Marketing & Communications Assistant
Global

Oli Stevenson

Born just outside of London, Oli Stevenson moved to Birmingham for uni and ended up staying for five years working in marketing in art galleries. He moved back to London and joined the global marketing and communications team at Shillington, where he loves being surrounded by creative people all the time. Outside of work, he likes taking photos of signs and buildings, reading magazines and browsing menus.

What do you love about design?

I think it’s always been innate in me, without me realising. I’ve always been obsessed by books, magazines and other bits of print–often grabbing something ‘cos of how the packaging looks. During my Art History degree I was always leaning towards design rather than fine art—to my lecturer’s dismay. I think that “don’t judge a book by its cover” is the biggest lie we’re told.

Why do you enjoy working in design education?

Design is somebody’s creativity and imagination made physical and I think that’s really cool. It’s really exciting to be involved in design education and it means I’m playing my part in allowing future designers to realise their thoughts and show their designs to the world.

What keeps you busy outside of Shillington?

You can often find me in the kitchen, music on, drink in hand, making something delicious. This also means I’ve got my nose in a cookbook quite a lot of the time. Or hunting out the most delicious restaurants London has to offer. Shout out to Mangal 2 and St. John.

The rest of the time, I’m getting my teeth stuck into a good novel or piece of non-fiction; out on my bike around and about East London with my camera, stopping for a good coffee/beer/wine; hanging out at the Barbican—in their galleries, cinema or conservatory. Finally, I like to get out of the city occasionally, finding nature for a breath of fresh air.

What or who are you loving right now?

This could be a huge list, so I’ll try and keep it brief. I love a nice, tactile piece of print. My favourites right now are Weird Walk, which describes itself as journal of wanderings and wonderings from the British Isles, Pit, an indie magazine about BBQ that has some beautiful photography and art direction, and anything from Four Corners Books.

Otherwise, I’m really enjoying the work of Studio Helmo and Textbook Studio. The organiser in me is loving the red, white and blue work of Crispin Finn and Mancunian Dave Bailey’s illustrations always bring a smile to my face. Finally, Tillingham are not only making some banging British wines but their bottles also look great on a shelf (full or empty).

What’s your favourite blog?

I am a big fan of The Modernist, it’s mainly print-based but a lot of the archive is on their website too. And Fonts In Use—it’s like Shazam for fonts, kind of. Gurafiku, a visual collection of Japanese graphic design, is also a hell of a browse.