Reimagining the Winsor & Newton archive with Snooze One
We invited three artists to reimagine educational notebooks from Winsor & Newton’s historic archive. First published between 1850 and 1890, these 'shilling books' offered guidance on various traditional art techniques. In their contemporary reinterpretations, the artists blend the past and the present by using modern day Winsor & Newton colours and materials.
Snooze One is a lettering artist from Berlin who has collaborated with Winsor & Newton on various graphic art projects, including the packaging for the new Promarker Lettering Set. His interest in letterforms started with discovering graffiti at an early age. Shortly after that he got into calligraphy and continued to further explore the world of letters. His style is versatile and features several different tools, materials, and techniques.
What notebooks did you reinterpret?
‘The Sketcher's Colour Manual - Watercolour Technique' and 'Half-Hour Lectures on Drawing and Painting'.
How did you approach this unique brief?
The first piece reinterprets the 'The Sketcher's Colour Manual - Watercolour Technique' notebook. I wanted to display the versatility of watercolour by writing the title in a range of lettering styles and colours and playing with the typical watercolour textures and colour gradients. These were then paired with contrasting fineliner outlines.
The second is inspired by the "Half-Hour Lectures on Drawing and Painting" notebook, I picked the aged, yellow paper and condensed serif typography, to write out the phrase "You learn by doing". The phrase is a nod to the educational background of the "half-hour lectures" notebook. To further reference the notebook, I included small details like the ornaments and the griffin logo as well as small writing around the lettering resembling notes you might take at a lecture.
What materials did you use?
‘Sketcher’s Colour Manual’ artwork:
Winsor & Newton Promarker and Fineliner (0.1mm) on Heavy Weight Marker Paper.
Promarker colours: C528 Duck Egg, Y747 Lemon, Y417 Buttercup, Y428 Bisque, Y156 Sunflower, Y367 Canary, R438 Cocktail, Y924 Pesto, O345 Saddle Brown, O427 Cinnamon, WG0, WG1, WG2 Warm Grey.
You Learn By Doing’ artwork:
Winsor & Newton Watercolour Pencils, Watercolour Promarkers and Fineliner (0.1 - 0.3mm) on Watercolour Paper.
Colours: Orange, Plum, Yellow, Turquoise, Rose Pink, Azure, Royal Blue, Mandarin, Sunflower, Red