Best of Brochure design

Great to see my work in the latest of the best of Brochure series by Rockport. It's the SABIC annual report I designed and produced while at Bisqit.

Day out

Had a great (long) day in London yesterday, seeing friends, going to meetings and eating and drinking. But never off duty, I spent a good hour in the V&A. It was a quiet Tuesday morning so a great opportunity to check out some of the less visited rooms. Up on the third floor is the architecture galleries where there's a mini exhibition of London underground architecture created by the fantastic and visionary partnership of client Frank Pick and architect Charles Holden. Amid architect's drawings was this gorgeous little poster, demonstrating how the architecture itself had become the destination.

Oh

I guess I don't qualify as part of the 'i' generation, as the Independent's new newspaper for people who don't have time to read a newspaper, The I (or whatever you call it) doesn't really do it for me.

Allegedly it's 'Britain's concise quality paper', but it feels a bit like the Metro (same size, same page count), with its patronising journalism, celeb and PR-driven stories. A nice touch, however, is the arts agenda section, where you can see all your cultural highlights across a spread, complete with 'last chance to see', talks, and 'everybody's talking about'. But I won't be giving up the guardian just yet.

Simple pleasures

I like nothing more than a good cup of tea, and a nice swim in the sea beats a day at the spa hands down. Simple pleasures is my thing. Just call me a cheap date. So it was with much happiness that I stumbled across my new favourite shop today, 'Utility'.

Based in Brighton's amazing North Laine area, an independent shopping person's paradise, Utility stocks a range of products that fit the brief 'Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful'. I'm talking pickling jars, proper tea pots made in Scotland (complete with woolen cosies), enamel pots and much coveted original Beryl plates (think church hall coffee morning). Their motto? Always something brewing.

Day out

A belated happy new year to you all! Been making the most of the good weather recently blowing the cobwebs away. Spent a day in beautiful Tunbridge Wells yesterday, doing a bit of shopping and nosing round the streets. I love the mix of old spa town relics like the covered colonnades of the Pantiles, and 30s architecture of the Percy Thomas-designed Assembly Hall and civic complex. And the hot chocolate at Ismail's takes some beating too!

On the way back we popped into the hq of scientology in the UK, eighteenth century Saint Hill Manor outside East Grinstead. Rather unexpectedly in the old cinema room the walls are completely covered in eccentric murals depicting monkeys up to all kinds of japes, painted by none other than Winston Churchill's nephew, John Spencer Churchill, pic shown above. And Mr Hubbard has a collection of early synths too which we had a full demo of! Tours are available all year round so if you're in the area don't miss it.