Hiya, I’m Aurore Swithenbank, a printmaker living in South East London with my partner and cute cat. I moved to London when I was 10 from France and haven’t looked back since.  Describe your printmaking process.  My printmaking method is linocut. I plan most of my designs with lots of drawings in my sketchbooks or a big pad of paper. I then transfer my designs onto the lino, ready to carve with my tools. Most of my prints are hand burnished onto beautiful handmade paper and then hung on a lovely washing line in the studio for drying. How and where did you learn to print?  I am self-taught with lino printmaking, but I did learn how to print in my art and design foundation at City Lit and my Illustration degree in Bristol. While studying in both places, I experimented with completely different printing processes, including collagraph and monotype. I did try a bit of linocut here and there, but it didn’t suit my projects at the time, and it’s only after I graduated that I found some lino scraps in my art box that I decided to give it another go. I designed some Christmas cards for my mum, and I instantly fell in love with the printing process. From then on, I just got stuck in and practised most days in my bedroom at the time living with my mum. I remember saving up for a few weeks to buy my first set of good pfeil lino tools in a beautiful art shop called L. Cornelissen & Son in central London. With lots of trial and error, I found my style. Lino printing is a big part of my life now, and I’ll always find time to dive into it. Why printmaking?  I think any printmaking technique is a beautiful craft, but especially linocut. It’s accessible and such a playful medium. The process is so meditative and slow, especially in such a fast-paced society. I also love how you can’t really see the results of how the image/print is going to truly look until the last process with the print reveal. I find this very exciting and addictive. Linocut can also be forgiving at times; if I make a mistake with carving, I can usually turn it into a different pattern. Where do you work? I work at home in my shared studio room with my partner (and sometimes my howling cat who begs to come in and sit at my desk). I’m very lucky to have my desk space in front of the window, which looks out at the back of the house into our local park where I can watch birds and butterflies go past most days. Describe a typical day in your studio.  I usually have a part-time job, so most days off and weekends are spent in the studio. On those days, I start the morning with a lovely cup of green tea and either packing orders or going over my to-do list and tidying up the space. I then either print, carve or sketch for the rest of the day. I leave the admin stuff for the evenings when the natural light is gone.  How long have you been printmaking?  I’d say my journey with linocut started when I made the Christmas cards for my mum in 2016, so it’s been 8 years of my printing journey. I started it more as a hobby, and I was lucky to have friends and family who encouraged me to take it further and make it more of a career. I had connections that led me to do markets and fairs before I took it further and started selling my art online in 2019. What inspires you?  My inspiration comes from lots of different places, from the flora and fauna I see on walks and bird watching with my partner, holidays abroad to also pottering in galleries and museums in London. I moved around a lot when I was younger and was exposed to such different climates with nature, that when I moved to London it was very exciting at first but I think I missed the element of nature and how exposed I was to it.  Looking closely, I realised there is a lot of nature in London hidden amongst it all and drawing/creating lino prints bought a sense of calm in such a chaotic city. My inspiration can come from literally seeing a butterfly pass me in a park to sketching an artefact in a museum. I also love following the different seasons and get inspired by the different types of flora and fauna that come out each month. When I’m stuck for ideas, I love roaming around the free museums in London or flick through my collection of art books. I’d also say my lino prints have a bit of mystical and folklore aspects to them, that I hope can bring a bit of magic to someone’s home. What is your favourite printmaking product?  One of my favourite printmaking products is my glass slab that I roll my ink onto. I love hearing the hissing noise of the ink being rolled out and it’s always satisfying cleaning the glass after a productive printing day. I also can’t live without my Pfeil tools, especially when they are sharpened they cut the lino like butter and it makes the process so much more fun. What have you made that you are most proud of?  I recently printed on fabric and made wall hangings. I picked two of my favourite designs that are a swallow and a pomegranate. I am not a seamstress, so this was a lovely collaboration with my partner’s mum who is very talented in that area. Printing on fabric is so different from paper, so I was very nervous at first, but we found some lovely linen that worked perfectly for printing. Collaborating with someone is very special and I would love to do more projects like this in the future.  Where can we see your work? Where do you sell?  You can find my lino prints online in my Esty store and you can follow my process on my Instagram . I also sell my prints at lots of different markets and fairs all year round which I announce on social media or on my website. I am hoping to extend my little business and hoping to get my art in more shops this year, so watch this space!  What will we be seeing from you next?  I would love to experiment more with printing on fabric in the next year. After making my wall hangings, I feel like its opened a whole new world of possibilities and I’d love to make pillows, tea towels and patches.  Do you have any advice for other printmakers and creatives?  Experiment and persevere! Experimenting with the process is the best way to understand not only yourself as an artist, but the technique you are looking to dive into. I think with social media these days, its easy to quickly find out what materials are best to use, but just because you are buying the same art materials doesn’t mean the art will turn out the same quality. Experimenting with different types of paper, inks and even barens is all key to figuring out your own artistic voice. I had to go through so much trial and error to find the materials that suited me best and it’s so important to keep playing around until you find this. Perseverance is key with linocut. Trying a new craft can be so daunting, but the more you do it the better you get at it. Although linocut at times can be so challenging, just trust the process and keep going!

It’s hard to build a house without a hammer. The hammer has been around for a long time, and thanks to its intuitive design, a user can get 70% of the benefit after less than ten minutes of instruction. People who depend on hammers for their livelihood are probably at over 95% efficiency. In the […]

Which car brands are a fixture of song lyrics?

Efficiency + Convenience. Not everything is industrialized. A backyard garden, a freelance editor, even a chef with a hands-on restaurant. These folks are building a practice and producing value, but they haven’t embraced industrialization. That happens when management steps in, productizes, routinizes and optimizes. Industrialization produces huge gains in productivity, but it’s also a bit […]

Violently Executing to Build America's Next Generation Power Company