Monday, 26 November 2012
Design Porn: Vic Lee
Yesterday, I took a trip to the brilliant Made in Clerkenwell event (so brilliant they had central heating, free mulled wine and a van an outside selling fish finger sandwiches). The events are run by Craft Central, a huge collection of designer studios and workshops who regularly open their doors to the public. There was so much gorgeous stuff to see (and erm, buy) but one designer really stood out.
I'm now completely besotted with Vic Lee's London Streets prints.
The detail in each print is gorgeous. Little rows of shops and people, tiny details that you would only recognise if you were familiar with the area. It gets a little bit like a London version of Where's Wally? This Columbia Road print does indeed feature the gorgeous block of flats in the lead up to the market - you'd only know how lovely those flats are if you'd visited. (Then you'll spend a large part of your Sunday wishing you lived in one.)
Lambs Conduit Street is one of my favourite streets in London (and one of the prettiest when it's snowing). But actually, this one isn't my favourite print. That's reserved for the next one down.
The top end of Upper Street always feels like a local treat - tourists never seem to walk that far up and it stays beautifully unspoiled. My friends got married in the town hall, one of my favourite restaurants is there. It's miles away from my home and I still come back regularly. This print is gorgeous. I love that each design has a history of the area, the calligraphy is just as much a part of the print as the buildings themselves.
But the buildings are perfect - carefully (and painstakingly) drawn to perfect reflect the architecture of Lee's chosen streets. So much work goes into these limited edition designs and yet brilliantly, magically, they're only £45 each.
They are in fact wonderful art pieces and pieces of great intelligence. I wish I could see the pictures more closer.
ReplyDeleteThey're so beautiful. And huge! You can see closer images on Vic's site, but they're A3 so you still can't really get a proper idea of all the details. Perhaps that all adds to the surprise...
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