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2020–Present
Freelance writer, editor, curator
Recent work includes dance writing for Fjord Review and Wallpaper*; editor of the book What is Design? 100 Definitions; features editor of the National Saturday Club Annual Review; press and PR support for Pavilion Dance South West; and curating archival photography project The Family Museum, which I co-founded with filmmaker Nigel Shephard in 2017.
Photograph: Christopher Duggan (Tiler Peck and Roman Mejia in Alonso King’s ‘Swift Arrow’)
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2017–Present
Co-founder, The Family Museum
Launched in collaboration with filmmaker Nigel Martin Shephard, The Family Museum is an archival photography project rooted in Nigel’s collection of around 40,000 original British amateur family photographs and 600 photo albums. Dating from the 1860s to the noughties, the archive has been amassed by Nigel over 35 years. Through sharing more than a century and a half of mostly found images depicting everyday life and experiences, the mission of The Family Museum is to explore our understanding of ‘family’ as expressed through vernacular photography, and the opportunities the archive offers for research and discussion around the history and practice of amateur and family photography.
Photograph: Mary Pacey (‘Elsie, Joyce, Mother’, 1920s)
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2017–2020
Special Projects Assistant to Sir John Sorrell CBE
Designer John Sorrell has been a pioneer in the UK’s creative-industry sector for more than 50 years. His numerous roles have included Co-founder/Chairman, London Design Festival; Co-founder/President, London Design Biennale; Co-founder, National Saturday Club; UK Business Ambassador and Advisor to the Mayor on London’s creative sector.
As John’s Special Projects Assistant, I drafted briefings, letters, research papers, speeches and presentations for his various activities, and managed events involving high-level cultural, business and government figures. These events included a 2018 London Design Biennale reception at 10 Downing Street, and a charity art auction in aid of the National Saturday Club, held at Bonhams, London. -
2014–2017
Associate Director, 19 greek street
The London design gallery 19 greek street, founded in 2012 by Marc Peredis in a Soho townhouse, was an early and influential champion of the sustainable design movement. I worked with Marc as the gallery’s Associate Director to co-curate exhibitions shown during the 2015 and 2016 London Design Festivals. Both exhibitions, The Art of Progress and Collectors’ Club, were focused on sustainable design practices and environmentally focused art. I also managed the gallery’s events business and ‘Space for Progress’ programme, which offered free exhibition space to selected charities.
During this period, I was also Co-founder of SideStory, an urban travel initiative offering guided cultural experiences. I co-developed the creative concept, authored the launch content, and built a contributor network of photographers, videographers, art critics, fashion and interiors stylists, food and drink writers and influencers. -
2006–2014
Executive Editor, Wallpaper* City Guides
Wallpaper’s City Guide series was an award-winning, design-led tour of the globe highlighting a destination’s most interesting modern and contemporary architecture, galleries, boltholes and boîtes.
I worked on the series from launch, producing 121 titles, plus annual re-editions and apps. I appointed and led an editorial team of up to 20, and liaised with senior Time Inc UK and Phaidon executives regarding the publication and its brand direction. I and my team built an international network of writers and photographers, plus cultural and hospitality contacts.
I wrote the first city guide to Reykjavîk in 2008 and 2015 update of the London edition.
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2001–2006
Freelance Production Editor
Wallpaper* Dutch Discoverer; What to Wear (BBC)
Deputy Editor/ContributorTime Out Guides (Time Out Communications)
US Events Editor
Timeout.com
Copy EditorThe Sunday Times; Live It (Conran magazine)
Chief Sub-EditorReal (H Bauer)
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1999–2000
Editor, space
Following on from the success of its UK publication for IKEA, John Brown Media brought its custom-magazine concept to the US with the debut title space, produced for IKEA North America. From a satellite office in New York, I edited this US title from launch, appointing the New York-based editorial team, building a local contributor network, managing the budget and client liaison. The editorial spanned beyond the IKEA brand to stories on architecture and popular design culture.
Prior to this post, I was Features Editor on Food Illustrated, published by John Brown Media in London. This visually led glossy was dubbed ‘gastro porn’ when it launched in 1999, and was the (self-titled) ‘world’s most beautiful food magazine’. The content covered restaurant reviews, interviews, and features on artisan producers and culinary trends.
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1997-1999
Freelance Copy Editor
Design (Design Council); Vogue; Financial Times; Food Illustrated; Country Living, Zest
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1996-1997
Freelance Arts Administrator
Administrated dance-video project ‘4 Walls’, for MA Dance Studies students at Trinity Laban.
Consultant EditorEdited proposals for photography exhibition ‘Surrounding, showing work of Helen Chadwick, Hannah Collins, Willie Doherty and Steven Pippin, submitted to international galleries by Rona Sela, Curator of Photography, Tel Aviv Museum of Art/PhD, Slade School of Art, London.
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Published writing
Departures, Fiera, Fjord Review, Food Illustrated, Nowness, Pamono, Shutterstock, Time Out, Wallpaper*, Wallpaper* City Guides
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Lectures and talks
Writing the City, Urban Laboratory, University College London, 2017.
I wrote and led this seminar exploring trends in urban travel journalism for UCL’s MSc Urban Studies students.Chair, Sustainable Design: What Next?, 19 greek street, 2015
Hosted discussion with designers Marjan van Aubel, Merel Karhof, Dian Simpson and Nina Tolstrup exploring future trends in the design industry. -
Volunteer work
Age UK, Telephone Friend volunteer
Mary's Living and Giving, Save the Children, Bermondsey, London. Store volunteer
Sightsavers (formerly Royal Commonwealth Society for the Blind). Assisted in health-education project, Madurai, India
Leighton Buzzard Observer Produced weekly audio magazine for local blind community