Each month, we’ll be posting a short profile on our most recent placements. You can find out a bit about them, and see some of their work…

Hello, my name is…
Tristan Dunbar
In three words I would say I am…
75 Percent Squash
And in my spare time I like to…
Play a lot of Blues.
I have just finished studying at…
Norwich University College of the Arts
You can see a portfolio of my work by…
visiting www.behance.net/tristandunbar or you can email me at me@tristandaviddunbar.com
And my piece of work that best represents me is…
Foyles the bookshop 

Because…
You can run with the idea until you’re out of breath – then keep going.
You would never guess that I…
Really (really) like dragons.
After The Partners, I’m going to…
Someone.

Hello, my name is…
Lucy Hutchinson
In three words I would say I am…
Determined, inquisitive, unconventional
And in my spare time I like to…
Put itunes on loud and paint, watch great films and explore new places
I have just finished studying at…
University of Leeds
You can see a portfolio of my work by…
Visiting my website at http://lucyhutchinson.weebly.com/
Or send me an e-mail at lucyehutchinson@gmail.com
And my piece of work that best represents me is…
My Final University Project, Lost In Digital

Because…
It expressed an important social message in an unconventional way
You would never guess that I…
Am a fully qualified open water scuba diver
After The Partners, I’m going to…
Work with Jack Renwick (the partners old creative director) and get some experience of a small start up studio

Hello, my name is…
Laura Evans
In three words I would say I am…
confident, excitable, playful
And in my spare time I like to…
See friends. They’re really important to me.
I have just finished studying at…
Kingston University
You can see a portfolio of my work by…
Emailing me at evanslaura1989@gmail.com
And my piece of work that best represents me is…
Self portrait

Because…
It was an idea I had always wondered about – and when I finally did it – the results were amazing. It’s a playful idea that has been moulded into a piece of design without loosing its charm.
You would never guess that I…
Am an avid list writer. I write lists to keep on top of my lists.
After The Partners, I’m going to…
Magpie Studio

Only 17 days left till the white bearded one comes down the chimney. Stuck for any of those little gift ideas? This book by Marion Deuchars is just the perfect gift for any budding artist – both young and old!

Let’s make some great Art is lovely book, packed with ways to spark ideas and tips to help you to loosen up and be more creative with mark-making and drawing. Marion shows you the tricks of her trade and provides plenty of hints to help you draw and be more creative with your talents.

Let’s make some great Art is only £8.23 from Amazon — a genuine bargain.

You can find out more about the book here.

What emerged through the course of the talk was that Self has been converted from a driver to a walker of cities. He was very inspiring about how walking allows one to understand the city in a way no other form of transport allows (the ‘psychogeography’ of a place). His contention was that in order to reach this level of understanding you need true commitment, like any higher calling. This is not about a short stroll in the park, but necessitates high mileages, upwards of 25 to 30 miles in a day if one is to reach such a state of blankness (someone once said ‘munching on nothing’) that the mind is set free from the ‘man/machine matrix’ of the city.

His description of walking to Heathrow airport from South London was entertaining, as was the idea of then getting on a plane to LA or NYC and immediately circum-ambulating that city. The extreme combination of international jet travel and walking, our most ancient form of travel and our most modern, is stimulating. As is the idea of walking such distances in an urban setting – so challenging to the conventional bucolic experience of rambling. Interestingly, in his walk to Heathrow, Self claimed that in the 18 miles or so, only three had to be walked on public roads.

Still, when I tried to explain this in the studio this morning, the first question I got was ‘hasn’t he heard of the Heathrow Express?’ which means that my relaying of the arguments are wholly inadequate. I guess you had to be there as they say, but because you probably weren’t you could read Walking to Hollywood which will expose you to the full Selfian satire and wonderfully baroque vocabulary without any blunting of it by me.

This week Creative Review have launched their 2010 annual.

Showcasing the “finest creative work produced worldwide during 2009″ the annual is jam-packed full of the best examples of visual communication.

If you should happen to stumble upon page 86 of this fine publication then you’ll be sure to find a example of The Partners work there.

Our Five-A-Side poster to promote the football fundraising event for the children’s hospice Richard House Hospice has made it into this year’s annual.

Congratulations to the team!

With examples from around the world, and going beyond graffiti and street art, this book celebrates the next generation of urban artist. Some of them are beautiful, some of them are funny, some of them are poignant, but all of them are brilliant. Of course, we have some work in it also:

We’d highly recommend this book as it’s one you definitely need to have in your collection. Personally, I love it and have it, selfishly, guarded on my desk as I keep liking to flick through it and ‘oohing’ and ‘ahhing’ at all the very clever and wonderful work. And no, on that note, you can’t borrow it. <clings tightly to book>

Image taken from www.itsnicethat.com

Whilst on the subject of books (just in time for christmas you might say?), John Sorrell has compiled yet another coffee table book of the most “Inspired Design from Great Britain”, strangely enough entitled: Creative Island II.  There are some quite amazing pieces inside including two from ourselves: The Grand Tour project for the National Gallery and everyone’s favourite sausage, Mr. Singh’s Bangras. There is also some insider insight into how these ideas came to fruition.

On sale on Amazon for £16.97. Bargain.