[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":10},["ShallowReactive",2],{"blog-post-enchanted":3},{"_type":4,"body":5,"bodyHtml":6,"excerpt":5,"featuredImage":5,"publishedAt":7,"slug":8,"tags":9,"title":8},"blogPost",null,"Wow, lots happening. I saw some great Aubrey Beardsley drawings this morning at the Dulwich Picture Gallery, as part of their  \u003Ca href=\"http://www.dulwichpicturegallery.org.uk/exhibitions/default.aspx\">Age of Enchantment\u003C/a> exhibition. They had some good pieces by Edmund Dulac, Jessie Marion King and Sidney Sime, and two paintings by Arthur Rackham and two of Russian theatre designer Leon Bakst's best pieces. \\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/age_enchant-19e946f090.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nI had a really good  meeting yesterday with a major publisher, where they offered me two books to illustrate, which was very exciting. And it was SO nice knowing that my agent can help me make final decisions on career moves and contracts and all that. After the meeting, there wasn't time to go  home before joining friends for dinner, so I treated myself to a little wander around central London, and stopped by \u003Ca href=\"http://www.bookendslondon.co.uk/index.html\">Book Ends\u003C/a> in Exmouth Market. It's a fabulous independent shop that sells an excellent selection of picture books, intriguing craft books and art supplies. They used to be based near the Natural History Museum in South Kensington, but the landlord wouldn't renew their lease in  favour of a Le Pain Quotidien, so they've finally found a new space. Do drop in if you're around! I really want these guys to be in business for a long time. Exmouth Market is a lovely old road, with another independent bookshop across the way called \u003Ca href=\"http://www.metropolitanbooks.co.uk\">Metropolitan Books\u003C/a>. I also stopped by a small press shop called \u003Ca href=\"http://www.bookartbookshop.com\">bookartbookshop\u003C/a>. \\r\n\\r\nBut my unlikely favourite visit was when I was walking down the street from Angel station and noticed a rather pretty little side road and decided to take it instead of the main road. And then I saw a lovely window full of 1950's decorated ceramic plates and cups and thought I'd pop my head into the shop. A white-haired man named \u003Ca href=\"http://www.allinlondon.co.uk/directory/1081/11466.php\">Gary Grant\u003C/a> owns the place and since it was a quiet day, he basically sat me down and gave me an hour-long lesson on 1950's British design. It was fabulous! He had loads of interesting books to show me, and then he'd whip out to the back room and bring me an example of something from the book. I made a list of people he talked about, who's work I need to explore more, including \u003Ca  href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stig_Lindberg\">Stig Lindberg\u003C/a>, \u003Ca href=\"http://www.designmuseum.org/design/robin-lucienne-day\">Lucienne Day\u003C/a>, \u003Ca  href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terence_Conran\">Terence Conran\u003C/a>, \u003Ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_Williams-Ellis\">Susan Williams Ellis\u003C/a> and \u003Ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graham_Sutherland\">Graham Sutherland\u003C/a>. Just the day before, I'd seen a beautiful \u003Ca href=\"http://collection.britishcouncil.org/html/work/work.aspx?a=1&id=38880&section=/theme/\">Eric Ravilious bowl\u003C/a> at the National Maritime Museum and thought, I really must find out more about ceramics from this period. And then along came Gary Grant, good man! He also directed me to the \u003Ca href=\"http://www.twentytwentyone.com/\">twentytwentyone\u003C/a> warehouse of Swedish furniture design, not far from his shop, a place I never would  have discovered on my own. \\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/2021-dc6ada11d1.jpg\">","2008-01-25T20:04:00.000Z","enchanted",[],1776628722262]