Landan Trip

There's a hole in the world like a great black pit

and the vermin of the world inhabit it

and its morals aren't worth what a pig could spit

and it goes by the name of London

Sweeney Todd

 Luckily we didn't experience the nature of Victorian London, however fascinating that would've been, but we still visited the infamous capital for a glimpse of its illustration industry... and its rum...

 After an exceedingly expensive train journey that was pretty relaxing, I arrived in London at 11:10 am on Tuesday morning and made rendezvous with the rest of the class. We traversed out of Euston and headed straight to our first destination: adam&eveDDB. They are a communications company and are responsible for advertising brands. We entered a very stylish office building through a small rotating door and were welcomed by a smart and clean looking man in skinny jeans and loafers. He then escorted us into a glass-walled office with a huge flat screen television inside. As there were so many of us, I ended up sat on the floor which I wasn't too bothered about. He gave us an introduction as to what the company does and showed a series of adverts that they had published. They work with image makers of all varieties and establish the connection between them and the advertising client (sort of like an agency). He then gave us some feedback on a few questions about how to promote ourselves, which I found very valuable. After and hour or so, we said thank you and headed out for the tube to our next point of interest.

 We arrived at Elephant and Castle station and started walking. We walked for at least 30 minutes or so until we were in a very residential looking part of town. We were lost for a little while, but managed to spot one of the people waving at us from across the street. She was called Grace and she showed us into a large empty mill-type building. She was part of a collective of post-graduate illustration students, called Day Job. We crowded up a lift and went upwards to a studio of spaces filled with art work. I felt right at home and we gathered round in a circle on some chairs and cushions - I was on the floor again! There were 5 girls and they gave us some insight into what they do and what it's like after university. With the work they made, they made zines together so they could promote their work. I loved the environment and I'm hoping to have a space of my own in the near future; potentially with others from the class! They then had a look through our portfolios, but I'll leave that for another post. We made our way out down the lift and headed back to the station, so we could finally get to our hostel which was all the way over at King's Cross.

 After a quick rest back at the hostel, myself and two other fellow students conversed to Camden for a night of various antics, including me dancing like a puppet... Anyway, the next day 6 of us made an extraordinary visit to a lady's house. A very lovely and hospitable lady indeed, she's called Naomi Games and is the daughter of the famous graphic designer, Abram Games! We entered into the house and introduced ourselves to Naomi at the top of the stairs with a hand shake. She wore nice clothes that emitted the colours pink and purple, mainly in the scarf she was wearing. We then entered the kitchen which was full of artwork and all sorts of cool antiques and furniture. We sat round the table and eagerly anticipating what she would show us. She first asked if we all wanted a hot drink and most of us answered yes. She revealed a crazy, bong-like coffee maker which happened to be an invention created by her father. She was going to show us his archive of development work. We all drank our coffees and she opened up countless amounts of folders containing this goldmine of work. Everyone was most fascinated by his stamp designs because of how small he made them. A tool he used, an airbrush, was passed round with delicacy. Ian, our tutor, couldn't contain his excitement. It was all very fascinating and she even told us a story about how Paul Rand and Saul Bass came round for tea! Apparently I was sat where Rand was. Starstruck much?! After a lengthy presentation of the vast amount of work, we made our goodbyes with another classic handshake, and left for London town for some final free time in this amazing city.

Grow Your Own Food, Abram Games

 Got back to ol' Mancunia by 11:10 pm after another relaxing train journey, and headed back home to continue writing the last part of my dissertation. It was a long night...