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Rising London illustrators to watch, according to Beach London's Charlie Hood

Beach London kicked off as a gallery in 2011, when Charlie Hood began showcasing the work of creatives he liked – many who were from a background in skateboard graphics. “We’d always try and make the shows a little unusual, or include an experiential element, and we had LOADS of events. That was the fun part of having a gallery.” It all evolved from there to become the fully fledged design, illustration and creative studio it is today. Across the food, sportswear and hotel industries, Beach have worked with a wide range of clients – from Stella McCartney to MTV, Camden Town Brewery, PUMA, lululemon and loads more.

None of this work would happen without Charlie’s passion for collaboration. (He's also collaborated with us on our events schedule at The Collective Old Oak.) Keen to pick Charlie’s brain, we asked him to select a few of his favourite emerging London illustrators.

Gaurab Thakali

Gaurab seems to go from strength to strength – he’s another whose work really impressed us at his degree show a few years back, and we’ve worked with him on a bunch of stuff since,” says Charlie. “His work mixes some influences that I think resonate with a lot of illustrators: skateboards, music etc. But then influences from his childhood growing up in Nepal come through too. He did a lovely series of paintings from Nepal a year or two ago on some hand-made Nepalese paper.”

By Gaurab Thakali

Bo Matteini

"Bo's graduating this Summer from Camberwell and he reached out to us for a feature on our regular 'Five-A-Day' posts on Instagram, where we feature five pieces of an artists work. I love the care-free feeling of Bo's work – lots of it features social scenes, and I think he captures the essence of hanging out with pals and having fun nicely. I look forward to seeing what post-grad life brings from his work!"

 

By Bo Matteini

Sophy Hollington

"Sophy's linocuts really remind me of the great Leipzig-based publisher Lubok Verlag (who showed at Beach way back in 2011). They print artist books through unusual printing methods – I'd always look at their books and wonder why not so many UK-based artists make similar work – but Sophy does – and it feels really refreshing and unique."


By Sophy Hollington

Holly St Clair

"We saw Holly's Camberwell degree show last year and it really stood out. She made a really nice installation with these crazy benches and a series of lovely drawing. She (and her studio, Hi Bye, with Lily Kong) then showed at the gallery and we hosted some really fun, semi nonsensical workshops. I like that there's an element of the bizarre in her work."

By Holly St Clair

Corin Kennington

"We met Corin at Pick Me Up design festival at Somerset House, and I'd not heard of him before that – he'd been picked for the 'Pick Me Up Selects' part of the show, which was then quite prestigious. The festival's gone now, which is a shame. Corin mixes contemporary – almost abstract – graphic design with some traditional influences like signpainting really well. We worked on this massive mural with him for Camden Town Brewery right in the heart of Camden at the crossroads of the High Road and Jamestown Street, and I love looking at it!"

Corin Kennington for Camden Town Brewery

For more on Beach, head to their website.