Listen to Jordic

HEALTH
Meet Jordic, the phallic Viking on a voyage to educate men about the link between erectile dysfunction and heart disease.

Listen

The Aylesbury Fragments

ART
Harriet Mena Hill preserves a community by painting onto concrete pieces salvaged from London’s Aylesbury Estate demolition.

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Keep Going

ILLUSTRATION
Louise French quit London, cycled South America and returned to Manchester as an illustrator who gets things done.

Read

Gummy Sweet Glass

CRAFT
Phoebe Stubbs is reviving London's glasshouse tradition with technicolour vessels.

Watch

Unbreak Britain

DESIGN
The sequel to last year's viral Broken Britain billboard turns the flag into an argument about what the country could become next.

View

Hate is a Strong Word

PHOTOGRAPHY
Jamie-James Medina documented the birth of grime, from Dizzee's debut album to early Skepta raves. Now it's a free downloadable photobook.

Discover

It’s been a while. My last In the Works email landed back in March – not exactly the monthly schedule I’d promised. I just wasn’t moving things forward anymore and I didn’t want to waste anyone’s time with filler emails. That’s mostly because work got busy and my energy disappeared. Partly though, it’s because I felt stuck…

When I started PREST, I described it as a brand “for makers”. But the longer it’s existed, the less convinced I’ve become by that. I’ve seen what you actually do with your exercise books. Drawing, writing, planning, learning, documenting things, starting projects, working things out. Some of you make things, some of you don’t. The thing that connects us isn’t making, it’s curiosity. And I think that’s far more compelling.

We live in a world increasingly obsessed with optimisation. We track our habits, our sleep and our steps. Our hobbies become side hustles (guilty). Even notebooks have become productivity systems.

PREST is going in the other direction.

And that got me thinking about the exercise book itself. It’s a school object. Maybe it’s time PREST leaned into that.

So, welcome back to school

I want to reframe PREST as a slightly strange school for adults, but you get to choose your own subjects. Typography. Gardening. Architecture. Bookbinding. Photography. Cooking. Film. Music. Whatever you happen to be interested in.

We’ll issue the exercise books. You choose the subject.

Because school wasn’t just about learning. It was about being curious for the sake of it. Getting completely absorbed in something because you found it interesting. Asking questions, getting things wrong and trying again. Spending an afternoon on something that might never be useful to you.

I think we could all do with a bit more of that in life. A little less optimisation, and a bit more curiosity. The sort of curiosity we had as kids.

That’s the world I want to build with PREST.

You’ll start to see it take shape in the products, the website, the photography, the writing and everything else that follows. Even the newsletters are getting a little school shakeup. “Making It” is becoming “Set Text”, and “In the Works” is becoming “Office Hours”.

I don’t have it all figured out yet, but I think that’s kind of the point. Thanks for sticking around while I work it all out. And apologies in advance for the next email that inevitably arrives later than promised.

Stay curious,
Callum

P.S. It’s hard to believe it’s been a year since Batch 001, but I promise Batch 002 is coming. I’ve been taking my time, but it’s happening.

THE ESTATE.

PLAY
The Y2K-inspired indie game set on a Northern council estate.

Explore

GROWN, NOT DESIGNED.

SCIENCE
Belfast musicians Robocobra Quartet grew 100 petri dishes of mould. Each one became artwork for their 100-track album.

Examine

THE BAG THAT SHOULDN’T EXIST.

FASHION
Five New York artists turn a tote bag into a life jacket to highlight the impact of consumerism on climate change.

Wear

TYPE FACES.

TYPOGRAPHY
Lazerian Studio builds a typographic portrait series celebrating the wordsmiths whose words have stuck with us. Bob Dylan is first.

View

CATCH SOME SLEEP.

ARCHITECTURE
A human-sized Poké Ball hotel has landed in Hokkaido.

Discover

PLEASE NO PHOTOS.

FILM
Yasmin van Dorp’s short film about our inability to be present at the world’s most awe-inspiring places.

Watch

THE HANDS-ON GENERATION.

CRAFT
As AI disrupts entry-level white-collar jobs, a new generation of young workers are deserting the digital world for heritage crafts.

Read

A KID COULD DO IT.

ART
French artist The Wa folds paints an entire vacant house in Stuttgart using only the unfiltered creative logic of a child.

Discover

THE SPARK THAT CONSUMES.

ANIMATION
A short film about burnout sees an artist consumed by the very passion that once drove him.

Watch

ONE VERY SWEATY ARCHIVE.

PHOTOGRAPHY
A creator-led archive from the artists, photographers and designers behind 20 years of Manchester’s Warehouse Project.

View

A FANCIFUL MENAGERIE.

ILLUSTRATION
Ashley Percival imagines a world where every animal wears its own vibrant costume.

Discover

PHILIPPINE POTTERY PIONEERS.

CERAMICS
Tessy and Jon Pettyjohn met through pottery in 1978, then spent the next 45 years shaping a community around it.

Watch

DAUGHTERS OF CLAY.

CERAMICS
The last women keeping centuries-old ceramic traditions alive on the Cape Verdean island of Santiago.

Watch

SECRET 7” OPENS TUESDAY.

EXHIBITION
700 artist-designed vinyl sleeves for War Child go on show at 180 Studios this Tuesday. Bidding opens the same day.

View

THE LACE REVIVAL.

CRAFT
Young Londoners are reviving a 16th century endangered craft through social media and fortnightly sessions.

Discover

THE OFFCUT ARTIST.

ILLUSTRATION
Daniel Greenfeld illustrates everyday faces, places and fruit, turning paper offcuts into something closer to mosaic than collage.

View

TUMBLEHAIR.

HUMOUR
Uncommon rolls a 10ft ball of real human hair through New York to make hair loss impossible to ignore.

Discover

THE UNFINISHED PASSPORT.

ART
Radhika Chitalia paints gouache over every page of her late father's passport, filling the journeys he never got to take.

View

PAINTING THE 90s.

ART
Fatih Öztürk taps into the happy memories of our youth by painting video games.

Discover

LIGHTERS TRAVEL.

COMMUNITY
100 Bic lighters become living artworks as they’re accidentally passed from person to person and never returned.

Explore

DAILY STAMPS.

ILLUSTRATION
Makitoy charts months and years through daily micro-collages the size of postage stamps.

View

THE FONT THAT FIGHTS BACK.

TECH
An open-source typeface that poisons unauthorized AI scrapers by garbling key words in your text while showing readers the real thing.

Discover

ENDLESS.

CRAFT
Bookbinder Adelene Koh transforms overlooked book stitching into “Endless”, a vibrant sculpture shortlisted for the LOEWE Craft Prize.

View

WEAR YOUR STORY.

PODCAST
An interview series captured while guests get tattooed in London locations tied to their stories.

Watch

ABSURDIST BASKETMAKER.

CRAFT
Lewis Prosser weaves wearable basket costumes rooted in Welsh and English folk tradition.

Discover

THIS SHOW IS SO GAY.

EXHIBITION
22 queer artists turn an old playground insult into London's biggest queer art exhibition of the summer.

Visit

INCONVENIENT CONVENIENCE.

TEXTILES
Lucy Sparrow hand-sews 20,000 felt supermarket products to recreate a 1980s Walmart.

Discover

THE LOGOS THAT MADE HISTORY.

DESIGN
Wallpaper breaks down the design history behind 14 of America's most iconic marks.

Read

PRETTY PICTURES.

PODCAST
A podcast about art, illustration and the creative industry, hosted by two of the best in it.

Listen

UNFAMILIAR SHOES.

CRAFT
3800 Studio documents the people whose crafts and callings sit outside the spotlight.

Watch

A BUG’S EYE VIEW.

PHOTOGRAPHY
Dutch photographer Theo Bosboom shoots flowers from a bug's perspective.

View

HOW BRAT BECAME BRAT.

DESIGN
The Art Director behind brat reveals unseen drafts and the export error that made it iconic.

Watch

WEAR AND TEAR.

ILLUSTRATION
Heel blisters, sunburn and bite marks – the everyday pains Ana Terral won't let you forget.

Discover

FRED AGAIN.. GOES ANALOGUE.

MUSIC
Meet the 70-year-old Bollywood sign painter behind his India tour poster.

Discover

HOW A PHOTOGRAPH BECOMES BREAD.

ART
An eye grown from wheat in a French field is due to be harvested and turned into bread.

View

THE ART OF TYPOGRAPHY.

CRAFT
A short film about Carmine Cervone, the Naples typographer keeping traditional print alive.

Watch

NEON AMERICANA.

ILLUSTRATION
Louise Laborie paints a melancholic, neon-lit road trip through empty America.

Discover

ANALOGUE ANIMATION.

ANIMATION
Mumbai animator Dhrutika Khimani rejects digital tools for the feel of real materials.

Watch

GREATER MANCHESTER ON DISPLAY.

EXHIBITION
HOME's celebration of Greater Manchester's creative talent has just opened, running until 6th September.

Visit

THE PEOPLE'S JERSEY.

FASHION
Mamdani teams up with a family-run factory in Brooklyn to make 1,500 hand-cut World Cup jerseys at an affordable price.

Wear

SOAP, THE OLD WAY.

CRAFT
Inside Turkey's handmade olive oil soap industry, still running on old methods.

Watch

90 MINUTES IN 1 FRAME.

PHOTOGRAPHY
Geoff Lowe photographs World Cup matches as one continuous, chaotic frame.

View

HELP KEEP PRINT ALIVE.

PRINT
Friends of PREST, Jot Press, are crowdfunding a 1970s Heidelberg. Rewards include greetings cards, stationery bundles and print workshops.

Donate

180 YEARS IN WATERCOLOUR.

CRAFT
Over 2000 hand-painted frames tell the story of Loewe's 180 years, from leather workshop to luxury house.

Watch

ILLUSTRATION HAS A HOME.

ILLUSTRATION
Quentin Blake's lifelong ambition finally opens its doors in Clerkenwell this week.

Visit

THE LAST ANALOGUE GENERATION.

PHOTOGRAPHY / FILM
Paris duo Souffle document the physical rituals that disappeared when digital life swallowed everything.

Discover

DISPOSABLE CANVAS.

ART
Helena Minginowicz airbrushes portraits onto paper towels, tissues and napkins.

View

DON'T FEED THE DUCKS.

ANIMATION
AJ Jeffries' zany animation about what happens when you ignore the signs.

Watch

THE PAPERMAKERS OF THE LAKE DISTRICT.

CRAFT
A film about the family who refused to let British papermaking die.

Watch

THE DARKROOM IN YOUR HANDS.

PHOTOGRAPHY
A wood and brass camera that makes photography feel like making again.

Discover

HELLCARE REGULAR.

DESIGN
The illegibility of doctor's handwriting turned into a political typeface.

View

INTO THE WOODS.

ANIMATION
The hands that made “Coraline” return with a new stop-motion fantasy epic (worth watching the behind-the-scenes as well as the trailer).

Watch

DRAWN BY KIDS, THEN BUILT FOR BIRDS.

EDUCATION
Children in Cambodia make sculptural birdhouses from their imaginative drawings.

Explore

DESIGN NEXT.

PODCAST
Honest conversations with creative leaders on excellence, leadership and what’s coming next. Series three is out now.

Listen

PAINTING WITH THREAD.

CRAFT
Cassandra Dias stitches impressionistic landscapes with the depth of impasto painting.

Discover

BLINDED BY THE FLAG.

ART
Banksy installs a statue of a man marching blind behind his own flag in central London.

Watch

SIGNS OF GREATNESS.

TEXTILES
Ed Hall stitches Britain’s most political banners. The Crafts Council have dropped the paywall on his story.

Read

WHAT IS DYSLEXIA?

ANIMATION
Art&Graft’s hybrid animation uses painterly imperfection to reframe dyslexia.

Watch

ART AS DEFIANCE.

MUSIC
Kneecap on using music, language and culture to stand up for what they believe in.

Read

FIELD TO FACTORY.

FASHION
Mulberry’s new collection uses leather that’s sourced, tanned and crafted entirely in Britain.

Watch

LAST IMPRESSIONS.

PRINT
Irish artist John Conway documents patients' final words through bedside printmaking.

Discover

THE TOILET TYPEFACE.

DESIGN
Daniel Reed turns hand-painted toilet signage into a typeface, available for just 50p.

View

7 TRACKS. 700 SLEEVES. 1 CHARITY.

MUSIC
Design a vinyl sleeve for War Child's Secret 7" and support children affected by war.

Create

THE KEEPER.

NATURE
A New York beekeeper with a fatal bee allergy tends hives on Manhattan's rooftops.

Watch

GLASTONBURY AT DAWN.

PHOTOGRAPHY
Mischa Haller’s photobook captures the giddy glee of Glastonbury between 4AM and 8AM.

View

NOTHING WASTED.

CRAFT
Issey Miyake turns waste paper rolls from garment production into handcrafted furniture.

Discover

PAINTER OF THE NORTH.

ART
Peter James Houghton paints the North’s industrial landscape.

Explore

0.014 MEGAPIXELS.

PHOTOGRAPHY
The photographer swapping 4K cameras for a Nintendo Game Boy.

View

THE INDEPENDENT PAPER SHOW.

EVENT
A showcase of new papers, creative printing and innovative crafting comes to Manchester this June.

Visit

FLATPACK PLAYGROUND.

DESIGN
UK-based charity Playrise designs a modular playground for children in refugee camps.

Play

A CITY MADE OF PAPER.

CRAFT
Charles Young's growing paper city, colour-matched to a Japanese palette guide.

Discover

HOW DO YOU STAY HUMAN?

PODCAST
Creative Boom’s podcast returns to ask how we stay human as AI reshapes everything around us.

Listen

I almost didn’t write this one. March has genuinely been one of the quieter months at PREST, and I wasn’t sure there was enough to say. But consistency matters, so here we are.

A lot of my energy this month has gone into my day job. Plenty of overtime, and I even picked up a promotion along the way, which is great news but hasn’t exactly freed up more time for making. Things have been moving slow, and I’m making peace with that.

So, here’s what’s been in the works at PREST this month.

TLDR: A custom order. Social media strategy. New Risograph samples.

✏️ A custom order
Last month I mentioned a custom order for @DannyTriesThings. I've finally got the materials in and I've been getting on with making it. It's been a nice project to have on the bench during a quieter month, something concrete to work on while other things tick along in the background.

📱 Making sense of social media
I’ve been feeling the pressure around social media for a while, so this month I sat down and worked out a proper content strategy for PREST. I’ve landed on five content pillars that should make things feel a little simpler. I’m calling it the 5 Ms.

• Maker: Me and my story. Outward-facing and honest. Insights from a maker, the realities of building something from scratch, and how it actually feels.

• Making: The craft itself. Process-led, hands-on content that puts the work front and centre. Maybe some ASMR bits.

• Made: The finished product. Campaign quality images, detail shots, the kind of thing that makes you want to pick up a PREST exercise book. I’m not great at this yet.

• Mind: The thinking behind PREST. Material choices, decisions, the thought and reasoning that doesn’t always make it onto the product page.

• Mission: Anti-doomscrolling. Why creativity and making matters. School donations, arts funding, and the bigger picture behind what I’m building.

Having a framework makes it easier to plan without the blank page panic. I’m sure these will merge and change as time goes on but it already feels a bit more manageable.

🎨 New Risograph samples
The shade of blue on the Batch 001 postcards has been bothering me for a while, but Risograph colours are predefined so it's not a case of just tweaking a hex code. The printer I used originally just doesn't have the blue I'm after, so I've sourced a new printer and got some new samples in. There’s a shade I'm happy with, so I'll be sending the next postcards off for print very soon.

THE TOOLS WE FORGET TO SEE.

ART
Hugo Rocci’s paintings ask you to look properly at the things you use every day.

View

THE MATCHBOOK BOOK.

BOOK
A son inherits his father's matchbook collection. CentreCentre turns it into a book.

Read

THE COLOUR OF MONEY.

DESIGN
Why are Pantone colours so expensive? And can anything replace them?

Watch

BASKERVILLE'S PUNCHES.

CRAFT
The University of Cambridge have digitised 3,000 hand-cut steel punches behind one of history's most influential typefaces.

Discover

HE SHOOTS, HE SCORES.

PHOTOGRAPHY
Austin Bell’s five-year quest to document every outdoor basketball court in Hong Kong.

Explore

A LITTLE LIBRARY.

CRAFT
The V&A unboxes some of the world’s tiniest books.

Watch

THE MOUNTAIN, THE MOON CAVE AND THE SAD GOD.

ANIMATION
Gorillaz unveil their new hand-drawn short film.

Enjoy

PINTS, PRAYERS AND HORSE RACING.

PHOTOGRAPHY
Martin Parr captures rural Ireland in the 1980s.

View

CURLING'S STONE ISLAND.

SPORT
Every Olympic curling stone comes from one tiny Scottish island, and you can own a piece.

Part 1 • Part 2

SMALL WORLD.

CRAFT
Michael Pederson makes tiny scenes in the cracks of everyday city streets.

Discover

PENCILS BEFORE PIXELS.

DESIGN
Matteo Di Iorio makes the case for sketching before you open any software.

Read

LOWRY SPEAKS.

ART
Ian McKellen lip-syncs to newly unearthed recordings of LS Lowry.

Watch

February's been a full one, but not always in the PREST sense. A couple of trips away to the Peak District and Belfast plus some overtime in my day job have meant things have been moving a little slower than I'd like (no change there). But slower doesn't mean stopped, and there's still plenty to report.

So, here’s what’s been in the works at PREST this month.

TLDR: Sold out. A new collaboration. Pocket-sized trials. A custom order. Pizza party.

📦 Sold out
The seconds sale for Batch 001 is done and dusted. Every last order has been posted, and I'm really pleased with how it went. It's a good feeling knowing those books have found a home rather than sitting unused in a box or going in the bin. Thanks to everyone who picked one up. I’ll be aiming for fewer seconds on the next batch.

🤝 A new collaboration
I recently met up with a local urban sketcher who's going to be illustrating the next postcard for Batch 002. I'm not ready to reveal who it is just yet, but I’m excited to see what they produce for it. One major learning from this process is that the lead times for commissions and printing are long, so it’s definitely something I'll need to get ahead of for future batches.

📘 Pocket-sized trials
I mentioned this in last month's newsletter, and I've been quietly getting on with it. I've been testing out a pocket-sized format, smaller, more portable, something you can just slip into a jacket pocket (pictured above). Still early days but it's feeling promising.

✏️ A custom order
I've been approached by an early PREST customer, @DannyTriesThings, to create some books for a new project he's starting soon. I love this kind of thing, making something specific to fit someone’s vision. I’ll be getting some materials for this ordered very soon so more details to follow as the project takes shape.

🍕 Pizza party
On a personal note, I continued my pizza-making this month by cooking for 16 people. I knew it was ambitious, and the weather did its best to make things difficult, but I do love the feeling of feeding a crowd. Admittedly the dough wasn’t the best, but it was definitely good experience. Worth every soggy minute.

SQUAT PORTRAITS.

PHOTOGRAPHY
Rediscovered portraits of 1970s East London squatters.

View

AUTO AMORE OPEN CALL.

ART
Make work on an Auto Amor board, then submit it for UK exhibitions.

Create

PRINTS. PINTS. UTOPIA.

EXHIBITION
Trackie McLeod’s reimagines the working men’s club as an art installation.

Visit

WOMAN AT WORK.

BOOK
A new monograph on the designer who shaped Britain’s road signs.

Read

TEXTILE BAKES.

TEXTILES
Lee Jimin makes toast out of delicate textiles.

Eat

DAVID’S DAILY IDEAS.

DESIGN
Hundreds of product ideas. Some practical, some weird.

Explore

OFF THE GRID.

PRINT
Alexander Endrullat turns discarded electronics into printing press plates.

View

INSIDE BEIGEL BAKE.

FOOD
Sam Youkilis celebrates East London’s historic bagel spot.

Watch

A CUT ABOVE.

ILLUSTRATION
Chloe Isteed uses collage to tell stories about everyday life.

Explore

CERAMIC STOP-MOTION.

MUSIC
Julia Fernandez animates a music video with ceramic tiles.

Enjoy

WEARABLE LEGO BRICKS.

FASHION
Crocs and LEGO create oversized brick-inspired shoes.

Wear

SHEFFIELD’S $800 SCISSORS.

CRAFT
Scissors with sharpness and longevity worth their price.

Watch