citylikeyou — Stafford / Ben Anslow

Ben Anslow is a designer and illustrator working mainly with print, specifically in book design. Since graduating from Staffordshire University last year he has gained recognition from a variety of design publications, including Wallpaper*, Digital Arts and the London Design Festival. In 2011 Ben was awarded a D&AD Best New Blood and an ISTD membership for his typography. He is currently doing illustration work for Penguin Books.

http://benanslow.com

Designer Illustrator

Current city: Stafford

benanslow.com

Stafford / Museum

The Shire Hall Gallery is in the central area of Stafford town and is an exhibition space, library and cafe rolled into one. Recent exhibitions have included paper-cutting artist, Rob Ryan.

Stafford / Architecture

The village of Brocton is well known for having a number of timber-frame houses, but this house just stands out to me in particular. It was built in 1911 and is one of the most atmospheric and characterful houses you could possibly come across, in what is otherwise a quintessential English village.

Stafford / Place

Well known as being J.R.R. Tolkien’s inspiration for ‘Middle Earth’ in the Lord of the Rings books, Cannock Chase (colloquially ‘The Chase’) is somewhere that friends and I have frequented for many years. If you go to a part called Broc Hill at just the right time, you can literally just sit there and watch the sun disappear behind the horizon, and witness some stunning gradients in the sky. Also a great place for running and photography—you even get to see the odd few deer just bounding around. Cannock Chase is officially listed as one of England’s ‘Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty’ (AONB).

Stafford / Lake

In 1936 George Orwell described Rudyard Lake in one of his diary entries as ‘very depressing’. Today though, I can confirm that it really is a lovely place, with a fascinating display of lakeside cabins and boathouses—more reminiscent of something you’d see in New England than the Midlands. The most popular thing visitors do is set themselves the goal of walking full circle around the lake, which is about 4-5 miles and takes around 2 hours.

Toronto / Designer

Founder and Creative Director of Blok Design in Toronto.

Munich / Designer

Charlotte is a french industrial designer living in Munich. She focuses on creating products that reflect the care invested in them: from idea and design, to the people producing and selling them. She believes the objects that surround us should not only be functional, but things we can emotionally connect with because of their story. Those objects we pack first, gift to friends or pass on from generation to generation. In 2018 she established Atelier Charlotte Talbot in Munich.

New York / Designer

Product & Furniture Design

Oxford / Illustrator

Hannah Richards is a graduate of the University of Brighton and is now based in Oxford. She flits between illustrating, filmmaking and photography, mostly because she can’t decide what she likes doing best. Her work explores the relationship between text and image and often provides a humorous and sardonic commentary for everyday life. Her book; Your Opinion is irrelevant because I hate you” has been published by Victory Press.

Neede / Designer

Jos Buivenga can be passionate about a lot of things. He loves to paint, listen to music, brew an almost perfect espresso... but nothing challenges and rewards him more than designing type. If ever he was stranded on a desert island he would still draw alphabets in the sand, even if there was no one else to see them. He is the founder of exljbris, the one-man Dutch font foundry through which he releases and offers his typefaces. For 15 years, his online friends and fans could follow the development of his typefaces and download the results at no cost. In 2008, while still working as an art director at an advertising agency, he released his first commercial typeface Museo with several weights offered for free. That strategy paid off and Museo became a huge bestseller. Partly thanks to that success he now calls himself a full time type designer. All photos by Jos van Roij

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