Long, short; digital, print; new brands and evolving ones: here is a selection of clients from the past few years. They include: Acne Studios, The Obama Foundation, Madhappy, North Six, Paul Smith, TAG Heuer, the Neue Zürcher Zeitung, LoveFrom and – toughest of all – myself.
TWENTY TWENTY–THREE
BRAND STRATEGY / MADHAPPY
— Currently working with LA-based clothing brand Madhappy (founded 2017) on brand development, including develpoing and codifying a new mission and tone of voice; and, copywriting for their SS24 collection of graphic tees. Invesment in Madhappy was led by LVMH Ventures.CONTENT STRATEGY, EXECUTUION / NORTH SIX
— A first-ever editorial expression by leading production company North Six, the North Six Yearbook is a celebration of 21 years of business. A snapshot in time of its places and projects, it also reaches outside its payroll and explores the world around it through the eyes of New Museum’s Karen Wong, guerilla garderner Ron Finley, GQ Middle East editor Ahmad Swaid, chef Rose Chalalai Singh, gallerist Alexander May, and others. In addition to the concept, commissioning, and editing, there was some copywriting, too – here, for example.
CONCEPT, WRITING / FOR SCALE
— A weekly Substack, it is a deeply-researched celebration of the supreme potential of domestic interiors. Early praise, care of Blackbird Spyplane: “Our favorite sletter right now is called For Scale... The look of it is tight, the voice is really fun, and the sh*t is crafted with deep knowledge, careening wit, far-ranging references, a killer eye and a healthy use of ALL CAPS.”FOR SCALE has an audience of 9,000 across 90 countries. Archive found here.
FOR SCALE emerged from the development of a start-up along with technology partners in London, which sought to capture the new energy around secondhand furniture selling and 20th-century design in a story-led digital marketplace powered by new technological abilities.
TWENTY TWENTY–TWO
BRAND DEVEOLOPMENT, COPYWRITING / MESH
— Developed and put to words the strategic foundation of MESH, a web3 fund and accelerator, as well as developing their tone of voice, one they wanted to be energized, optimistic, and stripped of industry jargon. In collaboration with Studio Lowrie.NARRATIVE DEVELOPMENT, COPYWRITING / AIRBNB, THE OBAMA FOUNDATION
— As the only external copywriter, I developed the framing and wrote copy for The Voyager Scholarship for Public Service, a partnership between The Obama Foundation and Airbnb’s co-founder Brian Chesky – two formidable and very particular clients. In collaboration with Manual.BRAND STRATEGY, TONE OF VOICE / BISHOP RANCH
— Content strategy and copywriting for Bishop Ranch, a once-vibrant business park near San Francisco seeking to reshape its image. In collaboration with Rapt.TWENTY TWENTY–ONE
DIGITAL STRATEGY / ACNE STUDIOS, 2020-2021
— Developed the first-even social media strategy for Acne Studios, also working to round out their naturally steely Swedishness with a more poetic tone of voice for Instagram, their primary connection with their audience. A primary feature of this strategy was new types of humanized content, which would become #AcnePeople.COPYWRITING / PAUL SMITH
— With signature Paul Smith bright-and-Britishness, and the humble acknoledgment of the need for progress, new copy for the brand’s sustainability pages.CONTENT STRATEGY, EDITING / ING
— I edited a book for essays and interviews on the built environment for consultancy and PR firm ING. Contributors included musician and artist Brian Eno, legendary Berlin club owner Dimitri Hegemann, MoMA architecture and design curator Paola Antonelli, Cairo-based curator and writer Mohamed Elshahed, and others.BRAND STRATEGY / META
— Part of a team of strategist to develop the narrative around an as-yet unreleased new Meta product (subject to NDA).TWENTY TWENTY
CONCEPT, COPYWRITING / WHERE WE STAND
— Where We Stand, a personal project, was a design challenge that asked 15 world-leading design agencies, designers and design partnerships to help reimagine public spaces to fit the physically-distanced demands we had to place on them, as we grappled with a global pandemic. The project was covered in Dezeen, El País (Spain), The Creative Review, The Brand Identity, It’s Nice That, Design Week, Grafikmagazin (Germany), The Business Times (Singapore), and others.COPYWRITING / LOVEFROM
— Trusted with cowriting the manifesto of LoveFrom, starting with the words of Jony Ive, around his notion of working from a place of ‘love and fury’.CONTENT STRATEGY, COPYWRITING / WGP MONOGRAPH
— Content strategy and writing for the not-entirely-typical monograph of London-based architects WG+P. A very zine-like design by Studio Lowrie was juxtaposed with contextualizing, intellectualizing, inquisitive copy.TWENTY NINETEEN
BRAND STRATEGY / GOOGLE SAFETY CENTER
— A research-led process to develop new narratives around cybersecurity for the Google Safety Center, in particular in advance of the launch of their new cybersecurity center in Málaga. In collaboration with Pentagram.COPYWRITING / LOOKBOOKS
— The tone of voice and copy for online booksellers LOOKBOOKS. A short, simple, impactful ‘ABOUT’ to set the tone for an approachable but niche store:“LOOKBOOKS is an independent seller of old, kinda fun books. Founded in 2019 in London, we’re not beholden to borders: we do worldwide sourcing and worldwide shipping.”