13/07/10
Graduate's surprise V&A win
Graphic Design graduate Sarah Carr, 29, has joined the world of illustration's elite by being announced as overall winner of the V&A Illustration Awards. Past winners include Quentin Blake and Ralph Steadman.
Sarah won both the individual category of Best Illustrated Book and the overall winner's prize, which were presented to her at a ceremony held at the V&A on 21 June. She will also work on a special project commissioned by the museum. "I did have a short speech prepared just in case, but luckily I didn't have to say anything," she smiles.
News of the awards came as a shock, as Sarah, who graduated from Kingston with a BA Hons in Graphic Design and Communication in 2003, had no idea she'd been nominated until the V&A rang to tell her she'd won. "I'd illustrated a book called How to Drink, by Victoria Moore, for the publishers Granta, and they'd entered it for the awards," says Sarah, from Stoke Newington, London. "The call was completely out of the blue for me!" She had worked closely with the author on the design in a project that lasted several months.
"Rather than illustrating the book with a straightforward photo, I wanted to do something quite different, something more tactile and friendly, and I liked the printed effect from woodblock letterpress," says Sarah. "I like to strip the ideas process to the bare minimum and generate designs with the simple tools of a Post-It note pad and a permanent marker."
Comedian and artist Vic Reeves, and GQ magazine editor Dylan Jones, were among the judges and praised her simple and imaginative use of colour and typography, the charming and stand-out design, and her execution of the complicated design process. Reeves described it as a friendly-looking book that was beautifully laid out.
Sarah has happy memories of her time at Kingston, including a team-building trip to the north of England which involved going into the woods to draw in the dark! "My course was exciting and intense, and it was a really good year group – we just gelled, and I'm still good friends with many people I met on the course," Sarah adds. "It was hard work and full-on, but we were taught to think, to come up with ideas, and we graduated with broad, conceptual, ideas-driven portfolios."
After leaving Kingston, Sarah spent three years with design firm Pearlfisher as a packaging designer, and she has worked with major brands including Nigella Lawson, Green & Black's, Fortnum and Mason, Anya Hindmarch and Hendrick's Gin. She is currently a senior designer at Here Design in East London.
A free display of original and published artwork by all the winning artists alongside a selection from shortlisted artists and other entrants is in the V&A's Twentieth Century galleries until 19 December.
