artists in residence

Much like the plants she tends, Alice Vincent is looking ahead to the next few months. Along with the springtime arrival of buds and petals, she'll soon see the fruits of her labour blossom as she releases her second book Rootbound, and ends her 7-year tenure as Arts & Entertainment Writer and Editor at The Telegraph. After a (very) short break, she'll be starting as Features Editor for Penguin Books, all the while continuing to share her learnings and gardening tricks from her south London balcony online. In the last few days of December, we sat down with a pot of Earl Grey tea to talk about these upcoming life changes, the creative process and fears of sharing a memoir, and why, as Rebecca Solnit once said, writing isn't typing. You can read Alice's new book, Rootbound by ordering a copy here, and follow her balcony plant stories, here on Instagram. Apologies for the undertones of drilling downstairs - it eases off a few minutes into the conversation. Next time, must do better. If you're new to artists in residence - follow along with our monthly conversations by hitting the follow/subscribe button and get inspired over on Instagram.

During the hot, sweaty madness that was London in June, I paid a visit to Thomas Harvey's first-floor corner studio, tucked away off the main road in Bethnal Green.  Thomas is a menswear fashion designer who started attracting attention in 2018, as he was finishing up his end of year collection London College of Fashion. Disheartened by the lack of opportunities for final year students to showcase their work, Thomas and his classmates formed a collective called Burn The Man and held a runway show at the Nicholls & Clarke showrooms in Shoreditch. One year on, Thomas spoke to me about his menswear brand, MMRMS, how music is essential to his creative process, and why finding the right people to share a studio with is all-important to production. Check out more of Thomas' work here and here on Instagram. And to see his work inspired by the Barrington Levy song, Here I Come that Thomas mentions in our conversations, check out a video here.

Kate Hamilton is a writer, editor, and most recently, Content Director of the agency she co-founded, Sonder and Tell. Having long admired Kate's work for Suitcase Magazine, and more recently, her project to raise money for the charity, Women for Women International, I was excited to sit down with her to ask about her process, and all that creating things entails. We sat with a cup of tea at Kate's dining table where she often sits to work on anything from travel commissions, to creative briefs, and most recently, fictional stories. You can learn more about what Kate creates on her website and also over on her creative agency website. Notes from the conversation: Get a copy of Comfort Zones here.  Follow Kate's Content Agency, Sonder and Tell on Instagram here.

In March, I sat down with photographer, Alex Leese in her West London home. Alex has been published and commissioned by world-renowned fashion brands and publications, but I was most keen to talk to her about her personal project, Boys of Hong Kong. We chat about creative process and collaboration, and how when working with people, it is best to leave your concept open, so as to elicit the purest results. We also talk about why creative expression is quite so important to human happiness, and affirming a sense of self.