I recently took part in a creative, nationwide initiative to raise funds for the Fishermen’s Mission: a charity that supports Britain’s active and retired fishermen and their families. The Fishermen’s Mission reached out to artists and designers across the country and sent us all a wonderful, writhing fish, sculptured out of clay. It was our job to decorate the fish in our own way and true to our creative handwriting.
The fish sat on my table in my studio for about a month before I decided what to do with him. We eyed each other up from time to time, waiting for the right moment to connect.
At the start of this year I sat down to draw the world! And here it is …
The design was for a large-scale canvas backdrop for the Julia Gash booth operated by my British licensee Judge Sampson at a series of international trade shows. At such events, we meet retail buyers from all over the globe who look at products and the work of directional designers such as me and decide what to bring into their stores.
A year closes and with that, it gives me the chance to reflect on some wonderful moments in 2018 that shaped my work and added to my ongoing experience of combining travel and art.
In February I got stranded in Iceland when my plane missed a connection. Ever the explorer I took a bus from the bleak, bitter cold wasteland of a hotel where I had been dumped together with other passengers from the plane, into Reykjavik. A stolen day from a busy trade fair schedule gave me the opportunity to dip my toe into the unique culture of Iceland, make new friends and create a new design ...