Sophie's Choice: Craig Oldham

"DESIGN, TO ME, IS AN INTELLECTUAL DISCIPLINE NOT A VISUAL ONE. DESIGN HAPPENS 80% IN INTANGIBLE MANNERS-THINKING, TALKING, DEBATING, MORE THINKING, ANALYSING ETC. — AND THEN THERE’S SOME VISUAL STUFF AND SOME MAKING STUFF."

"The Office Of Craig Oldham is the eponymous practice of designer and creative consultant Craig Oldham (obviously). Working across numerous disciplines, the studio creates brands, books, websites, films, exhibitions, and objects. We also teach, write, curate and consult. And we do this for clients, audiences, and sometimes just for the joy of it. We are a young and intentionally small team of creative problem solvers, makers and doers. And with extensive industry experience, we’ve learnt that the better the relationship we have with a client, the better the work will be."

"I work with people that really want to work with me, and I really want to work with them. If we get on, we can challenge, push and understand each other. It doesn’t come from chasing a brand – that doesn’t generate good work, good relationships do."

!Essentially we’re a full-service creative studio. We have a really rich and varied diet of work, and that’s why I wanted to set up on my own. I had this really good grounding in classic, traditional forms of graphic design from working with The Partners, The Chase, Music – problem solving where the idea rolled out as branding, print and digital, but I wanted to explore other things. I don’t see design as pushing type, image and content around on the medium. I see it as an intellectual discipline, and I think that can be applied to anything. If you get the solution right, the outcome could be a chair, writing a play, a poster or a brand. That’s what we try and do as a studio, to mix our practice, and push our skills into other places – which has led us into campaigning, publishing our own work, writing and lecturing, filmmaking, and we’ve curated and designed exhibitions."

He set up his own studio, Office Of Craig, and does a lot of books, exhibition design, branding etc. and also works a lot with Rough Trade Books - a publishing company that publishes the ideas other publishers won't. He's incredibly passionate and no-nonsense about the projects that he takes on, evident in his discussion about his book 'They Live'. 

I first became aware of Craig Oldham when I read his book, pictured above, over the summer. I love his philosophy on design and no-nonsense approach, that design is intellectual and experimentation is key. The projects that he works on are always poignant and I like that he lets his political beliefs bleed into his self-initiated projects. After researching him,  I've discovered that I think being accepted to work with him would be a privilege simply down to the fact that he seems like such a sound guy. He's clearly talented, and he uses his talents to get the job done and to educate others. 

He seems like an amazing person to work for, when asked about what makes a good leader, his response was Transparency. Honesty. Dialogue. Being open with those who look to you for guidance, giving them trust and responsibility and actually knowing that people work with you to better themselves and they aren’t there to solely do your bidding.