Lord Whitney

Yesterday we were fortunate enough to have a visit from Lord Whitney, a collaboration between two talented and inventive visual artists: Amy Lord and Rebekah Whitney. 

They both studied visual arts at university in Leeds, were both studying different disciplines- but were both missing something: One was a photography student who was struggling to find her niche and was beginning to discover 'documentary photography' wasn't really her thing after all and that she preferred photographing unusual hand made objects. The other was an illustration student who was starting to work three dimensionally but was unsure of where to go next. And then they started working together and it all clicked into place: they had a shared love for hand made objects and sets; a shared sense of surreal humor and a shared love of 'The Mighty Boosh'. When they started working together it all made sense. 

Unfortunately by the time they discovered this their time at university was coming to an end. However, the pair remained undeterred and once they finished their courses they continued to create work together with the same passion that they had at university. Only now without the studio space or the money. 

What then followed was months and years of hard work:finding commissions wherever they could get them, with little space and no money they worked on these projects with a sense of playful enthusiasm that has since become synonymous with 'Lord Whitney'. During much of this time they were holding down full time jobs but they still found time to create work together, often completely self initiated, creating simply for the joy of creating. And now that 'Lord Whitney' is a full time studio based business, that sense of playful creativity still remains. 

We were told all of this during a talk that they gave to us yesterday, a talk that inspired us and motivated us to remember to have fun whilst designing (even if we are now in third year). At the end of the lecture during the 'any questions' section that followed, I asked if they had any advice for us for what to do when we finished university. The answer was to: 'just keep creating'. To keep creating work that we enjoy and that inspires us. Good advice indeed.