JONATHAN DAVIS:

Graduating in 1985 from Chelsea School of Art, where I studied 3D Design and Furniture, I set off to live and work in a city I had never been to before, but one that I had a burning desire to experience – the design capital of furniture, Milan.

The 1980s was a decade where a new creative movement was forming in Italy – Memphis – led by one of the greatest designers of his generation, Ettore Sottsass, and I was inspired by it.

By the time I arrived in Milan, I’d had a change of heart, no longer did I want to be a furniture designer, I wanted to be an Art Director, so I bought a copy of Italian Vogue, got in a taxi and turned up at their office and asked for a job.

With a portfolio consisting of 3D design, I managed to talk my way in and get a job as a graphic designer; at that stage I had never done any graphic design or indeed been on a photo shoot.

This was the period of the writer and stylist, Anna Piaggi and the illustrator, Antonio Lopez. A time where I learned and worked with some of the greatest fashion photographers of that era – Peter Lindbergh, Mario Testino, Albert Watson and Bruce Webber.
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In Italy, there is no segmentation between design disciplines; the belief being that if you can design a table then you can design a typeface. It was this attitude that allowed me to get a job with one of the world’s most prestigious fashion publications and an approach I have followed all
my working life.

I had never designed a bottle before I designed the signature lens bottle for Molton Brown; I had never designed condiment containers until I was commissioned to create products from used Renault Formula One car parts; and I had never designed a toothbrush until I was asked to do so for British
Airways for their Club Class passengers’ amenities bag.

Whilst art directing, branding, ideation and print are my ‘superpowers’, it is my training in 3D that has guided my approach and methodology in all that I do.

From colour, to font, to shape, I seek reason and rationale behind every dot and pixel I create and every image that I produce.

The work included on this website represents my creative DNA and examples of projects from the 1980s through to the 2020s.

Enjoy...
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JONATHAN DAVIS:

Graduating in 1985 from Chelsea School of Art, where I studied 3D Design and Furniture, I set off to live and work in a city I had never been to before, but one that I had a burning desire to experience – the design capital of furniture, Milan.

The 1980s was a decade where a new creative movement was forming in Italy – Memphis – led by one of the greatest designers of his generation, Ettore Sottsass, and I was inspired by it.

By the time I arrived in Milan, I’d had a change of heart, no longer did I want to be a furniture designer, I wanted to be an Art Director, so I bought a copy of Italian Vogue, got in a taxi and turned up at their office and asked for a job.

With a portfolio consisting of 3D design, I managed to talk my way in and get a job as a graphic designer; at that stage I had never done any graphic design or indeed been on a photo shoot.

This was the period of the writer and stylist, Anna Piaggi and the illustrator, Antonio Lopez. A time where I learned and worked with some of the greatest fashion photographers of that era – Peter Lindbergh, Mario Testino, Albert Watson and Bruce Webber.

In Italy, there is no segmentation between design disciplines; the belief being that if you can design a table then you can design a typeface. It was this attitude that allowed me to get a job with one of the world’s most prestigious fashion publications and an approach I have followed all
my working life.

I had never designed a bottle before I designed the signature lens bottle for Molton Brown; I had never designed condiment containers until I was commissioned to create products from used Renault Formula One car parts; and I had never designed a toothbrush until I was asked to do so for British
Airways for their Club Class passengers’ amenities bag.

Whilst art directing, branding, ideation and print are my ‘superpowers’, it is my training in 3D that has guided my approach and methodology in all that I do.

From colour, to font, to shape, I seek reason and rationale behind every dot and pixel I create and every image that I produce.

The work included on this website represents my creative DNA and examples of projects from the 1980s through to the 2020s.

Enjoy...
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