Pick Me Up 2015
Another year, another Pick Me Up exhibition at Somerset House in London.
Members of the creative team at Deeson were excited to go and see the new designers and illustrators exhibiting at this year's show.
True to its normal format, the event showcases the ‘Selects’, a room of rising stars, ‘Collectives’ and ‘Galleries’.
There were also some interesting workshops to take part in and this year saw the addition of talks to the programme too.
The ‘Selects’
This room is full of creative ideas and inspiration. Here are my personal top three highlights from the 'Selects' this year:
3. Jack Cunningham
Jack’s quirky 3D printed characters made me chuckle.
2. Hattie Newman
I am always envious of people who can manipulate paper in this way.
Hattie Newman is a true pro, with excellent attention to detail. She specialises in creating towns and cities in her chosen media.
It’s always nice to see someone's process too.
1. Thomas Lamadieu
My favourite because of the fresh idea behind his designs.
Unless I have been hiding under a rock for quite some time, I’ve not seen anything like this before.
Thomas uses the shapes of buildings to create characters in the sky with the added bonus of the cloud texture as well.
Collectives
The 'Collectives' section felt a little commercial this year and didn’t seem to showcase as many groups as previous years.
Nevertheless, I was excited to find an all women’s type collective - ‘Ladies of Letters’ from Australia.
Carla Hackett and Amy Constable collaborate to make some really interesting pieces including this hand drawn alphabet poster:
Workshops
As a massive fan of letterpress, I was delighted to see a working press at the show. You could even get your initials printed on gold leaf!
The Books
At the end of the exhibition there was an amazing collection of design and typography books.
I was delighted to see a book that I thought was sold out, having featured in many blogs, as well as Creative Review.
The A-Z of Letterpress is written by Alan Kitching and the best bit is it’s printed by hand. The book showcases 39 wood-letter fonts.
He shows the font in its entirety...
...and then he shows a few examples of the same letter in other fonts. This way you can compare and choose the font you like the most.
Although the event wasn’t quite as busy as previous years, I still loved attending all the same.
As a designer I think it’s really important to soak up the trends in the industry. One of the ways to do this is to get out there and go to as many exhibitions as possible.
I’m already looking forward to what next year's Pick Me Up has to offer!