It constantly amazes me how like attracts like. I suppose it is inevitable if you think about it. We are all attracted to people, places and adventures that are like us, so it goes without saying a love affair with the arts was inevitable.
One of my earliest school memories is of myself as a six year old girl standing in front of the class proudly displaying my waxy crayon drawing of butterflies adorned with a gold star. The smell of those new crayons my mother had brought me after weeks of pestering her for them had done their job. Some thirty plus years later (let’s not be too precise here), and I feel as if it can still smell the crayola crayons and the course texture of the butchers paper used to create this masterpiece. Little did I know this was to be the beginning of my future as a graphic designer.
During the last 22 years I have, with my partner Geoff Bickford and a fabulous group of designers who have entered our studio over that time, been fortunate to work with an amazing array of arts-based clients.
Can you believe the first of these was the West Australian Symphony Orchestra. Wow, what a great one to start with. I have to say we had an amazing mentor in the then Marketing Manager Terry Owen. A real old school woman with a real understanding of the arts, promotion and how to live life. We owe a great deal to her for the faith and patience she gave to two freshly graduated designers wanting a break to do some ‘real’ design work.
In the years since our initiation we have culminated a swag of arts-based clients with whom we have evolved and had the pleasure to work for. Some of these that spring to mind include, The WA Ballet, Country Arts, Dept of Culture and the Arts, Perth Theatre Company, Perth Theatre Trust and The Playhouse Theatre (which sadly closed in Dec 2010 after 54 years of service to the Performing arts industry in Perth.
The Playhouse Theatre from left: The Pier Street entrance, and the 2005 Subscription catalogue.
More recently we have maintained close relationships with the Black Swan State Theatre Company www.bsstc.com.au (more on them in a future blog soon!), Yirra Yakkin www.yirrayaakin.com.au, Onward Productions (we are designing their website as I write), and forging new relationships with Spoontree Productions www.spoontree.com and the Albany Entertainment Centre. I hope to give bring you profiles and some examples of the work we have completed for these clients soon. In the meantime, check out one of our latest arts projects completed for St Mary’s Anglican Girls’ School www.stmarys.wa.edu.au for their 90th Anniversary as a separate blog!
