Underway Studio is an illustration and printmaking collective based in Brixton, South London. Founded in 2016, the four members of Underway Studio work collaboratively on design projects using silk-screen print as a primary medium. We had some burning questions to ask and were thrilled to get the opportunity to speak with the artists about how they work together, the influence of architecture, and what they love about screen printing.
We all studied on the same illustration course at University of Westminster but across different years. Caitlin and Melissa collaborated on a few projects during this time and pretty much set up camp in the university print room during their third year. Recognising that screenprinting was an essential part of their practices, they decided to pursue setting up a studio together after graduating. Knowing that screenprint equipment is hard to come by, can be expensive and requires a lot of space, the idea of going in together on this venture made their shared vision of pursuing a creative career in printmaking a lot easier to achieve. Initially, the studio was just a physical space for us all to work in, bounce ideas off one another and keep each other motivated. Members came and went, and we moved studios twice before settling in our current space in Brixton. Over this time, Aidy and Anna joined the team and we started our first foray into collaborative working on one or two questionable prints. After finally nailing the composition of our first Brutalist architecture themed print, ‘Brutal Icons’, we decided to dive further into the collaborative process and put together our first solo show as Underway Studio collective. This was called ‘Printed Spaces’ and was a celebration of cultural spaces in London. The show was a big success and set the path for the Underway Studio we know today.
Everything created by Underway Studio is a collaborative work between the four artists. When starting on a brief or print design, we will always discuss any ideas first as a group. The next step is gathering imagery for the project, taking photos and finding or creating relevant textures to be used in the design. One of us will then begin working on a rough in Photoshop. Print designs are passed between the collective until they are finalised and ready to be screen printed. As a result, the artworks have an impression from each artist creating a unique aesthetic.
Working collaboratively means you have the skill set, thoughts, ideas and imagination of four artists, not one. This can be complicated, but over the years we have settled into a rhythm within our work process. It is important that we trust each others visual language and let go of our individual ideas of the finished design. Now, if one of us is stuck on a composition for a print, we’ll know which one of the collective to pass it to to solve the problem. We each have different ways of approaching colour, composition and even cutting out shapes and photos. This is why it’s important for us to pass the designs between each four members before going to print so that they have a stamp from everyone.
There isn’t one answer to this question. We are drawn to them for numerous reasons such as the building's history, cultural context and location as well as its structure, design or material.
Buildings are all around us, so architecture is something that everyone can relate to. I think our initial interest started with us all being drawn to iconic brutalist buildings in London such as the Barbican and National Theatre. The bold, concrete shapes of these buildings are very graphic and so they lend themselves perfectly to the screenprint aesthetic. Our initial portfolio was a direct response to cultural spaces in the capital city but we have branched out to other areas of the UK. We often get requests for prints about different buildings and locations so the theme of architecture and familiar places obviously resonates with a lot of people!
Our first collaborative piece was Brutalist Icons. In comparison to our more recent work, it has a very limited colour palette of just grey and yellow. We’ve definitely ended up developing our ideas around colour and more detailed, layered compositions since then.
Yes, we do all have different favourites!
Aidy - I’d have to say Brut Forms III, especially in its collectors edition form. The scale of it works so well and it’s great to know how it started off then developed into quite a bold and confident print.
Anna - Mine is our Barbican print. Not only is it my all time favourite building, I just love how this composition sits together with the combination of photo layers and block silhouette forms. I also love how we’ve been able to simplify it to a 4 colour A2 version too and it’s still bang on!
Caitlin - I’ve always been really drawn to our Battersea Power Station print. I love how the simple colour palette works together and the effectiveness of the added water element.
Melissa - My favourite is The Collector's edition Brutal Forms III because the colours are popping and it’s a statement piece for any wall.
We love the surprising nature of it, the different aesthetics you can achieve by layering up myriad colours and textures and the process of making something with your hands. We love printing our editions but it’s great when we get to be playful and layer up sheets of paper with whatever we have exposed on the screens. This gives us ideas for new compositions and keeps us falling in love with the process over and over again. We always mix our own colours by eye using a number of different pigments. We love the control that we can have over the colours in this way and it always beats what we have designed digitally!
The Barbican Centre, The National Theatre and Battersea Power Station.
This project was a really fun challenge for us. It pushed us creatively and gave us scope to see how our work could exist outside of a frame hung on a wall. We had to do lots of experiments to see how we could authentically translate our work from 2D to 3D canvas. Initially, we thought about painting abstract shapes onto the shoes but this didn’t reflect our work. Instead, we settled on good old cut and paste! We printed up sheets of thin paper with motifs relating to basketball, hip hop culture, street art - all the things the Adidas Superstars encompass - and stuck crops of these to the panels on the shoes. They turned out so beautifully and really captured the playfulness of our work but unfortunately they’re not functional! We would all love to own and wear a pair so Adidas, if you’re reading this, please can we make these shoes for real?
More experiments in the print room! We want to explore more mono printing within our print range and create some large, one-off artworks. This is where we really have fun, printing with minimal planning and seeing where the process takes us. We’ve also re-launched our screenprinting workshops after a hiatus during covid. We host intimate classes of six participants per session in our Brixton studio. Over a couple of hours we teach students how to design and print a unique artwork using both paper and photographic stencils. Our workshops are themed and one, of course, is centred around architecture! The classes are great fun and we love seeing all the different outcomes you can get from the same theme. More info and booking on our website here: https://www.underwaystudio.com/workshops.
Head to Underway Studio's artist page here to discover their full collection and keep up to date with all their latest releases.
