Inspired

Sod David Blunkett and Trevor Phillips and everybody having to prove how British they are, I’m just going to have to confess that multiculturalism still does it for me.

Most of the inspiration on my journey to work comes at the start, in Shepherds Bush – where the gospel hall backs on to the mosque, Damascus inspires fine cuisine, and in place of the designer brands next door in Notting Hill, we have an abundance of raw graphics for falafel, haircuts, pharmacies and market stalls.

The things professional communicators hate most about ‘democratic’ design are ubiquitously displayed in shop windows to remind us of our limitations in trying to shape the culture in which we live.

Travelling then to Clerkenwell, I am confronted daily with two icons of Britishness: first, the satellite dishes at the BBC Television Centre, symbolising the Reithian motto that Nation Shall Speak Peace Unto Nation, which I do believe still motivates the Corporation; then, a world away, as I cross St John Street, I have the thrill of seeing St Paul’s Cathedral looming through the mist or glistening in the sun.

London is the world’s treasure chest of cultures and a never-ending source of inspiration.

Kasper de Graaf – Applied Information Graphics

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