Morag Myerscough / Studio Myerscough
London
Studio Myerscough was established in 1993. Since then, the studio has worked with some of the most respected design-led companies in the United Kingdom, with projects including signage for The Barbican Centre, exhibition design for the Science Museum, and branding for Conran, Wedgwood, and the Tate Modern. In each project, the integration of design and its environment is central to founder Morag Myerscough’s approach.
“WHEN IWAS AT ST. MARTIN’S and the Royal College of Art, I used sketchbooks all the time to keep notes for inspiration—they were my boxes of precious jewels. But that is a very safe place to be, and it was sometimes difficult to translate the energy in my sketchbook into reality. My aim over the years has been to keep that energy in the final outcome of my work—to keep it fresh throughout the whole process and not get lost along the way.
“More and more I found the need to put things on the walls around me, to live with them, hence the sketch walls. I like being surrounded by ideas and thoughts—containing these ideas in a sketchbook was too controlled. A glance at any moment at an image or a piece of text can change my whole approach. I feel very strongly that I want my work to leave an impression on people, or cause them to feel an emotion, and so I need to feel those emotions, too.
Myerscough’s studio walls act as a three-dimensional sketchbook, surrounding the designers with work in progress and random pieces of inspiration.
“When I am working on a project, the sketch wall is up as long as it is at the concept stage. I use sketches for presentations, even though some people get confused or don’t want to see them. I know that in this way I can get more valid responses for developing the work to the next stage.
“A photograph is taken of the wall as a record. Then I take the ideas down and a new wall begins for the next project. I work on so many diverse projects, from Wedgwood packaging to environmental graphics, that I just do not have the brain capacity to store so much information.
“I do let some things hang around for longer—samples of type, ceramics, books, dresses, invites, postcards—just general bits and bobs that I like. They’re all around me all the time, and I often go and get a Danish pot or a piece of glassware from my house as a reference, much as I would have put an image in a sketchbook in the past. Writing this, I realize that my whole house and studio (which is one big building and therefore accessible all the time) is a three-dimensional sketchbook, and I have to say it is fantastic being inside it and having the luxury of space to be surrounded.”
The Deptford Project Café Design
“This is a regeneration project for the Deptford neighborhood in southeast London. It was a real labor of love. I hand-cut the stencils and hand-painted the whole train with my assistant Charlotte. Luke Morgan did the crazy Elvis toilet, and we made the table from reclaimed lab tables. I hand-stenciled all the stools, bought the plants from Columbia Road, and even planned out the disabled access. It was great fun.”
—Morag Myerscough