LAURA CARLIN – Biography
Laura was born in Glastonbury, England. She studied at Buckinghamshire University, followed by The Royal College of Art. Laura lives in London and has been represented by Heart since 2004. It was Andrzej Klimowski her tutor at the RCA, who introduced Laura to Darrel. Andrzej had also been a tutor of Darrel’s.
With good humour and honesty, Laura’s artworks talk to, and of, the ‘everyman’.
The feeling ‘we’ve all been there’, creates an intimacy between illustration and viewer that breaks down barriers. Scenarios are used to communicate ideas and thoughts with a huge amount of humility.
Laura has worked for the Tate Modern on their Barbara Hepworth retrospective, creating exhibition guides for children, provided artwork for the branding and identity of Coworth Park Hotel, part of the Dorchester Group, and packaging for Gail’s Bakery. She has worked on corporate projects for Land Securities, advertising campaigns for British Airways and American Express. Laura illustrates a regular column ‘Shrink & Sage’ in The Financial Times looking at two contrasting viewpoints. She has also illustrated several books for The Folio Society including ‘Le Grande Meaulnes’ and ‘The Collected Stories of Chekhov’.
Laura has illustrated many children’s books, most notably The Iron Man by Ted Hughes, published by Walker Books. For this book, Laura created the Iron Man as a paper cut-out that casts shadows. It is only at the end of the book, when the townspeople are united with the Iron Man, that all the characters appear in three dimensions. When Phaidon commissioned Laura to write her first children’s book. For ‘A World of Your Own’ Laura painted objects and made paper models. Pebbles, clothes pegs and drinking straws become people, a hair comb a mode of transport. These two books won the children’s book illustration award at the Biennial of Illustration Bratislava in 2015. The award is a highly reputed industry accolade, the jury judging Laura’s work to be “a dialogue between technique and medium with an extensive frame of reference”. Along the way Laura has also picked up a Bologna Ragazzi Award, V&A Illustrated Book Award and has been voted an ADC Young Gun, one of the 50 most influential creatives under 30 years of age. She is currently working on her seventh children’s book.
As well as working as an illustrator, Laura is also well known as a ceramicist. Her work is for sale at The New Craftsman and the Yorkshire Sculpture Park. She has exhibited in Japan and around the UK. In 2016 a solo show at The House of Illustration featured a 650 tile mural depicting the history of London as well as twenty illustrated plates, classical figurines and a noah’s ark. Ceramics and her personal work provide Laura with the opportunity to explore themes in history, battles, warfare and iconography that she has been fascinated with since childhood.
Select Client List
American Express, British Airways, Canadrian Catering, Christian Aid, The Commission Nationale du Débat Public, Condé Nast Traveller, Crédit Agricole, The Dorchester Hotels Group, The Folio Society, The Financial Times, Frances Lincoln, Gail’s Bakery, Groupama, The Guardian, Heineken, Hermès, Land Securities, The Los Angeles Times, Macmillan, The New Yorker, The New York Times, The New Statesman, Phaidon, Random House, Royal Mail, Saveur Magazine, Scholastic, VICE, Walker Books, World of Interiors