Knotting Hill Carnival

Throwing it back to this time last year when I worked as an in-house illustrator at the jewellery brand KIONII and we worked on possibly our funnest campaign to date, Knotting Hill Carnival! My illustrations were made for social media posts, a customer card, a website banner and a playlist cover!

Despite Carnival being cancelled that year because of COVID, it was still so much fun. I was given so much creative freedom and previously worked on a self-directed project around Knotting Hill Carnival so I was keen to give it another go with a slight change in perspective. This included creating a classy Knotting Hill interior showcasing many of the country pendants, as well as a more raunchy crop of a carnival outfit featuring different Caribbean flags as nail art.

The aim of the campaign was great fun as the whole team got involved in the festivities with contributions to the playlist, blog posts with traditional recipes and interactive polls over on our Instagram page to get our audience involved. It’s definitely a topic i know I’ll revisit soon!

Good to be inspired again

This week I went to my first gig in well over a year. It felt so so so good to be out again in the real world hearing artists put their all into their work and being surrounded by people who are all there for the same reason, to listen to music and have fun.

Live music has always been a big part of my life, so it makes perfect sense to have felt so lost without it in the last year. Although my illustration work isn’t always centred around music it’s definitely a theme I enjoy exploring and a good night out can really rejuvenate and inspire me even if what I’m working on isn’t at all related. After my gig on Wednesday I felt SO inspired, just by being in the physical environment where the magic happens! So I decided to draw it. It’s not to the same super detailed complexity of my usual work, but it was nice just to draw something because I wanted to. I really enjoyed being quite loose and playful with it, especially thanks to the coloured lighting. I also captured a fun time-lapse screen recording condensing 4 hours into 1 minute, watch it on my instagram, linked here!

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Writerz & Scribz x The National Trust

Been working on a few things behind the scenes and exploring my creative practice without as much input and documentation on social media. This has been made up of both in person and online practices, including attending workshops, making connections and taking on new challenges, one of which is a recent commission for Writerz and Scribz. Writerz and Scribz is a not for profit creative arts company built on the foundation that art changes and heightens life. This particular brief was in partnership with the National Trust, to respond to the most stunning site, 575 Wandsworth Road, and it was right up my street.

The Ujamma Project spanned over a few months, and ended last night with a terrific online event to showcase all the work. I feel so fortunate to have been welcomed into the space, involved in the project, given so much freedom, and to have witnessed such an incredible selection of artists all responding to the space in their own amazingly unique ways. 

I chose to focus my visual response on the initial entrance of the building, it’s overwhelming effect, the imperfect symmetry, the changing lighting and its impact on the space. This small piece took me days. To think the artist Khadambi Asalache single handedly carved each marking into the woodwork of this London Terrace house astounds me; I believe most of us couldn’t even fathom this level of patience. 

Massive thank you to the whole team at Writerz & Scribz for putting this together and making it all accessible online during this isolating and uninspiring time! and a huge well done to all the artists, every response evoked so many emotions, I felt honoured to work alongside each of you 🤍 

I highly recommend checking them all out and booking a viewing at 575 to see the magic for yourself ✨