This year I have been reading…

I’m a curious person by nature. I love meeting new people and understanding how things work. Books feed this appetite. I tend to prefer fact over fiction and, this year, several books have really helped me with both my personal and professional journey. Whilst some have inspired, others have allowed escapism and some have actually channelled my focus. Here are some of my favourites.

Cereal Magazine and Kinfolk go hand in hand. They are both advocates of slow living, quality and craftsmanship. We actually sell Cereal through our own store. Rich Stapleton, Creative Director of Cereal, is a huge inspiration to me.

I only discovered Oak in the spring of this year and now own their two most recent editions (via Tokola). It’s a beautiful curation of people and products, with a Scandinavian and, occasionally, Japanese aesthetic. I can comfortably lose myself in the tactile hard bound book of an evening.

Both Bobby and I worked more than we probably should have during 2016 and made some sacrifices along the way, including forfeiting holidays. So 2017 is all about the Wanderlust. We’re looking forward to Denmark in just over a week, followed by Lisbon and Stockholm at the start of 2017. I love the simplistically beautiful Destination guide books by Caroline Gomez studio (via Tokola). They have selected the most beautiful and exotic locations to stumble across on your travels.

For light humourous reading and yet still largely factual, I really enjoyed Helen Russell’s, ‘The Year of Living Danishly.’ So much so, I discovered Aarhus, next year’s city of culture, and our next vacation destination.

You may have already read this elsewhere but I am taking on more photographic commissions. Photography is a huge passion of mine. You can see more of my work here. I’ve found Henry Carrol’s book’s ‘Read this if you want to take great photographs’ & ‘Read this if you want to take great photographs of people’ really thought provoking and I’m sure these books have influenced how I’ve approached some projects.

My Christmas list includes Henry Carroll’s latest book on Photo Journalism, along with the Anton Rodriguez’s book on the Barbican Residents. You don’t get much better than a book featuring brutalist architecture and people! Two of my favourite things (well aside of Bobby and Stanley!).

I often get asked my methods for unwinding (following a busy day). I’ve touched on one here but I will be sharing more of what works for me soon…