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A PRACTICE FOR EVERYDAY LIFE
BY GARRICK WEBSTER
Calm, quiet, thoughtful—that’s the feeling in the studio that houses A Practice for Everyday Life (APFEL), in the East End of London just a few minutes away from the
hustle and bustle of Bethnal Green Road. On the street, people rush for the tube, do their shopping, grab some food, and meet up in the parks and pubs. But in APFEL’s space at Durham Yard, a former furniture workshop now split into studio units, the energy is still and relaxing. No music, no sudden movements—just designers focused on creating publications, posters and identities, surrounded by white walls with a bare wooden floor underfoot and natural illumination streaming from ceiling-high windows on both sides of the studio.
“We’re hidden in an enclave of old workshops,” says APFEL cofounder Emma Thomas. “It’s out of the way, but in a part of East London that’s so busy, it’s funny that it’s quiet here. We love it here and wouldn’t want to move.”
Thomas cofounded APFEL in 2003 with fellow designer Kirsty Carter. The pair met during a post-graduate course at the Royal College of Art (RCA) in London. From a Yorkshire village with the unusual name of Blubberhouses, Thomas studied graphic design at the Camberwell College of Arts before attending the RCA. Carter hails from Newmarket, just outside Cambridge. She first studied at the Brighton College of Art.
Aside from both of them being enrolled in the Communication in Art and Design course, the two found they shared a common love of contemporary art, which Carter describes as “art that’s less figurative and more based on ideas, like the conceptual art movement of the 1960s and 1970s.” She explains, “You can really see its parallel to our own thinking. And that’s the foundation of the studio, really—contemporary art.”
Then there’s the studio’s strange name. A Practice for Everyday Life comes from the Michel de Certeau book The Practice for Everyday Life. They could see the book on each other’s desk
Right: “In May 2012, the Barbican Art Gallery presented Bauhaus: Art as Life, the largest UK-based exhibition of works from the iconic art school in almost 40 years. We collaborated with architecture firm Carmody Groarke on an installation of elemental forms, reinterpreting the gallery’s spatial structure to create a viewing experience. An awareness of the Bauhaus movement’s principles of color, structure and typography graphically informed our design. Bold panels and supergraphics draw objects, themes and ideas together. Large-scale images, which depict Bauhaus students and masters at work and at play, emphasize the exhibition’s focus beyond the school’s output.” Carmody Groarke, architect; Barbican Art Gallery, client.
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when they were at the RCA; both studied and appreciated its text. The book not only brought them together, but
it also informed how they work as much as their love of contemporary art did—if not more.
“The book is sociological and anthropological,” says Thomas. “In it, de Certeau describes the narrative of the city and its relationship to the people that live in it, as well as the stories they make there. It’s about how people influence their surroundings and how their surroundings influence them. We really liked how this paralleled how we work as designers.”
In a way, APFEL sees the world of design as an environment influenced by clients and projects. Designers form relationships, undertake research and exchange ideas, and as the design process continues, these factors shape the project. Designers produce work that communicates something and that, perhaps, also influences the client, their relationship and future projects.
Rituals, habits, the vernacular, common understanding ... all sorts of ideas run through The Practice of Everyday Life. “It’s a thought process. We never wanted our studio to have a distinctive visual style, but more of a distinctive visual voice and way of thinking,” says Carter.
Looking at APFEL’s projects, it’s easy to imagine the studio moving around different landscapes in the design world, absorbing ideas and aesthetics. In the early days, the studio helped artists and galleries by designing publications, publicity materials and even gift shop goodies. Then the studio’s exhibition designs got bigger and bigger, including major shows at the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris and London's Victoria and Albert Museum and Barbican Centre.
A key milestone for APFEL was the identity for Hepworth Wakefield—a huge gallery in Wakefield, West Yorkshire,