Regardless of the type of book, it is clear the analogue approach – physical mark-making – is as vital a part of the creative process for these designers as it is for Philip Hooper, joint managing director at Sibyl Colefax & John Fowler. ‘A sketch book is always by my side. When travelling, drawing what you see is the only way to make you focus and understand what you are looking at,’ he says. ‘A photograph just does not work in the same way. Studying how a building or interior goes together will only make sense when you start to analyse it as a three-dimensional object.’
For Andy Goodwin, co-founder and creative director of hospitality design specialists Fettle, who has recently worked on projects such as The July aparthotel in London, paper and pen helps block out distractions: he often turns to his sketchbook ‘to solve a problem.’ ‘Nothing can compete for your attention when it is just you, a pen and a blank piece of paper,’ he says. Problem solving is also why Lauren Geremia, who founded Geremia Design after training as a painter, keeps a sketchbook. ‘At work, I’ve got to juggle creativity with timelines and budget targets,’ she says. ‘Sketching is a release. At the end of a long call, I often find I’ve got a paintbrush or a pencil in my hand.’
Andy sees his sketchbooks and notebooks as a ground for problem solving
Courtesy of Andy Goodwin
While for some it is a form of meditation, for others, Phillip among them, keeping a sketchbook is an essential part of the design process. ‘Sketching is the lifeblood of my designing,’ he says. The drawings – especially those he makes while travelling, which is where he gets so much of his inspiration – serve as the jumping off points for his work when gets back to London. ‘On any project I will have pages and pages of notes and drawings all accumulated as I explore on paper, proportions, forms, details, elevations, and plans,’ he says. He then separates the wheat from the chaff to create his final designs.
Philip cites travel as his biggest inspiration and the sketches he makes while abroad often inspire his work
Courtesy of Philip Hooper