By Angelina Pietrafesa.

With summer comes a wave of fairs, parades, picnics and dog shows to Primose Hill and, new to this year, illustrator Kate Guy. As an artist with strong ties to the area, Kate has recently returned to be Artist in Residence for three months at 41 Chalcot Road.

Kate will be hosting printmaking classes, producing a body of work inspired by Primrose Hill and selling tea-towels, aprons, AGA covers and more featuring her designs.

Kate’s prints feature visually appealing images alongside recipes. Her first works featured popular French recipes, including her bestseller, soupe de poisson, which was inspired by regular visits to family members living in the Languedoc region of France. Her brand, Cardabelle, is named for a thistle from this area, which is pinned on doors to protect locals from evil spirits. She later extended her range to traditional English recipes such as steak and ale pie and Lancashire hotpot, with prints done in warm orange and cool blue tones – her favourite colour combination.

Kate comes from a prestigious family of artists including a graphic designer father and printmaker mother. She cites late-nineteenth-century French printmaker Toulouse Lautrec and Hannah Firmin, who works with prints and linocuts, as her sources of inspiration. When asked which of her pieces is her favourite, she gives the “slightly cheesy” answer, “My favourite piece is what’s in my head. The thing I haven’t physically made yet but will be making … if that makes sense!”

She is deeply inspired by the smells and tastes of the kitchen. By putting her individual linocuts of different ingredients together, she has created recipes that stimulate all the senses and inspire you to share in her passion for home cooking.

Of her classes, Kate says that, “In reality, art is always teaching”. Her workshop will allow people to communicate their artistic vision through a mix of linocuts and monoprints here in Primrose Hill, which she considers one of the most inspiring places in London.

Classes will be run for adults and children in the evenings, at weekends and during the holidays throughout July and August. Kate will also be working on her own project and creating a series of prints inspired by the local area, which will be shown in an exhibition in the first week of September.

Cardabelle Dedesign
41 Chalcot Road, London NW1 8LS
www.cardabelledesign.com or email on: kate@cardabelledesign.com