist type classification is influenced by the calligraphic scripts of the Italian Humanist writers) and that understanding is consistently similar from one person to the next. So with that in mind, we could say that the qualities we see in Perry's lettering illustrations reflect the inner workings of his imagination and possibly represents dimensions outside of the one we perceive.

A feast for the eyes | Perry's current homepage

Perry's type triggers the imagination, evokes a sense of playfulness and links to all of the senses. Personally, some of the attributes I recognise are from the real world, like how loud the words might sounds or what it would feel like to hold it in your hands.  I'm not sure if this is subliminal or not because I'm trying to disseminate the work, but if you look at the screenshot of his current homepage (above) it's like a multisensory, imagination grenade with all the warmth and joy that welcomes you to his site!

Below are a selection of small lettering projects from over the last couple of years. I think snippets such as these are great representations of the naivety and playfulness I've mentioned. I also believe that they reinforce the idea of a multisensory approach, the "touch and feel" that is most apparent throughout Perry's 2D work. The initial vibrancy and freedom that drew me to his work all those years ago still fills me with nostalgia and joy.

I've wanted to talk properly about Perry for a long time as he's probably the biggest influence on my career path. I did a research project on him and the notion of existentialism back when I did my MA, but I think I completely missed the point when I was writing it. In a way, I'm hoping that this post has picked up from that essay and built on it with hindsight, more informed information and a more rounded opinion.

Finally, I'd like to apologise that this is over a week late, but it's taken a while to write and edit this piece. Trying to set myself a benchmark each week is proving slightly difficult! 

London Type Safari | Pt. 1

This week my sister is off doing her work experience at The British Museum and I've got the week off work to keep her company.
While she's off cataloging, I've tasked myself with having a whirlwind museum/gallery tour as well as taking in some of the typographic delights that London has to offer. I will point out now that I had originally started putting this post together in August (the last time we visited the city) but I never got around to actually writing about it. So just in case anyone is wondering why the weather looks bizarrely wonderful for December, I'll be including some photos from last time of things that I found to be inspiring and generally rather interesting.

First on my list for the type safari is the beautiful ironwork on the entry to the British Library. I never got a particularly decent photograph back in August, mainly because I wanted to cram in so much into the three short days we were around that I didn't plan for going back and taking another shot...

Designed by the British stonecutter and typeface designer David Kindersley, I love the way the type goes from light to ultra heavy (top to bottom) forming a pattern that echoes traditional iron gates, and the way that light falls through the each letterform and the spaces between them. I'm also reliably informed by a member of staff at the library that the font starring in the ironwork gate is Octavian, which Kindersley worked on in 1961 for Monotype. To me it looks like a slight variation though because the serifs are a bit stubby, but this may be to do with it being translated into use at such a large scale. Come to think of it the sharp serifs would be a health and safety nightmare in such a public space!

Next up is a trek over to Blackfriars for a visit to the Blackfriar pub and its gorgeous tiled signage (and maybe a cheeky pint or two).

Built in about 1875, The Black Friar was remodelled in server all stages starting in 1903, then 1914 and 1925 by the architect Herbert Fuller-Clark, the exterior jade-green tiling and contrasting gold lettering clearly reflects the Arts and Crafts movement of the early 1900s. Much of the internal decoration was done by the artist Henry Poole, featuring sculptures and relief work relating to the history of the friary that once stood in its place.

And for the final part of day one, which turned out to be a bit of a shit day weather-wise, a short walk over to Southbank for the OXO Tower:

Originally constructed as a power station to supply electricity to the Royal Mail post office, it was built towards the end of the 19th century roughly, and was later acquired by the Liebig Extract of Meat Company in the 1920s, they are the manufacturers of Oxo beef stock cubes, for conversion into a cold store.

The building was largely rebuilt to an Art Deco design by company architect Albert Moore between 1928 and 1929. Much of the original power station was demolished, but the river facing facade was retained and extended. Liebig wanted to include a tower featuring illuminated signs advertising the name of their product. When permission for the advertisements was refused, the tower was built with four sets of three vertically-aligned windows, each of which just so happened to be in the shapes of a circle, a cross and a circle. This was very significant because Skyline advertising at the time was banned along Southbank. Despite these windows being the building’s architectural focal point, the tower is sadly not accessible by the general public. Granted access is only given to those who maintain the tower, like electricians.

*I realise I'm hideously late posting these, but life has gotten in the way a little bit...

Wedding Celebrations

And so, after weeks of sketching and stressing (and a little bit of avoidance on my part...) the big day is here and my contribution is finally finished! 

I should probably start from the beginning...
Back in May, my dear friend Emily asked me to create a board that would welcome guests to her wedding reception. I had originally planned to create a print for her and her fiancé Calum based around how the early years of their relationship by pulling in some Shakespeare references, but being asked to create their welcome board was an incredibly special thing, so there was no way I could refuse!

The most difficult part for me was working out the composition of the whole piece and the order of their names. How do I decide who goes first? Is there a rule with this sort of thing that I should know about!? I ended up choosing to arrange them alphabetically to avoid choosing sides. Quite glad I did actually, the final composition looks good.
I looked at the recently revisited Peace and Light print I did a few months ago for ways in which I could place the two names. I was also torn between the word "and" or incorporating an ornate ampersand within the flourishes, but after trying several variations with a lovely looking ampersand I decided to ditch it because there was enough space between Calum and Emily for a small "and" to be placed without being too distracting.

 Left to right, top to bottom:  initial letterforms drawn out, Spencerian weight variation added, floral decor on test print and the final print with gold detailing. 

In the wild at the Wroxeter Hotel

I have this habit of over complicating stuff, and I didn't really want to work too much into this design and "spoil" it. My standards are high as they are, but this print will be my first with such a large viewing audience. I didn't want it to be really busy. I've striped it all down to just the basics; a short welcome message, the happy couples names and the date of the union.

For the final, I chose to work with some of the colours on the wedding invite as I wasn't given a colour scheme to work to (for those of you that follow my Instagram feed, I've been posting photos of different colour schemes I've tested). The photograph above shows a small glimpse of one scheme I decided on. There was another that involved much cooler colours, but I wasn't keen on how off my registration was with the gold detailing, and I couldn't give Emily something I was happy with!

I Have Arrived

Last week, I started a course called Stress Control which is helping me, and many others, to learn about ways in which we can take control of our anxieties and to help us overcome them, step by step.
I have been to two sessions now, and things are making sense! I have been doing a lot of jogging and running (much to the surprise of my family) as a way of not just building up my fitness levels, but as a way of promoting my own wellbeing. It really is helping; I feel more focused, I'm sleeping better at night and most importantly, I feel way better than I have done for a long time.

This is only the beginning though.

I recently had a conversation with a huge inspiration behind my lettering work. Her name is Sarah "Inkymole" Coleman and she's awesome. Her work was bought to my attention when I was studying at BCU as my tutor Clive is incredibly proud of her and he suggested I look to her for inspiration. How right he was! Her work is so fluid, so natural and yet so refined, a world away from the work I produce.
Sarah left some comments on a few pieces of my work, which really lifted my spirits. To hear from friends that your work is good is nice, really nice, but when you have a woman like Sarah with such talent and such commercial experience say that your logo is gorgeous is far more of an incredible feeling!

I have always described myself as an amateur. I believed that I would only ever give myself a "proper" term like Lettering Artist after I felt I had earned it through working or through commissions. I've never really thought much about it before now, but when Sarah said to me "I think it's time you stopped describing yourself as 'amateur'!" and she disagreed with my view on becoming a professional saying:

"Professionalism is what you demonstrate, how you work, conduct and present yourself, and is reflected in your work ethic. I am not sure you need a commission in order to 'be' professional; maybe to be 'a' professional?"

It just clicked. In hindsight (a common theme for me recently) I can see that has been very negative and in some ways counterproductive. I have been working really hard on my lettering, not so much recently but over the last few years I've really taken it seriously. I know where it is that I want to be in terms of my skill level, I know that my ambition is to have my work published one day, and by taking a step back and looking at my efforts and my progress I can see that I am no amateur. Yes, I do it for the love of doing it, but I am so driven to do it and to reach my goal that I suppose, I am professional.

Sarah also stated that: "There’s a time for modesty and it’s good to stay humble but there is also a time to acknowledge you’ve arrived!"
As I said before, this is just the beginning. With this course, Sarah's comments and my drive to succeed, this next six weeks is going to be pivotal. Not just to my mental health but to my professional practice as well.

With all this in mind, I think it is safe to say that I have arrived, even though my journey has just begun.